Virtual Reality?

Is virtual reality right for my classroom?  Or other K-12 classrooms?  I would say it depends on how it is used.  I definitely do not see virtual world type programs as tools in the classroom.  It should be the goal of all educators to use technology to enhance what they are teaching, not simply add extrataneous bells and whistles.  I see using sites like Second Life as those bells.  I have seen some pretty cool projects completed through this site but I don’t see how all the time that is used for teachers to prepare the assignment and then the students learn how to use the virtual world site as time productively spent.  I see it more as the teacher teaching the site and not the curriculum.  This is the complete opposite of the goal of technology enhancing the curriculum and not taking away from it.  I do worry that virtual reality in regards to sites like Second Life may not be safe.  It is simply is too easy for people to be deceitful online. I guess I am just not very trusting in these situations.  I do learn more toward VR being a fad, but I think most things online end up as fads.  I don’t even know if I really think VR is really the ‘in’ thing right now.  I remember Second life being popular a couple years ago but haven’t heard anything about it until taking this class.

I do think that virtual reality has its place in the classroom in other ways.  One example of this is virtual dissections for science classes.  While I don’t think these will ever take the place of real dissections they can be a great alternative when cost is an issue or as an introduction to a dissection unit.  Another great use of VR is virtual field trips.  I can’t take my 5^th graders to Colonial Williamsburg, but my laptop can!    

Blog Entry #4- CIP

                            I am going to create a Webquest for my CIP.  I basically choose to do a Webquest because it is forcing me into learning how to create one.  I’ve created many units and lesson plans and have integrated using technology in them many times but I have never attempted anything like creating a Webquest and I really want to push myself in trying new things.  I am currently having my students use a Webquest I found online to wrap up our science unit and to see if Webquest work with my students.  They are really enjoying it so far and I am learning how much time they need to complete tasks and how much time they waste playing around on the website links they follow.  The Webquest I am working on is a ‘Case Study of Columbus’.  The kids will use both online and book resources to learn about Columbus and the impact he had on exploration.  I have a true or false quiz with my lesson stuff that is great for before and after Columbus lessons that I would love to turn into an online quiz through my online grade book program Engrade.  Engrade includes a bunch of cool tools like quizzes and flashcards that I see and think I try out but I never make time for them.  I am hoping that through this project I will try some of these things out and see that they are not so scary and I should just use them. 

                            I have the majority of the resources for my kids to use through the Webquest figured out.  There are several nice websites with kid friendly information on Columbus that I used in my Resource Summary.  There are also a couple books in my classroom I want them to use as well.  What I need to do it figure out the online quiz for before and after and a fun idea for my introduction.  The Webquest my kids are doing right now has them acting as TV reporters and they have to make a newscast.  I’m kind of thinking about a super sleuth theme for this one.  Make them detectives. 

                            One of the things I worry about most with this class is that I will not use all the things I have learned.  I can’t believe all the great tools I have learned about in this class.  I don’t want to fall back into old habits of teaching and not use any of the technology have learned how to integrate into my teaching.  I have already tried some things out as I have learned them and seen what works and what doesn’t and I am hoping that this project will reinforce this habit.  I am trying to integrate several of the things I have learned into my Webquest.  I was important to me when starting planning this project to create it on a topic I am teaching this year.  That is why I choose Columbus.  I should be teaching Columbus lesson at the end of the unit I am teaching in Social studies right now.  I am really working on updating my teaching practices to include a better integration of technology that enhances my teaching and lessons and isn’t just adding bells and whistles.           

Webquest strengths and weaknesses

Questgarden.com/118/11/9/110201080330/t-index.htm

This is a very nice website that incorporates researching food webs and ecosystems with collaboration and creativity.

Introduction:

            This area is well written and is easy for students to understand, however it is not visually appealing.  It doesn’t grab a students attention enough o get them interested to read it.

Task:

            This page very clearly states what information the students need to gather.  It incorporates some information they should already know and some they need to look up.  I think it could explain the details of how a newscast should look. Should they make props or visual aids?

Process:

            I really like hoe the author created this section.  Very clear instructions. Varied links, some are for information gathering and some are for organizing that info.  It also includes a worksheet so the students can make sure they have all the information they need. One downside is that one of the links leads to a cool website that is unfortunately not free.

Evaluation:

            This is a great rubric for the collaboration and newscast part of the project.  It doesn’t include how the students are scored on the content of the project.

Conclusion:

            This wraps up the newscast part of the quest nicely, touching on scripts, rehearsing and readiness for film.   Doesn’t provide any sort of conclusion in regards to the science ecosystem content area of the webquest.

I will be able to use the majority of this quest without modification.  Some of the wording that is specific to the author’s own classroom needs to be adjusted.  For instance I won’t be putting the recorded newscast on my non existing class website.  I will also have to remove the link to the website my class does not have access to.  I will also add to the evaluation section to add a rubric for the science content of the quest.  I will also do this for the conclusion section. 

Educational Technology Guy: Experiments and Exploration are vital to science education!

Educational Technology Guy: Experiments and Exploration are vital to science education!

Technology standards in my teaching

3-5.DC.1. discuss scenarios involving acceptable and unacceptable uses of technology (e.g., file-sharing, social networking, text messaging, cyber bullying, plagiarism)
This is a standard I recently covered with an ELA lesson in my 5th/6th grade classroom.  The lesson began with my students reading a debate in a recent issue of Time For Kids.  This debate was over the issue of children using Facebook.  Our discussion after reading the debate was much more intense than I originally planned.  I usually love when TFK include debates in their issues because it is something my students need to learn and we tend to have great discussions as a result of the articles.   This case was no different.  Every single one of my students had a strong opinion regarding the topic of underage children using facebook or other  social networking sites.  It was pretty equal with half the kids saying they should be able to use Facebook and the other half agreeing they were too young.  Several of my students either have their own accounts or use their parents' accounts.  They we able to show how their parents restrict and control thier internet use.  We had a pretty broad discussion on this topic.  We covered issues such as internet safety and cyber bullying.  Our lively discussion was followed up with each student writing a journal entry  detailing their opinion on the debate.
I do not see this lesson as fully covering this standard. I see it as a good start and I know I have my students thinking about good uses of technology.   I plan to delve into this topic more when we begin researching topics online.      

blog comment #2

Here is the link to he comment I posted on Ron Houtman's blog.
http://www.ronhoutman.com/technology-in-the-classroom-thoughts-on-the-2011-cdw-g-classroom-report/#comment-107

comment on Rocky Roer's Blog

Here is the link to my comment on Rocky's blog about 'flipping' his physics class.  I am very interested in how he is integrating technology into his teaching.
http://rockyroer.blogspot.com/2011/09/first-week-of-flipping.html?showComment=1316902857516#c2369766743938391634