Etale – Life in the Digital World

interdisciplinary musings on life and education in the digital world

Archive for category educational technology

YouTube and E-Learning

Dec 9

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We see a number of social networking technologies finding their way into education: wikis, blogs, bookmark sharing, video sharing, portals, and educational mash-ups.  This is a promising trend.  I see a wide variety of educational applications to each of these.  However, many of these tools are still in the first stage of use in e-learning.  Wikis are probably the most used, but we have not come close to tapping the educational benefits of video sharing tools like the one used by Youtube.  Take a look at the following screen capture where I labeled some of the features surrounding a typical Youtube video.

Now consider how this type of a technology can be applied in an e-learning course. Threaded discussions could have embedded videos as discussion prompts. Students could post speeches and video comments for peer feedback. In fact, threaded discussions could be a mix of text, audio, and video, depending upon the preference of the students, the educational goals, or some other important educational factor. Having such a video sharing resource would also allow instructors to easily provide brief video explanations and tutorials during the course of a semester, independent of any technical or instructional design support. I have been working on this idea for the past year and I hope to pilot something in a few e-learning courses next semester.

youtube features

Blended Learning

Dec 8

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 I have been involved with e-learning for the past ten years, staring with some pilot high school courses back in the 90s.  From that early stage I tended to think of e-learning as something distinct from face-to-face learning, critical of comparing face-to-face and e-learning, arguing that we can benefit from working form a completely different paradigm when it comes to e-learning.  What I did not think about a great deal in those early years was the idea of blended learning, a phrase that is showing up in the literature more today.  So, when I present, I often use this image to explain three phases that people often go through when thinking about e-learning.  The first phase is often trying to force face-to-face strategies into an e-learning settings.  This often involves assigned readings, papers, and video lectures.  While there is nothing wrong with these, the next phase involves realizing that the digital world is a completely different environment from the physical classroom, and that this digital world affords many new teaching strategies.  Virtual tours, webquests, interactive simulations, creative threaded discussion strategies are some of the ideas that come from this phase.  A final phase that seems to be taking place in many schools is a blending of face-to-face and e-learning.  It is a realization that the boundaries between f2f and online are not necessary.  Why not take the best of both worlds, blending them to create the best possible learning experience?  This is likely the future of e-learning in many schools.  It may be blended on a course level, with some learning activities online and others f2f.  It may also take place on a program level, with some courses f2f, some online, and some as f2f/online hybrid courses. 

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America’s Army

Jul 10

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As an early teen I was part of the first generation of gaming, cutting my teeth on text-based games like Zork and deep in the craze of Mario Brothers and Pacman. However, once I entered high school I ceased to play video games or use a computer of any sort, apart from a few days learning about some programming language called BASIC. It wasn’t until the end of my college career that I was introduced to email and the Internet and I never really got into the new world of gaming. While my first computers (Sinclair 1000 and Commodore 64) were experienced in the early 80s, I didn’t spend much time with a computer again until 1994.

So, coming back to the world of gaming in the last year has been fascinating. I did it to learn about the powerful principles of engagement in video games, inspired by authors like Gee and Prensky who plead with educators to consider what educators can learn from video games.

I also returned to the world of gaming in order to explore gaming as narrative. Behind every good game today is a story. There is a setting and a plot, and you are playing a character in that story, uncertain of how everything will unfold. The power of these stories seem to be so great that even the military has turned to them. Toward that end, if you haven’t tried it out, you must download (takes some time) the free America’s Army, the offical Army game. That’s right, the military freely distributes this professional grade game where you become acquainted with military life, learning about the weapons, basic training components, and engaging in battles.

Now here is an intriguing twist. In America’s Army, you are always an American solider. It is a multi-user game and your army battles other armies, but from the perspective of the player, you are always and American and the enemy is always the enemy. What a fascinating dynamic of this digital narrative.

ISTE Standards and Digital Storytelling

Dec 30

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The National Educational Technology Standards serve as benchmarks for state departments of instruction / boards of education in the United States. They are used to shape school curricula and inform teaching and learning in schools. On the NETS site you can find standards for students, educators, and school administrators. I spend quite a bit of time around future and current k-12 educators, and most (new and experienced) are quick to note that students often know much more about technology than they do. It is often stated in a matter of fact manner and with little anxiety or recognition that this may not be good. This troubles me, especially as I think about the importance of teaching students media ethics and media litearcy.

So, I have taken a different approach to help educators recognize the importance of developing skills with current technology. I start by sharing the NETS standards for students in grades 3-5. Here is one of the performance indicators:

“Use technology tools (e.g., multimedia authoring, presentation, Web tools, digital cameras, scanners) for individual and collaborative writing, communication, and publishing activities to create knowledge products for audiences inside and outside the classroom. (3, 4)”

This standard is meant to guide what we are teaching students in terms of technology literacy. How many of us (and the teachers in our schools) meet the standards that ISTE sets for fifth graders? By the way, by 8th grade ISTE standards note that students should be able to:

“Design, develop, publish, and present products (e.g., Web pages, videotapes) using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts to audiences inside and outside the classroom. (4, 5, 6)”

For those who value the use of state and national standards in our schools, this makes a strong case for the value of digital storytelling in the school curriculum. Not only does it help students develop communication skills, stay engaged; it also helps them come to grips with the potential for using technology to be heard, for artistic expression, and for social good. Along the way, students can also learn a great deal about the implications, ethics, and use of current/emmerging technology. Furthermore, it can be embedded in to virtualy any or all parts of the curriculum, from science to social studies, community service to language arts.