Tiffany+Murphy

 Advanced Educational Psychology FNDS-6170 Fall 2009 Tiffany Patrick

** New and Emerging Technologies in Education ** The emergence and growth of technology within the classroom setting is rapidly increasing. Teachers today are faced with finding creative ways to utilize and incorporate this technology into their classrooms. Children today are well equipped to use technology, unlike many of their teachers. Our students are being introduced to technology during the early months of their lives. On your next trip to a department store just browse through the childrens area, in this area you will find mini laptops, digital devices, and so much more. We cannot stop the progression of technology but we can learn new and effective ways to use it to our advantage to inspire and motivate our students.

n Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind" he discusses the difference between left brainers and right brainers. He goes on to state that right brainers will rule the world. Pink identifies six high- concept, high touch senses Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning."These six senses increasingly will guide our lives and shape our world" (Pink 67).

The six new and emerging technologies I have to chosen to highlight will promote creativity as well as higher thinking among the student. The six new and emerging technologies are as follows: 1.Skype 2.Facebook 3. Smartphones 4. Moodle 5.Teacher Tube 6. Digital Library

Skype is software program that allows users to make voice calls over the internet. This program prepares the students for the 21st century way of learning. Skype is a free download and also provided members with free call to other members of the service. This program also offers users the option to make calls to landlines and mobile phones as well. Additional features include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing. this program would allow teachers and students to communicate with others users across the globe. The sociocultural theory emphasizes role of development of dialogues between children and more knowledgeable members of society. Children learn the culture of their community(ways of thinking and behaving) through these interactions. (Woolfolk,42). I would use this program in my classroom to connect my students with students in other places who are their age and collaborate on assignments.

Facebook is a social networking site used by over 63 million active users. Members use facebook to communicate with friends and family by posting personal information and photos on their page. According to Facebooks website their mission is give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Facebook is one of the most widely used social- networking sites among students.Social- networking is a great way for students to interact and communicate with other students. Facebook is also a wonderful way build new and lasting friendships. Woolfolk states that "Having stable, supportive relationships with friends who are socially compotent and mature enhances social development" (72). In A Whole New Mind Pink identifies Symphony as one of the six high concept, high touch senses. Symphony is the ability to put pieces together. By networking with students teachers are exemplifying creativity and the ability to think outside the box. I would use this technology in my classroom to share good things that happen in class. I would use it to publish thoughts, reminders for students about upcoming assignments and tag students notes.Finally I would use this program to increase the bond between teacher and students. "Good teachers have positive interpersonal relationships-they care about their students" (74).

References

Skype Info. (2009) retrieved September 23, 2009 from http://www.skype.com/skypeinfo

Pink, D. (2005) //A Whole New Mind : Why Right brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York, NY: Riverhead Books. Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed).// Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merril.

** Smart Phones ** A smartphone is a mobile phone that offers advanced capabilities. The use of mobile devices bwith the the classroom setting is inevitable. Businesses and large companies are using this on the daily basis to arrange meetings and so much more. The use of smartphones has tranformed from want to necessity in the business arena. This device offers such features as e-mail, internet, personal organizers,instant messaging, e-book reader capabilities, and or full built in keyboards or external USB keyboard and VGA connector. To summarize it the smartphone can be considered a mini computer.

Smartphones are a great tool to use within the classroom setting. Most students are already familiar with the sooftware and functionality of these phones. This device is compact and portable. Students could use the phones to access information within seconds. Students could use the phone to acess a range of things from finding a word in the dictionary to finding out what causes and remedies for the common cold. Smartphones are a great tool fro students to record lessons and play them back at a later time. Pink states that "Design is a whole mind aptitude"(70). He emphasizes utility and significance.The use of the smartphone within the classroom offers both of the above. I would use this technology in my classroom to have students define words, view video clips, and record their classmates oral presentation and peer edit.

Moodle is a software package for producing internet based courses and websites. This software offers a virtual classroom environment for teachers and students free of charge. Teachers and students are able to communicate about grades and assignments. Teachers have the ability to create assignments as well as grade them online. Moodle allows the teacher to form discussion bopards and create chats for the students to participate in. Moodle is also student friendly. With moodle students can check their grades, participate in chats and discussions. The use of the internet to create a classroom environment makes keeping up with missed assignments much easier for both the teacher and the students. In A Whole New Mind Pink states that "People who hope to thrive in the conceptual Age must understand the connections between diverse, seemingly separate, disciplines. They must know how to link apparently unconnected elements to create something new" (134). By pairing technology and education we are preparing our students to become producers instead of consumers. Moodle supports a constructivist view on learning by making the student an active member of his or her own learning.

References

About Moodle. (2009) Retrieved September 20, 2009 from []

Pink, D. (2005) A Whole New Mind: Why right Brainers Will Rule The Future. New York, NY: Riverhead Books. Teacher tube is a free service that allows teachers and students to upload educational videos to share with one another. The basic premise behind Teacher Tube is for teachers to both upload and download educational videos to strengthen the lesson as well as boost the final outcome which is student knowledge. This program allows both the student and teacher to continue the kearning process away from school. This program would benefit students who are right brain learners most because of its visual affect. Pink states that the right hemisphere focuses on the seeing(picture) while the left focuses on the written(words). I would use Teacher Tube in my classroom to engage all learners and ad educational visual aids to my lesson plans.

References

Teacher Tube: About Us. (2009). retrieved Septmber 21, 2009, from []

Pink, D. (2005). A Whole New Mind: Why right Brainers Will Rule the Future. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.

Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) are collections of integrated tools that enable the management of online learning. The virtual learning experience is learning outside the traditional setting of the classroom. With virtual learning the student can attend class anywhere they have internet access. Using VLE has benefits for students and teachers. The use of VLE reduces the failure rates, while increasing both rentention levels as well as performance. With Virtual Learning Environments students are able to explore at their own pace and participate more actively in classroom activities. Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory deals with self- regualted learning which Woolfolk define as "A view of learning as skills and will applied to analyzing learning task, setting goals and planning how to do the task applying skills, and especiallymaking adjustments about how learning is carried out" (359). The VLE focuses on helping students envolve into self-regulated learners. References
 * Virtual Learning Environments **

Pink, D. (2005). //A Whole New Mind : Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.

Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology//(11th ed). Upper River SaddleRiver, NJ: Merril.