Virtual World Presentation

Today's presentation on virtual worlds was all new for me. I have never heard of "Second Life" or even the idea of virtual worlds before or how they are used in the classroom. I must admit, I have some trouble wrapping my head around the whole idea and how it would be used in the classroom. I don't really understand all of the applications of "second life" that were demonstrated. However through the article that was posted, I have came across some applications that I could see using in my classroom. In teaching science, I have a strong belief in experiential learning and hands-on activities. Sometimes it is hard to get all of these field trips or hands-on activities included into class for various reasons as well as time constraints. The idea of using "second life" for virtual field trips would be a good way to incorporate this type of program into the classroom, and also to get students engaged on the topic. The article also suggests to use a virtual world to analyze real-life phenomenon. I like the idea of studying various real-life phenomenon using a virtual world, however I would have to play around with it to figure out how this would be accomplished.

The teacher's role in the classroom using a virtual world would shift more to a scaffold or facilitator and move away from long periods of instruction. I plan to continually try to move more into this role as facilitator and have students use some discovery activities to investigate topics. Using a virtual world would be a great way to help make this shift.

It is kind of a interesting concept that students can create a Avitar however they would like and control all features about their Avitar (ie. appearance) this may be a good way to help students going through puberty or having identity/ self concept troubles express themselves.

Dr. Alec Couros Presentation

I enjoyed Alec's presentation via Elluminate this week! It's amazing the software that is out there now to keep us connected! During our last student teaching, I did a guest speaker thing through Skype with a geologiest while studying rocks and minerals. The students enjoyed it and I thought it went well, however it now that I have seen the Elluminate program, I can definitely see the limitations of using Skype compared to this program. My main concern was how students would be able to ask questions but this problem is addressed with the Elluminate program as students would be able to just type in any questions they had. I think this program would also have a place in distance education courses. When I was in high school I took a half credit calculus course through distance education which meant every Friday during lunch hour we would have a half hour conversation with an instuctor in another school and he could answer questions, assign work for next week etc. Considering the technology we have now this seems pretty ancient. The same type of thing would be set up through Elluminate and students would then be more involved and it would be more visual as they could see examples. All in all, I really enjoyed the program used for this presentation, and I think it would have a lot of goos fits in the classroom!

I liked Alec's philosphy of taking risks, becuase I think a lot of what we do online as things advance involves taking risks and potentially stepping outside your comfort level to allow you to grow and develop. Alec had some great ideas of how to use technology, his class Ning was interesting and very involved with the students. This is neat becuase it allows students to form relationships with each other on a more personal level too as they are helping each other and sharing information. Alec has some good points on the future of learning, as he says it is open and connected and that learning networks redefine how knowledge is created, distributed and controlled. This is an interesting point, to think about how technology and internet tools will change through out lifetime teaching and the endless possibilities there are using the internet! Alec had a very well prepared and interesting presentation!

PLN's

This week's presentation from John Evans on PLN's was interesting and also eye-opening. At the beginning of the presentation I didn't even know what PLN stood for, however by the end I can really see the importance and benefit of teachers creating their own PLN. The benefit of having a PLN has been emphasized, as in recent years there has been a decrease in traditional professtional development courses and there has been a greater need for teachers to complete more P.D. independently. John showed us how teachers can find different p.d opportunities online and how to use this information from online sources in the classroom. As I plan to teacher in a small rural community, it will be key to set up a PLN to make connections and create a network of support for the classroom. This will allow me to share ideas/resources, get advice etc. from other educators! Creating a teaching network will hopefully decrease some of the stresses of first year teaching!

Through my student teaching experiences, I have definitely wasted a lot of time searching for resources on Google, therefore I really like the idea of using Google Reader. Through your subscriptions, you can easily find anything you need on the sites or blogs. Through John's advice I subscribed for some neat sites including; wired science, 100 Best Blogs for Teachers, and my favorite is Free Technology for Teachers. This site has piles of current information and useful teaching tools. Using Google Reader will definitely save me a lot of time seaching the internet!

That's all for now, it was an interesting presentation!

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