Mrs. Rueger's Classroom Blog

Red Queens

2013-05-05T14:17:00.002-04:00

I had already possessed the DVD necessary for my science fiction assignment. I purchased the DVD copy of Total Recall when it first came out. When I was younger my family owned a copy of the original Total Recall on VHS. The current competition between DVDS and streaming videos on demand goes better with the Red Queens model. Dr. Thornburg said, “Huge competition between two technologies is in the process and all other competitors are left behind.” I agree with this because there was VHS and it was replaced by DVDs and video on demand. Presently new movies do not come out on VHS.

They are either on DVD or video on demand. There are some benefits to DVDs and there are some benefits to video on demand. DVDs benefit people that do not have internet connections or slow internet speeds. Video on demand benefits people that like use computers and have internet capabilities that can properly show the movies. Also video on demand typically comes from another source such as Netflix or cable companies. Both can appeal to two different groups of people.

On McLuhan’s tetrad I believe they are in the enhance stage. The new media has improved upon VHS and have caused VHS to be in the obsolete stage. Some people believe that DVDs will soon be replaced by video on demand but I don’t see how that can be possible. This is a website I was looking at that believes that one day it will happen. http://www.reelseo.com/streaming-video-ondemand-vs-dvd/

Reference

Walden University (2008). Red Queens [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fweb apps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2643401_1%26url %3D

The Disruptive Power of Second Life

2013-04-28T17:27:00.002-04:00

Second life is a disruptive technology because it has displaced a technology. The traditional online chat has been replaced with virtual worlds in a sense. This innovation replaced the traditional chat room where people can only talk using words. In second life people interact differently. Humans are social people and this fills a social need that humans have. In these virtual worlds you are never alone and information can be experienced together according to Philip Rosedale. I think it will be over a decade before another technology displaces it because it is just now getting off the ground.

Reference

Rosedale, P. (2008). Philip Rosedale on Second Life [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html.

Rhymes of History Technology

2013-04-12T09:38:00.000-04:00

The technology that I wanted to focus on is Instagram. This new technology is trying to create a, “world more connected through photos.” This technology is free and easy to use. The type of technology that Instagram rekindles from the past would go back as far as 3500 B.C. in ancient Sumer. Pictographs were used on clay tablets to convey messages and connect future generations. Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics are believed to go back to about 3000 B.C. Julius Caesar had messages carved into stone in public. In 175 the Chinese carved classics into stones. These are all different types of technology that Instagram has rekindled. People take pictures on a daily basis and post them for the world to see and stay connected. This was the same function that the historic technologies were used for as well. Dr. Thornburg said that technology can fit in a rhymes of history situation where a new development mirrors or rekindles something form the past and I believe Instagram does just that.

References

Instagram. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://instagram.com/

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Rhymes of History. Baltimore, MD: Author

iPads in the classroom

2013-03-16T20:54:00.000-04:00

A current technology that has emerged in the last few years that has started to shape the learning process is Apple's iPad. The number one problem with the technology is the price. It is also hard to monitor what students are actually doing on their school supplied iPads. The societal needs that are meet include interactive activites and a reduction of textbooks. This technology would be even better if it were more affordable for all school districts and students. Some sites that might be useful include: http://ipadeducators.ning.com/ and http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/.

Connectivism Mindmap

2013-01-23T22:32:00.002-05:00

How has your network changed the way you learn?

I know this seems odd but networking has not changed the way I learn. Personally I like to do things alone.

Which digital tools best facilitate learning for you?

None of these tools are better then the other for me. I have been struggling with blogging, wikis and Google Plus. When it comes to collaboration I have struggled.

How do you learn new knowledge when you have questions?

When I have questions I would rather go up to someone and ask them face to face or read the information in a book or online myself.

Collaboration

2013-01-10T12:41:00.001-05:00

Collaboration

Howard Rhinegold talked about how in history humans have found ways to work with each other for the greater good. He used the example of hunting big game and that it is impossible for one person to take down a mastodon. Humans would have to come together to kill such a creature. Personally I believe that humans only like to come together when it serves a common goal. Most of the time people like to do things as individuals.

In my classroom whenever I mention group work there seems to be a wave of groans and questions of can I work by myself. Technology can facilitate collaboration amongst learners because it can help elevate some of the fears and concerns that students have when it comes to collaborative assignments. A student’s participation and contributions can be tracked and this helps the grading process.

I found this link of useful resources and I would like to share it with everyone: http://www.collaborativelearning.org there are lots of resources available for free. The research study that I would like to point my classmates to is located at: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=02b02570-6aea-4d86-a821-e1217721fe99%40sessionmgr12&vid=8&hid=22.

References

Burger, S., & McFarland, M. (2009). Action Research and Wikis: An Effective Collaboration. Library Media Connection, 28(2), 38-40.

Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Cognitivism as a Learning Theory

2012-12-29T19:34:00.001-05:00

As I was reading Bill Kerr’s blog the first thing that popped into my mind was that he is confusing my by constantly using “isms”. Bill Kerr said, “Actions which are followed by rewards are often repeated.” I completely agree that this is a strategy that is still used in today’s classroom. The theory of behaviorism, to me, is one of the most used strategies inside of the classroom. All students receive a grade for their work. I consider grades to be an award. Some students might not agree with that but rewarding a student with an “A” is a reward in response to the correct work being submitted. There were many times in Kerr’s blog that confused me. At one point I was not sure what theory he supported. I am guessing that he believes that all of the learning theories are necessary because he started to lean that way by the end of his blog. I am wondering if anyone else had trouble understanding his points and if they can elaborate further on what he was trying to say.

Reference

Kerr, B. (2007, January 1). _isms as filter, not blinker [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

Learning Theory and Educational Technology: Module One

2012-12-15T18:06:00.000-05:00

For this week's blog I have decided to discuss option one which states, "What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology?" The problem with answering this type of question is that I don't have one particular belief about how people learn. Different people learn differently. There is no one size fits all fix for education. I believe that educational technology can help with this problem. Technology can be used to help students get an individual learning experience. I also believe that the best learning can only occur if the theories are combined.

Video Presentation

2012-08-13T22:16:00.000-04:00

Cluster Map

2012-08-11T15:16:00.001-04:00

2012-07-29T17:29:00.003-04:00

Here is my graphic organizer. If you would like to see the interactive graph working please visit the class cafe.

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

2012-07-29T14:37:00.000-04:00

Once again I am dealing with something I have no clue how to make work. I have created this wonderful interactive graphic organizer but I can not post it on my blog. Please go to the class cafe and check out my graphic organizer. Please help me if you know how to attach pdf files to blogs.

Resource for graphic organizer

Prois, J. (2011, March 27). Social networking in schools: Educators debate the merits of technology in classrooms The Internet Newspaper, Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/social-networking-schools_n_840911.html

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

2012-07-12T21:37:00.002-04:00

Participation in a collaborative learning community should be assessed in different models. According to Siemens students should assess their peers, self-assess, educators should assess student contributions and educators should assess based on metrics. Assessment should be fair and understood. Rubrics would be the best way for an educator to assess students in this learning environment. I believe the fairest way to assess students is to create a rubric that is very specific.

When it comes to students who do not want to participate in the learning community it effects everyone. I have worked in groups where there are a few people that do not actively participate. It is a major headache. The best way to deal with this problem is to try and communicate with the group member. If this does not work then the instructor needs to be informed. The instructor is a facilitator and should be made aware of group members that do not participate.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Learning Communities. Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Video Presentation: Post Storyboard on Blog

2012-07-08T23:14:00.001-04:00

I have images that I have set up for this project and they will go in the power point presentation. However, I am having trouble uploading the photos to my blog. If anyone know how to do this please respond and let me know what I am doing wrong.

Title: What is Plagiarism and how to deal with it in distance education

By Sadie Rodgers

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism- using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as your own,

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Slide Title: Examples of plagiarism

• Copying and pasting online sources, text, or any information that is not your original work

• Using your work previously submitted and not giving proper credit

• Using audio, video or photographs without citations (acknowledgement)

• Using a family/friends work and taking credit for it as if it were your own

• Quoting without using quotation marks

• Getting written work off the internet and trying to pass it off as your own

Slide Title: Preventing Plagiarism

• Do not copy and paste but use your own words for an assignment

• Always cite your sources and give credit where it is due

• use quotation marks and in-text citations

• When taking notes write down the citation information for you to use later

• Do not use anyone else’s work and claim it as your own

Detection and remediation

Resources

• https://www.google.com/search?q=Plagarism&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ADFA_enUS483&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=qEn6T9b6GIPc9ASy9IDuBg&biw=1280&bih=596&sei=XEr6T5-eKoW88ATtlvXmBg (Images were taken from this site.)

Title: What is Plagiarism and how to deal with it in distance education

By Sadie Rodgers

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism- using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as your own,

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Slide Title: Examples of plagiarism

• Copying and pasting online sources, text, or any information that is not your original work

• Using your work previously submitted and not giving proper credit

• Using audio, video or photographs without citations (acknowledgement)

• Using a family/friends work and taking credit for it as if it were your own

• Quoting without using quotation marks

• Getting written work off the internet and trying to pass it off as your own

Slide Title: Preventing Plagiarism

• Do not copy and paste but use your own words for an assignment

• Always cite your sources and give credit where it is due

• use quotation marks and in-text citations

• When taking notes write down the citation information for you to use later

• Do not use anyone else’s work and claim it as your own

Detection and remediation

Resources

• https://www.google.com/search?q=Plagarism&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ADFA_enUS483&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=qEn6T9b6GIPc9ASy9IDuBg&biw=1280&bih=596&sei=XEr6T5-eKoW88ATtlvXmBg (Images were taken from this site.)

2012-07-01T15:20:00.001-04:00

Citation list for this weeks blog:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). The future of distance education featuring George Siemens. United States: Walden University.

2012-07-01T15:15:00.000-04:00

I agree with Siemens view on distance education. Distance education provides many possibilities that are different from face to face traditional classrooms. The elements of global diversity and collaboration have evolved dramatically. Students can collaborate with students across the globe and this also adds an element of diversity to the educational experience. Siemens said that students have to have a, “growing comfort with online discourse” for distance education to be successful.

There are many tools that have made it possible to collaborate and achieve global diversity. For example students can Skype with students around the world. English students that take Spanish can have face to face conversations with native English speakers and vice verses. Authors can talk to students from the comfort of their home or a location of their choosing. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the internet/world wide web.

The Next Generation of Distance Education

2012-06-13T14:07:00.002-04:00

After reading the three articles by Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman, and listening to the Simonson video programs, compare and contrast the reasons these authors believe there is a need to evolve distance education to the next generation. Do you agree with their positions? Why or why not?

I agree with the positions of all five of these authors in one way or another. For example our education system needs to evolve. Our students are no longer traditional students and the traditional school does not work for everyone. With the inclusion of No Child Left Behind we need more options for our students. In the article titled The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web the following quote was available: Ideally, by offering online courses, a small school can provide rich and varied options normally available only at larger schools (Pape, 2005). Moller, Huett, Foshay, Coleman and Simonson all agreed that our learners are more advanced than they used to be in the past. They also believe that distance education has to evolve.

Simonson believes that distance education has been widely accepted by society and this is great because this is one of the major barriers that usually stand in the way of innovations. He also believes that there must be a blending of the traditional learning environment and distance learning for students to be successful. I agree more with this idea because there are lots of benefits to having both settings. In the traditional classroom there is more face to face interaction and when it comes to distance education there is convince and the aspect of lower cost that must come into the equation. Cost has become a major factor in lots of decisions in education in the recent years because of the recession. Distance learning can help fix overcrowded classrooms and provide twenty first century skills that all of our students will need.

Sadie Rodgers

Resources

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70-75. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33281719.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66-70. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33991516.

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5). 63-67.

Final Reflection

2011-10-23T22:26:00.002-04:00

My personal theory of learning consisted of my students learning through repletion. I still believe this but I would modify that theory buy saying that my students need to be taught the proper way to do things. Practice doesn’t make perfect but it does make permanent. I plan on using technology that gives my students feedback. They need this to be successful.

An immediate change that I will make when it comes to technology integration is to make sure that I model the aspects I want my students to grasp. To many times I have assumed that my students knew what to do. I now realize that this was a source of my major frustration with major projects. Not all students are technology proficient. Students need to see teachers modeling so that they can learn. My long term goals include continuing my education in this program and going to any technology professional development sessions my district may offer. I am already signed up to work on learning iPad technology and other Apple applications.

Social networking

2011-10-09T18:40:00.002-04:00

Collaboration and social networking go together. Dr. Orey suggested jigsawing. In my classroom I Have used wikis. I had my students work in pairs to research and create a wiki based on the Holocaust. My students were given a rubric and they also did peer editing on each others wikis. It was a great experience for everyone. It required a lot of work and time but in the end it was well worth the skills that my students acquired.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

VoiceThread

2011-10-06T19:39:00.000-04:00

Here is the url for my voicethread: http://voicethread.com/#q.b2302742.i12207994.

Constructivist/Constructionist Learning Theories

2011-09-29T21:34:00.000-04:00

Dr. Orey mentioned that something as simple as PowerPoint would correlate with the principles of constructivist/constructionist learning. When a student creates a PowerPoint they are building something. They do not realize that a lot of work must go into a PowerPoint to make it successful. Good Power Points include visuals, audio and maybe a video clip. This is an activity that gets the students actively engaged in their work. They have to research the information and find different methods to present the information. I do not tell my students how to design and present the information on their Power Point. It is simply their own creation. I act as a facilitator and answer questions here and there and maybe give my suggestions when I see students moving in the wrong direction but they are the ones who are holding the reigns.

Resource

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Cognitive Learning in the Classroom

2011-09-24T08:43:00.000-04:00

The strategies that I explored this week correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory because they create learning situations that have an impact on the students information processing. When it comes to cognitive learning it talks about how students retain information in the classroom. I have used virtual field trips and concept maps to create episodic experiences with my students. I have found that my students retain more information when they can recall an image to associate with a concept. I like to incorporate a lot of audio and visual components into my lessons. I have found that these are the lessons that my students remember the most. When my students have to read a story and I do not have a visual connection to show them they do not do as well as they would have if I had showed them something to make a connection with the text. Personally I find it easier to retain information myself when I have something to make a visual connection with.

Behaviorism Part II

2011-09-18T15:32:00.000-04:00

In our textbook Using Technology with Classroom Insturction That Works we looked at "Reinfrocing Effort" and "Homework PRactice". Both of these concepts relate to behaviorism in the classroom. One very important concept of reinforcment is that there are consequesces that should immediately occur after a certain behavior is performed. Positive and negative reinforcement are used to encourage or discourage specific behavior inside of the classroom. It is important that students know which behaviors will be rewarded and which behaviors will recieve punishment.

Homework is a great way for students to get practice and shape their learning. "Multimeida allows students to shape experiences to their own learning style and provides immediate feedback and scaffolding" (Pitler, 2007). I have used several internet resources and software programs that allow my students to get the interactive practice that they need. Incorporating multimedia and internet into homework allows students more opprotunities for students to challenge themselves and get the practice that they need.

References:

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behaviorism in Practice

2011-09-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

The instructional strategies described in this weeks resources correlate with the principles of behaviorist learning theory because it is a theory that involves students learning a behavior. “Among the methods derived from behaviorist theory for practical classroom application are contracts, consequences, reinforcement, extinction, and behavior modification.” There are web resources that can be used as an incentive to help encourage students to continue practicing their skills. Positive reinforcement can be used to encourage students to perform their work and compete their assignments.

Teacher modeling is also a principle from this weeks resources that correlates with behaviorist learning. Teachers should model the behavior and skills that they want their students to exhibit. Homework must include feedback to fit in this learning theory. Without feedback homework is worthless.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program four: Behaviorist learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Standridge, M.. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved , from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

2011-09-14T21:59:00.002-04:00

To my classmates I am testing out my blog. I have tried blogging on some of your blogs but my account keeps telling me I can't. I do not know what to do to fix this problem.

Sadie