Week 7 Assignment

Assignment#1

Write a brief reflection on each article and post on the blog.

Using the ADDIE model to Design Second Life Activities by Shiang-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsu

            Being part of an online class, I sometimes feel a lack of socialization.  I feel that we log on to Blackboard, complete and post our assignments, and then never get much feedback from our peers.  This is one downside that has always turned me away from taking an online class. I feel alone trying to figure things out on my own when in fact I like to interact and communicate with my classmates; it makes me feel like part of the classroom learning community.  It’s hard to learn the personalities of a person without seeing their face or hearing their voice.  Second Life is a 3D multi-user virtual environment that has changed the way online classes function.  Students can connect with each other through an avatar.  The avatar can show the users personality, body language, etc.  Because the document management feature is poor on SL, it would need to work in partnership with another program such as Blackboard or Google Docs.  I like the feature of both text and voice chat and 24/7 unlimited access to the classroom.  SL offers more features in their program than most online class system do.  The downsides discussed in the article relating to SL are understandable.  If you’re using an old computer with old software, you will need to upgrade.  Slower computers may freeze up with the high end hardware requirements.  When weighing the pros and cons, SL still sounds like the better option when taking on online class. 

Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms by Dawnene D. Hassett and Jenn Scott Curwood

            Wow, have times changed since I learned to read!  Technology today is nothing like it was when I was in elementary school.  Just around the time I was entering middle school, the computer become popular in my classroom.  Reading was done with paper books in hand and writing was completed with a pencil and paper.  Technology today has made it possible for young students to read and write on the on their laptop, iPad, Nook, etc.  Should we change the way we do things in education to keep up with society around us?

Reading children books, surfing the internet, and using digital media all involve decoding and comprehending modes.  Multimodal and modes can range from font, text, color, page size, point of view, etc.  Modes can be used to change the meaning the author is communicating.  Along with the many traditional roles the teacher plays, three additional roles are needed in order to facilitate the children’s learning of complex, multimodal, and electronic worlds.  The three roles are: teacher as resource manager, teacher as coconstructor of knowledge, and teacher as design consultant.  When faced with multimodal texts, teachers need to initiate open-ended activities and create a space to allow linguistic and cultural differences presented by the students.  With proper support, this can occur in all classrooms today, even with our youngest learners.   

     Assignment#2

 I'm not going to lie, this site was confusing to navagate at first.  There was so much going on around me I had to focus on one thing at a time.

My avatar is the girl in the picture.  I could not get a frontal view of her. I am talking to a man who wants a friendship.

 Discuss with ELA teachers and list ways to incorporate Second Life in ELA instruction, applying the concepts of multimodality to the teaching of ELA.

        Second Life can be used in ELA as a virtual classroom.  When discussing this with the ELA teacher we decided to try to expand this idea to the building and having all students interact with each other instead of interactions with just their classmates.  On my team, we brainstormed the following ideas:

      Set up a PRIVATE virtual classroom only to students in the building

     

       Have all students taking period 5 ELA in the building log on during class time to have an interaction between students in different classrooms.  

     

      Assign building wide “assignment” for students to complete, each student must reflect on a minimum of 5 peer assignments of students that are not in their class