Module 2: Emerging Technologies Tetrad

Blog Tetrad

Blogging is a tool that I use frequently in my philosophy/controversial issues class because I believe it allows students the freedom to vent their feelings and experiences. Putting their emotions in to spoken words can sometimes be met harshly in a classroom of students unaware of others life experiences. By blogging students hid behind anonymity making for excellent typed discussions. This demonstrates one of the enhancement features of blogging. What this can make obsolete is the need for face-to-face discussions. I frequently use blogs for my online students as well. Because of the factors I discuss previously, I feel students development a strong bond, one that is not built on looks or spoken communication. In relation to the retrieval factor, it facilitates followers and written historical documentation. It also facilitates asynchronous communication. The reversal will continue to occur with the development of "real-time" documentation of experiences (i.e. Twitter). Please view the following article that discusses the evolution of blogging. This is a good tool to help predict the future of this cloud communication. Another example of a microblogging tool in reference to a group member's example of a formed chain is socialtext. This is geared more toward the workplace, so taking it one step further from one's social life. This is in the same cluster as it allows instant posting to mass amounts of people.

Module 1: Identify an Emerged Technology

I have been teaching in the traditional environment for six years now. I spent two years in the main building before I got booted to the trailers (just kidding! but I teach electives so we don't get priority for inside classrooms). The trailers are awkwardly long and no place is a good place to sit. The TV is on one side of the room while the computer is on another and then the white board is in the middle. And course the wireless is shady out in the trailer park so unless I am at my desk connected with a cable it is out of question using the internet during a lesson. I teach AP Psychology and we discuss numerous experiments that would be greatly enhanced with reference to a website or a clearly visible video/tutorial. I was thrilled to find out in September I was getting an multimedia AV cart in my trailer. I may seem silly but this is an emerging technology for my school as it has been a long time coming. I now have access to a central hub for everything that I need--the internet, a projector, a sound system, radio, DVD, as well as TV. The box has a great stand for me to rest my laptop on and a remote so I can walk around my classroom for student/teacher interaction.

The main problem associated with this technology is the fact that they did not ask where we wanted the boxes to be located. For good reason the boxes have to be attached to the wall after school is over. Once unlocked there is only so far you can maneuver the box from the wall. The training did not take long but I struggled for a little accessing the TV input. In addition, there are some kids who can not see the projection but it goes back to the shape of the trailer.

This may seem silly but I feel this box expands my classroom walls. Psychology is such a rich, evolving topic. There is only so much I can described for them without being able to show them. For example, BrainPOP is an awesome resource that I use to introduce my students to a topic. Or in discussing types of research. I spent time in class going to faceresearch.org for us as a class to partake in a real-life, ongoing experiment. I could do these things with my class by taking them to the computer lab but that is not truly integrating technology in the classroom; that is making technology a special part of the classroom. Most students take psychology because they are interested in this area as a future career. Having access to what I do through this multimedia AV cart helps my illustrate to my students how alive and changing psychology is in the world today. It makes the discipline alive!



I would love to be able to set my classroom up in a way where all students could easily view the projection but I can't change the classroom. Our training was literally 20 minutes during lunch one day. Though the equipment comes with a huge instruction packet, I should spend more time playing with it. I am pretty technology savvy but still not perfect =) Adding a Smartboard and clickers to this would be awesome!!!!