Yolanda+Gracie

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Adv Edu Psy F09: Yolanda Gracie 
 * Advanced Educational Psychology **
 * Emerging Technologies in Education **



In his book //The World Is Flat//, Tom Friedman points out that globalization is tearing down cultural boundaries and flattening the world. As Friendman states, students in the United States and other countries must lead the world as 21st century learners through global cooperation. We need citizens who are creative and capable of leading, managing, collaborating and networking with productive people around the world.

 In the 21st Century, students must make the shift from consumers to producers. In order for students to be successful in the 21st Century, they must develop a new set of skills: · innovation/creativity · use of ideas/abstraction · self discipline, organization, closure · strategic, independent thinking · the ability to function well as a member of a team



Daniel Pink claims that the right brainers will rule the world. He identifies six high-concept, high-touch senses that help to develop skills necessary for the 21st Century. They are Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning.

Today’s students spend hours of their day playing video games, using digital devices, wandering around in virtual worlds and communicating technologically through wikkis, blogs, skyping, twittering, etc.. They have grown up with a mouse in their hand. To coin a phrase, they are Digital Natives. Technology is a motivator and keeps them engaged. 

The six technologies I have identified are Videoconferencing, Digital Storytelling, Mind Mapping, Virtual Learning Environments, Virtual Reality Simulations, and Web-based Virtual Libraries. Each of these technologies focuses on the 21st Century Learning skills. They have students using the right side of their brain as they develop Pink’s high-concept, high-touch senses, and focus on presenting content in ways that are relevant to the students so they become “producers” rather than “consumers.” <span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 16pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;">

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<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 24pt; text-align: center;">**<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 115%;">Online Collaborative Environments: ****<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 115%;">Videoconferencing With Elluminate VCS ** =====

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> Videoconferencing prepares students for success as professionals in the 21st Century. Videoconferencing is a collaborative environment that provides virtual workplaces where students, teachers, and experts can communicate, share information, and work together. Videoconferencing tears down classroom walls by bringing students and experts from all over the world into the classroom. Videoconferencing provides students an opportunity to experience learning in many ways. It allows students to critically examine what they see and hear and compare their own ideas with others whose experiences and skills may differ from their own.

Videoconferencing fosters teamwork and collaboration. The value placed on teamwork and collaboration is increasing in business and industry as professionals are often expected to work across geographic and cultural boundaries. Videoconferencing experiences help students develop skills valued by the international work community such as communication skills and global and cultural awareness as students develop teamwork skills and tap into the perspectives of people around the world.

Videoconferencing exhibits many of the concepts of Constructivist Theory : learning in realistic learning environments, engaging in ownership of one’s own learning, and using relevant cultural tools. Videoconferencing is also supported by Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory which states that the life long process of development is dependent on social interaction and that social learning leads to cognitive development. The use of videoconferencing increases the opportunities for social interaction. Now collaboration and peer instruction which was once only possible within the classroom walls is available from the other side of the globe.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Videoconferencing addresses many of the senses Daniel Pink states are necessary for success in the 21st Century:

Story is the essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding. It is the ability to fashion a compelling narrative. “Stories are important cognitive events, for they encapsulate into one package, information, knowledge, context and emotion” (Pink 103). Videoconferencing encourages students to develop their sense of Story as they share thoughts, experiences, and ideas with others across the globe.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> Symphony is putting the pieces together, synthesizing, seeing the big picture, crossing boundaries and being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole. Videoconferencing allows students to cross the boundaries of the classroom to exchange ideas with others and create new knowledge.

Empathy is the ability to understand what makes other tick, to develop relationships and to care for others. Videoconferencing allows students to share their experiences with others from all over the world. It provides the opportunity for a student to “feel with someone” and be able to “climb into another’s mind to experience the world from that person’s perspective” (Pink, 159).

Daniel Pink says students must have learning experiences that enhance their ability to solve problems, understand others, and appreciate the world around them. Videoconferencing is an excellent vehicle to develop these abilities as students interact with others from diverse cultures to exchange ideas, debate issues, and solve problems. It helps students see the connections between diverse disciplines and/or cultures.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Elluminate VCS is one example of an online video conferencing program. A conference master schedules and manages the videoconference. Participants use their computer to log on to the Elluminate VCS website to participate in the videoconference. Elluminate VCS makes it easy to broadcast to the web either as a live event or as a recording. Anywhere from 2 to 100 people can collaborate on Elluminate VCS. Elluminate VCS pairs the full screen video broadcast with an object-oriented whiteboard and allows for live audio and file transfer. In order to use Elluminate VCS, users must have Elluminate downloaded on their computer and they must also have a webcam and a microphone. Images of participants are shown on the screen so that students can see and hear the participants in real time. Eluminate VCS supports closed captioning and allows for alternate input methods for those who can’t use a keyboard and a mouse, so it is perfectly suited for students with physical challenges.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Videoconferencing has many applications for the classroom. Literature circles are a natural way for students to discuss books they have read with other students across the globe. Videoconferencing encourages students to articulate their thoughts clearly in order to be understood.

Another application is the meeting of an expert in a subject. Because of limited funding, field trips are going to be limited, but that does not mean that students cannot still meet with experts such as scientists, museum curators, authors, etc. to engage in dialog or see a demonstration. The combination of social interaction and meeting an expert in a subject provides an avenue for deep learning. Through videoconferencing, students working in collaborative environments now have the opportunity to connect with experts, professionals, researchers and peers beyond their classroom walls.

Friedman, T (2005). //The World Is Flat:A Brief History of the 21st Century.// New York:Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Pink, D. (2006). //A Whole New Mind.// New York: Penguin Group. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). //Mind and Society: The Development of Higher Mental Processes.// Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed.).// New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> Education Reform defines digital storytelling as an emerging art form of personal, heartful expression that enables individuals and communities to reclaim their personal cultures while exploring their artistic creativity. While the heart and power of the digital story is shaping a personal digital story about self, family, ideas, or experiences, the technology tools also invite writers and artists to think and invent new types of communication outside the realm of traditional linear narratives. (Education Reform, []) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; msospacerun: yes; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Digital stories usually contain a mixture of text, images, music and/or audio animation. They can range from personal tales, recounting historical events, to literally anything that can be told as a story. Digital storytelling is a great way to create interest and motivation for today’s digital natives. It capitalizes on student’s creative strengths as they research and tell stories of their own.

Howard Gardner has identified seven distinct intelligences: visual spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. Because digital storytelling combines text with audio and pictures, it is an excellent teaching vehicle for those students with visual spatial, musical, and linguistic intelligences. For those intrapersonal students, digital storytelling is an excellent independent learning project.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> If you examine Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, to Create is the highest level of thinking. Digital storytelling allows students to create a product for an audience as they present their ideas in a meaningful way. Students creating digital stories develop proficiency with multimedia applications, but the deeper impact comes from students thinking critically about effec­tive combinations among audio and visual elements. Each story challenges a student to pull pictures and sound and special effects that meaningfully support the story and arrange them in a way that best supports the text.

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Daniel Pink says <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Story is the essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding. It is the ability to fashion a compelling narrative. “Stories are important cognitive events, for they encapsulate into one package, information, knowledge, context and emotion” (Pink 103). Digital storytelling allows students to express themselves not only with their own words, but also in their own voices. It creates an opportunity for students to develop self understanding.

Every life is a story. Our stories define us and bind us together. They give us purpose and what Daniel Pink calls meaning. , <span style="color: black; font-family: 'TimesNewRomanPSMT','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;"> In the 21st Century, we are trying to help students take control of their own learning. The inquiry or constructivist approach provides students with opportunities to create "artifacts" or "products" that demonstrate their understanding and skill development. This is what we mean when we say our goal is to have students become producers rather than consumers. The advantage of digital storytelling is that it allows students to construct their own learning, and engages them in inquiry and active learning processes.

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Dale's Cone of Experience demonstrates the power digital storytelling can have for students as they design, create, analyze and evaluate their digital stories and those of others. When students design or perform a presentation, they remember 90% of what they do as compared to remembering 10% when reading is used in isolation.

<span style="color: #0070c0; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 32pt; text-align: center;">Digital Storytelling With Photo Story 3

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> Photo Story 3 is a free digital storytelling computer program from Microsoft. It's friendly interface allows students to create digital stories that include pictures, music, narration, transitions, special effects, and motion. It has photo editing features that allow students to create pans, zoom effects, picture rotation and cropping. There is even a tool that allows students to create an original soundtrack for their story. To narrate the story, students will need a microphone if the computer does not have one built in. Students work on a storyboard to create the individual slides for their story. Photo Story 3 is more user friendly than PowerPoint. The program virtually takes the students through the steps of creating a digital story. The stories are saved as a Windows Media Video (wmv) movie and can be burned to a CD or DVD to beand can be played on any computer that has Windows Media Player. Photo Story 3 works on both Windows XP and Windows Vista.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Digital Storytelling has numerous applications in the classroom. The most obvious of course is creating a personal narrative. This is a wonderful vehicle for helping students create an identity of self or what Daniel Pink calls Meaning, and to develop literacy and technology skills at the same time.

With Photo Story 3, students can do research and create a biography of an eminent person, create a virtual tour of a historic site, write their own fairy tale, or even explain how to do a math problem. Students can create counting books and ABC books. The uses for Digital Storying in the classroom are only limited by your imagination.

Ohler, Jason B. (2007) Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity. New York: Corwin Press Pink, D. (2006). //A Whole New Mind.// New York: Penguin Group Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed.).// New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Mind mapping was developed in the 1970's by Tony Buzan. Mind mapping uses pictures and/or word phrases to organize and develop thoughts in a non-linear fashion. It is particularly useful in helping students see connections between ideas, summarize information, or when studying and recalling information. Most people use mind mapping when they are brainstorming, taking notes, or refreshing their memory. Since it is an activity that is both analytical and artistic, it engages both sides of the brain.

Basically a mind map looks like the example below created to explain the six high concept, high touch senses Daniel Pink identifies in his book //A Whole New Mind//.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Mind maps contain the following elements: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> Mind maps often contain color and images. The use of color and images in mind maps aids in the retention of information.
 * 1) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">a central idea
 * 2) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">themes radiating off the central idea
 * 3) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">key words/images branch off the themes

Mind mapping is an excellent activity for visual spatial learners. In the book //Classroom Instruction That Works,// Marzano, Pollock and Pickering identify 9 instructional strategies that have the greatest effect on student achievement. Using visual representation is one of them. Mind mapping is an excellent tool for creating visual representations of complex data.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'mso-ansi-language; text-align: left;">No matter what you call them; Mind-Maps, Concept Maps, or Graphic Organizers, concept mapping can be a great instructional tool. It is described by Woolfolk (2010) as a tool to build relationships among ideas in a meaningful way and to help students' recall of information. (Woolfolk, 274). Mind mapping is derived from the theory that when you tap into a students' prior knowledge, students can tie their prior knowledge to concepts to create new knowledge. This is what Daniel Pink calls Symphony - putting the pieces together, synthesizing, seeing the big picture, crossing boundaries and being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole. (Pink 141). Mind mapping can also be used to create new products or in problem solving to develop a strategy or process. When used to create new products or to solve problems,, the key to effective mind mapping is to generate lots of ideas (fluency), not to necessarily think logically. Judgment is deferred and everything goes - the crazier the better - that is how creative thinking works. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Mind mapping encourages students to work collaboratively as they create mind maps. Students can draw upon the knowledge of one another to create their mind maps. The students are responsible for one another's learning as well as their own. In addition to facilitating collaborative learning, mind mapping stimulates classroom discussion, makes the class more interactive, and encourages peer to peer learning. The social learning theory of Vygotsky states that students work at higher intellectual levels in collaborative situations than when they are working individually. <span style="color: #0070c0; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 24pt; text-align: center;"> Creating Mind Maps with MindGenius

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> MindGenius is a mind mapping software program that allows students to create mind maps on their computer. Students can map information electronically and save their work as they go. Later, they can edit their maps and reorder information, add further information, add color and images, all without having to recreate the mind maps. The MindGenius program has several templates from which to choose to help you start creating your mind map. You can use images from the MindGenius image bank or can import images or clipart. MindGenius has a wide range of coloring options to make the mind maps more colorful and to highlight areas of the mind map.

Mind mapping has numerous applications in the classroom. Students can use mindmapping to brainstorm solutions to a problem, to create a map to illustrate an abstract concept, to explain a process, to take notes, or to organize a presentation. The uses for mind mapping are endless.

Marzano, R., Pickering, D; Pollock, J (2001). //Classroom Instruction That Works: Research Based Strategies For Increasing Student Achievement.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Pink, D. (2006). //A Whole New Mind.// New York: Penguin Group Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed.).// New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

<span style="color: #0070c0; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 32pt; text-align: center;">Virtual Learning Environments <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">A virtual learning environment (VLE) is a set of teaching and learning tools designed to enhance a student's learning experience by including computers and the Internet in the learning process. The virtual environment is housed online and is accessed via the Internet. Virtual Learning Environments are essential in the 21st Century Learning classroom where we are trying to get students to connect globally and learn the skill of collaboration. The principal components of virtual learning environments are:


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">mapping of the curriculum into course topics that can be assessed and recorded;
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">tracking of student activity and achievement within the curriculum presented online;
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">support of online learning, including access to learning resources, assessment and guidance;
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">online tutor support;
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">peer group support;
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">general communications, including email, group discussion and web access;
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">links to other systems, both in-house and externally;

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> Virtual learning environments can be used in place of or to supplement the traditional classroom environment. At the higher education level, they are often referred to as online learning classes or distance education classes. WEB CT and Blackboard are the most common platforms for distance education classes. Virtual learning environments extend the curriculum beyond the lesson taught within the classroom. It is a tool that encourages students to communicate with the teacher and other students outside of the classroom. Effective use of virtual learning environments creates a truly differentiated learning environment. Virtual learning environments provide extra support for students needing more instruction while also providing challenges for the advanced students.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Moodle is a free virtual learning environment that was designed to help teachers create effective online learning communities. The word //Moodle// is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. Moodle can also be used as a verb that described the improvisational process of doing things as they occur to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. Anyone who uses Moodle is called a //Moodler//.

The instructor has the ability to control the activities for the course with modules such as:

Chat Module - allows student to interact through text synchronously. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> Moodle creates a log for every click that the students make. For quizzes Moodle can create an analysis of each student's responses and can also create an analysis of the items themselves. Teachers can get reports of the individual students or of all students for a specific activity.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Forum Module - the place for asynchronous communication. Can be teacher only, course news, open-to-all, etc.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Journal Module - place for private conversations between the student and teacher. Each journal entry can be directed by an open question. For each particular journal entry, the whole class can be assessed on one page in one form. Teacher feedback is appended to the journal entry page, and notification is mailed out.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Assignment Module - students submit a file for evaluation and feedback from the teacher. A comment box and a pull-down menu for a grade can be used.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Quiz Module - allows you to create online quizzes for grading.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Resource Module - used by teachers to posts homework, display electronic content such as PowerPoint, Video, sounds, Word and PDF files, etc. This allows teachers to bring in resources for the students to access.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Lesson Module
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Glossary Module - allows students to build a list of terms and definitions so that students can look up a word if they do not understand the term.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Questionnaire Module - tool for eliciting student opinions, polling, etc.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Choice Module - used to allow students to choose between two items in a course.

With Moodle, a teacher can create online lessons that can be used by students who are absent for a single day or who are homebound for an extended period. Teachers can post homework assignments, guidelines for projects, rubrics and other helpful information. Moodle can be used to grade assignments providing immediate feedback to both the teacher and students. It also allows for easy communication with parents. Research has shown that parental involvement increases academic achievement. Woolfolk recommends that educators offer several different methods of parental participation. Moodle is one method that allows for effective parent communication.

Moodle is based on social constructionist pedagogy which includes collaboration, activity-based learning, critical reflection, etc. The use of Moodle helps to extend the curriculum beyond the lesson taught within the classroom. Moodle is a tool that encourages students to communicate with the teacher and other students outside the classroom. With Moodle, you can provide extra support for students needing more instruction while also providing challenges for the advanced students. Carol Ann Tomlinson identifies three areas of the curriculum to differentiate based on the students' readiness levels: process, content, and product. In Moodle you can differentiate the process by having the students work in flexible groups. Content can be differentiated by providing content at different levels, and products can be differentiated by allowing students choice in how to present the information they learn.

Pink. D. (2006). //A Whole New Mind.// New York: Penguin Group Tomlinson. C. (1999). //The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed.).// New York: Pearson Education Inc.

<span style="color: #0070c0; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30pt; text-align: center;">Virtual Reality Simulations <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">



<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Virtual reality is no longer limited to video games. Now, educators are turning their classrooms into a virtual environment to enhance learning. Jaron Lanier created the term Virtual Reality in the early 1980's. Virtual reality simulations are computer generated 3D experiences in which a user can navigate around, interact with, and be immersed in another world in real time, or at the speed of life (Briggs, 2002.)



Virtual reality simulations offer students the unique opportunity to experience an event or activity, or to manipulate objects within the classroom walls that might otherwise not be available. Student can explore and manipulate objects in real time. The ability for students to dissect a virtual frog or to experience a virtual tour of a museum provides learning opportunities for students that allow them to learn by doing rather than by reading or manipulating 2 dimensional objects.The ability of students to revisit the virtual environment repeatedly also puts the student in control of their learning.

Virtual Reality Simulations provide multiple channels of communication with students. This includes the use of images, audio, video, voice, and text. Because virtual reality simulations are multi-sensory, they are an excellent learning tool for students with different modalities of learning. Visualization is achieved more effectively through virtual reality because something that is hard to explain or show to students is more easily demonstrated when presented in three dimensions.

Research has shown that virtual reality has a favorable impact on student learning and can offer an advantage over more traditional instruction. Ainge (1996) did research that showed students who built and explored 3D solids within a virtual reality simulation were better able to recognize 3D shapes in everyday contexts when compared to students who constructed 3D solids out of paper. Ainge also found that students were more enthusiastic during class when using virtual reality simulations than when using traditional pencil and paper tasks. The online virtual reality platform allows for hands-on interactivity and overcomes physical constraints of typical classroom education. Virtual reality engages students in what Daniel Pink calls Play. According to Pink, virtual reality games have become a tool for solving problems as well as a vehicle for self-expression and self-exploration. The same is true of virtual reality simulations in the classroom setting. Virtual reality simulations can develop many of the skills that are vital in the Conceptual Age.

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Google Earth - the Virtual Reality Globe

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> Google Earth is a free, downloadable program that is a virtual globe. It can be used on any computer operating system. The program features easy to navigate satellite views of the entire Earth and features overlayed pictures, facts, videos and informational articles. This program is very easy to use and can be used by students in elementary through high school. Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to explore galaxies in outer space to canyons of the ocean through satellite imagry, maps, terrain and 3D buildings. Students can view their own homes and neighborhoods from an ariel view. Different layers provide different information - street names, 3D buildings, etc. Students can save their toured places to share with others. s

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">There are many classroom applications for Google Earth. When students study about Ancient Egypt, they can fly there to see the pyramids, the Sphinx and they can actually use the ruler tool to measure distances such as the top of the pyramid to the ground or the distances between the pyramids. In English, students can take //Literature trips// to explore the locations in a book they are reading. They can create a virtual autobiography making a tour of interesting locations in their lives. Students can even create interative tours which include images, text, video and sound and is then saved as a movie. This allows students to use the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy as they communicate their research in a personally meaningful way.

Ainge, D.J. (1996) Upper primary students constructing and exploring three dimensional shapes: A comparison of virtual reality with card nets. //Journal of Educational Research,// 14(4), 345-369. Briggs, J.C. (2002) Virtual reality is getting real: Prepare to meet your clone. //The Futurist,// 36(3), 34-42. Pink, D. (2006). //A Whole New Mind.// New York: Penguin Group Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed.).// New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

<span style="color: #0070c0; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30pt; text-align: center;"> Web-Based Virtual Libraries

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Web-based virtual libraries are libraries housed on the Internet which contain digital copies of books, periodicals and primary source documents. With the invent of the Internet, virtual libraries make available many resources to students which would otherwise be unavailable. It is extremely valuable to students to have primary documents and current periodicals when doing research and creating products. Virtual libraries allow students to take control of their own learning which is one of the greatest challenges facing teacher today. The inquiry or constructivist approach is based on providing students with opportunities to formulate their own research and create artifacts or products that demonstrate conceptual understanding and skill develoment. With many students today, research on the Internet involves students taking information from the first few web sites they find on an Internet search engine and cutting and pasting information. If we want students to become knowledge producers, we must teach them how to evaluate the reliability of information found on the Internet. This is an important 21st Century literacy skill. Students using virtual libraries can evaluate the information and reliability of that information. They can also evaluate primary source documents which are vital for research. This taps into Bloom's high level thinking skill of analyzing and evaluating. Using virtual libraries to do research prior to creating a product such as a PowerPoint program, travel brochure, mock historical newspaper, etc., encourages students to synthesize information or what Daniel Pink calls Symphony. <span style="color: #0070c0; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30pt; text-align: center;"> The World Digital Library

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> The World Digital Library is the brainchild of Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Billington first proposed this international collaboratin in 2005. The World Digital Library makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world such as manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, archi­tectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. I selected this example of a virtual library because it is an international endeavor and is an example of global cooperation. It was developed by a team at the U.S. Library of Congress, with contributions by partner institutions in many countries; the support of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations. The principal objectives of the WDL are to: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Items on the WDL may be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search. Special features include a timeline, advanced image viewing, item level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items for additional information. Navigation tools and content descriptions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Many more languages are represented in the actual books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other primary materials, which are provided in their original languages.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Promote international and intercultural understanding and awareness or what Daniel Pink calls Empathy
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries

Pink, D. (2006). //A Whole New Mind.// New York: Penguin Group Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed.).// New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

If we want our students to be successful in the 21st Century we must prepare them by providing them with the skills they will need. We must provide learning opportunities that engage them using the tools that they feel comfortable with. The days of paper and pencil linear tasks are over. We must teach them using tools that allow for them to become producers rather than consumers and teach them the skills of problem solving and collaboration. We must provide learning experiences that engage both sides of the brain if they are to develop the high touch senses Daniel Pink suggests are so vital for success in the global business world. I believe that the six technologies I have presented will be beneficial in helping students develop those senses and in developing the skills necessary to be successful in the 21st Century.

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