“It’s a computer in a pen!”

Did you know there is a smart pen that can record what you write and hear? It can even read notes aloud and play back audio recordings. Here’s how it works: you just write with your Livescribe pen on special notepads like a normal pen. It has ink and the notes looks like regular notes except this pen also gives the option of recording a conversations while you write. These notepads have minuscule dots on them that a camera on the pen reads and keeps track of where the pen goes on the paper. You can connect your pen to your computer via a USB port, then view your notes and listen to your recordings using the software that comes with the pen. Through this software it is possible to combine different notes into one record, thus customizing notes. It becomes very easy to search for key words in notes with the software. Notes can even be shared through email, Google docs, Facebook or Evernote. "Pencasts" can also be viewed using the “Livescribe Desktop” software. Pencasts are interactive notes and recordings played back on a computer. And of course, like every other smart technology out there, you can purchase apps for the smart pen. Wikipedia, language translation, calculator, a piano app and a poker game are some of the apps that can be downloaded onto the pen. A very useful app is the one that transcribes handwritten notes into typed notes.

This pen is great for both audio and visual learners. Students can more accurately capture lectures and class discussions by taking their own notes and recording the discussion at the same time. If a student has ADD this could help organize their notes. This would especially help if an ADD student is technology focused but cannot bring a computer to class to take notes with because computers offer too many distractions. Important information can be easily recalled by drawing a star and clicking on it later as well.

Would you ever use one of these smart pens? Is this a tool that schools should look into purchasing for their students? Or just for the students with specials needs, like learning disorders?

See the company’s website for more info: http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/?gclid=CJarmePvrKwCFcjb4Aod9D_DHg

This is a NY Times review of the Livescribe Echo pen: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/a-college-student-reviews-a-smartpen/

Second Life in Education

Second Life is a free online virtual world that was created by Linden Lab in 2003. It is the leading 3D virtual world filled with user-created content and interactive experiences. In Second Life, “residents” can interact with other residents, explore various locations around the world, enjoy the arts, experience the sciences, and can create communities in which to learn and live virtually. Most important, however, is Second Life’s involvement in education.

Second Life combats the economic pressures from budget cuts and rising costs of education by offering a virtual classroom setting. Hundreds of colleges and institutions are including virtual learning components into their curriculum. Some are even hosting entire courses in virtual worlds like Second Life. Students can work together, the space is always available, and the geographic location is not a limiting factor. Furthermore, Second Life offers the opportunity for virtual field trips. For example, anatomy students can go inside virtual organs, art history students can examine a virtual Sistine Chapel in great detail, anthropology students could examine the culture and environment of both current and historic communities, and so much more.

Second Life is based on a social networking platform, and therefore, students are more inclined to become engaged. The virtual world also requires participation. If a student leaves his or her computer, the avatar will slump into a sleep after a period of inactivity. It is a powerful simulation and modeling tool that can also create bridges between universities and institutions. This bridge will allow for a community of learners. Also, the accommodation of both synchronous and asynchronous learning makes differences in time zones and people not a limiting factor.

The global impact of both reaching students and green design is leading to a new world of education. James Madison University has joined the effort, and more information on their involvement can be found at the following web addresses.

JMU SL Website: http://www.jmu.edu/secondlife/jmusl.html

JMU Public Affairs: http://www.jmu.edu/news/madisonscholar/SecondLife.shtml

CFI Website: http://www.jmu.edu/cfi/events/specialevents/10-11/secondlife/

Create an avatar today, and begin exploring!

SL Website: http://secondlife.com/?gclid=CMX0yPO9mKwCFcp65QodUQUUOg

Clickers in the Classroom

Like myself, I'm sure many of our classmates have taken a class at JMU or another university where clickers were used during lecture. From talking to friends and other students, I have realized that many teachers that have large classes use clickers as a means of attendance and participation. My experience with them was in a general chemistry class that was over 200 people. For those of you who don't know, clickers look somewhat like remotes and each student has one registered under their name. There are number and letter options on them that allow students to log in during class and answer a variety of questions. The clickers at JMU look like this:

In the chemistry class I took, my teacher would ask a variety of multiple choice questions, and we would answer them using our clickers. Once everyone answered, the correct answer would appear with a graph that shows how many students chose each answer. These clickers are not only a good use of particpation in large classes especially, but they also allow professors to see how well students are understanding specific content throughout a lesson. I have heard many success stories with these clickers at JMU, and the use of them is only going to increase.

Most college students are familiar with these types of clickers, but what the new growing trend seems to be is clickers in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms! I am currently student teaching 7th grade Pre-Algebra at Wilson Middle School in Augusta County, and the classroom I work in has their own set of clickers. My cooperating teacher explained that she uses them quite often with her classes especially as a review purpose before quizzes and tests. She said the students get so excited to use them, and their engagement levels increase dramatically. I think the best part about these clickers is students don't have to feel embarrassed or nervous to participate and share their answers. Since all the clickers are programmed through numbers, students never see what their classmates answered by their name- it is all confidential. With clickers in her classroom, every student is able to participate for every questions, and she is able to see how well certain content (and even specific SOLs) are being understood. My cooperating teacher is even able to gather data on the computer from the clickers to use for creating additonal classwork, quizzes, and tests based on the students' strengths and weaknesses.

For more information about success stories involving the beginning uses of clickers see here: Making it Click-http://http://www.calcomp.com/InterWriteFiles/technologyandlearning_prs_jun2006.pdf

Overall, clickers are a great new use of educational technology in the university and K-12 classroom. Involving them in lessons and reviews improves student engagement, participation, and instant feedback for students and teachers. What do you think of clickers? What types of expereinces have you had with them?

Sources:

http://www.calcomp.com/InterWriteFiles/technologyandlearning_prs_jun2006.pdf

http://ilearn.clarkschools.net/web/jcason/?p=62

Twitomania! Ruling the World 140 Characters at a Time

"The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful" - Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard law professor and Internet expert

Twitter is the newest social media network to catch the public by storm. This social media is a microblogging platform what allows users to post updates, or tweets, with a maximum of 140 characters. Users are also able to "follow" other users they have interest in, whether it be a friend, a corporation, a celebrity, or an organization. Twitter allows connections with anyone at anytime, anywhere.

Which brings me to the use of Twitter in education. Many universities have integrated this networking tool into the classroom, allowing more informal learning to occur both in and out of the classroom. The basic functions of Twitter allow for direct messaging an individual on their tweet, re-tweeting someone else's tweet to bring the discussion into your personal network, and using #hashtags to group and track a discussion or topic posted by several individuals. 


In the classroom, Twitter has been used as a facilitator of discussion, forum for collaboration by users across distances, basic announcement board, medium to share files such as links to articles or videos, and general comments to create a feeling of community among users. The quick-update method of Twitter among friends creates an atmosphere of informality which makes for more open discussions than often found in traditional classroom. 


In addition to the basic features that Twitter offers its users, there are external applications and tools that allow for extended use. For instance, Tweetdeck works from your desktop to localize your tweets and those you follow. Bit.ly shortens website urls to only 19 characters which allows for easy sharing. Users can also link Twitter across their profiles including Facebook and blogging.


The following link will take you to Edudemic: Connecting Education & Technology.  

http://edudemic.com/2011/09/twitter-in-education/   


The article explores many ways that Twitter has already been used to foster learning in and out of the classroom. I've posted an instructional poster found within the website below for you to look over in case you don't make it that far which illustrates educational Twitter use.

If used correctly, Twitter could open an entire realm of self motivated learning. Because it is a platform many of us already use, our natural curiosity will take us to new articles. Think of how many hours we spend on Facebook and how much new information we absorb (Regardless if it is just the number of friends now engaged/married/pregnant) and imagine if we instead reached new areas of our studies. Just from our internet curiosity. 


I am personally fascinated by the possibilities Twitter has to offer since, let's face it, social media is not going away. I'm really interested in hearing what you guys think about using it as a learning tool. 

Because if you can't beat it, Tweet it!

Generation Y: A Millennial Perspective on Learning Tools in the Classroom

As the millennial generation begins entering the work force as teachers and educators, we are bringing with us our obsessive attachment to technology. People from our technologically competent generation are able to utilize a number of new tools in the educational arena that could transform and redefine learning (Coates, 2007).

Classroom tools like Smartboards with Techsmart learning software are invading classrooms as early as pre-school. Research has shown that students who get left behind in early education have a harder time keeping up with their peers as they go through the school system. Generation Y (millennials) teachers are less intimidated by these new technologically oriented tools and are better able to incorporate them into classroom activities and learning. The below link is a short study done by the creators of Techsmart learning software; it shows the statistical improvement of preschoolers who were in classrooms with and without Smartboard technology in their first year of school:

http://www.hatchearlychildhood.com/Pages/Smart-Board-Technology-Improves-Student-Performance/

The children in classrooms using the Smartboard technology "made significant gains in the areas of early literacy, print knowledge, phonological awareness and mathematical skills" (McManis, McManis, Gunnewig; 2010).

All this from a classroom with a Smartboard? It would seem there are amazing benefits to bringing technology into the classroom if utilized correctly, and it would appear the millennial generation is the most appropriate cohort to usher it in. Marissa and Raleigh explore the use of Ipad's and other similar technology in classrooms as young as the kindergarten and elementary level. This trend is sure to rise as the cost of this technology goes down and software improvements are tailored to different grade levels of learning.

Coates, J. (2007). Generation Y - The Millennial Generation. Retrieved on October 7, 2011 from http://www2.honolulu.hawaii.edu/facdev/guidebk/teachtip/GenY.htm

McManis, L. D., McManis, M. H., Gunnewig, S. B. (2010) Hatch Early Childhood. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://www.hatchearlychildhood.com/Resources/TeachSmart- EfficacyStudy-2011-Fire.pdf