ACCESS

In addition to just hearing for the first time about ALEX, I also have now reviewed another Alabama program called ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide). ACCESS is a distance learning initiative that began November 1, 2004. It offers access to advanced diploma courses in foreign languages, Advanced Placement and dual credit courses, remediation and supplemental resources, and much more. It is available to all Alabama public school students.

ACCESS is stimulating to both public school students and faculty and administration. It allows students in certain rural areas or underfunded schools to have the same opportunities for enlightenment as those who are in otherwise more privileged circumstances. Teachers and faculty love it because it broadens their students' opportunities to learn and, therefore, extends the their abilities to educate. It also allows them to utilize new, exciting ways of reaching students, through rapidly evolving technology, like web-based teaching and teaching through video conferencing.

The ACCESS site's Resources page also links to other useful Alabama education websites that are valuable to teachers.

Like ALEX, ACCESS would be challenging and fun to explore and use as a means of educating students. It seems to be a wise financial investment by our governor and other state officials.

Getting to Know ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) website offers educators multiple resources to help them succeed in the classroom. Linked sites and detailed lesson plans are available for every discipline and every grade level K-12. There are also pages intended for use by not only teachers and administrators, but students.

ALEX is a communal database, connecting teachers across Alabama, and giving them a means of methodically and substantively comparing the work of fellow educators and enhancing their ability to teach most effectively. Teachers themselves have the opportunity to post their lesson plans for review by other statewide teachers.

When I begin teaching, I undoubtedly will find ALEX and other such sites useful for equipping myself to construct exciting lessons plans on par with more experienced instructors, but also for challenging myself to imaginatively create plans uniquely mine. A teacher must always be ready to teach, but he or she must also always be ready to learn. It will be great having a vast network of educators at my internet-browsing fingertips.

Within Months, More Impact than Imagined

A 3-year-old named Kaia has become the talk of several tech-literate classrooms. Her father, Jabiz, in reading an inspiring book, was motivated to help his daughter become more acquainted with the outdoors. So, he took his daughter outside and allowed her to take pictures with his camera. He helped her create a video slideshow of her pictures with her comments added using a voicethread. You can visit Kaia and her dad's blog here.

Kaia's dad described his daughter's moderate fame as having started with that one video. He shared information about it to his Twitter followers, then within a few months, started receiving comments from students in a school in Missouri. Those students were in the class of William Chamberlain, a tech-literate teacher whose efforts have been noted by teachers and students of all ages and tech-literate-levels. The only thing, Kaia can't read yet, so her dad requested those Missouri students that they reply not in written comments, but in video or audio comments. They did so. It goes to show that there really is no limit as to whom can utilize and enjoy technology.

Now, we students at USA have learned of Kaia and her story is a lesson to us.

New Media Literacies Project

We've been asked to find information about the New Media Literacies Project (NML). Another assignment given was to comment on a short New Media Literacies video. According to newmedialiteracies.org, NML is "a research initiative based within MIT's Comparitive Media Studies Program."

NML identifies three challenges: the participation gap, the transparency problem, and the ethics challenge, and names several skills as necessary to helping people have "the social skills and cultural compentencies" (http://newmedialiteracies.org/about-us/) necessary in our media-enriched age.

Because technology is changing so quickly, people are just as quickly adjusting and acclamating in order to live happily and succeed socially, educationally, and occupationally. It is great that schools and organizations are conducting such research as this so that they may share it with the rest of us.

The New Media Literacies

The New Media Literacies video describes the 21st century skills many believe are needed to become effective artists, citizens, and workers. It's a short video, yet it addresses eleven different skills. Because of the brevity of the video, I watched it a second time to see if I'd learn anything I missed the first time.

In case you haven't seen the video yet, the skills highlighted are judgment, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation, simulation, collective intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization, and mult-tasking. The first four are defined for the viewer, but the rest were just listed. I'm not sure whether the producers of the video thought the audience would already be familiar with their list or if their purpose was simply to name them and not discuss them, but I was interested in what they were saying and wanted to see if my presumptions of the terms were the same as their defintions. But, being a life-long learner requires, I believe, learning all that I can from what information is provided me. So, I must ask myself, what did I glean from the video?

First, of the terms themselves, I agree that several of them are important aids in being able to become more successful in life. Many of the skills relate to acquiring useful information and using it properly, but others deal with the handling of resources and responsibilties in a controlled, concentrated way. Multitasking is probably the most common skill discussed in today's fast-paced society. Regardless if growing personally or reaching out globally, most, if not all, of the skills mentioned are important.

I know I possess some of the skills mentioned in the video. This class helped me in some of them also. Judgment, negotiation, and transmedia navigation are probably the three with which i feel most comfortable. I am (and probably will continue for a while) working on the others. Some require someone teaching them to me. Others require exposure to circumstances or events that will enable me to develop them.

The video prefaced the skills by suggesting our culture has always emphasized sucess from the perspective of being consumers and that people should now be more concerned about being producers. Some of the people interviewed in the video emphasized our need to be good citizens and act globally. This is a fine notion, but it made me think. Is a person inferior to others for happily wanting to narrowly communicate within his own culture? Does all the focus on extending our interpersonal skills internationally cause some to overlook the important need to develop important skills personally, domestically or locally? I'm not suggesting that one or the other should be preferred, but instead that we must consider both of equal importance. What good does it do if one can compile information and replicate it ad infinitum, but can't look someone in the eye and speak comfortably and intellectually in a job interview or in an advising or counseling session?

How can a two minute video inspire philosophical thoughts? I don't know. I guess I have concluded that people who only look within their bubbles and people who only look outside their bubbles, in the end, lose out on knowing some of the most important things that could help them be more successful in the world and the workplace. Be balanced. Learn many skills.

The Networked Student

The Networked Student is a video depicting a project done by Wendy Drexler and a group of high school students. I have been taught to learn and to know as much I can, but I've always been encouraged to be ready for circumstances in which I may not know the answer to a question or how to address a problem. In such situations, it is important to know where to find the answer or needed information. It's a real life Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? scenario. Everyone needs to have a network, the equivalent to phoning a friend, polling the audience or narrowing down the choices.

With the use of internet search engines, RSS feeds, bookmark sharing programs, wikis, free web video conferencing, iTunes, and much more, students have access to endless amounts of useful educational materials which serve as a large part of their networks. In the video, the question is asked about whether teachers are even needed anymore. Teachers are needed to carry on traditional instruction, but even more, they are needed to be able to guide students, advise students about building networks, teach to communicate properly, vet a resource, etc.

The video offers some great advice for students conducting research. Check it out!

Richard Miller's "This Is How We Dream"

In a video posted on YouTube, Dr. Richard Miller of Rutgers University presents his vision of The New Humanities. While one usually would say he used a video to supplement his speech, it is arguably more appropriate to say the opposite. With the technology available today, the speech is capable of being more of a multi-dimensional experience. Literacy, according to Miller, has never seen a better day than today. Reading and writing have gone from books and libraries and pens and paper to a collaboration of various forms of media. He describes our time as transitional. Exploratory methods are gaining ground, but they have not reached their potential. While many perceive global communication as posting class lectures on YouTube, he says they just don't get it. The speech itself doesn't give the effect of which it is capable if the teacher overlooks spending considerable time integrating important post-production methods.

It is overly ambitious, I think, to anticipate that most teachers will be able to write with multi-media within the next ten years. Some will. But, several factors must be considered. The nations' newspapers have just begun using some of this technology--offering their print articles online, in addition to videos, audio, shared documents, archives, etc. While watching Miller's presentation, it is easy to dream, but envisioning teachers having the financial resources to write with multi-media, which appears to require complex software (but I could be wrong), is aspirational, but not very realistic. However, if schools begin providing these resources for their teachers, then it could be possible sooner than I think.

I am certainly interested in writing with multi-media. I believe a big part of our country's success has been the freedom that has encouraged exploration, creativity and innovation. Public demand for multi-media has already increased. This is why advancements have already been made.

I remember when plasma TVs were very expensive. But, LCDs and other similar HDTVs started becoming available and prices have since fallen greatly. Over time, people have also become familiar with their benefits and uses. Writing with multi-media may be very similar. Costs associated with it will decrease with its increased popularity and availability; meanwhile, users will be more familiar with how to do it and interest in writing with multi-media will snowball.

If a teacher can write with multi-media, a student could. I've been told that one of the greatest joys a teacher could have is to see a student outperform him or her. It is usually no fault to the teacher, but a credit. It's possible that students could do surprise their teachers, but as Miller notes, before writing with multi-media can become commonplace among teachers, there must be a growth of dedication among teachers and expanded availability of resources.

Catching up with Comments4Kids

I've visited some great posts given as Comments4Kids assignments recently. The first is a video by Ashlee at Port England School in New Zealand. In it, she gives a short retelling of the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood. That mean ol' ugly witch found her way into the story, instead of the traditional wolf about whom we usually hear. She did a great job.

The second post was a new one by a student in Ms. Hudson's class. Her students are just getting started in blogging, so in stopping by this new blog page, I encouraged the student to have fun blogging and requested that he or she stop by my blog sometime.

iTunes University

In a recent video podcast project collboratively done by three other students and me in my EDM 310 class, we highlighted a few websites on which teachers can post video (vodcasts) and/or audio podcasts. That video, which includes a portion on iTunes University (iTunes U), may be viewed here:



I'm still very new to iTunes; however, it has not been difficult familiarizing myself with its uses and navigating its many features. ITunes U can be used as a great tool for both teachers and students, even if they have no intentions to ever publish their own podcasts. There are many colleges and universities that issue their own regular podcasts. Some share specific lessons, others provide general information about the universities themselves or the respective colleges comprising them. For example, the dental school at the University of Michigan has its own podcast.

David Hopkins created a presentation about the uses of iTunes. For the teacher and student, who both are known for their financial deficiences, iTunes is great because it is all free; that's right, free. So, while attending school, or long after completing school, at iTunes U everyone can access academia freely--just without all the homework.

Using iPods in Instuction

It seems everyone has an iPod these days. Not long ago, I assumed iPods were beyond my price range. But, I found out that many iPods are as affordable as most portable CD players (does anyone use those anymore?).

At first, I only heard of iPods being used for music. But, now I hear of them being used for many other purposes. I mentioned in one of my first posts that I am also a preacher in a local church. I have come across a lot of other preachers in the churches of Christ who use podcasts and vodcasts as an avenue by which they present Bible lessons or offer information about the church of Christ. In my studies as a college student, I have found that they also have great uses in the school classroom.

As a part of the Duke Digital Iniative, iPods and other devices are being used to connect students to their school's instructors, services and special events without being physically with them. It is part of an effort to support teaching and learning, their website says. In an online publication dated April 2005, Duke announced they had given iPods to incoming freshman (more than 1600 the first year). Fifteen classrooms immediately incorporated the iPods into their curriculum. The publication lists some general uses of the iPods: (1) course content dissemination tool, (2) classroom recording tool, (3) field recording tool, (4) study support tool, and (5) file storage and transfer. IPods offer a host of benefits, from convenience and accessibility to greater student engagement and interest.

Alice Christie's Tech Know-How

Dr. Alice Christie is Arizona State University President's Professor Emeritus. She is a self-proclaimed "lifelong learner." Her website offers extensive resources that enable teachers to learn many ways technology may be utilized in the classroom. The site provides her opinions and strategies, but it also gives examples of material she has produced and links to sites with material offered by others.

Christie recommends teachers create digital portfolios (e-Portfolios). The intended audience of the e-portfolio may vary, but it is basically an online collection of artifacts a teacher or other professional uses to describe his or her accomplishments and goals, as well as provide resources he or she has created (websites, blogs, documents, presentations, etc.). Christie provides an example on her site. Although our teacher, Dr. John Strange, does not refer to his website as being an e-portolio, it seems very similar to Christie's. The primary difference appears to be that Christie's is aimed toward associates who may have an interest in knowing her professional biography, while Strange's is intended primarily for the college students. If one of the two were to be the pattern for teachers who would like to use an e-portfolio as a tool for students, it would be Strange's.

Another tech project Christie recommends is the use of GPS and Geocaching. Before I read the information she's provided, I had never heard of using GPS as part of a curriculum. She suggested teachers could have projects in which students use a GPS device to seek strategically placed geocaches (earth containers) that have subject relevant artificacts enclosed. This is a way to transform the classroom from being teacher-centered to student-centered, a change many educators believe facilitates greater learning.

Christie has accomplished much throughout her career. She said she was first introduced to technology with the Apple II computer in the late 1970s, and she had two added to her classroom. It seems since then she has never tired in learning more about how technology can benefit the classroom.