Video Games

It seems like video games are a taboo in the world of education. After all, the classroom is the haven of critical thinking and enlightenment. Video games are meant for pure entertainment and have no educational merit. While this may be the case for a majority of mainstream games, they are some video games that break this mold. The PC game series Civilization has players take charge of a nation and ensure its survival and growth. The game primarily focuses in on history, but does go over some political issues. Students can draw parallels to how their nation is doing when comparing them to ancient civilization discussed in World History classes. By using the videogame, history students could have fun and learn of ancient civilizations concurrently. However, the use of videogames in the classroom has met and will meet criticisms, and it is rightfully so in my opinion. As a future educator, I will have to make sure that my students are learning as they engage themselves in the game, and not just be playing it leisurely. Videogames can be used in a wide variety of school subjects as evident of the use of the SimCity series in classrooms. Elementary schools in Ontario, Canada have experimented with their 3rd grade class using iPads to play Simcity to help in their social studies classes. It has been reported that the students have a deeper understanding of rural and urban communities and have also unintentionally, but certainly fortunately, practiced their math skills because of the economic aspect of the game.

http://blogs.nitle.org/2010/10/06/teaching-with-a-video-game-the-case-for-civilization/

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/sci_tech/simcity-educational-ontario-grade-3s-learn-social-studies-with-ipad-game--146635525.html

Camtasia

Camtasia is a recording software that allows instructors to record Microsoft PowerPoint presentations and add voice over commentary. This is especially beneficial to history classes that feature a lot of lecturing via PowerPoint. Mind you, this software can be used in almost any class but I would assume it is more beneficial in lecture oriented class sessions. Though I've experienced instructors who post their PowerPoints online for their students benefit, they can sometimes be confusing to the students. After all, PowerPoints do not always provide all of the information that was discussed in class. Additional bits of insight that the professor mentions are seldom explicitly included in PowerPoint documents. With Camtasia, teachers could include voice over commentary that includes the footnotes that they mentioned in class. This could be especially helpful in cases when students want to go over and study for upcoming tests. Camtasia can also be used for students who have missed a day of class. So as a result, the student will not be as behind on their studies because it would have been like they had never missed class. Though Camtasia serves a simple purpose, the simple addition of recording a lecture and PowerPoint concurrently, allows for further instruction outside of the classroom.



http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html

Webquest

I've greatly used Webquests in the past and have found them to be every engaging and fun. A Webquest is essentially an internet scavenger hunt that the instructor assigns their students to do. After reading the introduction of the Webquest, the student is given a series of tasks to accomplish. The student is also supplied the preferred resources for research purposes. The teacher also lays down the process and steps that the students should accomplish to finish the task. The Webquest also shows the student how they will be evaluated and ends with a conclusion or reflection piece. Many of these components are sequential, however it is subject to change depending on who created the particular Webquest. One of the main benefits of Webquests is they are both very versatile and adaptable. Though Webquests have some base similarities, no two are often a like. Webquests are also usually intended to be fun and engaging, resulting in more interested students. As mentioned before, one of the best features of a Webquest is that they can be assigned by any instructor and can be used at any grade level. This is primarily because they can be modified to fit any classroom setting. It's no secret that Webquests also help students strengthen their research skills when navigating through the internet. As a future teacher, I will most definitely use Webquests because it's engaging and fun qualities and its positive effects on internet research.

http://webquest.org/

Examples:

http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/kimbrough/pilgrimlife/
http://www.education.umd.edu/Depts/EDCI/edci385/webquests3/Webquest1/webquest1.html
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/kimbrough/desert/

Google+

Though one could easily dismiss Google+ as just another social media networking site, Google+ offers many more educational uses than sites such as Facebook or Myspace do. Instructors could assign work and due dates on Google+ which would then in turn, show up on the feeds of their students' Google+ accounts. Also, the "circles" feature helps teachers and students organize their groups to avoid confusion. For example, a teacher could add circles for each of their classes. As a result, instructors could assign different rubrics and projects according to the class they belong to. The same could apply to students, as they could divide their classmates according to what classes they share and most importantly, the students could make circles for group assignments. Google+ could also act as a public forum as they could post their questions regarding an assignment or project and it would then show up on the teachers feed. Much like this class and its use of Blogger, teachers could also use Google+ to remind students of due dates, requirements and the criteria that they want met. While Google+ is most definitely a social networking site, it also acts as a classroom surrogate outside of school hours.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-with-google-plus-terry-heick

Prezi

I recently discovered a new multimedia presentation tool called Prezi, which offers a new alternative to Powerpoint presentations. It essentially takes a Powerpoint document and makes it more interactive and certainly more visual. As teachers, we have to remember that all students learn and take in information differently. While some are more adept at learning by listening to a lecture, others are more visual learners. The "Zoom" feature is one of the main selling points of Prezi and allows the presenter to zoom out of the presentation to show students the big picture and how all of the content connects. Prezi offers a more engaging twist to Powerpoint slides, as they can be bland and boring at times. The services are free for the basic service, but using a school email (Student/Teacher) enables even more features not included in the basic service. A critical feature of Prezi is that the presentations can be edited and shared by multiple users online in real time. I feel that Prezi allows teachers to teachers to use presentation slides in an engaging and fun matter and also presents content easier to students than a Powerpoint ever could.

The Prezi "Canvas"

Interactivity #5

The teacher I interviewed is a high school biology teacher in the Denville school district. The teacher has taught for about five years and teaches 9^th to 12^th grade. I was quickly surprised to learn that she knew what NETS was when I mentioned it at the start of the interview. She told me that her school was not implementing the standards at this point in time and has no time frame when it will. The teacher I interviewed actually knew a lot about the standards and their intentions. She also said that it wasn’t as popular in New Jersey. She said that schools generally just followed the state standards and would only change if the standards themselves changed. She contemplated whether the standards were more popular in other countries as she mentioned that the, ISTE who organized the standards, were an international organization. I was quite surprised to learn that she knew a lot about NETS because not a lot of local teachers were familiar with it according to some of my classmate’s posts. She knew a good amount of the standards and the ISTE organization.

                The teacher did mention that technology was heavily integrated into their school. Every classroom had at least three desktop PC’s and a Smartboard. Students were taught basic navigation through Windows operating systems and applications. Every student created a school Gmail account which promoted file sharing and messaging to complete projects. Google docs was a very important online application in which the students used for group projects too. This correlates with my experiences at Montclair State University and this class itself, as I have recently learned how useful Google Docs is. So, to some degree the school did fulfill some of the NETS standards.

                As a future educator I would speak in favor of having my school uphold the NETS standards. It encourages them to be fluent with technology and understand that it can be used as a tool to aide in research and group work. It also teaches them how to safely and responsibly use technology to avoid any legal and ethical problems. While it’s good for technology to be used as an aide for curriculum standards, I feel it should also be taught concurrently with the lesson because of its real world applications for students. After all, the NETS standards only further promotes leadership, collaboration and creativity. I would push for the standards in schools that already have a lot of technology and also use it as a reason to get more funding for schools that don’t have a lot of technology. Either, I feel there is no harm in implanting these standards.

Revised Lesson Plan