Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way for both teachers and students to expand their knowledge on a specific topic through the use of the internet. Podcasts can be available to listen to even after they originally "air" making the content easily accessible. As a future ESL instructor I would use podcasts during my instruction. The podcast that I listened to on the English As A Second Language Podcast website is called Seeing A Circus Performance. This website is made specifically for ESL learners. This podcast can be used in my classroom for multiple purposes. This podcast uses clear and slow use of the English language that will allow my students to be able to follow along. This particular podcast includes a dialogue about going to the Circus. This can be used as a listening activity for students to participate in. This podcast can also be used along with a book about the Circus to reinforce concepts about what a circus is. This podcast can be done as a listening activity in the classroom with all the students at once, or individually with students so they can listen at their own pace and pause the podcast when they need to. Students can also work on the computer individually and have dictionaries available in case they are unfamiliar with words being used in the podcast, they can use the computer as a resource to look up those unfamiliar words. Podcasts are very beneficial because they allow students to learn new information from an English speaker outside of their teacher as well as incorporate technology and work on their listening comprehension.

A learner is like an apple

A learner is like an apple. Apples come from different places, were taken care of in different ways, are different kinds of shapes and colors, some have bruises, some are crispy, some are sweet. Apples, like learners are all different. Learners can come from different places, prior to schooling were taken care of in different ways, learners are all different shapes and colors, some learners have different features than others, and they all have different kinds of personalities.

In the article by Siemen, he quotes Landuar and Dumais (1997) in their statement that "people have much more knowledge than appears to be present in the information to which they have been exposed." This statement is very important to remember about our learners in the classroom. Referring back to what was said about apples, when we see an apple in the grocery store and bring it home, we sometimes forget that this apple has been on a journey that we are unaware of. The apple could have been dropped on the ground, it could have been licked by an animal, or it could have been sitting in the grocery store for days. Looking at an apple you might forget about all of these factors, just like our learners. Learners have gone through journeys that affect their present learning in our classroom. We must acknowledge the interactions they have had because it shapes them as a learner and may have a heavy influence on their knowledge base. Although learners may not be exposing all of their capabilities to us in the classroom, as educators, we can never make assumptions about our learners knowledge base without challenging them to show it to us.


In his video "The Network is Learning" Siemen states, "What we know today is not as important as our ability to stay current. If what I know today is going to change because knowledge changes rapidly, if I am not continually learning I am becoming obsolete in my field." Classroom teachers have to ensure they are staying current in the field so they can be changing with the tides and continually learning, just as our students are. We need to continue to expose our learners to knew knowledge bases and as educators we need to utilize the most current tools to do so to make learning meaningful. Technology is a great resource to stay up to date in the field and to expand our knowledge base. Our students are growing, and changing as time changes. We need to make sure we water our apples with the best water so they can grow nice and ripe.

DIIGO vs. Scoop it

DIIGO and Scoop it are both sites that can be used as an alternative to "bookmarking" websites that people commonly do in their browsers. Both websites make sharing interests on the internet more convenient. Below is a table comparing the two and the features that they offer.

DIIGO	Scoop it
You can highlight texts and when you access the website at a later date the saved highlights will still be present. Multiple tags can be used. You can follow others, they can follow you. You can post comments on the users site. You are not offered suggestions for related articles.	You cannot highlight texts on Scoop it. Multiple tags can be used. You can follow others, they can follow you. You can post comments on the users site. You are offered suggestions for related articles.

According to my personal opinion, there are pros and cons to each of these websites. I see DIIGO as more of a academic research tool. It seems more to be for those who want to use outside sources from websites complied into one page, just like the "bookmarking" feature on internet browsers. DIIGO's ability to snapshot websites as well as highlight texts are very useful resources that are not found on Scoop it. Although Scoop lacks that particular feature, I think overall Scoop it is a better website to fit my needs. The interface of Scoop it is more attractive, it is easy to navigate, and it has more of a social networking feel. In my opinion, it is easier to follow topics and users. Scoop it reminds me of a website I often use called pintrest. I would continue to use Scoop it past this class because I think it is a great resource for teachers.

Shown above are screenshots of the two websites to get an idea of what their interface looks like.

A Technological Revolution Is A Means For An Educational Revolution

Education Change Challenge

 

This video addresses the issue of the classroom changing and how educators need to adapt to this change. As educators, we learn to differentiate instruction, and we know that all learners are different, no two learners learn the same way. This video questions why we put 25 kids in a classroom for 6 hours a day and teach to them all on the same level even though we know they all learn differently. The classroom has not changed much from 100 years ago, but in today's day in age our resources have grown immensely. As educators we need to take advantage of the world around us and teach our students how to function in the modern world, we must use these modern resources. Students are surrounded by technology and live in the technological age, we must teach to their interests in order to make our instruction relevant.The video leaves us with a very significant question, "Are we preparing students for my age or for theirs?". This is an important question we must ask ourselves as teachers. Even though technology may not be every teachers comfort zone, it is our students. Are we teaching for ourselves to comfortable, or for them?

Social Media Revolution 2011

This video addresses the social media revolution that is taking place in our world. It expresses the ideas of how important social media has become in the new age. Social media not only effects who we are online, but also our offline behavior. Social media is a means of acquiring information, meeting new people, and staying in touch with old friends. The limits to social media and the aspects of the internet are almost endless. As educators, this information is very relevant because we need to take advantage of all that social media has to offer and how it can enhance our learners. The amount of users on twitter and facebook are bigger than populations of some countries. There is a great chance that our students will be utilizing these social outlets and we should be generating our instruction to incorporate what our students are doing online. Social media is all around us, so why not bring it into the classroom?