This weeks blog topic was Virtual Classrooms. Virtual classrooms are something that I am very familiar with as I have taken six or more virtual classes since I started at Florida Gulf Coast University. I personally like to take virtual classes because I work full time in addition to attending full time courses in college. Virtual classes allow me the flexibility to be able to schedule both work and school.
Virtual classrooms utilize many different tools in the teaching process including, Powerpoint slides, multiple-choice surveys, websites, live applications such as word and excel, whiteboard and electronic flip charts, and annotation tools with arrows, bullets, and so forth. The number of participants or learners varies depending on prerequisites, level of content, blending with other modalities, and so forth. Although, the technology permits hundreds of people to participate in a single event, the average number of participants in virtual classrooms tend to be about twenty-five people. Handouts, typically in electronic form, are made available to participants prior to the event.
As I said before, I think that virtual classrooms are a great tool for teaching that many people can benefit from. Virtual classrooms are good for distance learners as well as students that dont have a flexible schedule. Say you are a mother raising your children and you decide to go back to college but you dont have tons of time to spend on campus, virtual classrooms would be a great tool for you. My particular situation is that I work full time as well as take a full load of courses and my on campus availability isn't always flexible so I greatly benefit from virtual classes.
Im not so sure that I would use virutal classrooms in my teaching career but only because I am teaching lower grades and my degree will only be for kindergarten through third grade. However, if I was going to be teaching higher grades I would definatly utilize virtual classrooms.
Link to article: http://www.learningcircuits.org/2003/oct2003/maiden.htm
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Streaming Video
This weeks blog topic was streaming video. Before reading this article I honestly had never even heard of streaming video before. It is something i have seen in the past but never actually knew it was classified as "streaming video". I read a few articles before I found one that made me realize exactly what it was and just how beneficial streaming video can be in the classroom. Streaming video enables the real time, or on-demand distribution of audio, video and multimedia on the internet. Streaming media is the simultaneous transfer of digital media including video, voice, and data, so that it is received as a continuous real-time stream.
Streaming video can be beneficial to both educators and learners. Teachers can use it to seperate curriculum areas by grade level and subject, For example, life science and biology, chemistry, language arts and reading, Earth and space science, social studies, health and prevention, physical science, mathematics, and general science. Streaming video is great for teachers because it gives them home access for lesson planning. Students benefit from streaming video because, the dynamic content of video streaming catches students' attention, helping to keep them focused on the lesson, content is always current and up to date, and videos are always available from any internet-enabled computer.
After reading this article I am very interested in streaming video and in using it in the classroom. I believe that I would benefit greatly from it in my teaching career and I will definatly consider using it someday. I think that it is something that both students and teachers benefit from. I dont think that I would add anything else to this article because it was the best out of all articles that I read on streaming video.
Link to article: http://www.ripbs.org/Education/video_streaming.html
Streaming video can be beneficial to both educators and learners. Teachers can use it to seperate curriculum areas by grade level and subject, For example, life science and biology, chemistry, language arts and reading, Earth and space science, social studies, health and prevention, physical science, mathematics, and general science. Streaming video is great for teachers because it gives them home access for lesson planning. Students benefit from streaming video because, the dynamic content of video streaming catches students' attention, helping to keep them focused on the lesson, content is always current and up to date, and videos are always available from any internet-enabled computer.
After reading this article I am very interested in streaming video and in using it in the classroom. I believe that I would benefit greatly from it in my teaching career and I will definatly consider using it someday. I think that it is something that both students and teachers benefit from. I dont think that I would add anything else to this article because it was the best out of all articles that I read on streaming video.
Link to article: http://www.ripbs.org/Education/video_streaming.html
Monday, March 17, 2008
Podcasting
The article I read this week was on podcasting. The term podcasting is dervied from the apple ipod and is related to ipods and mp3 players however they are not essential to it. Podcasting is a new type of online media delivery. It allows you to create your own online talk show or radio program. According to the article that I read, there are five steps to podcasting. The first step is to record your material, second you have to edit the podcast, third you have to compress the file, fourth you have to tag and package the file, and your fifth and last step is to publish and syndicate your podcast. After all of these steps your result is your own personal radio talk show that you may broadcast over the internet. Podcasting is a great tool for doing interviews. Some tools needed to create a podcast are; a laptop, microphone, portable recorder, and a headset. The article also mentioned that podcasting is completely free to do. I definatly found the article very interesting because until now I really didn't know anything about podcasts. I figured that the had something to do with the apple ipod but I didnt know exactly what and how much they were related to it. I think that it would be very interesting to create my own podcast and I would definatly consider using podcasting someday in my teaching career.
I think that podcasting would be a very useful tool for both educators and learners. Podcasting is very affordable for educators seeming that its free. I think that it would be useful for teachers in that they could create some type of a radio show for their students to listen to as part of an assignment. This could create yet another interesting and new way for students to learn. I think that this form of technology would be useful for students in that it would keep them interested in a new way of learning and also it would allow them to create their own radio show and do either an interview or and informational talk show as an assignment.
I found the article very informative and I really wouldnt change anything about it. It covered in depth all of the steps to creating a podcast as well as all of the materials used in podcasting. All in all, it was a very informative article.
Link to article: http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/07/20/WhatIsPodcasting.html
I think that podcasting would be a very useful tool for both educators and learners. Podcasting is very affordable for educators seeming that its free. I think that it would be useful for teachers in that they could create some type of a radio show for their students to listen to as part of an assignment. This could create yet another interesting and new way for students to learn. I think that this form of technology would be useful for students in that it would keep them interested in a new way of learning and also it would allow them to create their own radio show and do either an interview or and informational talk show as an assignment.
I found the article very informative and I really wouldnt change anything about it. It covered in depth all of the steps to creating a podcast as well as all of the materials used in podcasting. All in all, it was a very informative article.
Link to article: http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/07/20/WhatIsPodcasting.html
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