Favorite Technology Tool

Why I chose Digital Storytelling

Only one of the greatest technology tools to ever hit classrooms

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      The picture above says it all. Digital stories allow you to be creative, and what is more fun than being creative? Through this semester in ECI, we have learned and talked about many tools that can be used in our classrooms. One that stuck out to me and that I can see myself using in my classroom is Digital Storytelling. Digital Storytelling is using a video to tell a story, whether that is a story that you made up or a true story. It brings the story to life, letting you add characters, and especially voice to the story, which can make the story much more engaging and entertaining. In my opinion, Digital Storytelling can provide teachers with a fun, educational teaching tool that can provide life to their lessons. Digital Storytelling fits into my concept of a 21st century classroom because in the future, I see students writing less papers and creating more digital stories because they are more engaging and with the technology takeover, why not use it?

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      This tool of Digital Storytelling can provide the students with many opportunities and advantages, such creativity, voice, engagement, and fun (which never hurt anybody!). Digital Storytelling can also provide teachers with opportunities, such as enhancing current lessons and making those concepts that may be confusing a little bit more understandable. This is all explained more at this website, https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3928/15236841078_313571e894_h.jpg, where Dr. Robin goes into more detail about digital storytelling for teachers and students.

      There are many reasons why Digital Storytelling is my favorite tool that we have talked about and experimented with in our class. For one, I love that it incorporates a ton of tools into one. With digital storytelling, you have to be comfortable with movie maker or iMovie, in order to create the video. You have to be comfortable with researching and finding pictures online. For some cases, like we did in ECI, you can use StoryBoardThat, which is another Web 2.0 tool, to outline your story and figure out what you are going to create your story about. With all of this being said. it definitely is neat to see how Digital Storytelling links all of these tools into one. 

      Another reason why I prefer Digital Storytelling is that they aren't hard to make. It doesn't take a genius to create a digital story, it just takes practice and determination. In the following video, second and third grade classes learned about digital stories and how to create their own. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUZXBc6yRhU

      I plan on teaching Kindergarten or First Grade after graduating. I do think it would be challenging for these grade levels to create their own digital story by themselves. It would be a good idea for them to work as a group and maybe work and collaborate to create a digital story. However for these grade levels, I would make my own digital stories or find stories to show to my students. This would keep the students engaged and more willing to pay attention and learn. If I were to teach older grade levels, such as third, fourth, or fifth grade, I would give them an assignment to create their own digital story. The video below is an example of what I would be looking for a first grade student.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tau-SmU2xRs

Gaming In Education

Gaming in Education

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Wii-Console.png

   Gaming in education you say? You normally don't associate video games with education. When you think video games, you think playing them at your house, killing people in Warcraft or Call of Duty. You don't think playing them in classroom, having an educational purpose. However, some educators are saying things may change and soon educational video games will be used in classrooms all over. According to the Scientific American, "Video games are playing an increasing role in school curricula as teachers seek to deliver core lessons such as math and reading—not to mention new skills such as computer programming—in a format that holds their students’ interests. If you go to their website, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-video-games-are-the-future-of-education/, you will find more on video games and how they can serve a purpose in the classroom.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Leapster_1.jpg

   To me, when I first heard about video games being played in the classroom, it actually made me laugh a little. Before this class and discussing video games and their purpose, I never thought they could be used in the classroom; however, now, I do see the many purposes they can serve in the classroom and how they can be beneficial. Provided below is a list of 5 ways that I see how video games would be beneficial in education and why I would use them in my classroom:
 1) They can be engaging- Video games allow the student to be more engaged in the lesson and keep the student focused.
 2) They can be project-based learning- Video games fit in with the 21st century skills and work with teachers to bring more technology in the classroom.
 3) They can let the students see that learning is fun- Students would like to play a video game than listen to a lecture or go through a powerpoint. If the students see that they can play games while learning at the same time, they will then think that learning can be fun and doesn't always have to be so boring.
 4) They can build basic skills that children need- There are plenty of games out there that can work with students skills, such as hand-eye coordination, memory, problem-solving, etc.
 5) They can be rewarding- Video games often reward the students, even if they may fail, and doing this can let the students know what they are doing matters and will then make the student even more motivated to learn.
The video below provides a deeper look into video games in the classroom and how they can be beneficial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA7KuOyH3PQ

   There are many ways to use games in the classroom. I didn't mention earlier but video games are a good way for students to work on their communication and collaboration skills. If you give students a video game and put them on teams, then they will have to find a way to work together and figure out how to solve the game. Video games don't necessarily have to be on systems such as the Wii, Xbox, or Playstation but can be on the computer or iPad. This means that educational games on the Internet or iPad apps can also serve the purpose of a video game. There are many games out there on the Internet that can be used in the classroom to engage and teach the students that learning can be fun. iPad apps are a great tool for elementary school kids because the iPad is an easy tool for them to use but also a way for them to play games and learn at the same time. For older kids, such as middle schoolers and high schoolers, you could use the iPad in these classrooms as well but instead let them go on a scavenger hunt on the iPad, having to use Safari or other apps to complete the scavenger hunt. There are many ways to use games in the classroom and the way that this will get done in a positive and beneficial aspect is by having CREATIVITY! 

   Creativity is key when it comes to using games in the classroom and one example of that is from Shawn Cornally, who found use of video games in his STEM classroom by being creative (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-games-in-STEM-classroom-shawn-cornally). Shawn says that he saw it was obvious that games were grasping students attentions so he wanted to find a way to use them in his classroom to grasp his students attention. He used the game Minecraft to talk about physics and different aspects of physics, crazy right? There are so many connections out there in video games and we have to be creative to find those. Another teacher who has found a way to use video games in their classroom is Mr. Pai, who brought Nintendo DS' into his classroom to play English and Math games. He used the game Brain Age, which works with students to increase different areas of their brains, english and math skills included. He did this in hopes to increase the reading level of his 3rd grade students and it worked. He said that after bringing the video games into the classroom, his students went from a 3rd grade reading level to 4th grade in just eighteen weeks (http://blog.tophat.com/4-ways-to-gamify-learning-in-your-classroom/).

Digital Storytelling

Bringing the story to LIFE!

    What a better way to start off my post than to post a digital video about digital storytelling. The video gives a perfect summary of what digital storytelling is and what purpose it serves. Digital storytelling is the use of video to tell a story, whether that be a story you made up or it be a true story. Digital storytelling can bring a lesson to life and should be used in the classrooms. In this link. http://digitalliteracyintheclassroom.pbworks.com/f/Educ-Uses-DS.pdf, it provides an overview of digital storytelling and gives a ton of reasons why digital storytelling should be used in the classroom.

    Personally, I would use digital storytelling in my classroom for 4 reasons: 

             1) It keeps the students engaged. Whenever a video is being shown, students are more likely to listen to the video then to listen to the teacher telling that same story.

             2) It integrates technology in the classroom. All talk in education today is about how we can better integrate technology in the classroom and what better way than by digital storytelling. 

             3) It can become project-based learning. I know throughout high school I would have LOVED for my teachers to give me videos to create and tell my story instead of writing papers about it. 3 minutes videos that are done correctly can tell just as much story as a 5 page paper can.

             4) It is a reflection for deep-learning. Creating videos that tell a story allow for students to reflect what they are learning on. For example, if you were in a 4th grade classroom and were talking about North Carolina, then you could have students create a 2-3 min video to reflect on what they've learned. This gives the teacher an idea of how much the students learned and if they truly understand what they have been talking about. 

WHATS YOUR DIGITAL STORY? 

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I think digital storytelling is an effective teaching tool and can better understands a child learning of a topic. One of the coolest things that I like about it is the fact that teachers OR students can be the ones creating the videos. Teachers can use them to explain and elaborate on their teaching. Students can use them to show they understand the lesson or can create videos with a story they made up instead of writing a boring paper. 

    Digital storytelling could be used really in any classroom, for any subject.For example, in math, you could use it in an elementary school to explain the difference in shapes and what makes shapes different by having the shapes come to life and talk. In history, you could make a video about the presidents and have them describing their differences as well. This websites has sample videos for each subject that you could watch and figure out just how you could use digital storytelling for the subject that you teach  >> http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/example_stories.cfm?otherid=all

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8442/7840691908_c71d8ffb56_b.jpg

    

    Overall, Digtial Storytelling can be a fun and engaging way to bring a story to life and capture the attention of your students. I honestly believe digital storytelling could be a way to reduce the amount of papers written and increase the amount of participation if papers are reduced. It also provides integration of technology, which is something we as teachers should LOVE!

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The Use of Video in Education

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    I can remember whenever I was in elementary school and would see the TV cart come rolling in and get so excited for it because I knew that could only mean one thing: MOVIE DAY! Kids do get excited to watch movies/videos in class. The real dilemma with it becomes the fact of kids sleeping or not paying attention to the video. My teachers always found ways around this, whether that was worksheets to go along with it or have a pop quiz after. Video in education and the classroom can actually serve a purpose if they are educational and can be used to teach your children something. Videos also provide the visual and auditory learners to both retain the information in the ways they best learn.

    As a teacher, I personally see myself using video in my classroom to further explain things and just to give life to the lesson. I think the videos in my classroom will be used to further explain a topic that I describe or maybe even explain it from a different level. In my classroom, I think the biggest role videos will play will be sort of like an assistant and as an assertive tool. It's role will be simple: help me out by assisting me by further explaining things and being assertive by giving life to the lesson and making the kids want to pay more attention. I mean, lets be honest, I would rather watch an educational 5 minute video than listen to a teacher lecture for 5 mins. For more ways to use video in the classroom, follow this link http://blogs.techsmith.com/for-educators/ten-ways-to-use-video-in-the-classroom/

    In order to use videos effectively in my classroom, preparation will be involved. There is no way to use video unless you yourself understand what is going on and know how to incorporate it into your lesson. For example, if you wanted to teach your kids the alphabet and make sure they have the hang of it, you could incorporate a comical video, like the one featured below, to truly capture the children's attention and wrap their heads around the alphabet. This video would be an example of a video that was already made but would serve the right purpose.

   In my classroom, I think it would be hard to have students create their own videos at such a young age, seeing as I want to teach Kindergarten. I do think that the further down the line you get in elementary school, the more the students would be able to create videos. For example, 4th and 5th graders would be able to make their own videos, maybe about bullying, which is what this elementary student did in this example video.

    

    One idea I have for using videos in a Kindergarten classroom would maybe creating a video as a class together. One thing you could do would allow the students to find images online that they would want to use in a video if they were to create one and then you could pile all the images together and create a classroom video. For example, you could tell the students to find pictures of the different stages of plant growth and put them together as a class and make a class video. This would allow the students to have some part of the video making process, sort of getting their foot in the door. Baby steps at its finest!

Tablets or Laptops?

The decision is yours..

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VS.

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    Tablets are the new "thing". In classrooms today, more and more teachers are beginning to use tablets instead of laptops. Many teachers see them as having more advantages for usage and think they soon will replace laptops. In an article on Scholastic, two educators are going head to head on whether iPads or laptops in the classroom are better (http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3757847). Gary Stager, who is all for laptops, admits that he has an iPad at home that he enjoys watching tv on, but he says for what is needed to be done in the classroom, a laptop is a must. He says unfortunately, "the iPad can't do the things I most value in a computer for learners". He thinks does admit that tablets could have the potential to take over classrooms but at the moment, he doesn't think they should. "Tablets could have all the functionality of a laptop, but they don't. Until they do, I recommend schools invest in laptops for student use".

   On the other hand, Dan Brenner believes tablets are the way to go. He also admits, like Stager, that he has both a laptop and a tablet and uses both on different occasions. However, Brenner says when it comes to a tool for the classroom, "it (laptop) pales in comparison with the tablet". He says the school wanted to give out tablets to their students so they could provide students with a device that was easily portable, a device that would allow them to communicate with their teachers/other students easily, allow students to be creators of their work and use their imagination, and in the end, create a "paperless" environment. Brenner says with the tablet, all of these goals were met. Brenner knows that laptops can be used in the classroom but with all going on, "the iPad can do just about anything and at a weight and size that can't be matched by any laptop of similar cost". 

   In the end, both men have excellent points when it comes to the laptop versus tablet debate. If I had to choose which one I would personally use in my classroom, I would pick tablets. For teaching elementary school kids, I definitely would say that tablets have an advantage over laptops. Tablets provide younger kids the opportunity to use their imagination and creation with the many different apps that are available. Jeffrey Grove Elementary Schools in Raleigh, NC has a link on their website that provides teachers and parents with educational apps for different subjects that their students can use (http://www.jeffreysgrovees.net/ipad-apps-for-education.html). Tablets can be used in elementary schools maybe a little more than older grades because I feel like the apps that are out there are more based towards younger kids. Also, elementary school kids are not going to need laptops because they aren't going to be writing papers or making a PowerPoint. Mostly everything a kid in elementary school needs is on a tablet. 

This video provides a little more insight on just how efficient a tablet can be. 

   

   I definitely would have tablets in my classroom. I'm not saying I won't have computers around in the classroom but for teaching, I would definitely incorporate tablets into my lesson plans. To me, a kindergartner or first grader would have a better understanding of how to use a tablet than a laptop. They would be easier for them to carry around and their parents, if they needed to buy it, wouldn't have to spend as much money then if they were buying a laptop. Tablets can be used as a leeway into technology for younger kids in elementary schools and that is why I would use them over laptops in my classroom. In the end, the decision is yours... Laptops... or Tablets...

Wikipedia Assignment:

   For the Wikipedia assignment that we had to do, I edited my high school page, Eugene Ashley High School (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Ashley_High_School). For this assignment, we also had to create a page of our own and write a blog about yourself. To do this, we had to create a user name, and mine was Tldavi10. When I think about this assignment, it really doesn't bother me. I think it is crazy that you can edit the page at your own free will. I do think this is a negative and positive thing. It is negative because people can most whatever they want on there and it is positive because it can teach a lesson. No one edited my work, which I guess is a good thing. I wouldn't want anyone editing my page, which is ironic because we edited someone else's page. After this assignment is over, I don't think I will regularly stay up to date with my page I edited/created. I don't think the page I edited had been checked in over two years so I don't think they will ever look on there and notice any changes, so what is the point of me continuing to check it. I won't keep up with the page I created because there really isn't anything special about it. I don't think I will really edit any more pages in the future because I see no point, unless I was trying to show someone that you really can edit Wikipedia and put whatever you want to on there. I don't think I would use Wikipedia in my classroom unless it was to teach my kids that you can really edit any page you want. It would teach them that you have to be careful of what websites you are using, especially Wikipedia, because you don't know how reliable or accurate the information is. 

   

PLN

PLN

#getconnected.

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What exactly is a PLN you ask? PLN stands for a personal learning network, which consists of other educators, acquaintances, friends, strangers, and yourself who exchange information and knowledge. According to Hadley Ferguson, who wrote the Join the Flock article we read for class, a personal learning network is a community of individuals around the world. The cool thing about a PLN is that sometimes you all start off as strangers, but soon you all become acquaintances, all wanting one common goal: wanting to collaborate and communicate to make education the best it can be. Teachers need PLN's to be there for them when they have education questions, need advice on how to use something, or just want further knowledge on a subject. Now I know you're thinking that you can do that with people around you but the cool thing about a PLN is that it connects you with people all around the world, which may bring different opinions and knowledge. The video below sums up PLN's in 3 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVsapdwo50M

When talking about integrating Twitter into the classroom, it can become a touchy subject. Some people think that bringing Twitter in the class will become a distraction. Some people think that bringing Twitter in the class will benefit the kids and allow them to reach far places. In my opinion, Twitter is needed in the classroom. No matter what age the child is, Twitter is a tool used for knowledge and gaining access to other classrooms in the world. Twitter can become an outreach tool, allowing the kids to chat with other kids that are in a different state or county. It can be a tool that teaches kids about other cultures, it can become a tool that allows for collaboration after school hours, and even can be a notification tool to update students and parents on upcoming events, homework assignments, deadlines,etc. I found this link really helpful and it provides 50 ways to use Twitter in the classroom, half of which I would have never thought about doing: 

http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Twitter_Badge_1.png

Throughout high school, not many of my teachers used Twitter in the classroom. Some of my teachers had personal accounts but not many had professional accounts that they used for their classroom. However, in the chat I participated in, I saw quite a few teachers who used Twitter for professional purposes. The Twitter chat that I participated in was the #21stedchat on Sunday night. It was on the topic creation vs consumption in the classroom. I thought it was so awesome to see all of the different people coming in, participating in the Twitter chat, some of which were from North Carolina, to California, to Ohio. My experience during the Twitter chat was actually really awesome. It was so neat to get involved in the chat and see what everyone had to say. I got a lot of new followers, which was really cool because it always a good thing to have a connection with educators and people that are already in the business.This chat actually wasn't too hard to because there were probably a total of like 15 people in the chat, so it really wasn't all that complicated. There was a woman who was in charge of it, who would ask questions and then wait for all of us to respond. She then would reply to some peoples responses. 

Overall, I do think I would use Twitter as a teacher. I think that no matter what the age group or grade you are teaching, using Twitter in the classroom can be educational and beneficial to your students. Sharon Davidson, a Kindergarten teacher from Vermont, uses technology, especially Twitter in her classroom, to connect her students and their minds to other students around the country (http://kidblog.org/home/kidblog-in-action-classroom-qa-with-kindergarten-teacher-sharon-davison/.) I would definitely do what Sharon does but also use it for other ways, Like the video we watched in class, it would be neat to at the end of the day to have the kids talk about what we learned in class and tweet about that as a whole. This is refreshing in the kids minds what we talked about and also giving parents the opportunity to look at the class Twitter page and see what their kids learned about in class that day. I think technology as a whole can connect your PLN, however I feel that if you want to reach those who are not in the same state as you or even country as you, Twitter is the way to go.

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http://digitalnativeorimmigrant1.blogspot.com/

Digital Immigrant or Native?

With the increase of technology on a day to day basis,

 we are all digital immigrants.

http://processedlives.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/digital-natives.png

After doing some research and reading the articles that we were assigned for class, I do not believe in "digital natives". I'm not saying that digital natives do not exist; however I am saying that I believe in today's society, age doesn't matter, meaning I agree with the term "digital immigrant". I do not think that age has anything to do with technology. So many times you hear that the younger you are, the more advanced you are at technology. To me, that isn't the case. Sure a 2 year old can hold an iPad and play games but I know plenty of older people above the age of 60 who have iPhones and can do everything that is necessary on there

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.

This past Thursday, in our ECI 201 debate, I was on the digital immigrant side. Being on this side meant that I believed that today's generation is not better equipped at using technology than older generations. After going back in forth in the debate, I can say that I even further my confidence in digital immigrants existing. I read this article by Jeff DeGraff and really like what he said about digital immigrants and digital natives, " The paradox here is that digital immigrants, for the most part, invented the complex technologies and systems that digital natives use fluently -- the Internet, microchips and the ubiquitous cloud comes to mind. In this way, digital natives and digital immigrants must grow to work together and learn from each other."He agrees that digital immigrants do exist and are necessary in life. In reality, this is the underlying truth. Without digital immigrants, there would be no digital natives. 

http://www.mediative.com/sites/default/files/digital_natives_and_digital_immigrants_0.jpg?1345744092

A big issue that we had in our debate that was brought up a lot was how in the end, digital natives are better at using technology than older generations. However, what they failed to realize that it all has to do with motivation and effort. Of course people generalize older generations as not being able to use the technology because it is too advanced, It doesn't mean that they don't know how to use it. It is because they haven't put any effort into it. The older people that you see using advanced technology are those people who put effort into learning about the technology and asked questions. A comment that was made during the debate was that we are all born with the skill to use technology. I can beg to differ about that because I am no expert on technology. Sure I know how to use it but that is because I practiced and looked things up/asked someone if I was confused. None of us are born into this world being experts on technology. No matter what, we all start as immigrants because in the beginning, we are all clueless. 

I learned a LOT about digital natives and digital immigrants. Before this class, I really had never heard people use those terms before so it was a whole new learning experience for me. I did learn that a lot of people today do think digital natives exist and not many people agree with the digital immigrants term. In the end, digital immigrants are all around. Personally I am no digital native because I know a ton of people who are older than me and better at using technology, aka my ECI 201 professor and my dad.

Other articles I read about digital natives vs. digital immigrants:

•  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/april-rudin/life-on-a-social-media-is_b_4600429.html
• http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/do-the-right-thing/201207/digital-native-vs-digital-immigrant-which-are-you