Tusso’s Blog

This is my final reflection for this course. I have to say that it has been the most useful course that I have ever taken at Marymount University. After talking to a lot my classmates, the general consensus is that this course has offered us real world application. Everything that we have developed and created will be applied in our classrooms. I have mentioned before that I don’t consider myself a technology savvy person, but after this class I realized that I know more than I thought…or maybe I can adapt easier to using new technologies than I thought I would.

These two weeks also went a lot faster than I thought. Yes, this is because of the intensity of the course, but also because we constructed our own knowledge, personalized it, and created products that we will use every day. I pushed my multi-tasking skills to the max and feel so accomplished. This course has been far more satisfying than any other course I have taken at Marymount. I wish that the school would have allowed us to take it during our first semester. I think everyone in our course is ready to embrace all that technology has to offer to education.

Steve mentioned during our last class that as teachers we have to be cognizant of the constant change that is happening to education through technology. I didn’t realize this fact until having taken this course. More importantly, I did not really appreciate that technology is revolutionizing education until now.

I think that our Skype presentation was useful to the class. We showcased a lot of resources that reflect the multiple uses of Skype. I think that this is something that should be accessible in all schools because of how positively students respond. Skype is a tool that all teachers should use even if it just involves skyping with another classroom in the building. The other presentations today were very impressive. Everyone took a lot of time to create a thoughtful and informative presentation. I am excited for our last day tomorrow. Everyone has worked so hard! I’ll be posting a longer reflection tomorrow about my experience in the course.

See Me, Hear Me, Skype in the Classroom By Carolyn Foote (January 1, 2008)

Apace of Change Blog (March 19, 2008)

• Mr. Bariexca’s honors British literature class
• Hunterdon Central Regional High School in  Flemington, NJ
• Class prepared questions on their wiki site for Mr. Dave Stacy, a history and technology teacher at Olchra School in Swansea, Wales.

“In our session debrief, I asked my students what the value of an experience like this was for them – not why it was cool, or new, but what value it held for them. Responses centered around these major concepts:”

• first-hand access to a living primary source
• interactivity & having the ability to probe and ask for explanations & clarifications
• hearing a non-American perspective; combating ethnocentrism
• greater investment in preparation
• greater overall engagement due to all of the above

• Collaborate with museum curator on Canadian students’ history projects that were posted on their blogs.
• Curator was able to provide feedback to students through Skype.
• Following year, the teacher used Skype again to collaborate with a teacher on the same history project.

Horizon Project 2008

• Students from around the world analyze and compare information and make predictions.
• Used Skype to collaborate.

Part III: Teacher to Student Skype: Tutoring with Skype

Skype Directory – Tutoring and homework

• Tutoring advertisements on Skype website
• moderately priced, most academic help ranges around 15 cents a minute
• Huge directory ranging from language help to science and mathematics
• Part of the Skype website makes it very convenient

• Website made for EFL/ESL tutors
• Secure and reliable site
• Due to popularity and simplicity many tutors have switched from Yahoo and MSN to Skype
• Skype is currently translated into 24 languages making it a great tool for ESOL and language tutors
• ESL students can get help with documents since files can also be translated and shared

• Online English Professor
• All classes are done through Skype
• Very convenient considering it can be done from each participants home

Part IV: Student to Student Skype: Skype Pals

Random Connection: Skype Pals

· Diane McAlister’s first grade class at Reidville Elementary School’s was able to Skype with their pen pals in Washington State

· Teleconference with both classes as a whole

· Each student was able to meet and talk to their partner through the web cam

· The teacher gave them questions to ask

· Extra: they use the audio portion of Skype to let homebound students listen to the class.

Skype Buddies for Language Learners

· Interested in-High school language learners getting paired up with individuals who are native speakers in the language that the students are learning (french, spanish, mandarin).

· Reply-his students used Skype video to talk to an English class in Russia.

o Russia students were able to practice their English

o US students learned about Russian culture

· Websites were you can find Skype Pals

o Skype in Schools (Skype Extras**)

o Epals

o Students of the World

o Teachers.net (resource not included on this blog)

Epals

· Account you create (Students, Teachers, and Parents)

· Search for a classroom

· Connect with other ePals

· Blog

Skype on the iPhone

**Skype Extras

Lists other options you have when using Skype

· Callgraph

· Innerpass

· SkypeCap

· Talk’n’Write

· Unyte Application Sharing

· Yugma alone and with Skype

· Yuuguu (Powownow)

I am a slow reader. I am a really slow reader when reading off the computer because I easily lose my place or get side-tracked. ZAP Reader is a web-based way to speed read. You just copy and paste text into it and it relays it back to you one word at a time at a maximum of 300 words per minute. You can also adjust the speed of the words appearing. So I copied and pasted an article off the New York Times web site on Obama’s Health Care policy. ZAP Reader relayed it back to me word for word. I adjusted the pace to one that works for me so that I still could comprehend it. When I was reading the New York Times article, I found myself focusing on the key words and having better comprehension because I had a singular visual of each word. I think this is a great tool for students who have a hard time concentrating when having to read long passages or those who struggle with comprehension. I just found it interesting that this new technology can change the way we read. Here is the tutorial which is also on the program’s web site. I think that I still prefer to read off of paper, but when I have a really long article to read online, this program is really efficient and effective. I’d be interested in what other people think, especially those people who have no problem reading online.

So I joined Twitter. Like most people in the class, I have mixed feelings. I feel that while Twitter can be a useful tool that allows information to be brought to you rather than you having to search for it. However, I also think that it is overrated and sensationalized. I guess you could argue the same thing about facebook, but I prefer facebook because it is not just about following and partaking in “who said this or who said that.” We’ll see how this goes. I didn’t want to completely knock it though until I try it.

I’ve been doing research for Tony, Terese, and my Skype presentation on Thursday. A lot of the resources come from teachers’ blogs. Here is an example of one honors British Literature class in New Jersey that I found at Apace of Change Blog. The teacher and his students developed questions using their wiki page and then skyped with another teacher in Wales about the history of the area. I’ll be sharing some resources like this. Tony and Terese will look at tutoring through skype and reinventing pen pals to have “skype pals.” We’ll also be demonstrating how skype works.