Chapter 7

Exchanging Ideas Asynchronously With Discussion Boards
This section discusses using technology that involves communication not in real time. This section was very familiar to me because throughout the years I have been using this kind of technology in many of my classes. Overall I feel like it is affective and students can benefit from using it. The only problem that comes to mind when dealing with discussion boards is that students can’t use things like tone of voice, accents, dialects, that would normally be heard when talking in real time. But with this also comes an advantage. Students might speak what they actually feel because they can complete this on their own time and not in front of other people. Not only does this help with allowing students to speak freely but it also works when people don’t see each other on a normal basis. Students and teachers who are far apart can work through discussion boards. Another thing that really stuck out to me in this section is that asynchronous discussion boards are an excellent way to support second-language learners in the classroom. This is such a challenge for many teachers today and having a form of technology that can help will be beneficial for both the student and the teacher. EPals seems to be an excellent resource to use with all aged children. It seems to be very user friendly while helping all students. I will definitely use discussion boards in my classroom whether it is for an actual discussion on a topic, extensions to classwork, or to see how others feel on an important topic or concept.

Exchanging Ideas Synchronously With Interactive Chats and Messaging
The next section hit on the opposite of the section before. This section was about learning environment that happens in real time or synchronously. When I first started reading this, the first though that came to mind was instant messaging. I think with this generation, instant messaging is something that is very common among almost all ages. Some of the common messaging systems are Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and Skype. Since students are so familiar with this type of technology, I think that teachers should utilize this and try and incorporate this into curriculum. The more you incorporate things that are familiar with students the more students will enjoy participating in the activity. In the future I definitely will use instant messaging and chatting with my students.

Making Connections through Videoconferencing
Before reading this section I never thought videoconferencing could be used in the classroom with instruction. After reading this section I realized that this type of technology can be useful when used in the classroom. I remember a while ago my professor used Skype to connect with another classroom in southern Florida to discuss educational issues. I remember thinking about cool it was to be able to connect with other students meeting in a different place far away. I think that my students will definitely benefit and enjoy using this type of technology. A different type of videoconferencing that can be incorporated into curriculum is interactive videoconferencing with experts that could share knowledge with students. This might be time consuming and teaching might have to get training to use this but I think students will learn a lot from using this. Because of time constraints and budget issues many teachers can’t bring in guest lecturers, but by using videoconferencing teachers can allow students to have the face-to-face interaction through the computer.

Would videoconferencing with experts on certain topics be beneficial for students, instead of the teacher presenting the information?

Broadcasts with Podcasts and Internet Radio
I got excited when I began to read this section because this is my topic for my inquiry project. Podcasts and Internet Radio is something that is new to me. I wasn’t familiar with using these things in the classroom. The one thing that I thought of that would be a little more difficult to incorporate this type of technology in the classroom financial issues. An MP3 Player is something that is common for viewing Podcasts. But having enough of those to accommodate all students in the classroom would be harder for teachers to do. On the other hand teachers can use the computer to view Podcasts just as well as MP3 players. In the future I want to be able to create a class-created Podcasts. It can be from all kinds of things. I could incorporate this into book reports or projects that students could each have a part and have to complete for the Podcast. I think students would enjoy finishing their projects with this type of genre. I didn’t really see a benefit in using the Internet Radio in the classroom. I think that Podcasting would be more beneficial for students and the teacher.

How would you use Internet Radio in the classroom?