Last week we finally connected with Belmont Middle School through Skype. You need to look at the pros and cons of this type communication - video conferencing. Avoid focusing on the fact that the students are young, but focus more on the practical application of this type of communication. How can you use it to grow as a learner, and then later as a professional?
If you were part of the podcasting crew, what are you learning, and how are you realizing this is something that should be incorporated into your current classrooms? What suggestions do you have for teachers who want to incorporate this type of technology into their classrooms?
We started a Vlog (a video log). Check it out, and see what you think about this form of communication. Do you see this being a better form of communication than just a blog? What power do you think video has over written forms of communication? Do we become biased by seeing people and seeing their facial and body expressions?
We now need to start sending the links to our blog, our video blog, the wiki, and our You Tube videos out to people so they can begin to comment on them. In other words, we need to begin populating them. We also are looking into VoiceThread, and Cover It Live as other means of viable communication. If you worked on these aspects, what are your thoughts about your experiences with them? How can we use these in an educational setting? What practical application do these have in the 'real world'?
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Andrew Dockham week 3
ReplyDeleteThis way of communication is good. The pro's are that you can see the other person and show them how to do something or show were they need to go. the con's are that sometimes one way will not work so you can only see one side.
The Vlog is a better way than writing blogs because hearing how someone says something and how someone reacts to something can look and seem different between writing and saying it. I would suggest that if they were going to do it that they make sure that they show what is needed step be step because it is easier for some people see what is being done and hear it than read it.
I've gotten a few people to consider joining our blog but not a whole lot of people that i know actually spend the time to blog on a regular basis. I helped with the iPod presentation by looking up all the schools int he area and seeing which ones allow ipods during free time, and what school allow them for academic purposes. Rivendale Academy is only 15 minutes down the road and they allow iPods to the discretion of the classroom teacher. In my opinion we should have iPods because it has been proven that listening to music soothes the mind and helps people concentrate a lot better. Can you honestly say that you don't work better on your work when you listen to your music?
ReplyDeleteSkype is, to say the least, a handy utility. In regard to its usefulness, one can't really write a glowing recommendation of its features--to me, it seemed like Skype was exactly the same as talking to someone face to face (which in and of itself should be a glowing embellishment). I noted that it ran particularly fast for us--perhaps because of the efficiency of the program, or perhaps because we have high-grade computers. Personally, I suspect the former.
ReplyDeleteSkype has very selective downsides. For instance--if you'll forgive the mild disrespect to the students--if one's interlocutor does not know to hold the microphone to their face during conversation, it can be a thorn in your side. Also, Skype's inability to video-chat with multiple people at the same time is a mild aggravation, as is the fact that you need so much equipment for the process. The only reason we didn't have to face these grievances is that we already possessed all the equipment necessary.
Not part of the podcasting crew...
I had the fortune to be the one to create the Vlog that we're using. So far, we haven't put much effort into it, but as we are all aware of, our time is stretched VERY thin right now. The creation of the Vlog was a Herculean feat by itself, and as we scramble to concoct more inane ways to communicate, the ones we've already created are neglected, and wilt in the corner of the room. So no, I don't think the Vlog will be particularly useful in comparison with a regular blog.
As for video influence, it depends on the interest and patience of the person in question. Almost everybody, before watching the actual video, will glance quickly and accusingly at the time of the video. If it's more than 3 minutes, that person will, as a rule, not watch the video. Why? They're lazy. For some reason, a fixed, typed diatribe, with a visible start and end, is much less challenging to the common reader, even though it may take them considerably more time to read the piece than to watch a video on the subject.
I have never heard of these last two applications before--VoiceThread and Cover It Live. I have not worked with them before, but I will presume that they are for the purposes of aural and visual communication, through the internet. However, as I said, I think that if we create TOO MANY forms of "communication," we will spread ourselves too thin and become thenceforth incapacitated.
Peace out.
~Peter
As a form of communication Skype has great possibilities. I like the fact that you can not only verbally communication via phone, but also communicate nonverbally with the webcam. The only problem I have with Skype, because I have used it on a more regular basis, is the quality of the product. Either they need to update the version or make it accessible to more types of computers. I have an older Mac OS X and it frequently quits unexpectedly, but that is probably my computer's fault. I think that Skype will continue to grow and the business of online phone communication will expand.
ReplyDeleteThe video blog is another great way of communicating because it again allows the viewer a verbal and nonverbal look at the person who is blogging. Seeing a person's face is always more entertaining than staring at a screen full of words. An example of a great vlog is the dancing "Where the Hell is Matt" vlog because it incorporates a good theme and an important message, but in a whimsical and humorous way. I think that our vlog could have the potential to attract people, the only problem we have right now is that we haven't told anyone about it.
The forms of communication we have used this week have a constant theme and that is of video communication. The video has power over written communication because it can expand on a basic idea and put certain emphasis on parts that might go overlooked in writing. Both Skype and the vlog allow us to communicate more thoroughly with others and also reduce the complication of misinterpretation.
My thoughts on Voice Thread and Cover It Live are that they would be good sources of communication if and when we figured out exactly how to use them. Voice Thread has potential, it just won't work on our computers, which is a bummer because you can comment in text, audio, video, or by drawing. Cover It Live seems to me a more complex way of IMing and I don't know if I like it. Once we get one going and I can see exactly how it will work I think my opinion will change, but for now my favorite form of communication is the vlog and Skype.
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ReplyDeleteDereks Week Three Review:
ReplyDeleteI think that communicating with the Belmont students is going to be a very interesting project. I think that it is so cool that we will be able to communicate by video. It will be nice to learn how to communicate by video because as I think that in a matter of ten years a majority of communication will be by video. With video communication you can talk and see anyone from around the world, its a pretty amazing thing. But i think that communicating with the Belmont students will further advance our communication skills. But a majority of this week has been spent working on the BIG ipod project. I have done a lot of research and have helped make the powerpoint. From researching I learned that ipods can be a valuable tool for students and teachers. It would be so cool if our school would really use ipods to their full potential. Teachers could record their lectures and make it into a podcast so that all the students could listen to it. That would be a major help for all classes because teachers make a lot and I mean A LOT of lectures. But it would be nice if teachers would record their lectures so that students could put them onto their ipods. Lets face it, when a teacher gives a lecture hardly anyone pays attention to the whole thing, so if a lecture was made into a podcast we could hear it all over again and get all the valuable information. But enough about lectures, i think that i like wrote the word lecture about a thousand times in this comment. But this week has been made up of ipod project work and prepping us for next week when we start really communicating with the Belmont students.
I thought it was pretty cool connecting, and be able to talk to the kids from Belmont Middle School. Though it got a little frustrating at times, it was overall a nice experience, and I can't wait to do it again. But I do not see how skyping is something that would be useful in the professional world. The only use of it would be if someone could not make it to an important meeting I guess they could use skype to visually have them there. But still I don't see the point of Skype being used in a professional work area, only the chat is useful and that you can use with AIM, Yahoo, or MSN.
ReplyDeleteSo is podcasting something we should incorporate into schools? I believe we should from what I have learned from the information I have obtained over last week. The only thing is how do we get ALL teachers to get on board with such a great idea? And how are we in reality going to be able to teach all teachers how to use podcasting? Especially with most of them being so old and definitely behind on technology.
From viewing our Vlog I've noticed that it seems to be more effective than a regular blog just because in a Vlog you are able to see the expressions of the person, as sometimes it may be hard to tell how a person is really feeling just from simple text. I really don't think we become biased by seeing people and seeing their facial and body expressions.
So what are new things that we can learn this week? With this big podcasting presentation coming to an end, what can we start next. It seems we have already covered so much in a short period of time, so it makes me wonder how much more we can learn about the advancements in media and communications of the 21st century.
Skyping with Belmont Middle School was a really cool thing to do, though it was very disorganized. At first it was very confusing, I didn't know who was talking or really what they were saying but once they got a webcam going everything seemed to run a little smoother. I think skype is one of the best forms of aim that anyone can use (though you should be careful of who you use it with). It's amazing that not only are we able to hear them but also see everything they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI never really have watched or heard a podcast before because they never really interested me in anyway but seeing the different ways they can be used make it seem more interested. I think Podcast can be very helpful to kids who want to use it, if it doesn't seem interesting to them then I don't think it will help much. Convincing the teachers to allow iPods for podcast in school will be the easy part but actually teaching them all how to use it successfully will be the hard task. I think the real question is: Will podcast help kids in our school succeed? I hope so!
I really like the idea of an vlog. It not only shows you the person, but helps if someone can't really put something into words and they need to show you to get the full effect. Vlogs in my opinion are a lot better then regular blogs because you can understand things better by watching the person explain it.
Getting our videos out to the public may be hard because most people only want to see things that make them laugh or really get their attention.
I think maybe if we view other peoples blogs then tell them about ours maybe they will view it? I really think blogging can be useful to teachers because they can post their homework and what they taught for the day online for students to view. Would it be possible to get all the teachers into blogging and teach them if they don't know?
I think that when we connected with the Belmont Middle School it was a great way of communication that was very worth wile. We were able to talk to the kids as if we were having a real time conversation with them and it was very fun talking to sixth graders at a different school. The only cons about this is there may be lag on the system or you may not be able to hear the other person because of the microphone. Other than that I can see this form of communication becoming even more popular than it already is and eventually becoming the one of the primary modes of communication in the world.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing our vlog, I can see how many points and opinions that can be brought up through a vlog that you cannot accomplish through a blog. You are able to see the persons expressions and hear the tone of their voice and other things that you can't do in a regular blog. I think that we should abandon blogging altogether and just use vlogging to voice our opinions.
I believe that if we can get people to populate our videos we can get many opinions from many different people on how we can improve and what we have done well in making this vlog.