VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a conversation that is held about any type of media; whether it be text message, voicemail, or anything of the sort. The media could be a picture, a poem, a video clip, anything that can be shown on the computer.

In terms of using VoiceThread to show a video, I am not quite sure. It might actually be more beneficial to place the video on VoiceThread and have my students get into groups, and talk about it, but then it might cause people problems thinking they can text they're friends, and things like that. But then when it comes to doing the assignment from home, not everyone has the advantage of having a computer at home. It is worth a try though. If the kinks could be worked out, I would definitely find it useful, and more entertaining for my students.

I also think it would be more useful for the students that are extremely shy, and don't like speaking in front of a class (although I would still make them at some point to open them up). It would give them an opportunity to have a break from speaking out, and being placed outside of their comfort zone.

Week 7

I believe that teachers should go as far as they need to go in using technology in the classroom. It is all dependent upon the subject you are teaching. The reality is, this is 2009 and people use tchnology for everything. It has become mroe resourceful. However, it is important to still incorporate some of the older techniques into the classroom, in order to make sure the students continue to have the same experiences that past students have had.

I do not believe that online chats are a good idea in the classroom. I don't see the students using this for their learning experiences only. It would definitely be a distraction in my opinion.

I believe that both asynchronous and synchronous styles are necessary in the classroom. Text-based learning will be very useful in classes that require alot of reading. I assume this is pretty obvious. But in math classes it is very important to have that face-to-face learning in classes such as math class. It is much easier to learn when you aren't just looking in a text book, but it is all dependent on the student, the assignment, and the teacher.

I believe that podcasts could be useful, but just like everyone else, it is all dependent upon the student, because every child learns differently.

The idea of using video games in the classroom, I think, could possibly be a good idea in any subject. With me being an English major it could be very helpful for me because I want to focus on teaching my students how to look deep into what they are reading. Video games could be very useful in helping my students understand the concept behind looking for more than what you see.

Publisher

I like publisher. It was very easy to do the brochure with this program, and I actually liked how it turned out. I don't really see myself using publisher for resumes. I guess I got accustomed to using microsoft word because I just didn't like the layout of the one I made on publisher, but it was ok.

I could very easily see myself using publisher in my classroom. There are many different ways it could become useful. I remember making many types of brochures in the classroom, but we always had to fold the paper into a brochure, and then if we wanted pictures we had to draw them, so publisher could make this project alot easier in the classroom, and I believe my students would probably enjoy it more.

The only assignment I wouldn't use for publisher (that I know of at the moment) is the resume, but otherwise, I really liked it.