How the screencast could help students and how you might have students use Jing.
When I look at all the new and improved technology that is out there for free, I think back to The Jetsons and instant visual communication from the home and the car (skymobile). I wish the writers of that show had thought up some episodes inside the classroom. I think screencast is a very good tool to help students capture images to add to their work. It reminds me of the camera feature in ActivInspire. It surely beats printing out an image and then scanning it to a jpeg file to import into a document, very time-consuming steps that I had myself gone through in the past. So glad technology keeps improving.
Skype with students and sharing across the district, the state, the nation, or the world!
I believe that Skype can help students from different schools, districts, states, countries to communicate and share in their learning. My son is working on a project at the University of Texas retrofitting the telescope at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas, and he doesn't have to actually go to the site or be face to face for meetings. Technology makes this all possible.
My husband teaches a globalization class at the university level. This is an online class where a number of professors in different universities and different countries co-teach. The students are also from different universities in different countries. The course was created both in English and Spanish and there were students from 9 countries signed up spanning several time zones all the way to the Phillipines, Europe, North and South America. Videos were created, synchonous and asynchronous communication was included.
As the technology improves and the communication becomes more available, students will have the opportunity to engage in conversation, presentations, and research even outside of the classroom walls without leaving the classroom. This reminds me of the ad where students in Middle America teleconference with students in a classroom across the world. I can't even remember what the ad is about. I was in awe of how far technology has been able to take us.
Skype
I have watched my son communicate with a friend of his that was studying in Japan at least 3 or so years ago. It was real time and reminds me of the newest version of the i-phones that just came out. I think the only thing you have to be aware of is the lighting and the directionality of the camera. Having a headset was also important for clarity.
In the case of our students, I would like for them to be able to communicate through Skype with students of other countries to discuss things like specific types of habitats or fauna abroad. One issue to be considered is the other group's accessibility to the technology and internet availability.
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1 comment:
That is so neat that you've seen firsthand with your son and husband the uses of technology in their career fields. I think that's something we need to remember that we aren't just using technology for technology's sake, but that we are preparing our students for the future.
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