Virtual Classroom

http://education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/onlinelearning/virtual-classroom.html
This website gives the definition of what is a virtual classroom. It is a private online space in Blackboard that teachers can use to support student learning. The teachers and students are able to access this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the internet. The virtual classroom could have class activities including group and individual learning activities, discussions and chats with students, quizzes and surveys, homework activities, online courses, forums, and webquests. The organization could include calenders, timetables, important information from the teacher to students and parents, unit overviews, grades, and homepages to students. The only people that can access the virtual classrooms are the students or staff members of the schools or place of work. Using blackboard can help the students reach the website outside of the school hours.

When I was in highschool I used blackboard. This allowed for us to see the assignments, what would be taught the next day in class, and have discussions online as well as in the classroom. Sometimes the conversation in the classroom would not end when the period was over, we could add to the discussion in the virtual classroom later that evening. I think that this was very good. I liked using blackboard as well as having the virtual classroom access in highschool. I wish that we had it in college now.

I think that research should be done to see how many other people use this tool after spending the money and time on it. I think that students and teachers enjoy this feature and would like to use it more in the work field.

Streaming Video

http://www.ripbs.org/Education/video_streaming.html
PBS shows that video streaming allows teachers acces to many clips for their curriculum over the internet. There is science, social studies, language arts, math, and health courses available for the teachers through different databases. The teacher can watch a certain clip of the video or the entire thing. Streaming video is only the transfer of videos online. PBS tries to promote teachers to sign up for their streaming video program by allowing the access of 4,000 length and 44,000 clips of videos over the internet. There are over ten subjects that are included in these videos. Lesson plans can be sampled, teacher guides, reports of videos and clips, access from their own home, and many different databases with photos. Video streaming can catch the eye of the students while allowing them to be accessed all over the country. The videos are current and up to date.

Education has grown into being used to all of the new technology advancements in the world. Through computers, videos, digital cameras, visual field trips, and now video streaming. Why not be able to see a clip or entire length of an educational video that goes along with the curriculum? The teacher normally has to find the video in the library, find the part of the movie they want to show, and sometimes pay for this. Through video streaming, the teacher will be able to access the video for free and look at the clips in an easier way.

Research can be conducted in seeing if this is really fair for those in the video. They are probably not gaining as much money for this than they would like to. This is kind of like the tv shows allowing for their viewers to see the last weeks episode online, many were upset about this and went on writers strike. I feel as though this would be easier for the teachers, but is this neccessarily fair to the libraries and the people that work hard on these films to make their money thats needed?

Podcasting in Education

http://www.apple.com/education/digitalauthoring/podcasting.html This article describes positive influences that podcasting in education has. Apple feels as though this is a "new way to inspire learning." Children can be creative with their ideas and helps excite the teachers and students in a more educational way. Podcasts can either be audio or video files over a network. The podcasts are a 21st century communication skill while also being creative. Teachers can show students voice recordings, photographs, movies, and different sound effects to give them better knowledge of information learned about. Homework assignments and many different lessons can be created over podcasts. This is also a professional development that can be taught in school and used in the work force. This article talks about how a podcast will be put into every Mac. This is a way to get people more interested in buying Mac products. Schools are able to host their own podcast through a "Podcast Producer."

Podcasts are good in education by another technological tool to help educate students. They are taught this at an earlier age and can use it when getting jobs later in life. Technology is growing rapidly and why not teach the next generation how to use the products?

Research could be done on seeing how effective they truely are. Are people wasting their money on podcasts when they can just watch a movie or put in a CD-ROM? Also, research could be done to see how many people actually use the device after they buy the product.