Mobile Learning

1. Why should teachers embrace mobile learning?
Teachers should embrace mobile learning because it is a new method of learning that children will most likely relate to and find interesting, in turn creating motivation where there might not have been before. The simple fact is that technology is becoming  more and more prevalent in younger and younger lives, so we might as well embrace it. When children see learning as fun and unique, they are more likely to learn and remember what they are learning. I know I learn more when I can relate to the material and find it fun.

2. What are some issues/challenges with mobile learning, and what are some possible solutions?
One obvious issue with using mobile phones for learning is the risk that kids will pretend to be working and play games or text instead. Another issue is that not all children are going to have cell phones, so it would be difficult to teach a lesson using them because some kids would be left out. A possible solution would be to have the children pair up so that every child who doesn't have a cell phone can share with someone who does. This is also a great way to encourage teamwork. Also, children who are caught texting or playing games when they're supposed to be using their phones for education purposes could no longer be allowed to participate in mobile learning...I know if I was going to be left out from doing something fun, I wouldn't risk the consequence.

3. What are some examples of best practices and practical uses for your desired age group?
I wrote a paper on the use of iPads in the classroom, and think that it would be the best way to introduce social media in the classroom for children in my desired age group (first grade). There are many applications that could benefit children of this age. There are applications for spelling, math, art, you name it...and a lot of them are games that kids don't realize are educational. Any kind of social media use like iPads can teach young children to be familiar with technology for when they get older and have to use it in later years.

4. What are three specific applications that you think might be useful in your future classroom? Why? How might you use them?
I would definitely use "Socrative" to make short quizzes so I could monitor a student's understanding of a topic or assignment. I think it is a great and easy tool to use, for the teacher or student. Another app I would use would be "Read Me Stories," it's an app that has a lot of free books (with lots of categories of interest to choose from) for young children. The app lets you choose if you want to have the app read it (out loud using the speaker) or if you want to read it yourself. Another app I would use is "Math Puppy," it includes math bingo, math challenge, and math calculator. It's also nice because you can choose between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and the difficulty level. These apps are a few ways to make learning fun.

Digital Age and Critical Thinking of the 21st Century

Can we define what it means to be information literate?:
A University in New York defined information literacy as "the ability to recognize the extent and nature of an information need, then to locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information." I think this is a good definition of information literacy because teachers and students need to be able to analyze the information they are presented with. Being information literate helps you use technology to communicate, solve problems, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, design, and create information to improve learning.

Can we teach our students to have the skills essential to information literacy?:
Sure. It's perhaps more difficult than in the past because there is so much more information available today, but there are ways to educate a student on how to be information literate. For example, a teacher could have his or her students search the internet and discuss how or why a website is credible or not (like we did in Ed 270). A teacher needs to be able to analyze information and also be able to teach his or her students how they can analyze information too.

Can we truly prepare students to be effective users of the most powerful medium?:
Anyone can make a website, even one that looks professional, so it's hard to distinguish what is reliable and what is not. There are clues to look for that can help you determine the validity of a website, though.
Here is an image to help you understand a URL and its structure:

You could also use www.google.com or www.altavista.com to "sleuth" your internet search, which basically means to investigate a websites validity. On these websites, you type in "link:" followed by the web address you are "investigating." This can give you clues to an author's credibility, or the purpose of the website (some sites are trying to sell products, etc.). 

Podcasts in the Classroom

I hope to teach grade 1, 2, or 3. Even for this age group, there are ways to use podcasting in the classroom. Podcasting could be used by the students or the teacher.

Teachers could use it as a tool to relay information to parents about their child's homework, or other important information. Teachers could also use them to prepare lessons, explain class procedures and homework instructions for a substitute or student teacher.

Students could make a podcast about what they're learning on a certain topic, or what they're learning that week. A fun way to use podcasting for this age group would be to tell stories (take turns reading a story, then discussing what it meant to them), practice spelling, or to make a skit. 

A class website or blog could even be made to share the above information/work with their families. Podcasting can be a fun way to look back on the work they've done over the year and see how things have changed and how much they've learned.

iMovie

Attached should be a 30-second commercial promoting Western Oregon University using iMovie, but (almost) our whole class had difficulty saving our work...we learned how to do so properly (and how to use the program), though, and that's what's important! iMovie can be used in a classroom to encourage group work and collaboration. Doing so could allow each student to give valuable input that another student may not have seen at first. Together, a masterpiece could be created. :) iMovie is very easy to use and edit. It allows you to take several clips and put (parts of) them together and add text and music. I think it would be a good idea for iMovie to be a one week project for students. The first day they could "play" with the program and get familiar with it. The second day they could create a layout of the content they wish to have in their movie. The third day they could shoot their footage. The fourth day they could put their work together into a finished product. And the last day they could share their work with the class and give feedback. It can even be saved and displayed on YouTube!