Hi Everyone,

Without a doubt, of the technologies presented by my classmates in their blogs, www.italki.com is the one which has thus far impacted me the most.  Italki was introduced to us by Kemal who is of course a language teacher. Italki is a site, based in Hong Kong and with a development centre in Shanghai, which introduces language learners from around the globe. You enter your native language and the language you are studying and Italki introduces you to those who are the inverse. You can send the person a message and exchange Skype contact info or phone numbers. Will Italki help me in my professional practice? Not really, but as I speak Mandarin it is kind of fun to meet people from different areas of China. I now communicate on a regular basis with an art teacher in Tianjin, a master’s student in computer science from Beijing and an office worker in Shanghai. If money is your objective, language teachers can also offer their services on Italki and list their fees. Teachers on italki are designed as "professional teachers" or "community tutors", the former having professional teaching experience or certifications. Both types of teachers are able to create a teacher profile, and set their own rates for payment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italki.com).

Another technology which I like, introduced to us in week four by Elena, is www.polleverywhere.com/. Actually I think Elena introduced us to Poll Anywhere which is also a similar application to poll everywhere. Regardless which application that you chose, both are audience participation sites. You can send your audience a question or series of questions and poll them on their mobile devices. I use five minute papers in class on a regular basis to invite comment or questions. This is a way to do the same thing electronically and gives the students something useful that they can do with their mobile phones. Poll everywhere is based in San Francisco, California and is designed as an audience response system for the classroom. It is used in over 100 countries.

Another site which I find useful, which was introduced to us by Bahar, was Digital Literacy and Citizenship Classroom Curriculum (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum). The site has curriculum which covers digital literacy and citizenship and uses an interactive format which I think would be quite engaging for most students.

                                              References

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum.

www.italki.com/‎

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italki.com

www.polleverywhere.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_Everywhere

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum

Hello Everyone,

I found an interesting site from the Lester B. Pearson school board based in Quebec, Canada. http://dcp.lbpsb.qc.ca/resources/page/3/.  The site has links to numerous resources regarding netiquette, online safety, cyberbullying, sexting and pornography. It is intended as a resource for educators of high school aged students and includes links to detailed lesson plans and learning materials which help the educator in approaching numerous sensitive topics related to internet communication.

Another site which I explored is a digital citizenship policy development guide from the province of Alberta Canada, (education.alberta.ca/.../digital%20citizenship%20policy%20development). This is a set of guidelines designed for teachers who are responsible for teaching digital citizenship and netiquette for the ministry of education in the province of Alberta. The recommendations are based on the results of a literature review of a number of studies. After the traditional lengthy definitions, which most government documents seem to include, there are recommendations for practice. The nine elements of digital citizenship are also included within.

I find netiquette of particular interest as netiquette, although having a positive impact on online, collaborative learning in the initial stages (Bradley, S., 2009, p. 163), netiquette would seem to have a negative impact on the group process in the longer term (Bradley, S., 2009, p. 160). The superficial congeniality of netiquette blocks the development of cognitive skills as it avoids the articulation of difference (Bradley, S., 2009, p. 160). Conflict, if creative, can be much more educative than polite agreement (Bradley, S., 2009, p. 158). It would seem that while disagreement is acceptable a certain code of conduct is required, such as refraining from the use of rancorous language, deliberately offensive comments and acknowledging and returning messages promptly (Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H., 2010).

Digital Citizenship must become a priority in public education. However, technology misuse/abuse is a societal problem as much as it is a school problem (Ribble M. & Bailey, G., 2004). If we are to continue to be a civil society it is important that we as teachers educate our students in the correct use of technology, while disagreement is acceptable, online communication must be conducted in accordance with acceptable use policies (education.alberta.ca).

            If anyone is interested I watched an excellent documentary this week on the use of social media by adolescents and their targeting by large corporations. It was entitled Generation Like and can be seen online at: www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/.

‎

                                                       References

Bradley, S. (2009). The impact of netiquette on online group work: A study of UK Open University students. In O. Kallioinen (Ed.), Learning by developing—New ways to learn 2009

conference proceedings (pp. 152–167). Espoo, Finland: Laurea University of Applied Sciences.

Digital citizenship policy development guide, Alberta education

            education.alberta.ca/.../digital%20citizenship%20policy%20development...‎

 Ribble M. & Bailey, G. (2004) Digital citizenship: When will it become a priority for 21^st

century schools? Website: http://coe.ksu.edu/ribble

Website: http: www.educ.ksu.edu/go/bailey

Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2010). Netiquette: Rules of behavior on the Internet

. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/netiquette-rules-behavior-internet/

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/.

Hi Everyone,

I looked at an open education technology called the Commonwealth of Learning (http://www.col.org/Pages/default.aspx). It is an intergovernmental organization made up of representatives from the 54 countries of the British Commonwealth. The Commonwealth of Learning headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada. Their mission is to support open and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies throughout the British Commonwealth. Commonwealth of learning (COL) has developed into one of the world’s leading forums in open education and works with other organizations such as UNESCO and the World Health Organization. They emphasize teacher development and expertise with electronic media. Funding comes from governments on a voluntary basis with major contributors being Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and India. COL’s activities are grouped under two headings, education which is dedicated to providing free online education and livelihood and health, which provides information on health and nutrition with a primary focus on education in developing nations of the British Commonwealth.

I know of a good example of open education in the automotive industry. The Eaton Corporation (www.truck.eaton.com/‎) freely posts all service literature on line. Eaton is known for heavy truck transmissions and axles. I can access full service manuals for every truck component that Eaton produces on line, just search Eaton Service Manuals. Most other manufacturers require the initial purchase and then a yearly subscription for such information. Our Eaton representative from Toronto, and former student, tells me that by allowing open access to all of their service literature Eaton has taken a greater market share, particularly in the developing world. The Eaton representative has also been sure to equip our school with classroom sets of brand new Eaton transmissions and drive axles for students to work on. He says that this as well will ensure their dominance in the market long into the future.

                                                      References

http://www.col.org/Pages/default.aspx

http:// www.truck.eaton.com/‎

http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/‎

Hi Everyone,

Video games absorb the participant in ways that no lecture or Power Point presentation can. When learners have opportunities to participate in learning challenges at their individualized achievable challenge level, their brains invest more effort to the task and are more responsive to feedback (Willis, J., 2011). I have previously studied how compulsive gamblers are actually addicted to the dopamine released during play (www.helpguide.org/harvard/addiction). What makes video games so desirable for the learner is the dopamine release comes each time the game provides feedback that the player's actions or responses are correct (Willis, J., 2011).

I have been having difficulty trying to envision how a video game could be used in the teaching of motor vehicle technicians. At work today I showed some of my colleagues some of the video games in the resources of this week in hope that they could give me some suggestions. A friend of mine teaches a business management course to technicians, how to operate a repair service essentially. He was taken with the game Spent, which relates to the purchases and expenditures of an unemployed, single parent. It illustrates how someone can become homeless by forcing the player to deal with one sort of unpleasantry after another, the job you get doesn’t pay enough, one of your parents dies or the cat is ill and you have no money to take it to the veterinarian. Next thing you know, a chain of events sends things spiraling out of control (www.gamesforchange.org). My colleague suggested the creation of a similar game which instead dealt with the financial dealings of a small auto repair service. I don’t teach management though and I know of no applicable game which exists.

My friend, whose cubicle is beside mine, showed me a Caterpillar CD from about 10 years ago. At the end of each section there are several multiple choice questions which the viewer must answer correctly before proceeding with the next section. That is pretty standard but what I really liked was a side view of a Cat ACCERT engine on which the viewer had to locate components from a list onto the schematic with the mouse. I’m starting to envision how the teaching of automotive theory could utilize games. Someone suggested having a game in which the student is given an engine problem and then they have to put a diagnostic sequence in order using the mouse. For example usually checking the quality of the fuel would come first, followed by checking supply fuel pressure and so on. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any such games which currently exist and they would have to be product specific in order to be valid.

Teaching on vehicle applications through games would be almost impossible. I know that in the medical field there are simulators which use 3D virtual environments, allowing students to perform surgeries through augmented reality (Bonk, C. J., 2009, p. 276). The costs associated with the equipment and computational power required for these applications have made them largely prohibitive in mainstream settings (Dalgarno, B. & Lee, M. 2010, p.11) I doubt whether or not that they would be developed for the automotive industry. If a surgeon makes a mistake the consequences can be deadly, for a motor vehicle technician, just costly. I think that apprentices will be working on actual vehicles for some time into the future.

There is another on line game which I like, which has little to do with automotive training but does hold potential for adult learning. The game is Mathletics, which was introduced to me by my daughter. It is not a free site but the school she goes to covers the subscription so she can use it at home and at school. The game covers mathematics levels up to grade 12. The student selects the grade, the mathematics topic and then must answer a series of questions within a fixed time period. The student competes with other students from around the world who are synchronously completing the same section. In many games of this style, when a student repeats a section a second time, all the questions are the same, so they are in fact just memorizing the correct answers, with mathletics, every time it all new questions. For an adult learner, who like me has forgotten a great deal of high school math, it is a great review.

                                               References

Bonk, C. J. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education. San

 Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Dalgarno, B. & Lee, M. (2010). What are the learning affordances of 3D virtual environments.

 British journal of educational technology. V. 41, N. 1

Willis, J. (2011, April 14). A neurologist makes the case for the video game model as a learning

tool [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-games-learning-student-engagement-judy-willis

http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/spent/

http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/addiction_hijacks_brain.htm

www.mathletics.ca/‎