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