Last year I was attending a conference on adult education at Radford University when the woman who was leading this particular seminar digressed into a confession that she met her husband on eharmony and they were living happily ever after. She must have gushed for at least five minutes on how great it was that this program could weed out all the men that she had nothing in common with and only give her a selection of those who matched her profile. She said it only took six months to find him. Sometimes when I am staying in a hotel I like to watch television and I've seen the ads for this eharmony. I researched the site and others discovered that one pays a monthly fee for this service that, as I recall, was anywhere from $50 to much higher for more exclusivity. My 23 year old daughter was being "cryptic" a few weeks ago about a few dates she had set up and finally admitted to me that she was using an on-line dating service. Technological dating had come quite close to home. I am trying not to be prejudiced against this new method because it does make sense to increase your circle of possible "mates" and at the same time, increase the possibility of common ground. Yet, I am skeptical.

Now I am wondering what your experiences have been with this type of dating. Have you used it? Are there more horror stories than not? Would you use a site such as eharmony and pay for this dating service? I understand there are some free ones... how safe are these? I have done some research on line and have found a plethora of sites and blogs. Many cite the beauty of the method, some relay the horror stories, and others say it is what you make of it. What are your thoughts on techno-dating?

And how does the ease of using technology to find love fit in with an adult's education?

Promoting Education and Technology Through FIRST Lego League

Professors in Residence (PIR) is a grant-funded program at James Madison University that focuses on promoting education to underprivileged K-12 schools in a two hour radius. JMU professors who volunteer are assigned to a school and meet with students and faculty. The program was formed in 2004 as a diversity outreach program in high schools to reduce minority dropout rates (and increase diversity at JMU), but it was soon concluded that the children needed to be reached prior to high school. PIR is now in middle and high schools in Richmond, D.C., and Waynesboro.

PIR website

I travel to Waynesboro High School every week and think about how much elementary schools would benefit from the program. Unfortunately, PIR is not taking on any more schools because of budget constraints. I am in the process of working toward having the PIR Program implemented in elementary schools, especially the elementary school where my mother teaches fourth grade. It qualifies as an underprivileged school with its 62% free lunch statistic. It is located in an area with approximately an 82% Caucasian population, but the school has a 54% minority population. From my experience volunteering in the school for the past four years, the children can use all of the help that can be provided.

The goal of the PIR Program is to widen the horizons of students and show them that the sky is the limit and that they can go to college. So many students that I have worked with (at the elementary school and at the high school) do not believe that college is within their grasp. At the elementary level, they are not supported at home and as a result; do not see the importance of homework. At the high school level, they are not doing their homework to allow time to work to buy a car or to take care of family matters. Many of their parents are encouraging them to drop out of school to work to pay family bills and care for their siblings.

A growing initiative within the PIR Program is FIRST Lego League (FLL) teams at PIR partner schools. FIRST is a non-profit organization partnered with JMU and is the foundation for Lego robotics teams. Lego robots are programmed to complete missions and teams compete on four levels: a research project, robot performance assessment, robot design, and teamwork. I am new to the FLL domain, but the children really get excited over the technology. They learn to build and program their robot by themselves and their coach is there for support. Finding people to commit time to coaching is a difficult task, but the technology seems to be scaring off a lot of potential coaches.

FLL website

From your experience, teaching in K-12, going through K-12, and/or having children in K-12, do you believe that FLL will promote science and technology for students? How do you propose we help potential coaches ease their technology fears?

Also, from your experience, teaching in K-12, going through K-12, and/or having children in K-12, do you believe that working with elementary (and/or middle and high) school students to show them that “college is possible” will decrease future drop-out rates and increase their interest in education? Why do you believe so and what are your personal experiences?

VoiceThread Spreading Creativity?

Creativity is a common characteristic for educators of all experience levels. When creating lesson plans and deciding on projects, students like a variety of assignment types. A unit project can often be an assignment in which students can portray their own creativity. During a teaching workshop, one teacher used vocabulary words to express student creativity. The project had students portray their definition of a new vocabulary word. They could draw the definition, create a “wordle” of synonyms, etc. Once the students completed the assignment, the teacher used email to share the projects to students in England. The English students did the same and the students were able to compare how different students interpreted the definition differently.

In the search for a blog topic, I came across a new internet tool that could have helped the teacher communicate easier. VoiceThread is an internet tool that enables students to communicate with other students around the world. It works as a web-based global conversation. Students can “post” a presentation which could include documents, videos, and still images. Once the student has posted their presentation other users can look through the presentation and create comments in the form of audio, video, or text. These comments provide students with not only feedback from the teacher but with students from across the world.

I thought this was an interesting and creative way to spread diversity into the classroom. I encourage you to browse through the different projects on VoiceThread and comment if you find something you like! Have you used VoiceThread in your classroom? How do you feel about this form of technology? Do you see it useful in the K-12 classroom? What about in a Higher Ed situation?

Simulation Stimulation!

Learning by doing is one of the most effective ways to truly understand how some things work. Experience in any field is often required of potential employees before certain companies will hire them. While education is also often required in these circumstances, the completion of class projects is not always seen as an adequate substitution for hands-on experience. In fact, in some fields, a lack of experience in the workplace would even be considered a dangerous problem.

So, how could someone get experience without actually doing the very thing that they have no experience in? The answer is simulation. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States military have been doing it for years, and for good reason. The impact of flight simulators on pilot effectiveness is evident (http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffpiu018.pdf). Pilots can now practice flying multi-million-dollar pieces of equipment without ever having to pay the consequences for "beginner" mistakes. Some medical students are fortunate enough to have access to surgery simulation software, with which they can dissect cadavers without ever having to touch a corpse. Here is an example of some anatomy class support software provided by a current nursing student: http://auth.mhhe.com/APR/aprvideo/APRoverviewnewfeatures/APRoverviewnewfeatures.html.

What do you think? Can technology offer valuable "hands-on" experience, or is this type of practice actually just play and not "real" enough to suggest that users know what they are doing? What are some other areas of education where simulations could be beneficial? What are some areas where simulation might not be appropriate?

The Web as a Worldwide Classroom…Webcast!

This post is going to dig a little deeper into the world of webcasting, a tool many companies are using to educate their employees and consumers about their products. According to Wikipedia, “A webcast is a media file distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webcasting is ‘broadcasting’ over the Internet”(Nov 8, 2009).

Here one study discusses Reinventing the Lecture: Webcasting Made Interactive (2003).

Experience a worldwide webcast first hand, join Oprah and CNN this Monday, November 9 (9pm EST) to be a part of a worldwide webcast, find out more here.

If you had the opportunity to be a part of this worldwide webcast event, what did you think?

Please post your thoughts and feedback about using webcasting as an educational tool. Is this something that will begin to evolve in the K-12 environment? Do you view webcasting as a positive or negative addition to the K-12 classroom? How do you feel about webcast for undergraduate and graduate work? In this course (AHRD 590/ECTC 612) we have had the opportunity to experience a type of webcast by watching the recorded Elluminate Live! sessions. Please post your thoughts about your experiences with webcasting.

Blended Learning: The Best Approach?

The purpose of a study completed by the Center for Excellence and Teaching was to determine if e-learning has caused problems in higher education settings. To do so, a case study at E-College of Wales was conducted. The researchers wanted to examine two types of e-learning approaches. The first is an e-learning only approach to college. The second is a more blended combination of classes on campus as well as online. The hope was to understand what effect e-learning has on students, faculty, as well as management.

The researchers found that the first year of a student’s college career should be focused more on a blended learning approach in comparison to e-learning only. It was concluded that e-learning can be very disruptive to a student’s learning habits. Therefore, when universities are considering e-learning, they need to remember that a more blended approach should give students a better learning environment.

Another study was conducted by Bersin and Associates over a two year period that found the same results as the Center for Excellence and Teaching. They studied blended learning programs and interviewed over 30 different companies in order to find out if e-learning or blended approaches seemed to work the best. They found that the blended learning approach was the most cost effective and had the highest impact for learners.

You can find more information about the blended learning approach at the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology.

Technology as Babysitter?

Kids and Video Games

According to a national survey conducted by the National Institude on Family and the Media, 92% of children aged 2-17 play video games. A third of those have a video game in their room.These same children spend between 22-33 minutes per day playing video games. 89% of video games contain violence.

With these statistics in mind one might ask is this a good use of technology for children? Recently at a restaurant meeting with co-workers and their families I noticed a young family. They had twins aged about 3 years old. The female child was outgoing the boy was reclusive. Soon the boy became bored and did not want to interact with others at the table. The mother took out an Iphone and fired up a game application and handed to the boy. He immediately became immersed in the game. The child never interacted with another human that evening other than his mother when prodded to eat some French fries. His sister continued to charm the other adults at the table gaining strokes for being cute and curious.

Should handheld devices become a substitute for human interaction? Should they become a surrogate babysitter?

Web Accessibility Initiative

When I first started reading this blog I was a bit confused/concerned by the negativity towards online learning; the possibility of it replacing face to face classes, it is for lazy people, and the lack of “completeness” a student has with no face to face interaction. Kellie’s post this weekend (finally) mentioned some good points regarding an online curriculum and I would like to add to that. Kellie addressed the fact that sometimes a person has no choice but to get an advanced degree online due to life circumstances, for example a full time working adult, or one with family obligations to either children or an aging parent. What has not been mentioned are the college students with challenges – whether it is visual, audio, environmental or cognitive. Are these students not entitled to the same education as someone with the freedom to choose between in person or online classes? Not many campuses offer learning environments with assistive technology, putting a vision or hearing impaired student at a disadvantage. What about those that cannot physically attend a brick and mortar campus?
In 1989 – 1990, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, and in 1994 he established the World Wide Web Consortium (http://www.w3.org/). The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web; included in the standards is a commitment to promote a high degree of usability for people with disabilities.
In 1997 W3C was nominated to host a program focused on web accessibility and from that nomination the Web Accessibility Initiative (http://www.w3.org/WAI/) was born. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops its work through W3C's consensus-based process, involving different stakeholders in Web accessibility. These include industry, disability organizations, government, accessibility research organizations, and more.
WAI, in partnership with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary activities:
ensuring that core technologies of the Web support accessibility
developing guidelines for Web content, user agents, and authoring tools
facilitating development of evaluation and repair tools for accessibility
conducting education and outreach coordinating with research and development that can affect future accessibility of the Web.
As we learned in the beginning of this class, accessibility is very important to instructional design - remember our first assignment? We created an instructional support handout explaining the location/use of an accessibility or universal design feature. That assignment is the basis of the WAI. If or when you do online instructional design, I encourage you to take a few moments and look at the work the WAI has done. It is a great resource of information and a good way of keeping up with new assistive technology developments.

A few of you know this is my passion and I wanted to take a moment to share this with the rest of the class. Thanks -

Earning Degrees Online?

The norm for most universities in America seem to be, to have both online and face-to-face classes, in order for students to earn college degrees, whether they are Associates Degrees, Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s Degrees, or Doctorate Degrees. Imagine earning your Master’s Degree, without ever having to step foot on campus, except to attend the Graduation ceremonies. How would you feel about that? I know, that with our class, simply meeting online every other week through Blackboard can be challenging for some students, as technology is never guaranteed to work properly when you want it to.

George Washington University, among other universities, offers students the possibility to earn Master’s Degrees and/or Graduate Certificates through the Educational Technology Leadership Program entirely online. To learn more about this, please use the following link: GWU-Educational Technology Leadership Program. Penn State is another institution offering online degrees at both the undergraduate level and graduate level. To learn more about online degree programs offered at Penn State, please visit the website: Penn State online Degree Programs.

Earning degrees entirely online can certainly be convenient for students, especially those who have full-time jobs and live far away from campus. Earning degrees online has been a hot topic for me, as I have had discussions about the topic both at work and in the classroom. In your opinion, can student earn degrees at the Master’s level entirely online and be as qualified for positions upon graduation as students who earn Master’s Degrees in face-to-face classes? Would you prefer to earn your Master’s Degree entirely online, and never have to step foot on campus, never have to spend gas money commuting to class, or never have face-to-face interactions with your professors and peers?

Husband and Wife Team Up to Teach YOU!

Common Craft, LLC is a Seattle-based company owned by husband and wife, Lee and Sachi LeFever. As a team, these two individuals "help educators and influencers introduce complex subjects" through the use of short videos and paper cut-outs. Each of the topics they cover (e.g., blogs, investing, electing a U.S. president) is ended with "in Plain English" to denote the simplicity and usability in their content.

I was introduced to Common Craft during my senior year at JMU in my Digital Rhetoric class, which was taught by Dr. Pavel Zemliansky (WRTC). For my final project, I created my own video based from the Common Craft series. A friend of mine, who follows Lee LeFever on Twitter, sent him my video, and he saw it and thanked my friend for sharing it.

Overall, I think that the LeFevers use a very creative approach to spicing up the way to spread knowledge to others. Take a look at their Web site and browse through a few of their videos. Have you ever heard of Common Craft prior to reading this blog? What do you think of their teaching methods? How could you see yourself using this information?

Women and the web

There have been many studies that suggest that the performance of females in academic learning settings from elementary school through university settings and beyond can potentially be adversely effected by the mere presence of males. The proposed reasons are numerous and include such factors as not wanting to appear too intelligent less it might discourage a potential "mate" and the aggressive nature of male communication styles which can tend to subdue female participation. There is evidence however, that the anonymous nature of web based interaction in learning settings can free females from those stereotypical shackles and level the playing field with respect to equal participation. An interesting story follows about how the world renowned Berklee College of Music is using the latest web based instructional tools to make music education more accessible to women. Have any of you educators experienced similar phenomenon with the use of technology to empower the voiceless?

Daisy Rock Guitars and Berklee College of Music Announce New Partnership to Empower Female Musicians Apr 25, 2007 In keeping with Daisy Rock's mission to "provide females with whatever it takes to learn to play guitar and enjoy music," Daisy Rock has entered into a partnership with Berkleemusic, the continuing education division of Berklee College of Music, to provide innovative new ways for women to learn how to play guitar. Berkleemusic's online music teaching platform provides a collaborative learning environment that encourages participation and removes the social pressures and dynamics that often occur in traditional one-on-one or classroom instruction. These online guitar courses combine personal access to Berklee's guitar faculty along with interactive Flash demonstrations, Quicktime movies, downloadable Mp3 files, and tablature to produce a unique educational experience where women can freely collaborate and thrive with like-minded musicians from around the world. Notable Berkleemusic online guitar students include Cathy and Kristen Henderson, founders of the popular band Antigone Rising. Initial plans for the rollout of this partnership include the development of online guitar classes designed specifically for women, as well as special packages tailor-made for women who enroll in online courses at the school. "As a female bass player during a time when male musicians outnumbered us by nearly 20 to 1, I wished there were more resources to help me and other women like me. By partnering with Berklee, I feel like we can really help women with better instruments, better education, and better opportunities. This is a huge step toward leveling the playing field and girls ruling the world!" - Tish Ciravolo, President & Founder of Daisy Rock Guitars "We're proud to be working with Tish and Daisy Rock Guitars. With our online learning environment, student's achievements are based solely on the merits of their work. One of the major goals for our online school is to empower more women to be involved in every area throughout the entire music industry. This partnership is an excellent step towards achieving that goal." - Dave Kusek, Vice President at Berklee For more information, visit their web site at www.daisyrock.com.

iPod touch. Touching student lives in the classroom.

Apple's new iPod Touch seems to be the new craze in the classroom and for many iPod advocates. iPod Touch offers many unique features previous versions on the iPod did not. Users can access the internet where there is a wireless connection and have the world at their fingertips. iPod touch. Touching student lives in the classroom is a collection of accounts from educators explaining how the iPod touch can revolutionize a classroom. This exhibit is making “mobile learning come to life” and hopes to change the world of education.
The iPod Touch offers “application” downloads which can be purchased in some cases accessed for free. These applications are explored through this iPod Touch collection exhibit and truly show how the iPod Touch offers something special to a classroom. Features like iTouch Flashcards allow students to drill and practice content being studied in class. There are even four planetarium applications science teachers may find applicable to their classrooms. Physical Education teachers can take advantage of the personal fitness applications available by Apple. You can check out this exhibit to see more user accounts of how applications are revolutionizing their teaching here!
Adding a microphone and ear buds is simple to do on the new iPod Touch! Teachers can record podcasts for students which makes creating lessons simple!
iPod Touch is a definitely something completely new to the education scene. In Waynesboro we have 2 iPod Touch mobile labs which are constantly being signed out and used by teachers. The awesome thing is you can import data using a memory stick to the iPod Touch so students can have your lesson in the palm of their hands. I use them in my room with various free education applications that the students can use independently, like handwriting applications and basic number recognition. Watch this YouTube video of a student explaining a project he has been working on in the classroom.
Do you think the iPod Touch is something to consider having in a classroom? Does it offer something new that no other technology can? Is the iPod Touch going to make a difference on learning? These are all questions to consider before purchasing for your own classroom and here for our discussion!

BYOL

Bring Your Own Laptop

Recently I read about a conference that caught my attention and curiosity – BYOL elearning 2009. (http://elearning.byol.com/). Bring your own laptop (BYOL) is a concept created by Rapid Intake Conferences based in Provo, Utah. Rapid Intake Conferences (http://www.rapidintake.com/) has designed a unique approach to technology training conferences in that all attendees will have hands on experience in every session attended. Unfortunately this is taking place next week, but there will be more next year, and hopefully I can attend.

"The idea behind this new line of conferences is simple," says Isaac Hess,
Director of Conferences and Events for Rapid Intake. "Every session in these
conferences will have a hands-on experience. And when I say every session, I
mean every session. These will be the only conferences of their kind in the
entire industry. No one else is doing this, and we're really excited."
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS63455+19-May-2009+PRN20090519

For me, I find this idea exciting and helpful for my learning style. I am definitely a kinetic and visual learner; I tend to drift off during an audio lesson (no offense to my professors – it comes from a very short attention span!), which makes a lot of my learning via research and online tutorials. The training sessions I lead are all hands on – each student has their own computer and several have commented it is much easier to learn and do at the same time, rather than read/listen and do later. If this is an effective training style in a classroom, why not in a conference setting? Not only does it give the attendees a chance to immediately practice what they have been taught, but it gives the presenters a chance to interact with the participants.

Do you think you would benefit from this type of conference, or would having a laptop in front of you be too much of a temptation and pull your attention away from the presenter? Would you have the strength to keep the laptop closed until it was time to play?

How Far Should Gaming Go?

The concept of “Gaming” has continuously evolved since the 1980’s with the advent of Pac Man and then Mario Brothers. Today, you will see Instructional Designers rushing to the drawing board to create “Educational Games” that will not only be cost effective, but will serve their purpose in the classroom.

I have some valid concerns about the long-term effectiveness of the use of “Educational Games” relative to the addictive nature of some people in “Gaming” environments. Most of us enjoy playing games on a social level, but some who have additive natures seem to immerse themselves into their “Gaming” world especially when it comes to “virtual” gaming. I believe that it is possible for some students to lose site of the actual learning goals of a game and become obsessive about conquering the game itself.

I think that there is a need for strong assessment of gaming activities used in learning environments to ensure that the specified learning goals are accomplished.

The onset of emerging trends in “Gaming” and “Social Media” are flooding in with the “Digital Age.” We, as educators, must take care to be wary of the Psychological and Social aspects of our student’s well-being in creating distinctive learning tools that can be properly assessed for effectiveness.

Do you think “Gaming” should be an exclusive tool for learning or should it remain as a supplement to reinforce learning?

Moreno-Ger, P., Burgos, D., & Torrente, J. (2009). Digital Games in eLearning Environments:

Current Uses and Emerging Trends. Simulation & Gaming, 40(5), 669-687.

http://search.ebscohost.com, doi:10.1177/1046878109340294

Chin, J., Dukes, R., & Gamson, W. (2009). Assessment in Simulation and Gaming: A Review of

the Last 40 Years. Simulation & Gaming, 40(4). 553-568. http://search.ebscohost.com, doi:

101177/1046878109332955

The Quest to Integrate New Technologies and Education

In past weeks we have discussed whether online classes should replace traditional face to face classes. The more common view seems to be that online classes should complement and enrich classes without completely replacing traditional face to face interaction and instruction. As new teaching methods are developed around new technologies, face to face interaction could be modeled to complement the instruction around new technologies instead of the other way around.

In a recent article, The Economist talks about Quest to Learn, a new school experimenting in this direction. Quest to Learn promotes what they call “gaming literacy” defined as “the play, analysis, and creation of games, as a foundation for learning innovation, and change in the 21^st century.” Instead of having usual classes like math, history and English, the day is divided into “domains”. One domain, for example, is called The Way Things Work. There, the students play that they inhabit the minds of scientist and thus learn about math and science.

But even though most of the instruction is done through computers, students do have some face to face interaction, however not in the traditional way. The day includes activities of “human simulation”, where students take the roles of the characters in their computer games. This idea is interesting, since it speaks of “translating digital into non-digital”, as opposed to a traditional classroom with some online instruction, where the non-digital is translated into digital.

The experiment of Quest to Learn gives us much to think about, not only in terms of the dichotomy of the digital replacing the non-digital, but instead of how the new technologies can model the development of new methodologies of education. Do you imagine education can be revolutionized following the concept of “gaming literacy”? What do you imagine?

Expanding School with Educational Technology

President Obama is recommending that American students spend more time in school - by expanding school into the traditional summer break of by having longer school days. Listen to President Obama's own words in this CBS video recording:


Arne Duncan, the United States Secretary of Education favors a longer school year too. Both Obama and Duncan argue that the US shorter school year puts our future generations "at a competitive disadvantage," because countries such as China, India, and Japan have their students in school more.

The idea for longer school days isn't new in the US, but is beginning to gain attention with Obama's focus. In 2005, The Boston Globe reported that at least 20 school districts were moving forward with plans to extend the school days. Yesterday, ABC's The View debated the idea. Proponents said that their children are "bored" when school is not in session; opponents argued "parents don't have enough time to hang with their kids now." You can watch the full 3 1/2 minute debate on The View's website:


I feel our current educational schedule of an 180-day, 6-hour school year schedule is so ingrained in our culture that it will be challenging for people to think of compromising alternatives of either extreme to de-polarize the issue. However, when our current educational schedule was formed, our technology was not.

Our class content, including educational technology and universal learning design, is challenging me to think of new ways to conceptualize an educational schedule that will allow more flexibility for teachers and families that engage our children more throughout the year. I think educational technology specialists could be utilized to develop flexible learning to happen at home or in the school, which could address concerns on both sides of the issue. Everyone has valid points, and everyone has an invested interest. At this time my thoughts aren't bounded by harsh realities we face. I'm pretend that education is a higher priority with our local and national funding; the recession isn't an issue; and we reach a consensus to engage our children in education more throughout the year. If you acknowledge that everyone has valid points, and you don't let "harsh realities" limit your thoughts - how do you imagine we could expand the school year with educational technology?

A New Found Appreciation!

Dr. Wilcox’s session experienced firsthand last week of what the online classroom can do with a technical issue. I personally have never used Elluminate and have only one previous experience with an online class, which made me never ever want to sign up for another one again. Due to the fact that I felt like a got nothing out of the experience, I didn’t learn much at all because I wasn’t be taught, and in the end I thought it was a waste of money.

The first week experiencing Elluminate did in some ways change my mind set towards online classes. Soon thereafter, experiencing this past week’s session I have come to a realization that there is nothing compared to being in the actual classroom. The interaction alone is what makes up part of the classroom experience for me. Now with the Elluminate session you can interact with one another but it’s hard when you can’t see your classmates or professor or have to wait your turn to use the mic. I like the fact that I am able to collaborate with my peers during class just in case I miss something or wasn’t following along exactly with the professor. Actually being in the classroom is so crucial, especially when you are having an issue where there is a need for assistance. I don’t ever really think I have ever really appreciated my experience in the classroom until Tuesday night when I found myself trying to figure out Sumo Paint having the worst time. I can say for the first time I was wishing (and a little bit of praying) to be in the classroom.

I know that Kelly talked about face to face vs. online class but I just wanted to get your experiences that you may have had with a online class, either positive or negative and some suggestions that you think will enhance the overall online experience.