A..C.C.E.S.S.

In addition to ALEX, there is another resourceful tool provided by the state of Alabama's Department of Education. That program is called ACCESS, short for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators & Students Statewide. The program is categorized as a distant learning program, which differentiates it from ALEX. Distant Learning allow teachers and students to take classes that would otherwise be unavailable or too difficult to take in their area.

I believe these sites are very worthy in their approach to providing educational opportunities and literature for students and teachers. There is so much information available to us that allow this to be possible. Distant learning is quickly becoming one of the fastest forms of education in history. Some great examples would be the explosion of online colleges such as Phoenix.

A.L.E.X.

Thanks to Ms. Averitt in my Educational Media class at the University of South Alabama, I was introduced to a program that is provided by the state of Alabama to assist teachers in and out of the classroom. ALEX, which stands for Alabama Learning Exchange, provides a multitude of information for teachers and potential teachers. The information provided ranges from lesson plans to to professional learning opportunities.

This is a great tool to expand learning and to study different ways of preparing lessons. The lessons plans are standard and very easy to adapt into a potential teacher's lesson. In this new age of technology where information can be shared at an exponential rate, it is important for educators to continue to expand the classroom and make learning possible for everyone.

Comment4Kids 2

This week I visited the blog site of Jormar. He is a student at Woodtech Valley. Jormar had great graphics on his page and is very interested in video games. He is especially interested in World of War Craft. Its a first person game on the Sony Playstation series. I recommended to him that he look into this site to find deals on games such as War Craft.

Comment4kids

I recently visited Mr. Goerend's blog and came away very impressed at his efforts to bring positive writing experiences into the lives of his students. It's an excellent way to encourage and teach students about the learning process. Most importantly, I feel that showing them that there is learning outside the classroom lays a foundation that can be expanded upon. I visited 5 of his students' blogs and commented on them. In the next paragraph is a summary of what I found.

I visited a blog entitled " National Giraffe Day" written by Cassie. It was very funny and it informed me about a tradition that took place in Greenland. It brightened my day! Next, I read "international act like you have a muscle spasm day". This was written by a student named Zach. I can tell that he has a vivid imagination and really enjoys making others feel good about themselves. I then read Brandon's blog on "Tubing". It was a detailed writing of his experience tubing this past summer. It made me think about my days tubing as well. "The Waukee Ankney Game" was an exciting piece by Zach S. He has some potential to be a good writer. I let him know that in my comments to him. Lastly, I read Aaron's blog post about " Jacob and the 4th" He seemed like a really good freind to Aaron, so I encouraged him to value their friendship and the time they spent together.

Comment4kids is a great way to show supprt for students as they continue to explore the world as we know it.

Dear Kaia: Voice Thread and Video

The blog started by Kaia's father started out as a simple project designed to capture his daughter's experience of exploring her surrounding. He wanted her to spend more time outside after he began reading a book called A Child Left in the Woods. What started out as a simple blog turned into an experience that would soon affect hundreds, even thousands of those who came in contact with Mr. Chamberlain's class blog. Kaia's dad received a few comments from Chamberlain's class and decided he would contact them to further their interest. Mr. Chamberlain's class soon made a video blog and audio to let Kaia know of their appreciation for her work. Kaia was only three years old at the time.

My initial reaction is that I see this as another excellent way of technology being used in a way that furthers the education of this generation. It is pretty extraordinary that this is possible and that there are millions of people who are using this technology. My concerns though, would be that I 'm not sure if its a great idea to live our lives online. I am a big proponent of technology and its usefulness to us. But, what I am against is having our lives being totally open for the world to see and use at its disposal. I do understand the a majority of us will use this as an educational experience, but I am reminded that everyone doesn't have this in mind. Once again, I applaud Mr. Chamberlain and his class for their efforts and contributions. I especially think the same of Kaia and her father.

The New Media Literacies Project

In my efforts to look up information on this topic, I realized that there were countless "projects" that were part of the New Media Literacies title. My finds are that NML is an organization that provides a community network for learning about effective ways of using 21st century media tools. It promotes the use and integration of media into our everyday lives. NML has been a part of hundreds of projects involving higher education and studying such things as texting.

One of the interesting things I found out about NLM is that it produces movies or short clips on a variety of title. This was the most interesting thing about the group. These movies are used to educate the general public and to saturate the public with the skills necessary to become a working part of NML. Overall, I think it is a good source, nevertheless, it will probably never be of use to me.

The New Media Literacies by the NLM Staff

The New Media Literacies video on youtube was about the skills required to be a functional citizen in the 21st century. It takes a look at what we need to know in order to possess certain skills in order to be successful. I apparently didn't get much of the point of this video as it seems to a small part of what I have already learned in Ms. Averitt's EDM 310 class.

I don't agree that the skills mentioned (judgement, negotiation,appropriation, play,transmedia investigation, simulation, collective intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization, multitasking) are the ones of the 21st century that we need to be successful workers, artists, or citizens. Instead, I think this may be useful for educational purposes, but not for those who do not fit the criteria for post secondary study. More important skills such as adaptability and motivational skills are required by the "other" workers or citizens.

I possess some of the skills, but I do not neccessarily use them in the manner of the video. Of the ones I possess are judgement, negotiation, simulation, collective intelligence, performance, visualization, and multitasking. How do I plan to attain the others? I don't understand the full capacity of them, therefore, I'm not sure that I would actually need them. But I assume I do need them, so I would say that the way I intend to attain them is by studying more about the New Media Literacies Project and finding out how I can practice these skills.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

I was glad to see this video by Wendy Drexler. It was very simple and productive because it explained everything one would need to know about starting a personal learning network. The idea of connectivism uses a network of people who together create a learning community who helps shape their learning process. I can see where this can be very productive for teachers.

The is more valuable information on connectivism on this blog. It is Wendy Drexler's blog site. I am not ready to be a teacher of network student, but I am really interested in learning about being a student of the network. What better way to learn how to be a teacher than learning it as a student. I am hopeful that once I am familiar with being a network student, I can share my knowledge with others and one day become a teacher of a network student.

Why does the networked student even need a network teacher? The obvious reason would be that the networked student needs guidance. As explained in the video, the teacher needs to be there for a number of reasons. The teacher can be a learning architect, which will help shape the student into a productive network participant. Also, the teacher can server as a modeler, or someone whom they can model their ideas and work after. Lastly, the teacher is the one who provides learning opportunities and build the learning network.

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream

Dr. Richard Miller's video was interesting in a couple of ways. I think that it was captivating from a standpoint of giving a glimpse of future technology and its possibilities in the classroom. Also, I thought it was interesting because of his ability to dream that one day this technology will be available and he thought that we should be the ones who prefects it and use it. For someone interested in this level of teaching, it would be very beneficial. On an overall basis, I didn't get much from the videos for my personal gain or use.

Am I prepared to write in multimedia? I would have to answer that with an emphatic no. Although interesting, I didn't understand much of the "how" to write in multimedia. I saw some really good examples of multimedia pages and so on, but there was never a time that I thought directions or steps were being explained. It may be an easy process if the video were more details on the "how: and not so much as the "why".

Will my students be able to do this? With this age of technology and today's student, I would say yes. Many students are ready in most cases to take on a task as of this nature. My only problem would be that I wouldn't necessarily know how to teach a lesson of this sort. I would think this is a college level activity or an AP class on the high school level. It does continue a trend that seems to be everywhere. That theme is using technology to advance and equip the next generation of learners.

Duke University's use of Ipods

The use of Ipods as a classroom may be hard to imagine right now.

iTunes University

With the discovery of itunes comes a wealth of features and incredible opportunity. Itunes is an online library of music, video, podcasts, and vodcasts. At your finger tips, you have access to millions of these features. If you want to carry your information with you, you can sync your itunes library to your ipod, iphone, or mac. Go to iTunes for more information.

One important feature that enhances education on itunes is Itunes University. This feature gives you access to a university's online library of podcast, vodcasts, and other media. One of the featured universities is Duke University. Itunes has made it possible to expand the classroom and by using a tool that is currently one of the most used applications of this generation. Soon, students from all universities will be using Itunes as part of their curriculum. Furthermore, teachers can use this as part of the curriculum in intermediate and high school.

Dr. Alice Christie's Google Earth Guide

The Google Earth Program Guide created by Dr. Alice Christie has revolutionized the approach to 3-D technology. This can be a valuable tool to many teachers in many different ways. One tool of value that I think teachers can easily adapt to and present to their class is the Google Earth Measuring Tool. This is a simple function of the Google Earth Program that allows it users to measure certain features of the earth. Even if a teacher, or school district can not afford to purchase the Google Earth Pro, which is an advanced edition with more features, they can apply for a free Google Earth Grant.

There are tutorials that walk you through Google Earth step by step. This is the beauty of the resource guide. It makes what was once information that was available to a few, to information that is available to anyone. I think one of the more popular sections of Google Earth is Google Earth for Educators. Here, educators will find unlimited access to information which allows them to be more proficient in teaching lessons involving Google Earth. I think the program is a must in Geography or any other physical science class.