EDT 5410: Week Four (R/D6) Option One

Here is the link to the podcast that I found useful.

http://123listen2me.com/



PodCast Profile: This podcast is given by two young girls, Sara age 10 and Nina age 7. They podcast about twice a month. In the podcast they translate different languages, review books, movies, and music, tell stories and jokes. The podcast is focused on kids ages 4-15. They call it the podcast by kids for kids.

PodCast Title: Who said 6th place isn't a win? Holding our heads up in the face of great competition in podcast #37.

PodCast Title: Don't let elephants get into a elephunk? 123-listen 2 me - Elliecast #36

EDT 5410: Week Three Reflections (R/D4)

How might you incorporate photo sharing into a educational activity or unit? What might be some concerns you would have about allowing students to play with these services? What might be a great benefit of such services?

I think you could incorporate photo sharing in a journalism class. Having students take pictures of different events they have been to and then placing them on the Internet. Then the different students in the class could use those photos put add libs, edit photos etc. The photos would be more readily available not to mention convenient. My only concern would be inappropriate photos or photos of people who do not want their photo published. I think though that the benefit of having the photos available to all students is phenomenal. What an easy way to get pictures out to the students and allow them to work more as a group.

In reading Chapter 2, what similarities and what differences did you identify between the process the authors describe and the processes you have used to develop educational lesson plans? If you have not developed educational lesson plans, were there aspects of the process described in this chapter that you found particularly surprising, useful or unnecessary?

I think the aspects in this chapter were interesting. For example, the explanation of the characteristics of Instructional Design (ID) were exceptionally interesting. I really liked how it had a section for each of the six characteristics and it explained what was meant by each one. It started off by explaining what ID was, which was not surprising at all to me but it was nice how the book laid out all the various definitions. I guess I understood already what ID was but it was helpful to get the definition for each term used like interdependent, synergistic and dynamic to name a few. It helped me to understand a more detailed aspect of ID and the various different terms related to ID.

EDT 5410: Week Three Reflections (R/D3)

What value (if any) do you think social bookmarking might hold for teachers and/or students? You may think about students sharing with each other, teachers sharing with their students, teachers sharing with other teachers, administrators sharing with teachers, sharing with parents, or any other scenario(s) you can imagine.

I think social bookmarking could hold a tremendous value to both teachers and students, not to mention parent's and administrators too. For example, a government class could have various social bookmarks for their students to go out to get the best information available for research projects, papers, etc. Or on a different note where administrators could put bookmarks for parents on different behaviors to watch for in young teens and that way parents could be more aware of what their students are perhaps doing. Along with behaviors different trends could be bookmarked also.

Overall, I personally think it is a great tool. As far as the tags being done wrong well that comes with human error and hopefully the percentage is low enough it doesn't make that big of a riff.

Back to the Trends & Issues reading, to what degree do the definitions in this chapter correspond with what you have thought about this area and what it is you hope to do in your line work (or in a future career)? Is there anything surprising or very new you read in this chapter? Does something seem to be missing?

I feel the definitions that were given by the author are pretty accurate. When I think of instructional design and technology it hits on all the key terms needed to describe instructional design and technology. For example, throughout the various years all the definitions based their definition on the five domains; Development, Utilization, Management, Design, and Evaluation. Although the definitions were all different they were all pointing in the same direction.

I eventually hope to be in a position where I can push new technology out to teachers for them to be able to assist in how we should go about using the new technology but not actually teach it myself. I would however, like to be a key figure in the rolling out of new technology to teachers, students, parents, etc.

I was somewhat surprised on how the definition has changed through the years. I guess I never really thought about what instructional design and technology really was. Now, that I see all the progress with the definition I realize just how important it is to make people realize what instructional design and technology is. For instance, back in 1970 the committee handed out two definitions. The first definition:

"In its more familiar sense, it (instructional technology) means the media born of the communications revolution which can be used for instructional purposes alongside the teacher, textbook, and blackboard...The pieces that make up instructional technology [include]: television, films, overhead projectors, computers, and other items of "hardware" and "software"..."

seems to be more general in a sense. It gives the basic understanding of what technology is but not perhaps what instructional technology is. Now the second definition:

"The second and less familiar definition of instructional technology goes beyond any particular medium or device. In this sense, instructional technology is more than the sum of it parts. It is a systematic way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating the whole process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives, based on research on human learning and communication, and employing a combination of human and nonhuman resources to bring about more effective instruction."

I feel is by far the better of the two definitions. I can see why they put out two separate definitions though. It needs to be however, one definition and in 2006 I feel that the Association for Educational Communication and Technology (AECT) did just that with the following definition:

"Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources."