Virtual World -Second Life

Today`s my post is closely connected with virtual world Second life environment.  As the previous posts  this post is also connected with technology. Once again I was very happy to get familiar with something new for me. Of course, I have heard about virtual world 3D environment  but have never tried any. So this course gave me an opportunity to try that. It is interesting that I do not like computer games, especially commercial games as I mentioned in my previous post. But I liked a lot Second Life .I think I know the reason. This special environment with avatars helps each person to create own games for different purposes. I liked the fact of flying , running and walking. In fact here you can do and try things which you cannot do in real life situations. Here you can invite people chat with them or buy things that was really great. But in many cases the players should earn money in order to spend it. 

As an English teacher I would like to use them for educational purposes. But to tell the truth I think that would not be an easy task. If we talk about advantages so here I can say that  3D environment can help to reinforce certain vocabulary .For example, you can create a game connected with cloths and do shopping, students will learn lots of words or it can be connected with sea food  and so on. My students would be so enthusiastic and motivated I am sure. It can be a new way for studying, as it is  fun, interactive  and  once again students can work collaboratively. Now let`s talk about disadvantages. So here we have many drawbacks especially in our country. Unfortunately  you should pay in order to make interesting games. From my own experience I know that teachers in Armenia  do not get much financial support in order to afford and pay for games. But the problem is not connected only with teachers, many kids also will not able to afford that. Another main  obstacle is that many teachers themselves would not be able to play this virtual world games. The lack of technological knowledge may be a challenge. Another problem may cause the internet and computer connection especially at schools. In conclusion I would say that one day all this might be possible in all schools or other educational centers.  I  strongly believe  that one day both teachers and students will be able to use 3D virtual world for educational purposes which will develop four skills. 

Link  for the image : http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=5CaJSbj5hBBQhM:&imgrefurl=http://www.gameogre.com/reviewdirectory/reviews/Second_Life.php&docid=L30wDahMZYnTtM&imgurl=http://www.gameogre.com/reviewdirectory/upload/Second%252520Life.jpg&w=1280&h=977&ei=LEWIUMbMBsWeiAfzrYDwCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1068&vpy=119&dur=219&hovh=196&hovw=257&tx=151&ty=118&sig=109605187291664981752&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=180&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:86

Computer and Video Games

In my previous posts I was sharing my ideas about  topics like digital stories, blogs ,wikis  and other technological issues which can be used in the 21 st century classroom environment. My today`s post is connected with video and computer  games. To tell the truth it is a little bit difficult for me to talk about video games as I am not a gamer at all. I have never  played   games  especially commercial games  as  I found them boring  and time consuming.  But  as we know there is a slide difference  between commercial and educational games. So I prefer educational ones.

As  the professor Sasha Barab mentions  educational games help kids to see the things like in the real world.Actually I tried some educational games with my nephew he is 5 years old . He was so excited and enthusiastic about that games. But here we should be very careful with the safety of the websites, that is why I was sitting with hi all the time. For the sake of my internship  I take some ideas for my classes from the educational games and they are really very useful. In the 21 st century  people like to play games especially boys. Parents in many cases could not forbid their  kids to stay far from computers and not to play. Once there was a program where a boy was telling his  mother that he would throw himself out of the window if his parents would not let him play video games. I think that is terrible. By all means games can have negative effect on kids psychology. Of course, we know that certain commercial  games create aggression in kids. Many parents do not  pay attention on such things but for me it  is really very important.  But on the other side as professor Patricia Marks Greenfield  claims, (1984) those who play computer games adjust their “strategies of attentional deployment". We can  see that computer games may have a positive effect either. Personally I do not think that something could be changed  even if that certain games effect on  gamers  negatively. I am sure  children or people in general like computer games as here they can  try and do things  which they cannot try in real life. 

Link  for the image: http://www.google.com/imgres?start=238&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=600&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=-MPnGXqdsczViM:&imgrefurl=http://www.upgradereality.com/video-game-violence/&docid=cxJ11nbqeQ4IIM&imgurl=http://www.upgradereality.com/images/video-game-effects.jpg&w=779&h=509&ei=Q0aIUIOVEKOhige-yIGQDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=381&vpy=115&dur=1313&hovh=181&hovw=278&tx=198&ty=73&sig=10960518729

Digital Storytelling and Video Making

My previous reflections were based on some  other technological innovations like wikis, podcast, digital children and so on. This time I am going to share my impressions about digital storytelling and digital videos. Firstly I would like to say that was Amazing. I have never done such things before. I liked the process of shooting the video with Nairuhi that was great. It is interesting that I liked blogging and wikis a lot but believe me digital videos were the best for me. According  to Tsou,(2006), and  Wan(2005) storytelling is a  powerful and practical teaching tool especially for 21^st century students .So as a future 21^st century teacher  I would definitely  use digital storytelling and videos for my classes. I hope seeing my enthusiasm my students   will have the same felling. Before our class I have never used Movie Maker, to tell the truth I even did not  know about its existence. Firstly we did digital storytelling with pictures and music some of my peers did with Movie Maker others with Power Point. But during digital video making I was so excited  that I cannot compare that feeling with digital storytelling. It would be a little bit challenging to use digital storytelling and videos especially in my city but teachers should do their best to  help the students.  For the sake of that teachers  should provide with  samples  and explanations in order to help some students to overcome all obstacles that they may have  connected with technology. Yesterday  one school girl asked me about Power Point slides and how to use them for her classes. Their teacher gave them an assignment without explanation. So many students face such problems. I think in that cases the teacher made a big mistake. That  is to say children develop their digital literacy with the help of technology. The traditional way of teaching is not interesting anymore and mostly  not effective. As Davis, (2004) claims digital storytelling enriches students vocabulary and storytelling strategies. Digital video making can play an essential role in students pronunciation and speaking skills development. As an assignment  students can shoot any topic and use language simultaneously that would be great. For instance students can do digital videos independently or as a group work. In both cases the usage of language and their creativity  can be apparent. 



Link  for the image: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=600&tbm=isch&tbnid=-4Lslg9LcjtrZM:&imgrefurl=http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/04/19/digital-storytelling-part-i/&docid=sgIYwGrAAhPDEM&imgurl=http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/collaborate-communicate-con.jpg&w=500&h=354&ei=0UaIUNXeGZChiAfYn4DQBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=650&vpy=278&dur=391&hovh=188&hov

The Usage of Wikis

 This time I am going to talk about Wikis. In previous posts I was sharing my ideas about blogs, digital children and podcast. This time I am not going far from the technology as my post is about Wiki. According to Leuf and Cunningham (2001),Wiki is a database where each page is easily edited also it is a collection of expandable WebPage. To tell the truth I liked Wikis a lot. I would say more than Blogging. As Mattison (2003) mentions   “a wiki can be a blog, but a blog does not have to be a wiki.” When I was writing a polar bear story I was so enthusiastic because here I had an opportunity to be more creative and was waiting for ending  as my peers had to continue it. But most of all I like wiki because of collaborative learning. Here  let`s say the learners should not comment like in blogging they can continue each other`s ideas. They have to read the beginning in order to continue, so they should be aware of that certain wiki page. It can be easily used for educational purposes and my perception is that students or learners will like them a lot. The wikis are easily editable and the users will not find much difficulties. I also created my wiki page and invited my friends there. As an English teacher I would use Wikis with great pleasure especially with adults by all means they would like it. This kind of technological innovations help teachers to go far from the traditional way of teaching and use technology as much as possible. Of course the lack of technological knowledge can be a problem but Wikis has simple usage , so it can be implemented. Students can easily edit it and change what they want. All that stuff can be done in groups or individually. The only thing that I do not like in Wikis is that individuals can delete what is written originally and edit new text. According to Will  Richardson Wikis create "the purposeful work of negotiating and creating truth".

In conclusion I would say once again that I like Wikis a lot and for sure  I would use it for the educational purposes.

Link for the image: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=600&tbm=isch&tbnid=5yi8dbdgjWpgVM:&imgrefurl=http://aaronparecki.com/Web_2.0_Tools_for_the_Classroom&docid=XsACjGLNtn6J_M&imgurl=http://aaronparecki.com/2009/090/article/1/files/what-are-wikis.gif&w=361&h=207&ei=WUeIUMeOBIaBiQeP0YHABw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=285&sig=109605187291664981752&page=3&tbnh=150&tbnw=270&start=39&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:31,s:20,i:224&tx=132&ty=85

Incredible World of Podcast

 In my previous posts I was talking about the usage of  blogs within the classrooms, also I shared my opinion about   digital  children. I realized that this year we are going to get familiar with lots of technical developments which can be used in the 21^st century educational system. Today`s  my post is mainly connected with podcast. I remember when last year Dr, Madyarov told as to download iTunes and listen to different podcast episodes I was so confused. It was so unfamiliar and strange for all of us. But of course during time we were used to that. Last year we simple listened to podcasts and posted them in our blogs but this year the situation is completely different. That was great  now we had our own episodes I have never thought about that before. Now I can imagine how my students will be enthusiastic using all that kind of technological things during classes. In one of the articles I read that podcast influenced effectively on students listening skills also on their oral proficiency. Of course, firstly it would be challenging to use podcast because of technological issues as many students might not be familiar with it.  But this should not stop future teachers to use them. Students can listen to podcast not only by computers but using their mobile phones, Mp3 players or iPods. The main advantage of podcast is that students can listen to them on the go simultaneously doing other things.  According to Christopher Shamburg kids become consumers and creators of digital media, podcasting can  help kids  to  do interesting projects and create real life activities. In conclusion I would say that  podcasts  are really great. I am going to use them during my classes. I think students will be glad to share their ideas about what they listened to. 

Link  for the image:  http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=600&tbm=isch&tbnid=7YV3chPHQV3JbM:&imgrefurl=http://www.themobileindian.com/news/7869_Google-Listen-service-for-podcasts-to-be-discontinued&docid=be67ysFVAh4UbM&imgurl=http://www.themobileindian.com/images/nnews/2012/08/7869/Google-Listen-Removed-Play-Store.jpg&w=620&h=330&ei=VkiIULHVLYW

The usage of weblogs within the classrooms

During my previous post I was sharing ideas about digital children. I should say, that was great. I am still under the impression. I wish our schoolchildren in Armenia were like them. But let`s hope, I am sure they are going to be like them at least many of our children.  My today`s post is connected with self-learning.Actually I listened to Sugata Mitra`s talk about self-learning. I was happily surprised  that many children were able to learn lots of things connected with  new technology and what is  unknown  to them by themselves. Many teachers do not want to spend their time in poor places.As he mentioned children will learn to do what they want to learn to do. I think that idea was the greatest one. During his experiment in Dally he left the computer for two months and children were able to learn to use it by themselves in four hours. He said one very important things when children have interest then education happens. So it means that we can use new technology within the classrooms as our children will be more motivated.

Blogging is one the tools which can be very helpful. As famous blogger and educator Will Richardson mentioned blogging is a genre that engage students and adults in a process of thinking in  words. Blogs promote analytical and critical thinking, also promote creativity and so on. Keeping blogs can be much more easier especially for teachers as they save paper. Not only teachers but schoolchildren as well can update reflections and conversations in blogs. I think that would be great. But I cannot image to do all that stuff in Armenia. Many teachers are not able to use computers. Talking about myself I should say I have to go deeper into the subject in order to use it during classes. I do not think that now I am ready to use blogs during my classes every day. As it depends on my class  for sure.  

Link  for the image: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=-rfE2fNliVBFWM:&imgrefurl=http://organicseoexpert.org/online-marketing-methods/social-media-marketing/blog-marketing/&docid=2ibvUEm5GuBnLM&imgurl=http://organicseoexpert.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/web_2_0_social_media_marke

21 st century children

To tell the truth my mouth was open when I was watching those children. Definitely they know much more about new technology than most Armenian adults. Yes, they are our future for sure. That is really great when school children can use new technology for their classes. As I remember many of those kids have different type of class assignments connected with the internet that was very motivating. We should accept one very significant fact that our children do not want to study using old type of methodology at schools. They want to use their creativity, their own style and new things. New technology can give them such opportunity.

 The traditional way of teaching does not have such value nowadays and we future teachers should take into consideration that. But it does not mean that we should not use books or board for writing any more. All those kids are curios to learn new things this fact stroke me most of all. Many of them help even their teachers or their parents to design personal websites. Of course, in Armenia the picture is completely different. Many children do not have personal computers at home which they can use for their learning. While introducing  his book ‘The World is flat’ Tomas Friedman mentions that people can work together with the help of new technology. More people could collaborate no matter where they live geographically. So we can consider this to learning as well. People even can learn languages with the help of new technology. When he  talks about ten flatteners he mentions several times that nowadays it is impossible to imagine life without new technology .We should be aware of new things and all those new things we can use not only in our daily life but during classes as well. In conclusion I would say that Tomas Friedman`s ideas can impact on us as future teachers greatly. As he says we can discover something accidentally the same thing can happen even during our classes. 

Link  for the 1 st image : http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/11/29/1322586940401/Children-in-the-digital-a-007.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/housing-network/2011/nov/30/sponsored-roundtable-lift-digital-age-barrier&h=276&w=460&sz=21&tbnid=YO-jOx99Jqz7BM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=142&zoom=1&usg=__Bml1LmS81kQ6NHE8tjHiNznmlA8=&docid=TPx8ziHJgXyRhM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=10uIUIHvJuqiiAfYvoD4DA&ved=0CD0Q9QEwCg&dur=302

Link for the 2^nd image: http://www.google.com/imgres?start=388&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=hJEnYSJNFVeV6M:&imgrefurl=http://www.thelandofme.com/blog/2011/3/17/how-has-technology-changed-childhood-in-the-21st-century.html&docid=-Yu2-r1TYx2QPM&imgurl=http://s3.media.squarespace.com/production/1111162/13572705/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-01-at-14.54.07.png&w=500&h=330&ei=I4i_UKeNNI_4mAWIpYHwAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=594&vpy=348&dur=1382&hovh=182&hovw=276&tx=126&ty=104&sig=109605187291664981752&page=15&tbnh=139&tbnw=214&ndsp=7&ved=1t:429,r:91,s:300,i:282