Ed Tech Jobs Wiki

Here is the promised link to the Wiki framework for Ed Tech Jobs. I figure we could use this blog post's comments if you want to communicate to the class or you can email Ben or me about the Wiki. I am also sending out an email that will have the password. I could post it here but who knows how many untold people outside the class are now subscribed to my blog.

Actually I realize I don't have email list for everyone in the class the password is "edtech."

Our words for the Articles

1. Hyped
2. pedagogical ignorance
3. cheap
4. stoicism
5. unrealized
   

Camstudio: Free Camtasia Alternative

So I was looking for a program to record a video for my job and I found a free alternive to Camtasia, Camstudio . It is free and open source. I have not tried Camtasia but it seems it might do a lot more than this one. For my purposes though Camstudio was great. It is very easy to use. It records to AVI using different compression codec. I found the MPEG-4 setting was better than the default one.

Also it will export your file to a flash, swf file for the web.

Here is a video I made with it.

Positioning Topic

I have decided to focus on Computer Mediated Communication in the realm of Second Language Acquisition. I an particularly interest in how this process can connect language learners to native speakers. Most of the studies I have found so far have focused on asynchronous commutation view email or synchronous via text chat. I have found some recent studies that use Voice Over IP technology to connect native and non-native speakers.

I am interested in this topic because I believe the new communication tools of the Internet are opening up new opportunities change how languages are taught. Having lived in Taiwan and picked up some Mandarin Chinese, I believe interaction with native speakers in essential for learning a language.

Here are some the studies that I have found so far:

• Computer-Mediated Negotiated Interaction:
• This study had language learners engage in tasks together online and examined how the used language to solve problems.
• Conversations and negotiated interaction in text and voice chat rooms.
• "REFLECTIVE CONVERSATION" IN THE VIRTUAL LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
• Study of a language class the Open Universtiy in England.
• Task Design for Audiographic Conferencing
• Audiograhic Conferencing meaning audio/video
• Also at the Open Universtiy.

I am interested in what can be done to engage students in meaningful conversations online. Also what task can be created that will allow the students to interact and promote such conversations.

Digital Divide Article

I remember someone mentioned the digital divide the first day in class as reason they were interested in Educational Technology. Here is article on new study about the digital divide. One thing I found interesting:

Overall, 91 percent of students in nursery school through 12th grade use computers; 59 percent use the Internet.

It surprises me that 32% of students are using computers but not the internet. This just makes me think projects like the call to provide free wireless for San Francisco are great . By the way there has been talk of citywide wireless in G'ville.

Are Blogs well suited to the Online Classroom?

In my previous post I asked the question "What makes a good Blog post? ". Now I am wondering if blogs are well suited for the online classroom. Don't get me wrong, I glad that we are using them in class, it's just as someone who is thinking of being an educational software developer I am wondering how this technology could be improved to better suit the educational environment.

Basically it seems that blogs are a technology that can enhance online education but if you were going to design this technology from scratch( or redesign it) for education it might have some different qualities.

Here some things I might add:

• A way for the teacher to have some editorial control over all blogs in a class.(More so for K-12 students)
• Prepackaged page that has feeds and links to all the blogs in the classroom.
• Ability for blogs to be set in class mode were only comments made class students as opposed to all web users show up.
• Ability for the teacher to easily analyze each student's usage of the their blog and their participation in other student's blogs.
• Ability to export all course blogs into one archived file for record keeping.
• Ability for the teacher to make assignments then have simple way to for the students tag a post or group of posts as related to the assignment.

What are some other ways blogs could be tailored for educational purposes.?

Center for Children and Technology

I have been looking around for the job fields in Educational Technology. Found this cool website, the Center for Children and Technology. They are involved in a lot of interesting Ed Tech projects. I look around there staff page to see what kind of background they had. Definitely looks like it would be a cool place to work.

What makes a good Blog post?

I was looking around at our classmates blogs and noticing which postings were getting comments. It made me wonder what makes a good blog post. I think for our purposes it would be different since we are trying to create class discussions on our blogs. Some of the things I am thinking of right off the top of my head would be: brevity, good title, questions to the reader, and a focus on a single topic. What do you think makes a good blog post for our purposes?

Education Technology Definition

Study of best ways to integrate computer and other multimedia technologies into existing learning environments and creation of new learning environments made possible by these technologies. This field concerns how technology can be used to address traditional educational challenges and the challenges that new technologies themselves create.

I think it is important in this field to not only look at the ways that technology can improve the educational experience but also what new problems arise from the use of these new technologies.

Educational Technology Journal

I looked at 2 Educational Technology Journals:

• Educational Technology Research and Development
• I could definitly see the articles in this as being good ideas for clase project for EME5054 or future classes I will take in my Ed Tech degree.
• This Journal is on Ed. Tech website and I was able to the full text or articles on the UF Libary website.
  
• This is an article I found interesting IDEA: Identifying Design Principles in Educational Applets. I might being making educational applet for my Game Design Class.
• International Journal on E-Learning
• Found this journal interesting because I interested in on Course Management systems (CMS) particularly Open Source Options.
• I found a review of the open source CMS Moodle but was not able to find a link to it outside of the UF Library system. The College Education uses Moodle of its online courses I believe.
  

$100 Laptop

So here is a test of posting a posting a youtube video. It's also a video about a project I am interested, "The $100 Laptop". I believe that this is related to Education Technology because it could bring computers into many school rooms in the USA and around the world.