Podcasting

"A podcast is an audio recording that is saved as an MP3 file and made available on the Internet through RSS." (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen Marra pg. 160)  Users can subscribe to a users podcasts or just simply choose any random users content that they choose to listen to.  It enables anyone to be an independent producer and distributor of audio or video content that can be offered through the internet.  It could be used in class for a simple group project. The teacher could subscribe to their podcast and listen to it and give them a grade on that.  The students could subscribe to the teachers podcast and the teacher could put each lecture online for the student to make sure they didn't miss anything.  There are many uses that podcasting could be used for in the classroom.

Podcasting is similar to other Web 2.0 applications we've discovered in this class because it does not require face to face communication.  These have all been online applications and have been very interesting to learn about.  It is different because it is more broad.  Anyone can subscribe to a podcast and the user will never know how the subscribers feel about their podcast.  The subscriber could give a reply via making their own podcast which would be very interesting and a great use of technology in my opinion.

I do own an Ipod and I only use it for music.  I use it nearly everyday because I love music.  I am honestly not very interested in what some people have to say.  I looked at podcasts and some of it just seemed ignorant.  I do think it could be very useful in a classroom setting though.  I would use it in the classroom like I stated in the paragraph above.  It would be a tool that could be used to be a review over the lecture or to capture the highlights of the lesson.  Plus it could be used as an interactive activity between the teacher and the student by having the teacher subscribe to the students podcasts.  I do not see any disadvantages in podcasting if you use it for a reviewing tool and not just to base the whole classroom on podcasting.  The teacher can subscribe to the students and the teacher can put "Attention: John Doe" if they need to get a certain students attention.  I think it could be a very useful tool.

Resources:


Meaningful Learning with Technology, 2008. Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M., and Crismond, D.

Wikis, Blogs, Social Bookmarking, etc.

I think that wikis are a great use of technology! There can be so many uses for them in a classroom.  It can be a good communication tool group assignments. The kids could assign responsibilities for different projects. They could edit their wikis one person at a time and everyone could see the progress.  It could be a very useful tool.  I would love to use them in my math classroom.  Blogs wouldn't be so useful in a math classroom in my opinion but I think they are a great way of expressing yourself, not just doing assignments.  If the kids are struggling with an assignment, they can post in on their blog and other students could help them.  It could also be used as a daily journal just for fun.


I think the idea of social bookmarking is great.  It is like a personal goto guide for the user.  It is very personal but at the same time, it is very social.  People can use your pages that you've created.  It is just a very useful tool and could be very helpful in a learning experience.  Even for the user, it is helpful because it could be used months later to go back and look on and quickly find information.  It would be very useful in my classroom because math is such a difficult subject for some students.  I, as the teacher, could post some sites that help with problem solving. As for VoiceThread, this is the first time that I came across it.  It is a very neat tool and a good use of technology.  I don't know if I would use it in my classroom just because of the shyness of some people but I do think it is really cool.  The thought of communicating around the globe through video is amazing.


I have not explored Tapped In any more than what is in the book.  I think it is a cool use of technology though.  The idea of having Learning Circles online is pretty cool.  It has a public conference area which is kind of like a question and answer because everyone else can see the information which could be very useful.  There is also a private conference area that could used for more touchy subjects or for people that don't want others knowing about a certain thing.  The calendar is also a good tool that could be used by many who are related by a group or a profession.


Reference:

Community Building with Technologies, Chapter 6. Meaningful Learning with Technology, 2008. Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M., and Crismond, D.

Assessment and E-Portfolio

In order to evaluate authentic learning, we must use authentic assessments (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, Marra, 2008, pg. 218).  An assessment can be a test (TAKS), quiz over a chapter, a discussion activity or even a poster or presentation.  I believe that this helps the student show the teacher what they learn and what skills they have acquired during the timeline the assessment is assigned over.  It also helps the teacher because if the student is not grasping the subject, the teacher can most likely help them with whatever is troubling the student.  It's a great tool in the learning process.

E-portfolios are a collection of digitized artifacts that may include clips, graphics, sound, writing samples, artwork, and multimedia presentation (Crismond, Howland, Jonassen, Marra, 2008, pg. 220). They may also represent the successes and accomplishments of learners. They exhibit students' efforts and progress as well.  It helps teachers because it could help them understand the students learning and it also aides the teacher in monitoring the students progress.  Computer-based tests are taken on the computer or with computer-scored tests. These tests can get you a more accurate or quicker grade back rather than turning it in to a teacher.  It avoids the possibility of human error.  I believe that the use of computer-based tests don't impact reliability or validity, if they do, it's very small.  Most people in this day and age that are going to school know how to use a computer and computers are accurate for the most part.  The test giver would have some kind of training in giving the computer-based tests. For the most part, paper given tests and computer-based tests would give back the same results.

I believe that an e-portfolio would be very useful in a math class. Programs like Mathematica would be very useful in adding the information to an e-portfolio.  I would like to monitor my students and make sure they are making good progress.  Although it would be more simple in my opinion to just give in class tests and do board activities in a math classroom, I think e-portfolios are a good use of technology and could possibly be very useful. Assessments are necessary for education.  There is no way of possibly knowing if your student is understanding the material unless assignments and tests are being given in some manner.  These assessments in the form of a quiz or test could and in my opinion, should be given in a computer-based testing format.  I believe that computer-based testing is where the education world is headed.  I don't see a problem with it honestly.  I can't tell you how many times I had to take my test or quiz back to the teacher because there was an error in grading.  In my opinion, computer-based testing would be a lot quicker and could possibly be easier on the student and also more environment friendly.

References

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassen, D., Marra, R. M.  (2008).  Meaningful Learning With Technology. Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Pearson.