Week 13 - Glogster on Nelson Mandela

http://fjohara.edu.glogster.com/time-line-on-nelson-mandela

Week 13 - Assignment 1

Educational “affordances” on Glogster

Features of the technology	Affordances
Glog creation interface	Easy to understand; drag and drop feature can be used by students of various age groups; interactive visual platform; users can create a virtual “poster” that contains multimedia such as text, audio, video, images, graphics, drawing, and data
Projects	Curriculum based projects can be created for classes, groups, teams, or individuals; students can work in the classroom or from any other location; a community system for sharing student work; work can be stored and viewed anytime; teacher can assign projects, provide feedback, and assess completed work
Glog presentations	Teachers can share projects with the class, school, district and elsewhere; can be embedded in a blog, wiki, or web page; student achievements can be shared with parents, administrators, students and other educators
Private and safe	Teachers can create private virtual classrooms with students; monitor all activities within the account; account can be created without student email addresses and other contact information; teachers dashboard provides access to all students, projects, and activities
One login and password	Single multi-subject and class dashboard for teachers and students; the teacher dashboard allows direct access to all individual students; students can view and manage all their projects and classes in their student dashboard; single login and password gives access to all classroom activities;

Keystone Assignment - Dec. 2nd

1. Keystone Assignment - Lesson Plan

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vdi3bajy0unmn5i/Key%20Stone%20Assignment%20-%20Dec.%202nd.docx

2. Keystone Assignment - Rubric

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f09sq5sb28c3ren/Keystone%20Assignment%20Rubric%20-%20Dec.%202nd.xlsx

3. Implementation Report

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hddi3ax6seugs65/Implementation%20Report%20-%20Dec.%202nd.docx

4. Reflection on New Literacies

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jl241l22reg0dx5/8f2q6x3ZBr

5. Interview with an ELA teacher

https://www.dropbox.com/s/32tkrodtnxg13ho/Interview%20with%20a%20ELA%20teacher%20-%20Dec.%202nd.docx

Week 11 - Assignment 1 - Response to article

The article mainly talks about a Web 2.0 application called Voice thread. Originally, voice thread was created for educational purposes. Mainly fan groups, business interest and social groups used it. The Web 2.0 tool Voice thread is used to enhance teaching and student learning. Voice thread has many features that can be beneficial in the classroom. User can do the following on voice thread:  

•  zoom in to a specific object such as an image of the artifact
• leave and/or delete comments
• navigate through pages easily
• write or annotate on a video
• create groups using tags
•  keep the thread private, public or by invitation

The ability to zoom in allows the teacher to concentrate or focus the student’s attention on specific object. Users can give feedback about a specific content. Learners can receive feedback and comments from anyone very easily. The teacher can monitor the conversations that are taking place to make sure it is appropriate.

Week 11 - Assignment 2 - Voice Thread

https://voicethread.com/share/5178709/

Week 9 - Assignment #1

Response on The Impact of Using Blogs on College Students' Reading Comprehension and Learning Motivation

I think using blogs would probably have a positive impact on college students’ reading comprehension and learning motivation. It’s a faster and more convenient way for students to share their work with their peers and instructors. Using ICTs in the courses would engage the students as well as encourage them to improve their reading and writing skills. I think using a blog would motivate students to become better writers, and express their opinions. According to the article, the group that used the blogs in the course had a stronger sense of learning community. The students who are normally hesitant to share their thoughts in class were more involved in the blog discussions. The use of blogs allowed students to extend their discussions beyond the classroom. The instructors also found that using the blog made it easy to integrate other multimodal literacies into their courses. Although I would have expected to see an increase in the reading comprehension skills, the article mentions that using blogs did not have much of an impact in the students’ comprehension skills.

Week 8 Digital Story

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8b04wpurqmqvl46/A%20story%20narrated%20by%20Fatima%20Johara.mp4

Week 8 - Assignment 1

Article 1 – “The iPad Effect: Leveraging Engagement, Collaboration, and Perseverance”

Some of the statistics mentioned in this article were really astonishing. It mentions that a technology director in a Chicago public school district saw a “50 to 60 percent” increase in Reading, Math and Science classes that used the iPads in the classroom. The article also talks about a connection between the use of iPads and an increase in students’ “enhanced emotional engagement, collaborative behaviors, and perseverance.” These are great outcomes that are occurring in the classrooms across the nation. I think more and more schools are noticing how effective iPads can be in a classroom. At the moment there is no specific data that shows the increase in test scores due to using iPads in the classroom. Eventually I think teachers will see an increase in test scores as a result of the digital learning that is taking place with the help of the iPads. I found this article to be remarkable.

Article 2 - “TECHnology and Literacy for Adolescents with Disabilities”

This article was very informative. Technology is a great tool for differentiated instruction, especially for students with disabilities. I learned that students with disabilities have special Individualized Education Programs that state exactly what type of technology they need in order to support their instructional and learning activities. Technology that the disabled students need to communicate and interact with others is called assistive technology. Technology that can enhance a student’s instruction is called classroom technology and it can be programed with a specific content such as Science or Social Studies. According to the article, the goal of TECH is as follows:

1.     Target the students' need and the learning outcome.

2.     Examine the technology choices, then decide what to use.

3.     Create opportunities to integrate technology with other instructional activities.

4.     Handle the implementation and monitor the impact on students’ learning.

Article 3 - Classroom Remix: Patterns of Pedagogy in a Techno-Literacies Poetry Unit

I was intrigued by the title of this article and wanted to read it right away. I never heard of the terms “classroom remix” or “techno-literacy”. From what I understand, techno-literacy is basically literacy that has to do with new technologies that are digital and multimodal. The classroom remixes in this article focus on three areas: composition remix, mindset remix and participation remix. The composition remix is done through a PowerPoint presentation that merged the “visual, linguistic and auditory” components into one. It portrayed the shift from reading a poem from a page to a screen. The mindset remix is created when teachers and students created a collage of insider and outsider mindset. The students who are proficient in using technology are considered the “insiders.” The students who show some anxiety and need constant support from the teacher in using technology are called the “outsiders.” The article also used the terms digital natives and digital immigrants to distinguish between the two groups. Finally, the participation remix showed the shift in participation among the students. The inclusion students who have learning disabilities suddenly became very engaged in the task when it involved technology. Overall, this article was very stimulating and showed some good example classroom remixes.

Week 7 - Assignment 2

Create an avatar in Second Life, explore the environment, take a screenshot and share with class on blog.

I found Second Life to be quite engaging and fun. There is so much to do and learn.

The most exciting part was the Second Life Marketplace. A person can buy anything from a pet, clothing, accessories, vehicles, real estate and so much more. Another interesting feature is the Buy Land. People can buy land in the virtual world by using Linden dollars. The prices of the land vary on how many avatars can be there at one time. Overall, I found Second Life to be very intriguing and exciting.

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 could be incorporated in ELA instruction in many ways. One way is to create a virtual setting of a story based on the details provided by the author. Teachers can ask students to create a world that an author describes in a story or a poem. They can use different types of figurative language to help them create the world in Second Life. For instance, imagery is a figurative language that enhances a story by describing any of the following in a text: sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. It provides a mental picture of what a character or place looks like. Therefore, students can use imagery to create a similar setting in Second Life. Another way Second Life it can be used in ELA instruction is through characterization. Students can create an avatar that resembles the main character in a story or play. Since Second Life allows users to customize the avatars, students can use clues from the text to create their characters. It will allow students to analyze the text and search for specific clues that author provides.