Video link: http://video.pbs.org/video/1797357384/
Guiding Questions:
1) Which project do you like the most or which project is the most impressive? Why? I thought that the project that the little kids did where they made a scavenger hunt for teenagers at the Smithsonian museum was pretty interesting. It required them to put a lot of thought behind the clues they gave, rhyming, overall sensibility. All of this effort went into producing a scavenger hunt that is both educational and entertaining. I also thought that the “augmented reality” activity was very cool. Getting out in the community and hearing about the history of the place where you live is a great way to learn. Even cooler though is getting to compare pictures of buildings then to how they look now. And the kids were assigned specialized positions. They had their area and got to talk to city officials about things that they saw in the community and thought to be problematic.
2) Do you think you need to sharpen your digital medial skills? I think that there is always the need to improve digital media skills. Because the capabilities of digital media are constantly growing and expanding, so are the endless number of possibilities. If we don’t continue to grow along with them then we will get left behind. What are some challenges for you to use the digital media in your own learning/ teaching? Maybe it’s the challenges related to resources, time management, curriculum design, your own skills, teachers’ collaboration? My main digital media challenge is to just figure out what I’m doing and how to do it. I’m not very technologically adept, so I don’t know how to do a lot of things. Another challenge is learning how to use the equipment needed for audiology (I’m not planning on taking on a teaching career. My major is Comm. Sciences & Disorders. Then I’m going to go on to get my degree in Audiology). This includes learning how to work completely different programs on the computer, learning how to program hearing technology, test the product, et cetera. The list of things to learn is extensive and will definitely be a challenge.
3) Do these projects remind you of some ideas you learned from your reading (meaningful learning with technology chapter 1)? What are the ideas? How did you see the connections? Technology as a social medium to support learning by conversing and to support learning by doing. It appeals to different types of learners. It involves problem solving, analysis, critical thinking, and creativity. It also employs the idea of “knowledge construction, not reproduction”. The scavenger hunt required collaboration, conversation, learning-by-doing, analysis, problem solving, and creativity. The after-school program that supplied kids with various technological equipment encouraged experimenting, inquiry, design, collaboration, etc. Through this, the children really learned a lot about not only how the devices work but also about how to work with others and how to make a good project great. These are just a few of how these ideas can be portrayed through technological means.
4) How do social networking sites or virtual communities broaden and/or otherwise change your students’ sense of community, and/or interaction with others? What benefits do these digital tools offer, and what challenges might they present? In many cases, I think that this is both good and bad, and thus it is hard to generalize it by deeming it one or the other. It really just depends on the class: the students in it, as well as the teacher. These tools can open up a whole new dimension of opportunities for connection and interaction between classmates as well as student/teacher interaction, but if and only if it is used correctly. And using it correctly requires the knowledge of how to do so, which many people (myself included) are still limited on. And in this case of limited knowledge, the use of such tools as social networks, virtual communities, discussion boards, what have you, can be very limiting, simply because it is so new and so unknown that we cannot maximize it to its full potential and will spend more time trying to figure out how it works that actually paying attention and/or participating in the discussion. How do students communicate differently using technology than they might in person? Social networking sites in the educational spectrum tend to give more timid children a chance to speak up without putting themselves in the spotlight. It is easier for shy people to speak up when they don’t have twenty-four other pairs of eyes staring them down. With social networks or virtual communities, they can speak their mind but not have to look their peers in the eye while doing so. This is comforting for many people.
5) Did you have similar experiences or did you know any teachers / schools doing similar things? Describe your experiences or the teachers/ schools you know. If you don’t, try to think about one think about one digital media project that you want to do with K-12 students or your friends. I took some computer classes in high school that involved different computer programs. I also had a few middle school projects that required video-making. However, I’ve heard stories about teachers that are much more technology-based than mine were. The classes in the video completely revolved around technology usage, and they did some pretty cool things with it. For many of the students, it really interested them and helped them learn the material in a new and technologically creative manner. I’ve never experienced this degree of technology usage in the classroom. However, with my job in the future, technology will play a major role. Given that, I’m sure that I’ll do many technology-involved projects in the near future.
9) Jim Mathews says, “What’s important about place-based learning is really the idea that it is mobile. You’re not tethered to a classroom. It’s pervasive in the sense that you have it with you all the time. “ How might this 24/7 access impact you or children’s learning in today’s society? (adapted from the discussion guide for the video clip). Place-based learning is wonderful. One of my favorite scenes from the video was when the students were walking around their town with their phones doing an activity that involved learning about the history of their community. In this activity they got to compare current buildings to pictures of how they used to look. They got to talk to real people about the history of that specific place. They were assigned positions and got to talk to city officials about problems in the community and possible solutions. The students were excited about the project and more importantly they were excited about learning. The experience as a whole was very educational and interesting. I think that this is likely to be the case with almost any type of place-based learning.
me3840 
I’m a huge fan of the location-based learning styles with mobile technologies as well. To me, it feels like a more interactive and more customizable version of an audio walking tour one might get a museum. I agree that it’s a great way for people to truly connect with their surroundings as they’re learning something new about it’s history.