Podcast

A Podcast was an interesting technological tool that I learned. Personally, I like it. It’s a really useful tool for education and has many advantages. Here Charles Thacker listed the advantages of Podcasting in Education in his article for students, teachers, and parents,

•       Meet the needs of more students with varying learning styles and aptitudes.


•       Provide ‘make up lectures’ to students who were absent.

•       Supplement existing material and resources with a portable and remotely accessible source of information.

•       Audio benefits vision impaired students and non-native speakers.

•       Ability to replay and review information helps to embed lessons in memory.

•       Asynchronous consumption allows for convenient access and multi-tasking (riding the bus, walking, working out, etc…).

•       Flexible curriculum pathways to encourage student participation and facilitate success. (2007,Thacker)

 Learning to use Audacity software and other applications similar to it takes practice. However, there are many websites can help. For example, in this website they show you how to use Audacity step by step. http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Audacity

 The first idea came to my mind of using the Podcast in education is to teach another language, in my case Arabic. The work I did was to teach basic Arabic words. I made it by using my Mac (GarageBand) it was easy and I had fun. Of course it took time to make it and I had to record a few times but overall it wasn’t difficult. I think using the Podcast to teach or learn other languages is really nice. One can go back and forth and listen to any word many times s/he wants.

        iTunes offers educational podcasts available for free download which is great for teachers and students. Another usage of Podcast in education that I found interesting in a Scotland school called Musselburgh Grammar School. They use the Podcast to produce the student news to inform students and staff about what is happening at the school site.

           I also found another site has the best 40 Podcast for teacher. I think it is very helpful. http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-40-podcasts-for-teachers/ after reading about all this cool stuff I liked the idea of Podcast and definitely I will !

Wiki

A Wiki is a powerful system for online communities to build web pages and web sites. It’s an excellent website for educational use and to encourage group social communication and cooperation. I think a wiki can be a valuable tool for many students. Students will find their learning is more effective when they are actively involved in the building of their knowledge. “In using wikis, students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiations with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance, and more.”(Richardson. 2009 p.65)

I thought anyone could add or edit the content of the website in Wiki, which  –in my opinion- has a lot of disadvantages and made me not use it as a resource. However, now after knowing that there are public and private Wikis and people are not able to add or edit the content in every Wiki. In the private sites in Wiki only people with passwords can edit the site and that makes me feel more comfortable with using it.

I like how the country of South Africa has put their entire high school curriculum on a wiki. I think it’s an interesting use of Wiki. “The goal is to make it easy for teacher to share information on how to deliver certain lessons or achieve certain goals in their students” (Richardson. 2009 p.67).

I’m so exited to make my wiki. The topic I chose for my Wiki is Saudi Arabia. I will introduce my country and tag some pictures. I hope to find enough resource for that. In conclusion, I think Wiki is a great way of learning and it has a lot of benefits for students and teachers.

A great video explain what’s Wiki

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=video&cd=8&ved=0CFYQtwIwBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bnet.com%2F2422-13731_23187449.html&ei=IPViTd3gOML7lwej3bSeDA&usg=AFQjCNElfuooOBcqPdH9feP2Xy_pTLTu8A&sig2=PFtyVYj0R3CerBHwhFQsNw

10 ways to use Wiki in the classroom

http://itcboisestate.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/10-best-practices-for-using-wikis-in-education/

iGoogle

In the last class I had in EDT 615 last Monday, I learned an amazing feature on Google, which I set up as my homepage. iGoogle has a lot of new and great tools and accessories to organized your homepage. It’s not necessary to have a Google account to use this feature. However if you have a Google account, the advantages are never ending. In iGoogle one will have everything s/he wants in one place. I have been using Google for a long time for just searching, after last class I use it for more than that.  With iGoogle I still have the standard search bar displayed, but also I can now with iGoogle personalize this page to display all the other items I find it necessary or use daily. For example, with the entire active political situation in the Middle East these days I chose a couple of news TV to watch all the Arab news and be updated whenever I open my home page. In addition, iGoogle is not just limited to the obvious desktop accessories. I can also add fun stuff, like chess to play in my free time. iGoogle allows me to display, in whatever order I want, all the features I would like to have on my homepage. This is everything from the weather in my area, time in Saudi Arabia, to Islamic calendar. Now I can watch news and read it, I can also check my Gmail in the same time in one page. Overall, I like iGoogle and I think everyone should use it to organize their homepage. 

The Blogs

Blogging is a new experience for me. In EDT 615 class I got the opportunity to set up a blog account and to learn new and interesting information, like how I can use the blog for educational purposes. For example, student can use the blog to reflect on the class work, as we will do in this class every week. A blog gives the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every student has an equal opportunity to share his or her thoughts and opinions by writing and commenting on what has been said. In this class I learn that communication and collaboration will enhance with the usage of internet blogs. Not just for limited students in one class, but also people all around the world. With blogs the students will get the chance to read more of other writers in the same subject they are studying, or even in other subject they might be interested in. I think many students have a desire to have their work acknowledged by blog so they will have the opportunity to publish their work.

 An important point that I learned through this class is how to keep myself safe while I’m using the blog by being careful and selective on my information that I would write in the blog. Another usage of blogs in the classroom, that blogs can be used as a class portal.  A blog is a perfect place where a teacher can post her/his class activities like assignments, a link to access worksheets the student have to do or other website to see it or even more a video to watch. In conclusion I enjoyed learning new usage of technology tool that relevant to education, which is helpful and enjoyable for students.