Second Life: Education in a Virtual World

Have you ever been to the Second Life?   You've probably heard of it before, but maybe have not experienced it yet.  No, I am not referring to what happens to you when you die, I am referring to the virtual world that is now accessible via the internet.  This virtual world, known as Second Life, is an online 3D virtual world where users can collaborate, network, share, and even play with new ideas and concepts.  However, this virtual world is not like any other virtual world that you may have been to before.  This virtual world is unique in the fact that it can take you to actual places that exist in the "first life," but have been re-created for users to visit and explore in this 3D world.  

Second Life is very useful for education because so many of us learn by seeing, and by doing.  Well now, when you are learning about the "Great Wall of China,"  you could actually go visit it in Second Life.  Their 3D models of these different places are so realistic, it is almost like actually being there.  Want to show off the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted by Michaelangelo to your history students?  Well now you can by visiting the Sistine Chapel in the Second Life.  

Many teachers complain about how hard it is to keep the students' interested in their assignments.  Well, if you think about it, what are many of the students in today's world doing when they go home?  Playing on their computer, adding music to their ipods, texting, and playing with their playstations.  Well, Second Life is great because it is similar to entering into the internet gaming world.  Users get to pick an Avatar, choose their clothing, and then explore the many virtual communities and places that Second Life has to offer.  What a great way to get your students interested in your class, but still keep it educational!  

A teacher by the name of Nik uses Second Life to teach English.  She blogged about her teaching experience in Second Life at the following website:  http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2007/08/teaching-english-in-second-life.html.   She found Second Life can be a very useful tool for teaching English.  However, this teacher did come across a minor difficulty.  She needed to find a way to put the students into groups so that they did not overhear each other while conversing in English.  Although, what she did find was that the students seem to enjoy having class in Second Life, and that the class size continuously increased.  

In addition to visiting different places in second life, you can also visit and join different communities.  These communities can not only be useful for students, but for teachers as well.  Second Life can be a great way for educators to collaborate, network, and share best practices with other educators, all over the world!  If you visit http://www.slconvention.org you will see that there are actual conventions that are being held for Second Life users.  This particular convention is the largest virtual world convention being held online that combines art, business, community events, music, education, and much more. 

While I was in Second Life, I visited the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which is, "the trusted source for professional development, knowledge, generation, advocacy, and leadership for innovation."   This organization offers a nonprofit membership which provides various leadership services for teachers to improve education and teaching.  While I was there, I met the online resident for ISTE.  Her name was Maggie Marat.  She goes there every Sunday, and she also conducts meetings for the Second Life Edvserse.  She helped me join their group, which will be a great source of information for my own personal professional development.

So, if you are interested in exploring Second Life for educational purposes or just for fun, visit http://www.secondlife.com and create your avatar today!  You'll be on your way to an awesome 3D virtual experience, and you might just learn something along the way!  While your there, look me up, and befriend me.  I go by Meschele Marenwolf in the Second Life.  I'd love to chat with you, and I hope to see you there! 

Second Life in Education Wiki:

http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/

International Society for Technology in Education:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/168/29/30

Second Life:  Hype or Reality

http://bit.ly/Wh4rT

How Do Education Enterprises Uses Second Life

http://bit.ly/b9pW4

Teaching English in Second Life:

http://bit.ly/42ZSeO

Podcasting for Education

Podcasts are a way to record and deliver information and multimedia to a large audience almost instantly.  It can also be a much more interesting way to receive information as opposed to receiving it through an email, or by some other multimedia means.  In addition, podcasting can be a great way to bring education to a whole new level by sparking students' interests in various subject areas and technologies that they may not have ever cared about before.

I think podcasting would be great to use in the classroom to distribute homework and weekly/nightly agendas.  In the middle and high school grades, teachers are constantly looking for ways to increase a student's interest and participation in and out of the classroom.  By using a technology that they already love, this might be all that is needed to get them tuned into your classroom.  Teachers are constantly telling students to put away their ipods and cell phones.  Now, with podcasts, teachers can gladly tell students to take out their ipods to send and receive educational podcasts.  

Just imagine, all of the ways that you could use podcasting to improve the academic achievements in your classroom.  For a science class, students could subscribe to receive National Geographic articles and other articles via their ipod, which would be great for research assignments and to really spark their interest in that particular subject.  So, in reality students could receive internet information at home, without having to own personal computer.

Now, think about how many students who live in a home where both parents work.  Many of times, the students will come home to an empty house, and often times will have no help for completing their homework.  In addition, a lot of times parents do not have the knowledge or ability to help their children with their homework either because they do not remember the material, or because they never learned it themselves.  So, now imagine that child being able to access math tutorials via his/her podcast to help him/her with that math homework without a parent's help.  Many times a child is reluctant to attempt their homework assignment because they are unsure how to begin or they do not understand the assignment.  With educational tutorials sent via podcasting, that would no longer be a problem.     

So as you can see, podcasting can bring education and educational media to a whole new level, and quite possibly could be what sparks the initial desire for educational achievement in today's youth.  So sign up today for a podcasting program like itunes, and you might just be podcasting tomorrow! 

Learning in Hand:

http://www.learninginhand.c...

Apple's Podcasting in Education:

http://bit.ly/rhiSw

How to create your own podcast:

http://bit.ly/19DV0E

Article on Podcasts:

http://net.educause.edu/ir/...

Why is podcasting relevant to Education?

http://bit.ly/pTjNC

RSS Feeds: So that's what that little orange symbol means!

All this time, I never knew what the little orange symbol meant.  I never really knew it had any meaning at all.  I always thought that it was just an icon for the website.  Little did I know that it was a major link to a whole another world... a way to subscribe to a site!  RSS stands for "Real Simple Syndication."  RSS feeds make it possible for a blog reader to "subscribe" to a blog.  This way, readers can continuously receive updates and new blogs to read without having to continuously visit the bloggers site.  All of this is possible through software called an "aggregator."  The aggregator is a feed collector that regularly checks for new information from your selected sites about every hour.  What makes this real simple syndication simple is that the information comes to you, instead of you having to go to it.  Wow!  What a great concept.  We, as Americans, are constantly looking for ways to make technology better, faster, and more technologically advanced, and it looks like we have done it.  Instead of searching for the information, we now have it coming to us, which is great, but how are we going to use it? Better yet, how can we use it for education?

RSS feeds can be very useful for in the educational realm, for both teachers and students.  One really great way for teachers to use RSS feeds is for grading purposes.  For example, if you assign your students to write blogs as an assignment, it might be really time consuming to visit each blog website to grade all of them.  However, if you subscribed to the RSS feed, then the blogs would automatically come to you.  Voila, grading made easy!  Now all you would have to do is go to one site to grade all of your students blogs.  

Another great way to use RSS feeds would be to subscribe to a "thought for the day."  This is a great way to receive daily prompt ideas for writing.  This can make writing a little more fun, and increase the anticipation of not knowing what you are going to be writing about until you check your site.  In addition, the students can't blame you if they are not crazy about the prompt, i.e., "I didn't make up the prompt, lol!"  

Lastly, RSS feeds can be useful when having students conducting research for various assignments.  It can be especially useful in group assignments.  It is a great way for the students to share their research findings.

So, as you can see RSS feeds can make your life much simpler for both teaching and learning.  So, the next time you see that fancy little orange sign, go ahead, click on it.  You'll start to receive updates without having to go back to that site, and you'll start to make your internet life a breeze!

How can I use RSS feeds in education?

http://www.flairandsquare.c...

RSS:  A quick start guide for educators:

http://bit.ly/4E9Zh4

RSS Specifications:

http://bit.ly/id1ue

RSS feeds for teachers:

http://bit.ly/OlPGd

RSS feeds in the classroom:

http://bit.ly/12Td8U

Twitter...What are you doing now?

Twitter is a social network that allows you to receive updates on what someone is doing throughout their day from all over the world in a 140 characters or less.  When I first heard that you could "follow" someone on twitter, I just thought it meant to watch for their postings.  I now know that you can sign up to "follow" someone which simply means that you will receive any update or link that they post throughout the day.  With twitter, breaking news and updates can be spread across the nation almost instantly, reaching millions of tweeters.  Just think of when the news of Michael Jackson's death occurred.  Millions of tweets went out about peoples feelings and thoughts on the matter.  In addition, facts and breaking news were also added.  Like a wildfire, twitter allows news and information to spread rapidly over a large area within minutes.    

Twitter is especially popular when dealing with fans of celebrities.  People can sign up to follow their favorite celebrity and know almost instantly where they are or what they are doing at that very exact moment.  Wow, this brings stalking to a whole new level! :) 

So, twitter is obviously popular among celebrity groupies, but what about education?  Is twitter useful for educational purposes?  Absolutely!    Twitter can be used to help students keep in touch with their instructors on a daily basis, and it can also help students and educators alike share and receive valuable information to make the learning process a more successful one!  The following is a link to a website that contains a list of some top 10 uses for Twitter in the classroom put together by Steve Wheeler:

http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html  

Steve Wheeler is a part of the Faculty of Education at the University of Plymouth.  He is responsible for, in his own words, "conveying the University's e-learning research network and co-ordinating technology mediated learning for the Faculty of Education."    One of his ideas for using Twitter in the classroom is to have students read their assigned articles and then attempt to post of summary about the article on Twitter in a 140 characters or less.  This is good because it really makes them concentrate on what is the most valid information needed in their summary, and it forces them to delete unnecessary information.  This is just one of the many educational uses for twitter.  Another great use for Twitter in education would be to post updates of the class, and to allow students to collaborate on h.w. and group projects.  Steve Wheeler even suggests having a class meeting on the site!   

So, whether you are interested in using twitter for educational purposes,  keeping in contact with friends, or you just feel like stalking a celebrity, sign up today, and tell us (in a 140 words or less), what you are doing right now!  

Twitter used as a teaching tool at the college level:

http://www.citytowninfo.com/career-and-education-news/articles/twitter-used-as-a-teaching-tool-at-colleges-09060302

Twitter Transforms Teaching

http://brainbasedbiz.blogspot.com/2009/07/twitter-tips-for-teaching-and-learning.html

Teaching With Twitter

http://chronicle.com/media/video/v54/i25/twitter/

7 Things You Should Know About Teaching

http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutTwitt/161801

What was that site again?

What was that site again...I can't remember the URL...OK, so I found the site, but what was my user name and password??  Sound familiar?  Well these are things that many people encounter on a daily basis when using web 2.0 technologies.  Due to our ever-changing world of technology, and the increase of the use of this technology, it can be hard to keep track of all of the different websites that you want to frequently access.  One might say, "Well, that is easy, all you have to do is bookmark them or save them to your favorites."  This solution is true, however, what happens when you are not on your own personal computer?  How can you access these bookmarks when you are on a different computer?  In the past, this used to be impossible, but now this is no longer impossible.  We owe it all to social bookmarking!  So, you may ask what exactly is social bookmarking? Social bookmarking is a way to access your bookmarks from any computer, no matter where you are at.  One of the most popular social bookmarking web services is Del.icio.us.  Del.icio.us allows you to save, store, and share your most popular and favorite bookmarks to be accessed from any computer, using any browser. What a God-sent!  

When I first found out about Del.icio.us, it was like my prayers had been answered.  It was so hard to remember all of the bookmarks that I frequently accessed.  It was fine at home because I had them all saved, but when I went to work at school, I did not have access to them because I was on a different computer.  Now, because of social bookmarking services, I no longer have to try and remember them all.  I can just simply visit Del.icio.us, and boom, there they all are!  

But, you may ask, why is it called social bookmarking?  Well, that is because I can share my favorite bookmarks with others, and I can add other user's bookmarks to mine as well.  In addition, you can "tag" certain keywords to organize and to make searching for your bookmarks that much easier.  What a great idea!  Talk about taking teacher collaboration to a whole new level!  This coming school year I will be teaching L. Arts.  If myself and the other L. Art's teachers collaborated and signed up for each other's bookmarks, then we would have a plethora of excellent, easily accessible resources that we may not have known ever existed otherwise!  

I not only think that social bookmarking would be great for teachers, but I also think that it could be very beneficial to have your students sign up for it as well.  Just think if you assigned group research projects on different states.  Each group could collaborate and post their bookmarks for all of the group to see and utilize.  In addition, they could access their school bookmarks from their home computers.  They would no longer have to memorize the school's website, or go through several different clicks on the computer to get there.  It would simply involve just one visit to Del.icio.us or any other social bookmarking service. 

What a great concept!  Amazing, this idea started out merely as a blog.  A man by the name of Schachter developed a link in one of his blogs to help him access his bookmarks from any computer.  Well, this idea led to him starting Del.icio.us in Sept. of 2003.  As you can imagine, Amazon.com, Yahoo, and Union Square Ventures got wind of the situation, and decided to get involved.  They invested approximately 2 million dollars in this venture.  By December of 2005, he was bought out for an amount somewhere between 15 and 30 million.  Wow!  Talk about a good day!  Why didn't I think of that?!  

The Clever Sheep:  Social Bookmarking in the Classroom

http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2008/01/social-bookmarking-in-classroom.html

Del.icio.us:  What is it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicious_(website)

Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Social Bookmarking 101

http://www.wtvi.com/teks/07_08_articles/socialbookmarking101.html

Why include social bookmarking?

http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/gallery/activities/social_bookmarking.htm

7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking 

http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutSocia/156804

Educational Uses For Blogging

A blog, formerly known as a "web log," can be a very beneficial tool in the educational realm, according to the article, "7 Things You Should Know About Blogging."  Blogs can be used to motivate learners in many ways.  Some of those ways include getting learners to participate in open discussions, to express their own opinions, and to sum up previous lessons learned as a means of review.  In addition, educators can use blogs to promote detailed discussions in their particular field of study or discipline.  According to Stephen Downes of New Brunswick, Canada, blogs have been used for educational purposes to support teaching and learning since the beginning of 2005.  Moreover, universities such as the University of Calgary, uses blogs to create educational learning communities.  These educational learning communities allow for students to receive commentary from their peers and their instructors, which allows for much needed discussion and educational feedback.  

When using a blog for teaching and learning, you must first specify the guidelines and educational purpose of these blogs.  Furthermore, according to James Farmer, If you do not set guidelines for your posts, then your blogs will most likely not achieve their desired outcome for the educational use intended.    The possibilities of the topics that blogs can address are endless.  Due to the fact that a blog is basically an online journal, they often times address many topics ranging from politics to entertainment and everywhere in between.  These blogs are beneficial because they are categorized chronologically from the most recent to the oldest.  So, older posts can always be located for references.  Another major benefit to blogging according to Bill Ferriter, the author of "Learning with Blogs and Wikis," is that blogs can promote continuous professional development amongst teachers.  By viewing commentary, different viewpoints, and links added by other instructors to these blogs, collaboration and further professional development can be constantly occurring.  However, according to the ELI discovery tool's, "Guide to Blogging," there are a few downsides to blogging as well.  One of the major downsides to blogging is that blogs can always be edited or revised, so it is difficult to keep the information properly archived and documented.   

When used properly, blogs can be a great form of open discussion, a field for artistic verbal expression, and can offer much support for teaching and learning.  So, whether you are teacher or a student, sign up for your own personal blog today, and see the new heights that blogging can potentially bring to your educational experiences!  

Sign up for your own blog today at:

https://www.blogger.com/start

Check out these links that address the many ways to use blogging in education-

Educational uses for blogging:

http://bit.ly/2bwt2q

"Blogs in Education"

http://bit.ly/12dWpD

Learning with Blogs and Wikis:

http://bit.ly/FsV6H

A Guide To Blogging: an ELI discovery tool:

http://www.educause.edu/eli...

7 Things You Should Know About Blogging:

http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutBlogs/156809

 

I know you, and we've never even met before!

In my last blog I discussed Second Life, the Internet-based 3D virtual world in which user's can explore, converse, and chat using avatars.  I wanted to readdress the topic of Second Life because I just learned something new about the idea that I had not even thought of before.  You see, logging in and joining Second Life was a requirement for myself in my Master's program at Full Sail University.  Had I not been taking this course, I am pretty sure that I would have never signed up for access to this new, virtual world.  In addition, while my initial reaction of the virtual world was that it was "really cool," I did not see how this virtual world would be very advantageous to companies, schools, or universities for that matter.  However, after recently listening to a video interview with Josh Hallett, my opinion on the matter has changed.  I really thought that this could hinder people's development of interpersonal skills, but actually it might do quite the opposite.  You see, if you develop a relationship via the internet through Second Life or any other virtual modality, then you might be more apt to strike up an in-depth conversation as opposed to a surface conversation with that person when you finally meet them face-to-face because you already know them!  You've probably had detailed conversations with that person.  You would most likely know what's going on in their lives, whether it be good or bad, and an even deeper relationship after meeting in person would most likely develop.  While Second Life helped to bridge this relationship, had it not occurred before hand, a face-to-face meeting might have simply consisted of a "hello, nice to meet you and I'll see you at next year's conference!"      

What are your views on the matter?  Check out this video for yourself, and tell me what you think! http://media.fullsail.com/LMS/assets/2008/10/Video/JoshHallett-2102536A-1B78-E152-925DF1103C760109.mov

 

Meet me in the second life!

Meet me in the second life... and no, I am not referring to meeting me in Heaven after we die.  I am actually referring to meeting me in "Second Life", the new virtual world on the internet.  Second Life is an Internet-based 3D virtual world in which user's can explore, converse, chat, and participate in individual or group activities.  In addition, user's can create and/or trade 3D virtual properties and objects.  I had never heard of this website until my third class in my Master's degree program, and after visiting this sight for the first time, I found out that it actually is like a whole another world. 

This free-client program allows users, known as Residents, to meet up and converse using characters that they can personalize, called "Avatars."  This three-dimensional modeling tool is a great way for businesses or universities to participate in conference calls or group meetings without actually having to talk on the phone, or meet up in person.  I have explored through this program, but I haven't mastered it quite yet.  However, if you are interested in learning more about creating 3D virtual objects, or you're just bored with the first life, then go check it out.  

Visit http://secondlife.com, create you own virtual avatar, and start exploring the second life today! 

     

Can't Wait?!

So, when do you think that going to middle school and high entirely online as opposed to entirely on campus will be an option.  Not sure?  Don't think it will ever happen?  Well, I tend to disagree.  I think that it is only a matter of time before 5th graders and their parents will having their annual end-of-the-year meeting to decide the educational path of their "transitioning to middle school" child.  Can you imagine it, students being home-schooled their very own house in middle school, but not by their parents?  No, by actual certified teachers, and not just by one, but one for each subject as if they were changing classes at the actual middle school itself.  How advanced our middle schoolers would then be in the digital world!  After graduating from high school online, they could put approximately seven years of computer experience on their resume... ready to enter the digital workforce!  Now some may say, "What about their social lives?"  How are they going to work on their social skills?  Well, don't worry mom and dad, these schools would still have football teams and dance clubs.  Extracurricular activities would not disappear.   The Sadie Hawkins dance would still be in full bloom.  The Friday night football games would still be played.  The only thing different would be where they would hold their academic classes.  Hey, at least there would be no confusion as to whether or not they had homework.  All you would have to do is look over their shoulder!

Interested in your child taking classes online?  Check out Florid'sa Virtual School online.

It's nationally accredited, and has the same rigorous curriculum as all of the other Florida public schools, and often times, the same teachers!  Visit their site at:  http://www.flvs.net

The Computer...My Connection To The Outside World!

So, I have been out of work for a week, no sick-pay mind you, because, well, its at the end of the year.  Most teachers do not have sick time left over by the end of the year, unless their just anal, have no life, or love going to work everyday from 8 to 4.  OK, so maybe I'm jumping the gun.  Maybe there are some people who strive to have perfect attendance at their work place, but I am definitely not one of them.  Don't get me wrong, I do try to miss as little as possible, but sometimes you just need to use up those mental health days to survive teaching!  

However, If I had been more cognizant of not using up all of my sick time, then maybe I would not be in the predicament that I am in now.   The reason why I had to be out of work for a week was because the doctor had diagnosed me with Mono.  Yes, the "kissing disease."  It appears as though in my quest to find the perfect man, I kissed one that was not so perfect sometime between the area of 4 - 7 weeks ago.  That's the incubation period.  Four to seven weeks is how long it takes for Mono symptoms to show up.  Nevertheless, I am sick right now, and have not had much contact to the outside world.  

Although, my sole saviour has been technology...a little t.v.,  well actually A LOT of t.v., several microwave dinners, and the the good ol' trusty internet!  It is amazing how well you can stay connected to the outside world without ever leaving your house;  When I say world, I literally mean all over the world.  Today, on realtor.com, I house-shopped.  I visited several cities while shopping for homes.   I went to St. Augustine for a while, and then spent several hours in Belfast, Maine.  In my searches for the perfect little fishing village to inhabit, I then realized how completely and utterly bored I would have been if it weren't for technology.  

Technology has changed our world so drastically over the past two decades, it is ridiculous!  I can remember a couple of years ago (it actually seems like yesterday), when we had a really bad hurricane roll through our town.  I was living alone at the time, and had been staying at my parent's house in Crystal River to wait out the storm.  When all that was left was a little wind and a lot of rain, and it was deemed safe to go home, I said my goodbyes and hurried home to my apartment.  When I arrived, I found my entire apartment complex to be out of power.  So, since I did not prepare my own apt. for hurricane situations, I had nothing to use to pass the time except for a clock radio running off of batteries.  This was the most boring night of my life!  I never thought it was going to end.  Daylight seemed like a God-sent!  This night was a wake-up call for  me.  What did people used to do before they had t.v. to occupy their brains, before they had myspace to play with, or cell phones to text on?  To know how far the world has come, I can't even begin to imagine how far along we will be in two more decades, or even one for that matter.  

So, as I wait out  my time, 7-14 days worth, I am physically disconnected from the outside world, but digitally...I'm right on it!  O'h wait, hold on...I'm getting a text! :)-    

Searching for a home of your own?  House shop without ever leaving your family room!  Visit http://www.realtor.com for the newest listings all over the world! 

New Car/New Lingo!

Ever notice how the minute you buy a new car, you start seeing that model on the road everywhere you go!  The same can be true for new technology and Internet lingo.  Due to the fact that I am enrolled in the Educational Media Design and Technology Master's program @ Full Sail University, I am constantly being introduced to new technology, websites, and applications that I never even new existed.  Coincidently, now that I have been introduced to some of these new sites, it seems the buzz word on the tip of everybody's tongue these days is "Twitter."  I've always been a "Myspacer," and recently signed up for "Facebook."  I had heard of both, but was not real interested in tackling another social network due to the fact that I loved Myspace, and all that it had to offer!  I thoroughly enjoyed, and still do, constantly changing my background, adding new graphics and icons, and adding new pictures or sayings.  However, as an assignment, I had to sign up for Twitter.  "Twitter, what is Twitter?" I thought to myself.  I had never heard of Twitter or Tweets for that matter.  However, now that I have joined the Twitter world, and understand that "following" someone does not mean stalking, it seems that I have once again entered a completely new virtual realm that was once completely unknown to me.  Now, I cannot turn on the morning news, read a myspace bulletin, or watch VH1 without somebody saying, "Follow me on Twitter!"  How did I miss this before?  How did I not notice everyone and their mother's saying "Twitter?"  I guess somehow the same way you never noticed the Kia Sorrento on the road until you actually purchased one yourself.  Or, the same way you never noticed that so may yellow-punch buggies existed, until the fear of getting punched in your arm one more time became inevitable!  Why are so there so many of those little yellow cars, and where are they hiding when you want to punch somebody back?! -Cheley.  Check out http://www.twitter.com  and get caught up in the new lingo! 

Also, interested in getting your master's degree?  Check out Full Sail University, Real World Education, located in Winter Park.  It's a great school, and I think you'd really love it!  http://www.fullsailuniversity.edu

     

It truly is Del.icio.us!

OK, so I consider myself a fairly computer literate person, not too internet savvy, but I do well enough to get me by. However, I have always been frustrated at that the fact that because I do have three different computers, i.e.: a Desktop P.C.., a personal HP Laptop, and a Mac for my master's courses, that I often have many different things saved on all three computers. Often times, I find myself trying to duplicate my "favorites" and "bookmarks" on both of my computers, and then persistently take the time to check the little boxes that say "save my password" over and over again! However, I have seen the light! I have tasted Angel Food Cake straight from Heaven, and it truly is Del.icio.us!

Del.icio.us is a website you can join that allows you to save all of your favorite and most used bookmarks anywhere,with a password for security purposes! This allows you to go on to any computer, anywhere, at any time, and access all of your bookmarks! How convenient is that?! This program is literally a God-sent, and probably the most helpful and productive website I have ever come across. I owe it all to Full Sail University, which is where I am currently enrolled in my master's program. As part of a requirement for one of our assignments, we had to sign up for De.licio.us. At first, I was leery; I thought, "This kind of sounds like a porn site or something...or a place to learn how to bake delicious desserts!" Well, to my salivary delight, I was more pleased to learn that Del.icio.us is actually a place where you can save all of your bookmarks. My life just became so much easier! So, if you are in my boat (with having several different computers), or just want to access the same information at several different computer portals, then take a bite like I did. Honestly, take the time to indulge your senses into the heavenly piece of Angel Food Cake that this program really is! Your salivary glands will thank you, because it truly is Del.icio.us! Check it out: http://delicious.com/

Marc Prensky, the author of "Don't Bother Me Mom, I'm Learning!" and the CEO of Games2train.com, often writes about how computers and video games are preparing your children for the 21st century.  Marc Prensky has not been peer-reviewed, and he has mentioned in several articles that he has no desire to have his work peer-reviewed.  Despite not having been reviewed by his peers and colleagues, his writings are still very interesting, enlightening, and informative.  The following video link below is a video of Mr. Prensky himself discussing students using technology in the classroom, and the teachers' lack of knowledge for how to operate this technology.  As Marc Presnky has entitled us, we are considered "Digital Immigrants," living in a world with "Digital Natives (a.ka. the students)."  These students grew up in this age of technology, and became computer literate as though it was second nature.  However, we on the other hand have had to have training on how to use these technologies.  For us, it has been compared to learning a second, foreign language.  Although, practice makes perfect; with a little training and playing, we'll be "Digital Natives" in no time!     

Marc Prensky @ Handheld Learning 2008

My First Attempt

Well,  other than myspace, this is my first blogging adventure.  Normally I write about romance and love, or running.  However, in my "Point Of View" blogs, I plan on addressing multiple topics dealing with education and technology in the 21st century, and any obstacles that we may be facing as we venture into this virtual realm.  So, if you have any interest in Education and the cutting edge technology that our educational system is beginning to use, then stay tuned and subscribe to my log.  All viewpoints are accepted and encouraged, and they would definitely make a nice addition to my own!