WGBH Video Podcasting

'I listened to two videocasts, K-5: 'Solar Eclipses' and 6-8 'Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals.' In 'Solar Eclipses,' the videocast presented computer animated images of how a solar eclipse happened. There was an astronomer who spoke about how the sun is 400 times larger than the moon and the moon is 400 times closer to earth than the sun, so the sun and the moon appear (from earth) to be the same size, thus making a solar eclipse possible.

In 'Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals' (grades 6-8) there were several people who spoke on the subject, one of them being a professor from Harvard. They simply discussed the differences between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals, such as bone structure, habitat, and the slight edge that Homo Sapiens probably had over Neanderthals.

Coming from a teacher's view point, I would use these videocasts occasionally to help reinforce a subject. For example, if my second graders were learning about the solar system, the 'Solar Eclipse' videocast would be very helpful because of the interesting computer graphics that helped better explain the process of a solar eclipse.

I would not, however, show the video cast for 'Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals' because it didn't seem to teach much you couldn't find in a text book. There were no demonstrations and the explanations were very broad and pointless. I like walking away from a learning experience with at least one 'fun fact,' and with this videocast, I didn't find anything interesting enough or useful enough to hold onto.

Teaching Big Ideas

The Edible Schoolyard:
At Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, CA a program called 'The Edible Schoolyard' was founded by Alice Waters in 1994. I've got to say, that this program is a resounding Montessori teaching style. The students are planting, harvesting and eating the fruits of their labor in their (very large) garden. The teacher incorporates science, social studies, math, and life skills into the garden classes. Teachers walk students through the process of where our food comes from. From the planting of the seed to the cooking of their harvesting. I am happy for these students because I know what a joy it was for my preschool students at Weinacker's Montessori School to have their own herb garden.


A Night in the Global Village:
At Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas students from Denver are experiencing what it is like to be from a totally different country with different lifestyles from their own. Like students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, the students are immersed in learning. The students at Heifer Ranch make their own fire and cook their own food. These students are given specific living environments on this National Geographic-esque ranch. The students discuss problems they encountered there. I love this simulation-style learning.

Podcasts... Tricky Learning for Non-Auditory Learners!

I'm going to be honest. I'm not a big fan of podcasts. I would much rather read unbiased information from reliable paper sources than listen to people speak. My learning style definitely conflicts with this type of information. I am a visual learner. I like to read, and when I cannot read, I like to physically take notes because unless I am in an actual conversation with the person/people speaking I will remember very little. At the end of many of the podcasts, I nearly forgot what I was listening for anyway.

The problem I ran into with the podcasts I listened to is they were either very organized and had their notes together or they spoke out of turn and the blogs became more about their personal stories than the informational topic(s) that the podcast was titled after. As a visual learner, I would have difficulty taking notes when the hosts of the podcast would speak out of turn.

In general, podcasts are just not helpful for students like me. Even videocasts won't be much improvement because unless you are an auditory learner, you won't get nearly as much out of it. The one pro to having a videocast to listen to as opposed to a podcast is that you can see the people that are speaking instead of just hearing a barrage of random voices interjecting here and there in the conversation.

I could see some students benefitting from the use of podcasting in the classroom. For auditory learners, they could easily listen to information and perhaps the podcasts could reinforce what is being taught in the classroom. For visual and kinesthetic learners, maybe they could work better with demonstrating their knowledge on a subject through podcasting themselves. I know I learned more about "Facebook as an Educational Tool" through not only researching the topic but also practice-discussing it ahead of time with Stephanie Ellis (one of my group members) and discussing it again in front of the mic.

Photo Editing Time!

 

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture via YouTube. I can't even imagine being in his shoes during his last months. I am in awe of the great optimism and strength he had. I felt happy, sad, and inspired over the duration of the entire lecture. Dare I say that everyone could find a wealth of wisdom in his lecture that could transcend into their everyday lives. I know I certainly have.

First, he discussed achieving his childhood dreams, which from the beginning of the lecture, I thought that was what the entire hour and sixteen minutes or so would be about. Oh, little did I know. As inspiring enough as a lecture on achieving your childhood dreams may seem to be, it was so much more. His life eventually became more than just his dreams. He discussed wanting to be at zero gravity, meeting Captain Kirk, and being a Disney Imagineer (among other dreams.) Later, he began to describe perhaps the greatest achievement of all, becoming a professor and realizing the need to help so many others achieve their dreams. Randy Pausch went on to discuss at length his work at Carnegie Mellon with Computer Science students and their virtual reality projects.

Pausch gave a lot of advice for everyone. He discussed the importance of feedback. And not just the importance of feedback, but the importance of listening to feedback and responding to it. He said (and I can't quote him exactly) 'that when you know you're doing a bad job and no one is telling you that you are, you're in a very bad place. The critics are the people that love you and want to see you do well.'

For teaching, he discussed the 'head fake,' which is letting a student do something fun while you're teaching them something difficult to learn. There is a project, Alice, that has been in the works for quite sometime now. Alice is a 'head fake' aimed at young students that has a story telling aspect to it that 'tricks' kids into learning how to write code. He knows he will never get to see the finished project but he knows where Alice is headed.

Duke University iPod Initiative

In August 2004, Duke University distributed over 20GB iPods to over 1600 entering freshman. The purpose of the iPods were to promote creative uses of technology. In Duke University's iPod First Year Experience Final Evaluation Report the faculty reported five academic uses for iPod: course content dissemination tool, classroom recording tool, filed recording tool, study support tool, file storage and transfer. Students were more engaged, the digitalized course content was very convenient, and digital recording was very useful. The expectation with the student's iPods is that the students should keep the same iPod throughout their college career. A main concern of mine was that iPods do not last forever, and neither does technology. After several years, the battery life of the iPod would prove detrimental to the education process. What if the iPod lost battery power after only 30 minutes (which is quite common after just a couple years of use?) The student would not be able to sit through an entire lecture using the recording device on the iPod. The student would have to do work in half our increments if depending solely on the digital information in the iPod.

Some improvements need to be made to Duke University's iPod initiative. First off, all students and faculty need to be educated on how to use the iPod and really benefit from all that Apple's iPods offer. In Duke's evaluation, they discovered some problems in document uploading. Sound quality and PC to Mac connectivity became a problem.

Another helpful site I found about the educational uses of iPods is 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study. The site is pretty self-explanatory. It divides the uses into specific categories and provides helpful links!

Dr. Christie's WebQuests

After searching through Dr. Alice Christie's website, I found this site about WebQuests. I learned that WebQuests are a way for the teacher to create a structured environment to engage a student in learning about a specific topic. Dr. Christie explains that "different forms of WebQuests include searchable databases, microworlds that can be navigated, interactive story or case study, forum-type documents that elicit analysis of a situation, and on-line interview simulation. Non-electronic resources that could be used are print materials from libraries and personal interviews to conduct an opinion survey."

I am always interested in engaging students and I have used something similar to WebQuest before in my Art Education class, where powerpoint is used to create a structured learning environment on the computer. Students click on interactive images created by the teacher. Replace powerpoint with specific instructions for searching the web and you have a very similar effect.