Technology in Practice

 

While perusing educational technology blogs during the last few weeks, I have found a few technologies which would be interesting to apply to my own personal professional practice.  Story Kit (Apple Online Store, 2013) is an iTunes application for creating an electronic storybook. It allows the user to write text, edit, sketch, or attach photos. It is applied and saved in your iPhone. This allows its’ use any time, any place.  Though Story Kit is designed for children learners, I believe it could be used in a fun way with adults too. Two ways I would use this technology would be either to use it as designed with a 6-8 year old learner group or with adults in an online forum using one of the pre-loaded children’s story formats for an ice-breaker/introduction exercise. Every class requires the obligatory introductions; this could make introductions much more fun for students, while also familiarizing them with technology. This technology also allows for creation of a new story from a blank slate. Rather than asking learners for another short paper on their reflections of the past weeks, using Story Kit to narrate their reflections demonstrates their use of technology and creativity. More information is available from: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storykit/id329374595?mt=8.

Another technology which caught my eye was “Vyew” (Simulat, Inc., 2013), a website that allows collaboration through live conferences which can share files, video, and pictures. This technology allows students to review and annotate projects and meet and present to peers. It also allows educators to teach and tutor, as well as track and log activity. One way I would use this technology is in a collaborative research project. By requiring it’s use an educator offers learners a technology which will simplify the collaboration process and leave a data trail for the educator to follow to indicate who is participating and who is not. This not only helps the student by giving them a state of the art forum to create their research project, but it aids the educator in applying participation points to each collaborator according to their level of contribution to the group. Another way to use this technology is as a direct teaching/tutoring tool. By making themselves available through Vyew, educators can offer special attention where needed with learners who need extra instruction. Rather than being limited to a one on one educational experience, the instructor could invite any number of struggling students to join the lesson. Another option is to invite students who are excelling in the subject area for peer instruction through the website. For more information, see: http://vyew.com/s/.

Coursecasting (University of Bristol, 2011) is a technology which records lectures and teaching activities, stores them, and makes them available over the Internet. Traditionally, video and audio equipment have been used to record lectures and then upload them as video files to a specific location. Coursecasting allows the same functions, but can be done with any computer which has the software loaded onto it. Using screen capture, an educator can narrate directly to screenshots, record classes and seminars, and use interactive whiteboards. This can be used by an instructor to quickly, and inexpensively (at no production cost), create tutorials for use as reference materials in weekly online assignments. When teaching in a traditional brick and mortar environment, educators can easily capture and record a classroom discussion, including interactive whiteboarding, for later review or for students missing class. This is not only good reference material for students, but an excellent way of preserving specific classroom sessions for later integration into the curriculum. In this way, spontaneous instructional ideas are recorded in real time for later reference and replication. For more information see: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/esu/e-learning/support/tools/coursecasting/.

Through technologies such as these I hope to make my professional practice fresh and up to date. Using state of the art technologies implies to learners my own dedication to the art of instruction, my willingness to explore new technologies (and encourage the same of my students), and my intention to create a learning environment which captures their interest, fosters learning, and encourages adventure through new challenges. All too common is the classroom with the instructor who drones on and on in lecture, or the online “teacher” who regurgitates a canned syllabus and makes perfunctory comments in a discussion forum. Today’s technology can make both teaching and learning a fun and rewarding experience for all!

 

References

Apple Online Store (2013). iTunes preview. Retrieved 10-21-13, from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storykit/id329374595?mt=8

Simulat, Inc. (2013). Vyew: Share your view. Retrieved 10-21-13, from http://vyew.com/s/

University of Bristol (2011). Coursecasting: Encompassing lecture capture and screencasing. Retrieved 10-21-13, from http://www.bristol.ac.uk/esu/e-learning/support/tools/coursecasting/