In looking at the 6 Trends described, I am familiar with the need for change and there is yet another new trend to add. With new innovations in technology comes new ways to use technological resources. V-Books are the newest trend in online learning. Video books or V-books are snippets of videos strategically place in the reading to enhance learning. Retreive Rechnology has a site which explains why and how to use video books and it also has a small inventory for online learning and it has inventory for v-books (see below). The information from Clay Shirky "It’s all about the transformation of media in the age of Everybody, and it’s focusing on a subject very dear to our heart – oldteevee vs. newteevee" clearly addresses the possibility of mass popularity.
Times are changing along with the way things have been done. Although online learning is a vehicle used to teach a particular subject, you are also learning a craft by learning to use the very technology that teaches you. Benefits are numerous in an e-learning environment which includes flexibility, convenience, a collaborative online environment, inexpensive, reliability, and fun.
I've learned new terms and conventions that are being used as trials and pilots currently in schools. Study txt is an excellent example of e-learning and how to meet students where they are. Our limited vision in our heads keep us spinning if we don't open our eyes to what is being done outside of our little heads. Technology is a tool of now and not the future. We can't continue doing the same thing expecting different results. "Overall, the largest benefit gained by the use of technology is the has been the ability to get information to students on their own terms".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn5h8YHlQRU
http://www.petermellow.com/2010/After_School/StudyTXT/index.html
I really enjoyed your post Christina. I could not agree more with you that technology has offered so many new opportunities to both educators and learners alike. I particularly agree with the fact that students are learning more advanced technological skills through the delivery of technology tools such as V-books. I think that the most important factor to consider here is that it is engaging for students and hold their attention far longer than in class learning. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Christina. I am not sure how I feel about embracing technology like v-books. Sometimes I think we may be going overboard in trying to use new technologies to get kids to become engaged. When do they stop becoming tools and start becoming gimmicks? With something like v-books, I would be afraid that students would learn to depend on them and gradually lose literacy skills that have been difficult to develop. Although there is a place for new media literacies, we cannot forget about traditional literacy.
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