In the last class we all presented our technology enhanced lessons.  I found all of the lessons interesting and wish we had more time to see them in additional detail.  This has been the theme for the entire five weeks of this class.  I have learned so much from the opinions and contributions of my peers.  I will miss that regular interaction; however, perhaps technology, with its ease of communication, promises to allow us to exchange ideas over greater distance.  Not seeing or being with someone is not an excuse to not keep in touch. 

            Indeed, technology can increase our abilities to achieve if we apply them correctly.  I am glad to know new ways of doing this.  That having been said, I still look forward to turning off my cell phone and spend the night camping under the stars.  Thanks all, keep well.

          One major stumbling block to using this program in educating adolescents is that there is considerable initial investment of time to become adequate enough to use the program.  Because of this, any resources that might be used on the program to increase higher order thinking can only be used after learning the program.  A teacher’s curriculum and students’ lives are already so busy that they would not allow for the week or two of orientation to proficiently use the program.  This hinders higher order thinking with the program.  Also, there are many aspects of Second Life that would be inappropriate and counterproductive to learning.  It is easy to unknowingly enter restricted areas within the virtual world.  Such an action might serve as a distraction to students and perhaps even amount to an unsafe environment for them.  Perhaps in a computer science class there would be a place to use higher order thinking with Second Life but not in the general classroom.

          I think that with continued use, Second Life might change one’s view of reality.  This would happen as they take their Second Life more seriously than their first life.  Viewing someone as an Avatar and speaking to them through instant messaging creates a loss of the meaning of person to person contact.  Because people are not interacting face-to-face with other real people there is a sense that social rules that normally would apply in the real world might not apply in this simulation.  People can be much less understanding in this cyber world.  One might worry that this could eventually spill over into the real word as humans lose their ability to positively interact with others.  Because this technology is used many for entertainment and personal enjoyment, it favors the development of attitudes of self fulfillment and disregard for others.  However, the program does hold the promise, if used correctly, of bringing together people of common positive interests to share ideas and experiences for the growth of their cause.  I have also seen this in a science based world I am currently exploring where one can tour a virtual cell, look at scientific posters, and take a simulation quest like that of Charles Darwin.

          Overall, I think Second Life is not very useful in the classroom, at least not at this time.  Perhaps as more students become familiar with the program and communities develop that are committed to learning and the advance of human knowledge, it might be a good idea to incorporate more of this program into a curriculum.  I think as teachers we would need to ensure that a safe environment is available and that students have enough structured guidance to have a beneficial learning experience in Second Life.  This program is a novel idea, but needs further development and refinement before it will be useable in a classroom.

            These games expand upon factual information and give students the chance to participate in an application of learned material.  Students must broaden their knowledge and problem solving abilities by answering questions and drawing conclusions about a situation.  The games do a good job of using relevant vocabulary for students to expand their knowledge.  The answers are not given to questions asked until after the student gets it correct.  The web site could do a better job of explaining answers, right or wrong, and give additional support to students’ responses. 

            The games on the website have a moderate amount of graphics that might be interesting.  Most of the time, students achieve tasks by clicking on the screen and there is the ability to click randomly in order to advance in the game.  This means that some students could simply click everywhere to complete the tasks.  Teachers should ensure that students are completing the games in a way that encourages learning.  In other games, calculations and recording on paper are required.  A teacher should be available when doing these tasks to make certain that the student is successful.  In some games many of the data obtained in one part are used in another so the teacher should ensure that all students have the necessary information before progressing to avoid disappointment at the end of the game.

            I think the game would work well as an extra resource for students to use.  It may not have directly beneficial applications in the classroom.  Because relevant vocabulary, formulas, and observation skills are necessary; this would be valuable for students to do, perhaps on their own.  I think they would find it interesting because of the animation and the opportunity to be as hands on as possible for some of the tasks, such as surgery.  Using the surgery example, I think it is important for students to see how the things that they are learning are used outside of school. The students are able to look at X-ray pictures and view CT and MRI scans.  They are able to make decisions about the steps to follow to achieve the task of performing the surgery.  I think students would enjoy these activities.

                The first digital domain for the day was a game site at www.funbrain.com.  This has many games that do not appear to be very educational.  They might be used to practice math facts and other memorization skills, but they lack the ability to encourage upper level thinking.  The next review was on a children centered virtual world found at www.b.whyville.net.  Because the focus group for this site is children a major concern is safety.  It appears that in order to make an account, a parent’s email must be entered.  This allows any inappropriate interaction between people in the program to be shared with a child’s parents.  I hope this is adequate to protect children, it is better than nothing.  The virtual world itself allows students to earn virtual money and use it to buy items, property, and such.  This site may help develop budgeting skills but with very little at stake perhaps it might have a negative effect of making it appear that earning money is easy and being wasteful with it is OK.  The final digital domain review for the semester was on Zoo Tycoon.  This is a simulator that puts students into the role of designing a zoo.  Players control many aspects of zoo design and operation including layout, admission price, exhibits, hiring help, and writing grants.  Once again the player must manage money.  I think managing money in this game is of greater benefit than in b.whyville.  The game allows children to see directly how setting a price affects the availability of money for the zoo, it will give a better idea of economics in a fun way for children.

                Class continued with a “virtual walk” around the local city.  The teacher had taken pictures of many of the old buildings to contrast their construction to buildings built today.  We noticed that the buildings had an old style of architecture and had the company or association’s names engraved in them.  It is interesting that their construction suggests that the building had a heritage when it was built, calling from the Greeks.  The fact that they had their name engraved in the building hints at a certain aspiration of permanence.  The owners who constructed the buildings intended to be around forever.  Today signs are made of a temporary and cheap plastic.  Plastic is easy to get, work with, and dispose of.  So too are the companies that these signs publicize.  Our plans are not permanent, or set in stone.  Our future will change and perhaps the businesses that are formed today have no intention of being around five years from now.  This mirrors technology.  The technology we have today will be outdated in a short time.  We do not know what programs might be successful two years down the road.  It is a quickly changing aspect of human life and one which we cannot create too much attachment to.  Things that are digital are easily manipulatable.  They can be changed with the click of a mouse.  This is the world that we are quickly becoming more engulfed in.

                We then discussed who owns information.  Do textbook companies need to charge large amounts of money to schools trying to educate people and does this charge somehow imply that the company owns something that is not attainable elsewhere?  The state of California has started working on an online resource for teachers to compile information about school subjects.  This information is free to others to use as a virtual textbook in their class.  This will save the schools money and provide teachers with more options when educating their students.  Required readings can be tailored to a teacher’s style, instead of the teacher’s style reflecting the textbook.  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology puts out another resource for learning.  They have a website found at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm where people can download lectures, course materials, and tests given at MIT to the students.  This means that anyone with an internet connection can now get an education from MIT.  It is an amazing resource that makes information almost free to everyone.  One can get instruction from an advanced school without paying a cent or stepping foot in the classroom.  Knowledge and education should be about being available to everyone.  This site makes it possible.  It is surely a site I will be exploring in the near future.

                As a class we compiled the rubrics we designed last class.  There were many points that were repeated by different groups so we boiled down what is to be assessed into seven categories.  These include accurate assessment, hands/minds on, technology use, content and accuracy, preparedness/planning, standards met, and learning objectives.

                For the digital domain review I presented the FrontPage® tutorial that I have written about in a previous blog.  The other two reviews were about Google Earth and a mathematics review aid for teachers found at www.multiplication.com.  Google Earth would be a wonderful way to give virtual tours of important places in the world.  This would have specific application in a social studies class.  I would be concerned that many people might begin to think that going online to virtually tour a place makes visiting it in person to be a waste of time and money.  There is certain value and personal growth to be achieved in going to a place of significant history or relevance to being human.  People would lose that opportunity of developing themselves by accepting a virtual tour as good enough.  The math games website looks like it might be interesting to students.  It is good to look for new ways to help students learn.  This might be a very helpful website.

                During class the instructor’s wife was kind enough to bring us dinner.  She is from Spain so it was our opportunity to have a genuine Spanish dinner.  I knew very little about Spanish cuisine so I broadened my palate and enjoyed conversations with my classmates.  We learned a little about Spanish family traditions, especially mealtime customs.  When talking about cultures and traditions we often recall times of less technology.  It is interesting that a great way to learn about these is the way that we did, with little technology and more talk and experience. 

                The class was surprisingly drowsy after our dinner so we focused the rest of our time on the workshop portion.  During this time I began working on my website.  I worked in Microsoft Word® and Publisher®.  I think the easiest of all of the website design programs I have tried has been Publisher® so I will probably be completing the website assignment there.

                The two digital domain reviews included a simulator that allows someone to input details of a particular lifestyle, like food consumption and physical activity, and watch the effects on the body; and the other was the computer game Spore.  The simulator can be found at http://phet.colorado.edu/simulations/sims.php?sim=Eating_and_Exercise.  This simulator would be good for a health, or to a lesser extent, biology class.  This simulator would be beneficial for adolescent children who need to make lifestyle decisions.  With guidance, this technology would allow students to draw conclusions about what type of lifestyle is most healthy and allow them to alter their habits to ensure a strong heart and body.  The Spore game can be downloaded after doing a Google search for the game.  I am not sure how beneficial this would be to studies in biology.  It looks like a fun game; however it may lead to misconceptions about life and evolution.  Scientists are not sure how life started so implying that it was from a meteor coming to Earth may lead students to believe this.  Also, designing a creature to survive may not allow the students to realize that the changes are random.  Certain species might be better suited for the environment, natural selection, or may survive due to chance, genetic drift.  I am not sure if these aspects of evolution are easily understandable from this game so I would have to learn more about the game before deciding that it is worth using in a biology classroom.

                We then worked on creating rubrics to aid in assessing student achievement.  We were introduced to the website http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php.  This site allows teachers to view other rubrics or design one’s own.  This opens communication among teachers to create strong rubrics that assess students’ progress better.  In groups we created rubrics and task lists to be used in grading our lesson plans.   

                This tutorial would make people better able to use features available to them in designing a website with FrontPage® software.  It gives helpful tips for designing a website that is friendlier to a visitor to the site.  The tutorial also gives enough detail about the infrastructure necessary to have a website to be useful.  There is not too much information to make it confusing to the new website designer.  The function of a website is different for everyone.  This tutorial is vague enough to help in designing all types of websites.  It is becoming easier for any person to make a website and this tutorial would be helpful to new website designers.  The tutorial does take close to an hour to complete.  At the end of the tutorial learners are given the option to print out a note card that has a bulleted list of the aspects of the entire tutorial boiled down for quick reference.

                As websites get easier to design, more individuals will be apt to make them for less than valuable reasons.  Someone looking for information on the internet may find that they encounter many sites that are not useful for their research.  This is a negative aspect of the ease of website design.  I fear that as individuals become comfortable with making websites, the quality of websites will diminish.  If a website is just one of many that an individual intends to make throughout a lifetime there may not be motivation to make it as good as it might otherwise be.

                Not being technology savvy myself, I wondered if I would feel comfortable designing a website of my own after completing this tutorial.  I looked on my computer for the FrontPage® software and was surprised to see that it was not included in the Microsoft suit that was installed there.  Having not yet designed a website I am not sure how beneficial the tutorial was.  I do feel more informed about terms I did not know before; like server, URL, and HTML.  I also feel more informed about what is necessary to publish a website on the internet.  Designing a website is not just about typing information into a template.  In order to have a website available to the world one must have a URL, a server, and must upload their webpage.  This would have to be done every time a change was made to the site, unless the site was designed on a server-based program.  Overall I feel more comfortable with the computer terms that are commonly used and when I come to designing a website I think I am better prepared to make it as useful to viewers as possible.  I would recommend a new website designer to take the time to review this tutorial before they begin working on it.

                The second half of the class enabled us to review positive and negative aspects of websites.  My partner and I decided that well designed websites are easy to follow.  They have material well organized so that navigating through the site is easy.  Sites must be updated regularly; otherwise there is little sense in visiting the site regularly.  Pictures should be used if they support the theme of the webpage and should not take a long time to load.  With all of the criteria we specified, there were no perfect teacher websites that we were able to find.  Interestingly, we did find one school, Peru Central, which had a weather center page.  This page had barometric pressure, temperature, wind direction, dew point, and many other weather components.  This is an interesting addition to a website and could be well used by an earth science class.  Such use exemplifies the role of technology in education.  Technology should support student learning and enhance the opportunities for all learners to manipulate and integrate information.  I think this page would do this well for some students.  There was also a faculty webpage found at Northeastern Clinton Central School that had lesson plans for each class for each week.  This would be useful for students who might want to know what is planned for a future week or it would benefit a student who missed a day of class to catch up on work while at home.  The page also had any handouts or transparencies used for that day which would allow students to print extra copies for themselves if they misplaced theirs. 

                Also in class we experimented with altering media.  We looked at the websites www.archive.org and www.creativecommons.org.  Both of these sites allow people to download text, pictures, sound, and video.  One can then alter it to create original works.  We were encouraged to alter different media using a paint or image program or using the Audacity program, which allows users to alter video and sound clips.  These programs show how easy it is to manipulate digital information.  Similar to typing, altering media to create new works will probably not address many standards in most curriculums.  Instead these might be used for unique ways of showcasing one’s knowledge.  Therefore teachers must be sure that the majority of credit is given for the content not the novelty of the work.  We must also be careful that the time students put into creating media presentations is proportional to what is expected for students to learn.  Students should not spend hours composing a showcase for their knowledge and less than an hour learning what needed to be included.   

This website reviews the basics of genetics that must be covered in a high school biology class in preparation for the Regents.  A downside to this site is that the basics are rather wordy.  There is a lot of reading at a level that will test a student’s understanding of the material.  The interactive DNA analyses give students the opportunity to think the way that a geneticist in the field might.  Students must solve the problem of identifying key features of a new virus or determining if a child has an inherited disease.  The equipment necessary to do this is very expensive.   A high school biology laboratory could not afford the micropipetters, DNA amplifiers, and DNA sequencers that are needed to use knowledge of genetics in a meaningful way.  This website allows students to virtually analyze DNA to further discover its importance.  These activities give students an experience into a very specialized field of scientific study. 

This website would encourage a deeper understanding of material because students must not only know the facts but also be able to apply them to real scenarios.  The investigations look into techniques that students would be likely to read about in the newspaper or hear on the news.  This application of information takes student understanding to the next level and answers the dreaded question, “Why is this important?”  Students experience the answer to broaden their knowledge and make the material more meaningful.  Genetics becomes real to students because they have heard of ways that it is used but were never allowed to experience it.  This activity allows them to get a deeper understanding of how genetics affects them and people around them.  This is also beneficial to students as they think about future careers.  This website introduces students to job opportunities in genetics.

            I can see this webpage integrated at the conclusion of learning about DNA.  It is a little advanced for an introduction; however, after a couple of weeks of instruction on DNA, this site will be a great review of material before a test.  Students could work in the computer lab in groups to answer the questions posed on the website.  I like that students have the chance to apply genetics to real world scenarios.  This topic can easily be breezed over giving students little practical experience or knowledge of the relevance of the material.  The activities are also structured enough to have students work in groups and to solve problems and learn information together.  This changes the classroom atmosphere from being independent work with a lot of note taking to structured group work to solve problems.  I think this allows students who are advanced to dig deeper into the material while allowing students who do not understand the material as clearly to work with others to fine tune their comprehension.  I like that this website can work on different levels for different people to enhance their understanding.

After the digital reviews we worked on creating a lesson that integrates technology based on water.  Every discipline has a different way of looking at the same thing; water is a great example of this.  A physical education or health teacher looks at water as a way to stay healthy and hydrated.  A history teacher sees water as a necessary platform to start a civilization or a useful way to transport goods.  As a biology teacher, I see water as a necessity of all life.  My group, made of biology teachers, designed a lesson looking at how human might affect the water cycle.  We tied in agricultural techniques and how they affect invertebrate species in a nearby stream.  The lesson worked to encourage higher order, biology like, thinking about water.  Students would have the opportunity to create a study and then use Microsoft Excel® to draw conclusions about data they found.  In science the ability to manipulate data to make useful conclusions is essential.  It is interesting that by looking at numbers in different graphic representations a scientist to make completely different conclusions.  Database functions have a special place in science classes, and to some extent math classes, were students are exposed to interpreting the importance of graphs.  Graphs are everywhere; newspapers, profit reports, and many more places.  Science class is a great place to teach students the difference between useful graphs and poorly designed graphs, for this reason I think it is a good idea for teachers of these subjects to help students to really understand how graphs work.  This may be the only instruction they get for useful graph interpretation for an entire lifetime.