EDIM 508 Week 7_Google Earth Virtual Field Trip

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Virtual field trip? What is that? A virtual field trip can be done in many ways, but what I have created it in is Google Earth. The field trip starts out at Wilson High School. At this point the students are given specific instructions of the field trip will contain and what they should do during it. The trip then takes the students around the world, visiting the New 7 Wonders of the World. Between each stop the students are to use the measuring feature in Google Earth to measure the distance between the monuments. While at each monument, the students will be presented with an interactive Glog. Each Glog contains cultural music, a panorama, brief history, a virtual 3D tour, and information about the monuments engineering. Finally, the students are taken back to the high school where they are presented with a writing prompt. The prompt asks the students to reflect upon the following:

• The distance between the before and after monument.
• What was an interesting fact you learned about the World Wonder?
• What did you learn about the location of the World Wonder's culture?
• What did you find interesting about the World Wonder's engineering?
• What was the culture surrounding the monument when it was created?
• How has the culture of the land changed over time (if any).
• How has that impacted the technology and engineering?

I feel that this virtual field trip is a unique way of educated the students on some astonishing engineering feats of the world while educating them on the history and culture of the land. Through this activity the students will continue to develop their ethical and respectful minds. According to Gardner, “The respectful mind notes and welcomes differences between human individuals” (2007). Whereas the ethical mind “ . . . conceptualizes how workers can serve purposes beyond self-interest and how citizens can work unselfishly to improve the lot of all” (Gardner, 2007). These monuments do just that. They are still inspirational today!


Gardner, H.  (2007).  Five minds for the future.  Boston:  Harvard Business School Press
 

Download The Virtual Field Trip!

EDIM 508 Week 7_Continuing The Development of My Five Minds

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EDIM 508 Week 6_Respectful and Ethical Minds

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Walk down the street of any city in America, you will see that the different cultures of the world are not as segregated as they used to be. “The [(2007)] Census also reported that 38.1 million foreign-born residents comprised 12.6 % of the population. Then, in 2008, it predicted that by 2042, more than half of the population would be minorities with much of the increase due to immigration.” (Krase, 2009). The continuous rise in immigration means a mixing of cultures. Although the mixture of cultures has a large magnitude of positives, it also brings with it a great deal of difference in beliefs, life styles, and ethics.

As educators and adults, it is our job to foster respectfulness and prepare students for this fact of life. Julene Reed stated in her article entitled, Global Collaboration and Learning, How to create a world of success without leaving your classroom, “Educators need to find ways to connect students from different parts of the world so that they can learn together, share knowledge and develop cultural understanding and relationships. Through these types of learning experiences, students will increase their global awareness and understanding of other cultures in different parts of the world” (2007). Reed’s article provides several different digital media means that can be implemented into any classroom, such as email, digital photography / video storytelling, blogging, websites, video conferencing, etc.

A project that I planned to on doing but ran out of time at the end of this past year involved the majority of these means of digital media. The project was going to be a virtual design challenge within my Introduction to Engineering and Design class. The student(s) would have been paired up with another student(s) to design a prototype product that would solve a challenge while staying within all of the constraints and criteria given. The project would involve the students to videoconference, communicate via email and screencasts, and finally present the solution through the means of a live videoconference presentation. The presentation would have been created through multi-editing software, like Prezi that integrated media such as 3D animations, screen captures, videos, and digital images.

This project sounds all well and good, but without the ethical and mutual respect between the students, the project would not be as successful as it could be. Doing project as such is a great learning experience for an individual of any age, especially 18 years of age and younger. Teaching these young individuals an ethical code of conduct and behavior is a life long lesson. The ethical mind “requires more abstract and reflective thinking about one's behavior. No matter what type of work a person undertakes, [(he or)] she can stand back and ask what [(he or)] she needs to do for [(his or)] her work to be excellent in quality and ethical in conduct, and then follow through with those responsibilities. Without this mindset, a person can be easily swayed into doing compromised work that cuts corners, just to be able to get ahead (Maria Fusaro, 2009).

Fusaro, Maria. "Five Minds for the Future." Usable Knowledge. Harvard Graduate School of Education, n.d. Web. 14 June 2012. <www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/teaching/TC106-607.html>.

Krase, Jerry. " “Diversity in America: Past, Present, and Future?” by Jerry Krase | BrooklynSoc.Org ." BROOKLYNSOC.ORG. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.brooklynsoc.org/blog/node/70>.

EDIM 508 Week 5_Glog

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Look around. What do you see? Everywhere you look you see some sort of creative way of expression, whether it is through a movement, a noise, physical feature, or a graphical representation. As an educator, we need constantly find innovative ways of inspiring creativity. According to Howard Gardner, “creativity can be maintained by exhibiting different, equally viable solutions to a single posed problem” (Five Minds for the Future, 2007). A quick and easy way of taking any subject from a bunch of sources and compiling it into one graphical representation is by creating a Glog at edu.glogster.com. A Glog is a digitally interactive poster creating software. It allows you to embed URL links, pictures, sounds, and videos.

I plan to implement the use of my Glog into my class as a teaching tool on Geometric Shapes and Solids. The instructional purpose is to provide the students with an aesthetically appealing poster that allows them to navigate through lecture material, activities, and supportive materials, such as pictures and videos. Within my Glog, I have two embedded Prezi presentations. One Prezi is on Geometric Shapes and Area, and the other Prezi is on the Properties of Geometric Solids. I have multiple still images that act as supportive material. One of these images is a scanned and digitally manipulated image of the exact formula sheet the students get in class. I also have two supportive activities that were created through Discovery Education.  To go along with those activities, I have an embedded Khan Academy video and URL linked quiz. I also have two small animation videos that help work the student through two of the problems within the activities. Finally, there is an embedded work cited link to a Google Doc of my citations.

Besides the teaching tool aspect, I also plan to use the software as a stimulus for the creative minds of my students. By allowing the students to create his or her own Glog, they will be able to display his or her work and / or present a topic. The following High School Pennsylvania standards are some of the basic standards the students will be completing while doing a Glog:

·       1.6.11-D  Contribute to discussions.

·       1.6.11-F  Use media for learning purposes.

·       1.6.11-E  Participate in small and large group discussions and presentations.

·       3.6.10-B  Apply knowledge of information technologies of encoding, transmitting, receiving, storing, retrieving and decoding.

·       3.7.10-C  Apply basic computer operations and concepts.

·       3.7.10-E  Apply basic computer communications systems.

Here is a link to my Glog: http://jnjarrett.edu.glogster.com/geometric-shapes-and-solids/

Gardner, H.  (2007).  Five minds for the future.  Boston:  Harvard Business School Press

EDIM 508 Week 5_Content Creation

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As the year comes to an end, I have personally asked several of my students what they liked, didn’t like, could have been better, and wish they would have done more of within my classes. As a Technology and Engineering department, we have also asked the students to fill out a Google Doc form that asked very similar questions along with some other department questions. It was very interesting to hear what the students had to say. Some of them were blatantly honest and some were scared to critique the class.

My two-second level classes that consist of upper classman were given a survey at the beginning of the year asking what they would like to focus the course content on. Comparing that to what the discussions and end of the year evaluation form they filled out, I was able to reflect myself on topics I need to change for next year. The students informed me that they liked the fact that I gave them a voice within the course’s content. I did find out though that the majority of the students were upset for the first two marking periods of the year with the amount of work they were being held accountable for. They expressed that they enjoyed the first level course and its laid back mentality, so they signed up for a second year of it. Not teaching the first level course of either of the subjects, I have a hard time transitioning the students into a fast paced, large workload, proactive class environment. They did however mention that by the third marking period, they really started to enjoy the course and see a major change in their ability. They loved the use of the technology, the project they created, and most importantly the creative freedom. They loved the fact that they got to take home and use the majority of the projects once they learned the proper background knowledge.

My introductory engineering and design course had a mixture of opinions. The majority of this course is 9^th graders. I have found that they are still in that if I don’t 100% like my teacher, than I hate the entire class and all the things we do in it stage. It seems hard to believe students would perceive a class like this, but I have been told directly from a non-opinionated student that he still feels this way at times. A big problem I have in this course is that not everyone is ready or understands the transition from a Middle School Technology Education class (30 days of hands on and fun projects) to a High School Honors Introduction To Engineering and Design course (a lot of lecture and low end manufacturing). You can only imagine the evaluation remarks I got. The most useful comments I got were that they enjoyed the technology used and the ability to research, hand sketch, 3D computer design, and then manufacture their own idea to solve the task at hand. To me this is important that the majority of the students I know are moving on because it is real like application and problem solving. Like Gardner says, “Creativity allows for innovation or meaningful change in how problems are approached in the field” (2007).

Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.