When did this happen? The last time I tried posting, it wasn’t possible. But I’m very happy that I can now embed my videos on wordpress.com without paying extra! Here’s my first video assignment for my video tech class.
Reflection on creating this video:
1) In the last 10 years, online capabilities have progressed dramatically, moving from text-based content delivery to media-rich environments that can accommodate more learning styles, improve engagement, and reduce drop-out rates. Most of the online learning environments today use web 2.O technologies (like myspace, facebook, wikis, blogs etc). Describe your views on use of these technoolgies in online setting and how they can be effective and/or not effective. Do you think web 2.0 technologies best serve the digital native generation than the digitial immigrants? Explain your response.
Web 2.0 tools enable people to use the internet according to their needs. Previously, the internet used to be more the bastion of technology experts; and most people utilized it only for text-based purposes such as emailing. With Web 2.0 tools, one doesn’t need the technological know-how to create a webpage in order to have a webpage. Most of the Web 2.0 tools are also free; therefore, in this sense, Web 2.0 is more democratic compared to its predecessor.
Social networking is a very important tool to build social capital. Social capital, to some extent, also determines economic, social and intellectual capital. Knowing how to set up and to maintain social networks is an important skill that has significant impact on people’s lives. As was mentioned in the article on social networking and medicine, the advent of social networking sites provided people the capacity to connect to others of similar interests through the use of social networking software. Using software, individuals do not need the help of others to pass on information about themselves; they can just directly find and contact others online. What struck me the most was that large networks related through weak ties are more desirable from a social networking perspective compared to narrow networks. The wider and more heterogenous the network the more innovation and exchange of new ideas can be made possible. This is specially important when it comes to business; because the more people who know about the product, the more chances there are for future sales.
http://community.livejournal.com/sciprojects
Brief Description: Livejournal community where members ( teacher and students) of a science class can post instruction, questions, project results on mini-projects. The community serves as a hub that connects the class to other individual student blogs and external learning links. The objectives of this blog include administrative, instruction, student engagement, Web 2.0 literacy development and metacognitive purposes.
Comment: This is not an active community. The community and the posts were made by me, for last summer’s 490 class, to model how a livejournal community can be used in class. What I like about livejournal is that you can embed videos and pictures easily. Members of the community can maintain their own blogs and communicate easily with others through their flist and fpage. And the posts can be moderated and there are many different levels of privacy and security. I think it’s also easier to post some allowed widgets on the side bar. The lj cut function is also a great feature!
More detailed description of this project…
Continue reading ‘Livejournal community’
EDIT 435 Project Proposal
Topic: Internet Security
The internet is a rich source of information and platform for learning. However, there are also many dangers in the form of viruses, malware , identity theft, and other cyber crimes. I would like to focus my project on learning more about how to make the internet safer. Although my focus will be on safer internet usage for adults, I also plan to touch upon some issues that affect school-aged children. In terms of topics I’d like to know more about:
– Potential risks: virus, spyware, malware and the like
– How I can become a safer internet user: safe practices
In terms of final presentation, I am planning on creating a web page that will showcase my research as well as contain links to my journal reflections—most probably through a blog link.
ETA: FINAL PROJECT LINK
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Journal #1
New term!
The last one which I’m pretty sure I’m going to attend full-time; therefore, I really want to maximize what I can learn in the next 10 weeks. What’s new so far?
EDIT 550: Multimedia Design and Production
FINAL PROJECT: The Maze—Spatial Learning SIM on Second Life
Check out my youtube video on the project conceptualization phase:
More detailed description of this project…
Continue reading ‘Second Life Spatial Learning SIM part1’
Reflective Blog Post#6
Read: Textbook Textbook (Reiser and Dempsey) Section 5 (pick trends and issues in one area/setting from chapters 18 – 23).
In your readings from Section 5 of the textbook and also from your own independent research, you get the flavor of the field of Instructional Design and Technology in different settings, K-12, higher education, health care, distance learning etc. Which setting do you see yourself practicing the field in future? Describe in brief the challenges that you would face working in that setting and how you might apply what you have learned from the readings.
Honestly, at this point, it depends on what is going to be available in terms of jobs. But I do want to practice in relation to my profession as a high school science teacher. I see myself integrating technology in my instruction. I’m always interested in how to make my instructional design and implementation more effective and efficient. I want to be able to merge what I know in my content area and what I will learn in the educational technology program and come up with better learning and instructional strategies. I think some time in the future, I’ll eventually be interested in curriculum development. Therefore, I see myself primarily as an educator who will be able to incorporate technology and instructional design in my classroom.
The main problem that I will face will be access to resources and making sure that all of my students achieve a similar, relative level of digital literacy. I don’t think that all students are digital natives. Based on my experience and observation, students’ exposure at home and their access to technology determine the level of their knowledge and the range of their technological skills. I want to democratize digital knowledge and literacy. One other problem will be resistance to technology especially when I deal with school administration or district level policies. There are also legal issues that need to be considered when it comes to internet-related instructional design especially when it comes to certain school districts.
Reflective Blog Post#5
Read: Textbook (Reiser and Dempsey) Section 4 (read chapters 14-16, skim chapter 17). In this blog post, reflect on the following:
Your reaction to the human performance technology (HPT) movement in the IDT field. Whether or not you would support the use of non-instructional solutions to performance problems, such as electronic performance support systems (EPSS) or knowledge management systems (KMS) in your organization. Why or why not?
It depends a lot on context and technology transfer. I think we can’t totally rely on EPSS or KMS when it comes to most forms of education. At this point in time, education is still a social discipline. Even on online and elearning systems, we are still dealing with other human beings who are connected through a system of networks—but we are still human beings. As human beings, there are many factors that are easily not factorable and applicable if we digitize and make everything electronic. Of course, there are many training courses especially in banking, finance and retail industries which are fully KMS based. Looking at it from a cost-benefit analysis point of view, these systems are cheaper. But I wonder if they are truly effective and will they yield good results in the long run? I think most industries don’t really look at things from a long-term perspective. But if one just thinks about cost-cutting and short-term solutions, I think these systems are more applicable in this context. But when it comes to the education of human beings, I believe that there are many things problematic about absolutely mechanizing educational systems.
Question 3 (chapter 11): The five perceived attributes of an innovation are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. Think of an innovation that you, your organization, or someone you know has recently adopted. Which of the perceptions do you think were most important in the adoption decision? Which perceptions were not important? Do you believe it is possible to measure people’s perceptions and design a product that is “perception-friendly” Why or Why not?
Continue reading ‘Innovation Adoption and Perceptive Attributes’
Adventures in EdutechLA 