Digital readers are used to read ebooks, or electronic versions of books. They replace the need for having a hard copy of a book. Multiple books can be stored on one device at a time making it convenient to have an entire library at your fingertips. Digital readers make paperback or hardback books obsolete. Students can eliminate the need for books by downloading all of their textbooks on one device. The digital reader reminds me of the electronic dictionaries, thesaurus, and translators that replaced these large books. In a handheld device you could type in any word get the definition, synonym, antonym, or translation. Essentially these devices started a movenment towards digital readers because they eliminated these type of hard copies. Reverses are very few. Some people just like to have a book for personalization. Ebooks can not be passed down to someone else. Digital readers are expensive and some can't afford them so it is cheaper to just buy or check out a book that is needed. It is not an essential piece of equipment for everyone only those that can afford it. Digital readers are a good investment and makes life easier for those that have an option to buy them.

Current Trend in Educational Technology

As we move forward to incorporating technology in to our K-12 classrooms the Promethean board is found to be a valuable technological tool. The Promethean board replaces dry erase white boards, overhead projectors, LCD projectors, classroom TVs, and in many cases the need for a computer lab. It has many capabilities rolled into one making it more convenient to switch the direction of the lesson a one click. The Promethean board has an interactive pen that allows teachers and students to write on the board just like a dry erase board. Since it connects to a computer any computer application or Internet site can be displayed immediately in front of the class eliminating the need for any type of projection equipment or a computer lab for students to see specific websites. The board also allows for sound projection eliminating the need for a TV or additional speakers. In addition the Promethean board has Activote capability which allows for students to be actively engaged in the lesson all at once. Promethean Planet has become a website that many use to share lessons created specifically for use with the Promethean board. There are endless possibilities when it comes to using the Promethean board in the classroom.
As easy as it is to engage students with the use of the Promethean board it is not as easy to get some teachers to use it. Although it has many great functions many teachers only use a few of it's functions and mostly use it as a projection tool. It is used to show notes, write notes, show films or websites, but it is less commonly used to interact with students. Part of the problem is it has a lot of functions and no one is properly trained on how to use the functions. With all that is demanded of teachers, some view it as another task to take on and not a way to make teaching easier and more interactive and interesting for students. Teachers that are not technologically savvy tend to stand clear of many of its uses, they view the technology as confusing and time consuming. Having mini training sessions on its many features could alleviate some of the resistance to this type of technology. I believe teachers became overwhelmed by the new technology because only one training session was held that encompassed all its functions at once. When schools adapt new technologies they must incorporate training into the budget that is user friendly.

New Technologies

As a high school teacher everyday we are faced with challenges on how to engage our students. Technology provides a gateway to reach our students on new levels. However I have found that teachers who do not have vast experience with technology are reluctant to use the technology in their classrooms. As a class room teacher I have limited say so in who gets technology or how it is used but I do see what happens are it is being introduced.
Recently our school received Promethean Boards in most classrooms and they provide many opportunities to create very interactive lessons for students. Teachers that have been in the school for a while tend to ignore the promethean boards and stick to traditional teaching methods. Other teachers use the boards, but only as a white board. It's disappointing to see the technology go waste. Many teachers say they are too old to change their teaching styles and they are about to retire anyway. It is very difficult to sway their mindset. Other teachers complain of not having time to create such interactive lessons. I try to share sites such as Promethean Planet that have lessons or lesson ideas that are already created, its no point in reinventing the wheel.
The ARCS Model of Motivation, created by John Keller, focuses on using active participation, specific examples, modeling tasks, making new information relevant, and allowing students to use information in authentic learning situations; among others. This model can be used to persuade teachers to create more interactive lessons with the Promethean boards. The Promethean board can allow for active participation, allow teachers to show specific examples in a variety of ways, model tasks for the entire class at once, make connections to real world experiences, and allow students to create authentic learning aids. The promethean boards provide a way to connect the entire classroom and have students teaching each other as well as showing what they learned. Introduction of the ARCS model can persuade teachers that using tools such as the Promethan board will get students motivated and learning.

Collaboration

Concept map locate at:
http://sites.google.com/site/renjohnedu/concept-map

I believe I am in the middle of the “static-dynamic continuum.” I still use a lot of text and web sites for content from the static end of the continuum; however I do use discussion boards, chat, and technological media such as PowerPoint to further develop learned concepts. With continued use of my newly learned media, such as blogs and wikis, I will move forward on my journey toward the dynamic end of the continuum. There are so many technologies that can be used in distance learning it will be a slow process. Fear of learning new technologies once I have become familiar with other technologies plays a major factor in how I adopt new technologies on the technology continuum. I also believe that I will always to continue to use both ends of the continuum, static and dynamic. I will continue to use the entire spectrum the static end for information and the dynamic end to develop a “deeper cognitive level.” (Moller, 2008, pg.1)

Reference:
Moller, L. (2008) Static and Dynamic Technologies. Laureate Education, Inc.

Graphic Organizer

Graphic organizer located on wiki page below:

http://sites.google.com/site/renjohnedu/graphic-organizer

Many technological tools are used daily by learners. Many of these tools can be incorporated into the field of technology especially in distance course because they have access to Internet.

Technological Tools:

Cell phones:

Cell phones go beyond making phone calls and texting those are uses of the past. They can be used to download information, access emails, discussions, wiki pages, blogs, and podcasts. Especially phones such as the iPhone, G1 with Google, Blackberry and the Droid, have capabilities to access the web with ease and download applications that can be used in the educational field.

MP3 Players:

MP3 players can be used to gather, listen, and view materials that pertain to classes. Learners use these technologies to download music, music videos, and movies for recreational purposes. This same technology can be used to download videos, presentations, and podcasts related to learning.

Computers:

Computers are an obvious technological tools that students use for personal communication: social sites, emails and the like. However computers are a main source of distance learning today. This can be used to access media such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, discussion boards, online classes, and much more. Computers have become easier to access because of wire web and the creation of portable computers such as laptops and netbooks.

Online Collaboration Assessment

George Siemens points out that assessing learners is difficult, especially in an online collaborative learning community. This type of assessment is difficult because traditionally assessment was individualized solely based on facts or skills individuals retained over a given period of time. However, collaboration calls for a different type of assessment. Students collaborate online in many ways, discussion boards, wikis, and blogs to name a few. Siemens mentions that these online forums are a good way for peers to assess each other using methods such as rating scales. However, peer assessment is only a small portion of the overall assessment. Educators must evaluate learners as well. This evaluation could be done by monitoring students' participation in online forums. Did the student participate? Did the student actively comment on others' posts? How much time was spent in the online forum? Did the student respond in a timely manner? All of these questions can help the educator assess the student's collaborative effort. These questions can be answered by looking at the forum, which keep accurate logs of student activity.

Siemens also discusses making the assessment process fair and equitable. He points out that the different ability levels of the students can make assessment difficult. Students who had limited ability in the beginning of a course could make great gains throughout the course, while students who have always been strong in the area make little gains throughout the course showing little change in ability. My answer to that is grade accordingly. Students who had weak post in the beginning should get lower marks for those posts and marks should improve as the quality of the posts improve. On the other hand students that have been strong throughout the course should continue to get high marks. Therefore the grading has been based on ability throughout the course.

Students that do not want to collaborate in a course first should not be in the course to begin with. Students should be aware that most online course call for some sort of group interaction. It's not much that can be done about students who are not willing to participate. However, other group members could encourage participation of that group member by asking questions to get them involved in discussion. This could make the unwilling member feel as though his or her opinion matters and make them more comfortable in a learning community providing a sense of trust that Siemens states in important. The instructor should directly ask the student why he or she is not participating and give tips for collaborating. Siemens points out that students are more likely to participate if they know that contributions are being assessed. If a student fails to collaborate assessment marks should be low. One can not be assessed for work that is not done.

Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Principles of distance education: Assessment of collaborative online learning featuring George Siemens. [DVD]. United States: Walden University.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Principles of distance education: Learning communities featuring George Siemens. [DVD]. United States: Walden University.

Collaboration Storyboard

I placed the my storyboard, in powerpoint and an outline in word, to my wiki. Please follow the link to:
http://sites.google.com/site/renjohnedu/collaboration-storyboard

Collaborative Interaction

In the vodcast, "The Future of Distance Education", Siemens pointed out that there is a growing acceptance in the field of distance education, I must agree with Siemens. This growing acceptance comes as more people experience communication online. The fear that online communication does not facilitate meaningful relationships is subsiding as people learn that these relationships exist in an online community. As technology develops new tools are created that help ease the transition in to online learning communities. Siemens also points out that these communication tools make it easier to collaborate on a global scale diversifying learning outcomes. In addition to distance education corporations are taking advantage of these communication tools, communicating with different offices around the globe. Siemens is just in saying that the use of online communication is growing rapidly. First hand I can say that ten years ago as I attended an undergraduate program in a traditional university I never thought I would participate in distance education. I always thought that I needed an in class professor for motivation. Like Siemens says, I was able to bridge the gap of comfort. When I first took my online class for my master's program, I found it much easier than trying to get back and forth to class and found that distance education was more preferable to me than traditional classroom settings.
Distance Education promotes collaborative interaction. New technology makes this collaboration easier. In a blog by KCDavis "Collaborative Interaction" located at http://educationaljourney1908.blogspots.com/2009/12/collaborative-interaction.html,, the author points out that collaboration has proved to be more effective than working alone. The different talents and abilities of the learning community are able to solve problems more easily. The author also makes mention that this collaboration was made easier with evolution of the Internet and online tools. I agree that online tools such as Blogs, Wikis, Email, and Discussion boards make interaction among groups more efficient and effective. Collaborative interaction also improves the quality of education for some. Blogger Phil Cruver in his post "Collaborative Learning 2.0 for Pakistan" located at http://edutechdebate.org/elearning-promise/collaborative-learning-2-0-for-pakistan/ argues that Web 2.0 has the ability to increase the quality of education in Pakistan. The benefits are endless, but he points out that students just having the ability to access video lectures that are being produced by top teachers in the country could expose them to a better education. Tools such as the webcam which is now inexpensive makes this type of collaboration possible. Distance education promotes collaborative interaction and as distance education continues to grow more and more learners will take advantage of the many tools that enhance collaborative interaction.
References:
George Siemens "The future of Distance Education"
http://educationaljourney1908.blogspot.com/2009/12/collaborative-interaction.html
http://edutechdebate.org/elearning-promise/collaborative-learning-2-0-for-pakistan/

Evolution of Distance Education

After reading the articles by Moller, Foshay , Huett , and Coleman and listening to the video by Simonson I agree that distance education should be evolved to the next generation. In the three articles, The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web, the authors point out very important issues that need to be addressed with the evolution of distance education.

The first of the three articles points out issues corporate e-learners are faced with as well as the growth and benefits of distance education for training purposes. The article mentions that the overall benefit of distance education is economic. However some of the challenges that are being met in this type of training are the quality of the programs, and the speed at which this programed can be developed. As with any distance education program the way in which materials are developed must be taken in to careful consideration because they need to be effective for learners.

In the second article the same issues arose when referring to post secondary distance learning. The field is constantly growing and with this growth the quality of the programs are being questioned. Standards are beginning to be set by these distance education programs that could possibly effect the post secondary education across the board. The concerns with distance education in the post-secondary level come in when considering the faculty who produces the course content. Since the concept is relatively new professors are not as trained on creating e-learning environments and the craft approach, taking traditional classroom practices and placing them in an online environment, are not conducive to the online learning environment. Classes have to be adapted to the online learner and put more emphasis on the learner rather than on the teacher, which typically occurs in face-to-face classrooms. The development of these courses have to focus on a new method of learning which is technology centered. Although this process deems to be more work on the online educator it is being promoted because of the flexibility of distance learning, as well as more student participation and the forum that allows students and professors alike time to think on topics and formulated better opinions.

The third article focuses on the distance education in the K-12 environment. The benefits of this learning have not fully been studied, however as with the corporate training and post-secondary distance education, the K-12 environment also faces challenges of not having qualified professional to create relevant distance education programs. The push for these programs in the K-12 arena is hard to sell because it conflicts with child development based on interaction. While the programs do push for individual pacing, which allow children to progress at their own speed, the social development of children may fall short of what is needed to effectively maintain in society. The programs in the K-12 environment do help with students being able to fulfill educational requirements in a less stressful situation. Distance education all around helps learners require knowledge at their own pace and is more cost effective in most cases. Once the concept is embraced and more faculty is trained on producing quality programs for distance learners the programs will continue to evolve rapidly.

Simonson clearly pointed out that distance education uses technology to link the teacher to the learner. He also made a point that at its best is self study at a distance. The difference between the regular classroom and distance learning is that the teacher, learner and resources are separated. Over time distance education will be widely adapted and teachers and learners will be linked by technology.