Using the smart boad:

The smart board is something I have recently been exposed to. I did not have it in high school, and on the first day of classes in September, I saw a professor using it for the first time. I admit that I thought this was some kind of college-specific technology, though I know it wasn't used when I went to college. Professors kept track of art history slides in undergrad using a carousel that you heard click with every moving image, following and proceeding with a dry lecture. So imagine my surprise when I go to fieldwork for the first time on Friday of this past week, and see that it's part of a normal classroom! During the class, the teacher did not pull out a dusty "Overhead Projector" or use the chalkboard. Those were what were used with regularity when I was coming up. Frequently, you'd hear the class snicker because Ms. Bess had chalk on her nose. You also got used to seeing your teacher's fingers covered in blue or green stains from using the transparent sheet that covers the actual overhead projector, and wiping away the permanent marker ink by licking their finger to remove errors and typos. To my surprise, the teacher kept score of students performance using "Dojo points". Students could be called on by using the "random" feature (which is great). Multiple lessons and activities were organized through the computer instead of relying on teacher memory, thousands of handouts,the scoring of class participation is ultimately kept on track. It just shows you how much modern technology can benefit the classroom.

Do interactive games encourage literacy?

This is a question I always wanted to know about. If educational games enhance learning, or if they only enhance memory within games. And if so, at what age does playing with educational toys and games help? I understand trivia to develop memory and vocabulary skills, but what about other games? The thing is that, of course, life isn't a series of video games (at least, not yet). If k-12 education is completely devoted to play, how are we preparing students for college? The workforce? Life? This guy claims that they do work (based on his daughters, he even provides a really cool graphic). But what EXACTLY are they learning? If the answer is simply vocabulary, and random information, then media provides that. Perhaps there's no teacher like human social interaction, at least at a certain age, and a formal classroom. But who knows?

Using social media and teaching history

In an increasingly technological and internet-based world,  where we could devote 2 weeks to reading a book, we can read the summary of that book in online reviews. When a documentary on featured American Civil War heroes can take 2 hours to watch, a picture of a General, a paragraph summary, and a link can provide basic information. In short, where the public could be bored with "details", and the process of discovering new material through extensive written and visual text,  the public gets an equally accurate snapshot of what occurred through social media; social media and internet changed how quickly we are able to access new information. More and more, learners are being lured in to subject content that is brief, informative, and history-based. For example, though most high school students didn't read the regular daily newspaper, a considerable amount of high school students for example, are familiar with blogs such as Huffington Post, and the New York Times. Though the problem of learning being limited to “short” descriptions can be problematic, it is also important to meet learners where they are, and to stay current. I wholeheartedly approve of such a concept.

Webquests

"The Process You will count of in 4s in class, and the four members of your team will get different roles as primary researchers. These roles are: The archaeologist, The librarian, The Scientist and The Politician. As a team, you will, hopefully, pick who is the best person for each job. Each team will need to use a different group of resources. Any team reading off of another team and using that as the basis of their assignment (copied work) will get an automatic zero. Though you are free to meet with other teams as you wish (archaeologists can team up with archaeologists and look together for example), your work must reflect originality and professional standards."

Using history and webquests was quite informative. Really appreciated the ability to put forth creative potential and standard content into one assignment; really appreciated the ability to do this as part of a overall task.