Screencorder in the Classroom

Screencorder is an amazing software! I feel this makes the lives of professors so much easier. With screencorder, professors can make click by click tutorials, which can be revisited by the student! These are reusable learning objects. These tutorials eliminate students from forgetting a step and cuts back on questions because they can go back and rewatch the tutorials.

Of course questions are great by students but it does not hurt to consolodate them.

Flickr in the Classroom

I can see Flickr being used in the classroom as a critique forum. Students could post all there art work for class, then each student can visit and revisit the work and critique it.

Another use of Flickr in the classroom is posting diagrams and detailed images. Especially for classes in the medical area. Post images of the skeleton with labels of each bone. Images help students indentify things, which is an advantage.

YouTube Videos

Roosevelt And U.S. History: 1930-1945 (clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eQRGosyd1M

This is just a short clip that combine video with narration to describe the history of 15 years in the United States. Using You Tube seems to be a great way to pack a lot of history in a short amount of time. Its like cliff notes for a book, but in the form of video.

1865-Present

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVZvl4cMb-8&NR=1

This second video above is much longer but carries a lot of information, almost a hundred and fifty years. It also uses multiple narrators, which may help hold the interest of viewer.

The Electoral College

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCjWPo70XZY

I really enjoy this video. I wish i would have had a similar video shown to me when i was younger. I always had trouble wrapping my mind around how our electorial system worked. This video does a great job of explaining the electoral college.

Podcasts

I feel podcast are a great form of education to students. Its a great escape from traditional teaching. I feel students of today are pampered and guided too much. Of course they need guided but they also need independance. I think distance learning is a great way for students to generate independance. One of my professors in visual communication design discussed androgogy and pedegogy the first day of class. He practices andragogy in his classroom which is where the teacher or professor sets goals and dates, gives resources to the students and then lets them learn on thier own. This allows the student to actively discover thier own way of learning which allows them to work more productivly in the long run. I think this way of learning helps prepare students for the real world past college. I would like to see this integrated more in high school. It seems students are so used to being told what to do and how to do it, that they are lost in the real world when thier new boss does not directly tell them how to do something. They just give them an assignment and walks away.

I apologize for rambling about this subject. I dont disagree with pedogogy, which is the a linear approach to teaching, but integration of the two is a great idea. I feel podcasts offer a sort of andragogy teaching method and indepenance for the student.

Of course this method cant work for everyone. I myself when i was younger always needed to have tests read to me for me to comprehend, and i had trouble focusing too. When i was younger(k-8 grade) this would have been difficult for me. From high school on i know i could of done it personally. This technique could be integrated into advanced courses and so on. I guess it could play as a segueway to adult learning.

My main resource of course is personal experience and my professor from visual communication design.

Schools Blocking Social sites

My school does not block any social networking site or blogs at this time. Of course it is frowned upon and if caught on one, disiplinary action will be taken. Usually it is the facebook and myspace networks that are frowned upon. Blog sites are more acceptable.

I think the use of these tools is to the advantage of anyone who uses them. I feel they should be allowed in the schools and used by the staff. Of course there are always disadavatages, but the pro cancel out the cons.

Views on Internet Safety

I feel there are always threats on the internet and precautions will always need to be taken. The best solution i feel is internet education. Students should be eduated at some point in thier schooling career. I am not sure what age would be appropriate to begin, but if young people knew the the possible consequences, and knew how to avoid them they would.

I personally have yet to run into any problems with interenet Safety.