MOD 9

7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling

 

Digital story-telling is defined as the use of story lines and dialogue partnered with images and sound files to create a digital, interactive video in which a story is told. The most simplistic example is a slideshow presentation with all the aforementioned aspects listed above. These presentations can be instructional, historic, persuasive or personal in nature. The process is rather simple so that students with limited technological skills can participate with limited teacher aid. The process can be suited to group work but is more geared towards individual work. As with any story, digital story-telling begins with a script and progresses with the addition of audio-video. 

The article states that, "for digital storytelling to be an important component of higher education, it must provide what other tools lack, including an effective integration of technology with learning, an emotional connection to content and increased ease of sharing content."

With the increased usage of technology in the classroom on the parts of both educators and students, it is no wonder that this method is becoming widely used and acknowledged as an effective teaching tool. Digital story-telling is a new way of using the age old art of story-telling to communicate personal and professional narratives. This method also serves to bridge the gap between educators and students with aversions to technological aids in education due to its relative simplicity. 

Digital story-telling offers students a creative vehicle to communicate comprehension of subject material to teachers and their peers. By using this method the student becomes well practiced in both digital interface which is increasingly more important in our modern world, while also focusing on the subject material. Educators benefit from the inherent learner motivation instilled through the use of creative and fun technology to reach learning objectives.

MOD 10: Steve & Andy Go Fishing

"Steve & Andy Go Fishing"

The link above leads to the "Animoto" film I created. "Animoto" and other similar tools could be used as very attractive learning methods for ESL students as they are relatively simple to use and add a welcomed element of creativity to the lesson. Students can take pride in showing their completed products to their classmates.

 


The Evil Wizard

The above link leads to my comic strip. In the same way that "Animoto" could be used to spark student creativity, so could "Storybird." Children would enjoy selecting corresponding artwork and written, reading and speaking exercises could be very easily linked by the educator in the lesson plan.

MOD 6: Twitter Podcast

The use of Podcasts, or "personal on demand broadcast," is another very useful if not essential tool for ESL teachers in our modern world. This can also be an excellent form of professional development no matter the profession. Podcasts may be used as a virtual log of performance summaries by a teacher highlighting positive and negative consequences of applied teaching methods in real-time. The accumulated log can serve as a longitudinal study of progress on the part of the teacher and students and with the option of allowing others access to it the individual's efforts may serve to benefit peers worldwide.

The podcast I followed was "How much speaker, how much learner?" by Alan Palmer. The podcast discusses the inherent differences related to being both language speakers and language learners. The topic of the podcast serves to highlight the fact that language acquisition is a life-long process even for native speakers. The podcast may also be related to learner motivation and morale issues. The author stresses that by thinking of yourself or evaluating and labeling yourself as a speaker/learner by percentages this may raise the level of pride on the learner's part when examining just how much of the target language they have acquired.

MOD 11: ePals

I believe that the multiple activities made possible in the ESL classroom with the aid of interactive sites like ePals is refreshing. This will be a useful tool to connect ESL students with others and students and teachers that are native speakers of the target language. The use of emails and audio/video technology like Skype will offer students an exciting and applicable set of interactive opportunities to practice their L2.

Also on the positive side of this equation is the ease of use associated with this site. Parameters applicable to a specific class are easy to manipulate which decreases the anxiety on the part of the technologically-not-savy teacher like myself.

Upon examining what ePals has to offer in matter of tools I kept thinking that the majority of the tools offered on the site could be re-created for free or found on various similar teaching resource websites again for free.

 

MOD 3: The Social Media Revolution

After watching "Social Media Revolution 2011" I felt a good deal of anxiety regarding the world we live in. Technology and how it has effected the human species is an incredibly stressful subject for me and yet I know that I must submit in order to be successful.

Watching "A Vision of 21st Century Teachers" both added to this stress and anxiety but also goes to show that if others can do it than I should be able to as well.

Mod 11

The Dharmapoda (PBS podcast)

The above PBS podcast discusses and explores "The Dharmapada."
- A book of the Buddhists
- "All that we are is a result of our thoughts."
- Negativity breeds evil
- Pure and positive thoughts bring about good and hatred will cease
- Discusses the evils of vanity, temptation, gluttony, temperance
- "The evil man mourns and suffers in this life and the next."
- "The virtuous man is happy in this life and the next."
- "Earnestness is the path to enlightenment."
- "Thoughtlessness is the path to death."

The PBS podcast could be used to bring the parallel study of culture into the ESL classroom to greater increase an immersion-like sense of learning and fostering more well-rounded students.

Twitter (Mod 6)

The microblogging tool known as "Twitter" may be used in the following ways in regards to Teaching English as s Second Language:

1. Sharing/accessing teacher resources
2. Communicating with colleagues and students
3. Staying current on teaching perspectives
4. Teacher-student activities such as:
  - vocabulary building
  - word games
  - school trip tracking
  - grammar review
5. Review of current events
6. Book clubs
7. Inspirational quotes
8. Writing poetry
9. Exercises in being concise
10. Communicating w/ students in foreign countries

The Teacher's Guide To Twitter: Edudemic

Educational Technology & Mobile Learning

Post 1:

Gamification: the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging.

Being that one of the major hurdles in education is keeping the student engaged and interested, activities that make the learning process fun for the student serve to alleviate this issue. Using games as a teaching tool decreases classroom management issues by ensuring high morale and class participation.

Phantasy Quest (3 times)

 

http://www.spacepretzel.com/phantasy/games/phantasy_quest.html

Language-Learning Objectives:

1. Word and phrase familiarization through individual reading and teacher directed reading using the game Phantasy Quest.
2. Command prompted instruction in target language regarding computer interface.

The students would be actively involved in the language acquisition process through their manipulation of the game, following the teacher's commands and reading aloud the words and phrases appearing in the game.

The teacher's role is that of behavior monitor and instructor regarding computer interface. The teacher 'plays' the game at the same time as the students in order to lead the students in the uttering of words and phrases. Finally, the teacher is present to trouble-shoot any technological issues inherent in computer/internet driven activities.

To avoid confusion on the student's part and to expedite the learning process while maintaining more personal control over learning I would not use a walk through for the game.

Referencing memorable images from the game would be useful to prep future classes by refreshing the student's knowledge.

Assessment of knowledge acquired through this method could be measured by turning off the computers and having the class repeat the phrases learned without the aid of the images. The teacher can ask for volunteers or call on individual students. In order to access computer-interface acquisition the teacher could allow the students the opportunity to access the game on their own without instruction while still being available to help students still having trouble.

Post 2:

Axis and Allies: 1914

 

(Played several times)

Language-Learning Objectives:

1. Word and phrase acquisition through instruction and game-play.
2. Cultural, geographic and historical discussion and vocabulary familiarization in target language.

Assessment may be carried out by questioning the student in the target language regarding material learned or touched upon during game play. Questions requiring simple, one word responses to start leading towards more complex questions and responses.

Practicing Connectivism through Social Networking (Teacher 2.0)

Teacher 2.0 offers a social networking community for teachers. This community offers online resources such as interviews and workshops enabling teachers to stay current with pressing topics of discussion.

Connectivism and Collaboration

Today's learner is comparable to a highly evolved parasite seeking in its basest form to survive. Survival in these terms involves the acquisition of capital to maintain sustenance, capital is acquired through labor in a trade that requires the acquisition of a relative set of knowledge. In the same way that the parasite has evolved, so has the multitude of hosts at its disposal. Never has business been so good for the parasite, or the learner. My meaning in these analogies stems from the way in which the learner of today need only gain access to a computer with internet capabilities and the learner may inquire after the knowledge he or she seeks. With the almost universal accessibility of the internet and the advent of search engines such as Google, the learner need only type a topic of investigation into a text box and hit 'enter' to gain access to their desired knowledge. However, search engines such as Google only graze the surface of knowledge acquisition possibility. Specialized social networking sites now exist that allow for communal knowledge storage as well as an access point for the individual in the process of seeking knowledge or wishing to contribute. “Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the understanding of where to find knowledge needed).”

In the same way that these programs simplify knowledge acquisition by making knowledge more accessible, the knowledge associated with these programs' existence and up-keep is ever-changing and growing exponentially. “The social software that we see today in the form of blogs and wikis developed in order to enable these individuals in a quickly changing knowledge field to continue to stay current and continue to learn from each other.” So essentially, this marriage of knowledge acquisition and technology is self-perpetuating, requiring the same access to knowledge it provides in order to stay current. Unlike a parasite however, a human cannot possibly maintain the transfixed, “plugged in” state required to stay completely current. This also begs the question of just how far will technology go? 

A Learning Theory for the Digital Age 

The Impact of Social Software on Learnin

g

DIIGO vs. Scoop.it

Upon review of the social bookmarking programs DIIGO and Scoop.it, DIIGO was noticeably superior in its simplicity while also having a wider array of manipulative editing options available to the user. Scoop.it appears visually to be jazzier but loses in its simplicity what gaining in theatrics I personally view as trivial in a professional program. Both programs cover the basics: tagging, posting, the ability to comment and receive comment from other users, however, as stated above, the simplicity of DIIGO leaves Scoop.it behind. Once DIIGO is installed and added to "Bookmarks" in the toolbar the ease of operating DIIGO is remarkable. As someone that approaches such innovation with hesitation and partiality for the proven, I was very impressed with both programs and will most definitely use DIIGO in the future.

Andrew's First Attempt @ Blogging

ALCON,

My name is Andrew Graves. I am a first year graduate student in the TESOL program here at UB- technology is not my savviest of trades but I look forward to advancing my skills with y'all.

Mod 2
6.a

Two ways in which blogs may be used in our professional development and careers as educators are listed below:

1. Blogs allow educators to maintain communication with their students in a way which simplifies accountability of assignment and ensures clarity of intent and instruction, both essential aspects of education.

2. In regards to professional development, blogs allow the user to maintain a digital record of accomplishment and learning.

6.b  

Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.

Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

6.c ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language)

Regards,

Andrew L. Graves