Gdbear's Weblog

gdbear — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:03:45 +0000

How do you most often get your national news?
( polls)

Add a puzzle to your blog

gdbear — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:39:25 +0000

Week 12 – Lessons Learned

gdbear — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:34:18 +0000

My eyes have been opened to new possibilities. Vygotsky described relationships between language and the mind. Friere discussed dialogical learning. I see how technologies such as blogging can create learning environments that are built on these two theorists ideas. I am looking forward to the opportunity to weave blogging activities into my instructional practices and research further these ideas.

I appreciate the connections that Skype has established and I hope that we will continue to use Skype to stay connected professionally and personally.

Week 12 Games

gdbear — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:54:20 +0000

Flash cards can be used to practice recall of various types of content. The flashcard exchange (http://www.flashcardexchange.com/) allows users to create sets of flash cards and use them to play games such as memory in order to support learning.

Week 11 – Journal Goldmine

gdbear — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:47:10 +0000

I requested that the MHCC Library sign up for the trial of the InfoSci-Journals database. They did. Now I have, for a short time access (from campus) of these journals. Wow!

I was searching for a particular article and I was not able to find it even through ILL. When I did a google search on the journal title I found this company’s Website (http://www.infosci-journals.com/), applied for the 30-day trial, and voila.

Another Fun VoiceThread Project

gdbear — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:49:54 +0000

Week 10 – VoiceThread.com Attempt #01

gdbear — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:00:55 +0000

Steps that I followed to include the above VoiceThread.com presentation into this blog posting:

1. Created a new Blog post
2. Clicked button to Add Video content
3. Clicked the Post to WordPress button
4. Dragged the Post to WordPress button to my browser’s toolbar
5. Navigated to my VoiceThread presentation (http://voicethread.com/#q+batch.b242911.i1265898)
6. Clicked on the Menu button, then the menu choice Embed
7. Clicked the “Copy” button
8. Clicked the “Done” button
9. Clicked the “Post to WordPress” toolbar button
10. Clicked the center of the Web page
11. New Web page dialog window appears
12. Filled out requested information into the form including
a. URL of my Blog
b. Username of the Blog
c. Password for the Blog
d. Title for the Blog Posting
13. Click the link that reads “Click if you’re having trouble”
14. Eraes the text in the field named “Video Preview”
15. Paste the copied information from step 7 into this field
16. Click the “preview” hypertext button to preview your post
17. Clicked on the Publish button
18. Opened Blog page to edit new Blog posting
19. Remove unneeded Blog posting content; add any new content desired
20. Save and Publish any changes that you made.

Week 10 – Learning Objects

gdbear — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:13:28 +0000

Wilson & Myers (2000) stated that “thinking and learning make sense only within particular situations” (p. 71). I feel that the context in which instruction is delivered can have powerful influences on the learning produced. I am not sure that LOs capture or specify these contexts. It would seem to be an important function of a teacher to match an appropriate LO to contextual elements of the instruction environment.

Some self-directed learners may not be able to strategically build meaningful learning from a library of LOs. Others will.

I think of learning object repositories like I think of regular libraries. Just because someone builds a library of books does not mean that everyone will use it in the same way or even at all. The library may also present a framework that even limits learning potentials.

Wilson, B. G., & Meyers, K. M. (2000). Situated cognition in theoretical and practical context. In David H. Jonassen & Susan M. Land (eds.), Theoretical foundations of learning environments. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence, Erlbaum Associates.

Week 9: Moodle – Blackboard Integration

gdbear — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:17:31 +0000

David Nagel stated on the Campus Technology blog that “Iowa State University and Blackboard have partnered to develop technologies that will allow Blackboard’s learning environment to integrate with the open-source Moodle learning management system. Iowa State will lead the development effort, with Blackboard providing support.”

One of my complaints of propriety LMSs and CMSs is that it often difficult to transfer classes and content to new frameworks. Partnerships such as this may help instructors and institutions to transition between Blackboard and Moodle.

David Nagel, “Iowa State To Develop Moodle-Blackboard Integration Software,” Campus Technology, 10/28/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68854

Week 8 – Cell Phones in the Classroom

gdbear — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:43:08 +0000

Honawar (2008) wrote that the use of cell phones and other video recording equipment to create and publish unauthorized classroom activity causes stress for some teachers and students. “The threat of exposure by cell phone cameras has potential professional, as well as emotional, consequences for teachers” (p. 29-30). The courts have also made rulings that seem to make it difficult for teachers to protect their privacy. In Evens v. L.A. Unified School District the court “held that a teacher must always expect public dissemination of his pr her classroom communications and activities” (p. 31). Furthermore, Roberts v. Houston Independent School District found “that videotaping a teachers classroom performance by a school did not violate the teacher’s privacy rights” (p. 31). While I do not know of an instance where a student generated an image or video clip of my teaching to a video distribution Web site, it does concern me that such media examples are taken out of context and can be interpreted in many different ways. I need to research to find out just how far statements that I include in my syllabus regarding the recording of classroom activities will protect myself and students. Administrative Regulations, Board Policies, as well as State laws and regulations may inform. Strom, and AFT (American Federation of Teachers) lawyer, stated, “It is conceivable that … a local union could bargain that if a student takes a video in the classroom, the district would investigate and take disciplinary action against the student” (p. 32). I believe that there needs to be explicate protections for teachers and students. Bullying and harassment concerns may be just the beginning of a quagmire of required legalese.

Honawar, V. (2008, February). Cell phones in classrooms land teachers on online video sites. Education Digest, 73(6), 29-33. (Retrieved October 26, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database)