Computer Literacy

Technology brings revolutionary change to how knowledge is accessed, constructed or even defined. What's being discussed in this article does make sense, when students only know where to search information, but place no emphasis on internalizing the information, and construct new meaning from it.

I also become more aware of those students in my classroom - who spent more time searching and browsing, and trying to find direct answers online, instead of reviewing the learning materials and actually learn it. Browsing is considered to be shallow cognitive processing. Deep learning and holistic thinking have become one of the challenges in eLearning (Bullen, 2006). To ensure deep learning occurs in an online environment, at least, we should focus more on assessing students higher order cognitive thinking skills, such as ask students to examine new facts critically, tie them into an existing structure, instead of merely ask them to quote it; we can also create practical problems, that encourage students to apply their knowledge instead of just recalling it. It also doesn't hurt to set up tests assessing lower order thinking skills in fundamental contents under no-internet environment. such as spelling test in language learning, basic math, common element names in chemistry etc. 

Sources: Bullen, Mark, Making the transition to E-learning:strategies and issues, IGI Global, 2006

Re:Second Life

I have never heard about second life before and took a quick look at the website just for curiosity. I was totally impressed by how "real" this virtual world can be built.

I'd like to extend this topic to educational uses (or potential uses of second life). Many online classrooms are built in a virtual classroom on LMS (such as Blackboard) however, most of the times, it is usually just some teaching materials in pdf or word, an online form that people can communicate. Second life is much more personal than traditional distance learning. Students can choose, and customize their own avatars, enter into the "campus", perform activities, visit museums and science centers. I think it is an amazing implementation of video games into education. 

Here is what I found (so far) is particularly useful and interesting in Second Life,

• Collaboration: there are already many second life educators. Second life allows you to contact them and collaborate with them. 
• Interactivity: the role playing setting seems to engage the users more effectively. 
• Search: it looks like you can do PubMed searches from the virtual libraries. (From http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_Education/Resources ) 

The video will give those who are interested, an overview of educational uses of Second Life by introducing educational locations, tools, and learning archetypes that have been developed.  What's your opinion of Second Life? Do you see more potential Second Life uses of second life? Eager to know your responses

Leveraging Personal Technology

Objective

“Student technology can clearly get in the way of some classroom activities, but getting students to stop using it is challenging. Students want respect, consistency and professors who ‘get it’. If you can deliver all three, you can win students over.” (Bowen, 2012)

Reflective

            The technological revolution is undeniable in education and all other aspects in the today’s life. Classrooms become commonly equipped with overhead projectors, large screens, microphones or even Smart Board (Smart Board, 2015). All of these technology tools, however have one thing in common – they are controlled by the instructor. As more and more students own their own devices, the “bring your own device (BYOD)” movement has evolved in various learning environments. Although there has not been much disagreement of overhead projector use (or other instructor-controlled technology use), there’s a contentious debate for many educational professionals including myself about personal technology use in the classroom.

            It is obvious that personal technology provides all kinds of possibilities of innovative instruction, at the same time, challenges too. I frequently use Socrative, Blackboard discussion forums, Notability and Explain Everything app in the classroom and also encourage students to make use of their iPads and cellphones to take notes, and watch iTunes U videos as additional resources. However when students are allowed to use their cellphones and laptops in the classroom, not surprisingly, some of my students are distracted by non-stopping text, emails, Facebook notifications and many more distractions from the Internet. I have been thinking over this question-- What is the best way to harness this power of technology in a way that truly enhances learning in the classroom? This is why this statement in Teaching Naked book caught my attention.

Interpretative

            Personal technology is usually referred as “mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets that are owned by individuals” (Thornton, 2011). A 2012 survey of 976 faculty and students in public universities in New York, North Carolina, and Texas indicated that over 90% of respondents owned laptops and over 99% had cell phones (Baker, Lust, & Neuhauser, 2012). The emerging trend is inevitable. While inappropriate use of personal devices have been sources of distractions, educators also face the dilemma of what to do with personal technology which bring opportunities of numerous educational applications and beneficial connection to the online resources.

Personal technology enhances (or has the potential to) learning in many ways (Bayless & Stephen, 2013).

Re:The Networked Student and Connectivism

Along the same line of connectivism theory ("Connectivism is a hypothesis of learning which emphasizes the role of social and cultural context." - Wikipedia), many students Facebook, use IM, YouTube, blog, however they may not readily know or get taught the art of social media for learning purpose, the rhetoric of blogging, feeding a twitter network. As more and more students are becoming networked student, it is time for us to become networked teacher. It matters how we teach our students critically consume and collaboratively create online media matters, and make use of the online resources without offending any copy rights. Here is some of my thoughts (I intended to make this posting a reply, so I am going to just share opinions):

- Use some of the tools in teaching (maybe one at a time) I remember how excited my students were when they are allowed to take pictures during the lab (1st year university student) and share on the department facebook page. They also sometimes tag themselves and reshare to their network. 

- Incorporate literature searching into the curriculum As science major, we were taught how to use certain database (SciFinder, ISI web of knowledge). This continues to be important. Besides, Many students, however, get information more quickly from google and wikipedia. No one would use SciFinder and read the original article to understand of a term easily defined in Wikipedia. I think it's worth sparing some class time and have a discussion of what's the best way to obtain accurate information in the context. 

What is your teaching strategy with a networked student? I look forward to your insights!