Week Thirteen--Chapters Eleven and Twelve

Question 2: What advantages can broad bandwidth and wireless networking offer schools? Describe the current technologies available for wireless connectivity.

A broadband network connection is extremely valuable in today’s classroom. With the growing amount of educational resources available on the internet, and our increasing dependencies on web and network connected applications, a fast connection to the internet is indispensable. WiFi (wireless fidelity) technology is used to distribute a connection to a network (usually broadband) amongst devices in a certain area. WiFi is in some cases replacing hard-wired ethernet networks since it is easier to install, repair, and expand. In places that had no networking before, WiFi is chosen over ethernet since it is cheaper to implement. WiFi technologies have steadily improved and now are often just as good as their wired counterparts. Newer iterations of WiFi now feature very fast data throughput, as well as adequate range, and security measures. Some people worry WiFi security since it seems very open in nature. However, there are many precautions one can make to make sure your network is as secure as you would like it to be. This openness allows greater freedom.

Bluetooth technology is often related to the use of a PAN (personal-area-network). Many modern cellphones, computers, printers, and other devices have a bluetooth chip built in. This allows communication with other bluetooth devices. Bluetooth has a much shorter range than WiFi, but is still very useful for wirelessly transmitting data. The short range of bluetooth devices may make them very suitable for the classroom, since there would be less interference from other devices next door. It does seem to me that the author may have been a little over-zealous about the future of Bluetooth. While it is certainly useful (and, in fact, in use in many places), many of the examples of use given in the book have found solutions in WiFi, new web-services, and high-speed cellular networks.

I find wireless technologies to be one of the most exciting things happening in technology today. As we continue to be more wireless we gain more and more freedom from the restrictions we impose on ourselves by our reliance on technology. We are now more free to set up our learning environments however we like. We are also able to produce cleaner more efficient workstations. Doesn’t everyone hate that mess of wires behind the computer? There is now no reason why we should’t be almost completely wireless in only a few years!

Video and Listserve

A video can be a fun project. I used iMovie on my Mac to make my video with pictures and a title and ending slide. I recorded my audio on my iPhone and then just attached it to my video in iMovie. You can see George Washington here.

A listserve is easy to create with the use of Google Groups. My listserve is 6th-grade-social-science@googlegroups.com, and can be subscribed to here.

Course Site

Using Google Sites to create a class webpage is quite easy.

One can create and organize pages in any way they like.

My page can be visited here.

Week Eleven-- Chapters Nine and Ten

Question 1: What is visual literacy? Where and when is it learned? Why is it important? Contrast Internet broadcasts, live cams, and Net meetings. How can each of these Internet-based video technologies be used in teaching and learning?

Visual literacy is a skill that is learned over the course of most people’s lives. Just as we learn to comprehend ideas through the written word (literacy), it is possible for us to begin to learn through the use of images and richer media. We acquire these skills over the course of our learning history. Most of us, at this point in our lives, are quite fluent in gleaning information and meaning from a variety of visuals. Visual literacy is relevant in learning from “visuals.” Our book tells us there are three primary design elements relevant to a “visual.” Visual elements are those graphics and other things that are not just text. These add meaning that enhances the message from the text. Text elements contain the text we want the learner to read and understand. The text can take many forms and it is up to us to format it how we think is best. I am not clear as to how the third element is to be implemented, but I assume it is hybrid of the visual and text elements. Affective elements are meant to elicit a response, mostly emotional, from the learner. Emotions are very important to learning, and if you can cause a learner to associate a certain emotion with your message it is more likely to be comprehended and remembered. In contemporary culture visual literacy is extremely important! We are constantly seeing signage, posters, brochures, etc. that contain text as well as images and graphics that we must correctly understand.

Internet Broadcasts, live cams, and Net meetings are all ways of consuming information through the use of a network connection. All of these require one’s device (most likely a computer or tv) to be connected to the internet. They also make use of various streaming technologies in use all around the web. Streaming video is video that is stored or collected on a computer or server, and then sent in a sequential fashion to a user’s computer. The computer then stores this information in a buffer and plays it back to the observer as new information is collected in the buffer. Internet broadcasts are not necessarily live as are live cams and net meetings. An internet broadcast could be a performance or lesson that has been recorded and is then streamed to users whenever they feel like watching it. They could be live, however. This would be a great way to perform a demonstration across the net to learners that are not physically nearby. Your internet broadcast could have live video as well as a live feed from your computer or television screen, for example.

Live cams are often used to broadcast one particular scene onto the net so that people may observe it whenever they like. We often see weather cams that show a live feed of current weather conditions. These do not require an observer to log on at any one point in time, but they are encouraged to view it whenever they want, as the content of the live feed should always be different.

An internet meeting is like a video conference. These meetings are set up by two or more people that want to be able to speak to one another aloud, and see each other. These events do require everyone involved to be online at the same time. This is another good way to give a presentation or demonstration, but only to a certain group of people.