Bryant+Lumpkin

= = Bryant Lumpkin FNDS 6170 Research & Technology Project = =

Technologies: New, Emerging, and Innovative  **  Social bookmarking is a way for people to bookmark and tag sites with keywords so that they and other people in the system can easily access the site at a later time. It can also be used to share entire bookmark collections with other users. By tagging sites with several related keywords, users can navigate to sites that others found useful. Registered users are able to tag, share bookmark collections, and use the site’s search feature, while unregistered users can search, view the bookmarks of others, and use the search feature. Social bookmarking sites have several applications in the classroom. One advantage is the ability to view stored bookmarks from any computer with Internet access instead of limiting oneself to bookmarks being stored on only one computer. For example, when surfing the Internet at home and I come upon a site that would be informative and useful in a lesson, I would simply bookmark it using the social bookmarking site. I could use my bookmark collection to easily access the site later on a computer at school, and by using a projector, share the site with my class.
 * Social Bookmarking

Students could also share their bookmark collections with teachers and classmates. Social bookmarking sites would allow traditional show-and-tell activities to come into the modern age. The constructivist theory of learning states that active learning, social interaction, and the construction of one’s own knowledge are essential to development (Woolfolk, 311). Through researching, making sense of material on the Internet, relating it to school curriculum, and sharing findings with peers, student activities with social bookmarking can improve learning. While surfing the Internet, students could also make note of good and bad design features. In //A Whole New Mind //, Daniel Pink emphasizes the importance of good design. By observing websites and creating a notebook of preferred web page design features, students improve their own ability to create projects with good design (Pink, 89). Pink, Daniel H. (2006). //A Whole New Mind . New York: Penguin Group. // Woolfolk, Anita. (2010). //Educational Psychology // (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

**Podcasts**

 Podcasts are similar to radio broadcasts, although some do contain video. One can subscribe to a podcast related to a particular interest. Whenever a new podcast is posted, iTunes automatically downloads the episode. The user can then listen to or view the podcast at a convenient time. This technology can be very useful in education. Many podcasts address educational curriculum in way that is new and refreshing to students. Podcasts could be used in the classroom as a daily or weekly entry into a journal. As students listen to the podcast, they would be required to describe what they learned. As a science teacher, I would offer my students a selection of science-based podcasts and allow the students to decide which one the class would listen to. Students would be able to go beyond the textbook to learn about science. This activity would work well as a daily bell ringer.This activity would work well as a daily bell ringer. Teachers might find that students with attention and hyperactivity disorders learn easier from a video Podcast with visual aids (Woolfolk, 134). <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students are more likely to learn and remember scientific concepts if they hear or view the concept in a particular situation. Podcasts can provide just that. Pink emphasizes the use of stories to understand things about our world (Pink, 115). As a teacher, one could extend the journal activity to have students write short stories about how a particular educational concept may have influenced their lives. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Pink, Daniel H. (2006). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif;">//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A Whole New Mind <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-style: normal;">. New York: Penguin Group. // <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">** Twitter ** <span style="color: #800000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">Twitter is a free service that allows users communicate with others by way of short messages. The basic concept is that the author of the “tweets” has followers that receive the messages. It is much like text messaging on cellular phones, except Twitter can be done on their website for free. This social networking service has become very popular with celebrities and their fans, but the service can also be used for educational purposes. With the teacher as the author and students (or their parents) as followers, Twitter can be utilized to relay messages at times when conventional methods are not appropriate. General class reminders, test dates, homework assignments, and insightful questions can be sent in real time to students and parents. Not only can students and parents view messages on the Twitter website, but they can also choose to receive the messages by way of text message on their cellular phone. Twitter can greatly enhance communication between teachers, parents, and students.



<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Lev Vygotsky emphasized the importance of child interaction with capable individuals, such as parents and teachers (Woolfolk, 43). Twitter can serve as a medium for this type of interaction. With both students and parents as followers, teachers can tweet about course-relevant material that might be of interest to students when not in the classroom. For example, a teacher tweets that an interesting program will be on the discovery channel. That teacher just created a great opportunity for the parent to interact with their child in an educational manner. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Woolfolk, Anita. (2010). //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Educational Psychology //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px; text-align: center;"> **Personal Response Systems <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"> ** <span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">Personal response systems are used by teachers to ask their students questions and have them reply using a handheld device. This technology eliminates the use of paper for short quizzes and offers instant feedback from all students. Not only used for quizzes, student response systems can be used to poll students or to answer simple questions in classroom discussions. Statistical information of student responses can be displayed on a projector so that everyone can see the various responses. This type of technology not only benefits the teacher by offering analysis of student understanding, but it also allows students who usually shy away from classroom discussions the opportunity to offer their input. Personal response systems can greatly enhance student interaction during lectures and discussions. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The use of personal response systems can take advantage of B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning, in which learning can be strengthened with the consequences (Woolfolk, 201). This technology provides students with instant feedback during lecture and discussions, a time when many students are daydreaming or sleeping. By presenting reinforcements or rewards when students arrive at a correct response, they learn that it is beneficial to participate and pay attention in class. In turn, the material being presented is better understood. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Woolfolk, Anita. (2010). //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Educational Psychology //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Moodle ** <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Moodle is a website that offers a free place for teachers to create an online course. The features of this technology offer students the opportunity to interact with a variety of activities uploaded or created by their teacher. In a high school setting, teachers can create online versions of their course. This would allow students to supplement their in-class instruction with interactive features that aid in learning. Students who are unable to attend classes could use the Moodle course to stay up to date with the rest of the class by completing lessons, activities, projects, and homework assignments posted by the teacher. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">



<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Moodle provides a great opportunity to provide more challenging and thought-provoking work to gifted and advanced students. Providing enrichment for gifted students lets them reach their full potential (Woolfolk, 148). Pink would agree that this task improves the sense of symphony in students, enhancing their ability to think abstractly and connect ideas (Pink, 130).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Pink, Daniel H. (2006). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif;">//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A Whole New Mind <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-style: normal;">. New York: Penguin Group. // Woolfolk, Anita. (2010). //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Educational Psychology //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px; text-align: left;">** Second Life **

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Second Life is an online application that allows users to virtually interact with other users and places. Recently, the educational implications of this technology have come to the forefront. Educational organizations have seen an increasing presence in Second Life, making it an ideal place for students to learn. Not only can students interact with others from all over the world, the can also explore museums and exhibits, perform virtual experiments, and visit many other places that would otherwise be unavailable to them. By allowing students to experience, interact with, and manipulate this virtual environment, learning becomes fun and exciting. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Learning in Second Life may be so much fun that students dismiss the fact that they are learning and see the entire experience as play. Pink upholds play as a way to sharpen skills, and practice at connecting and manipulating objects (Pink, 193). Children and even adults can spend a greater amount of time at play than in a classroom. Second Life’s educational virtual worlds allow playing to become a learning experience.

Like Vygotsky, Jean Piaget placed emphasis on social interaction in the learning process; however, Piaget believed that interaction with peers was more important that interaction with adults (Woolfolk, 43). Second Life provides a place where students can interact with other students from other countries in an educational context. Exchanging ideas with such a diverse group of students on class-related topics may prove to have benefits not available in the normal classroom setting.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Pink, Daniel H. (2006). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif;">//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A Whole New Mind <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-style: normal;">. New York: Penguin Group. // <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Woolfolk, Anita. (2010). //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Educational Psychology //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.