So here’s one thing I liked about the site: The notepad. What a great solution for all those schools where you can’t write in the textbook!
Some educators recommend post-its to combat the same problem. On the ‘Thinking Like a Historian’ site however, you can write your notes and save them, and can also easily access your old notes. What’s more, the notes travel with you wherever you go. So even if you move a couple of pages ahead, you can still access the notes you made from the first page easily.
I wonder if would be possible for CAST to highlight or put a check mark against the notes you make for a certain page, when you revisit that page. For example, if you revisit page two and you open your notebook, not only should you be able to see the notes you made from across the lesson (which already happens) but page two’s note should be highlighted. That way, there could be an easy connection between the text and the notes.
Yesterday, in another class, we learned about how Susan Boyle (the now-famous singer from Britain’s Got Talent) had learning disabilities as a child and how she was bullied in school as a result.
I started wondering what challenges children with physical disabilities may have had when medical science was largely uncertain about conditions such as cerebral palsy, deformities etc.
After doing a little reading, I found some information on the belief of ‘Changelings’. Apparently, children who had deformities were believed to actually be the children of elves or trolls who had been secretly left in the place of a human child!
I am not sure if this is true or not, but I can believe that such children had a hard time growing up. After all, in many places of the world today, children with learning disabilities are labeled as ‘stupid’, ‘dull’, ‘naughty’ and we forget that they may have some very special qualities.
For many years now, I’ve wondered why I felt so terribly depressed after my examinations. After all, I hate taking exams and I should be happy when they are over. But although I am always sort of relieved that they were done with, I also feel really really low.
Most people I know think this is really strange. “I think this is what postpartum depression would feel like,” I would try to explain to baffled friends. “Only in my case, I don’t have a baby.” As you can imagine, saying that has really gotten me some strange looks.
I tried figuring it out for myself. Maybe it was because I knew how to spend every moment of my time before and during my exams, and after them, I suddenly didn’t know what to do with my time (this reason was a possible explanation, but unlikely. After all, I had my friends and movies). Maybe I was actually unhappy that my exams were over because I secretly liked the challenge of taking papers (this seemed even more unlikely to me). Or maybe I was just plain weird (I went with this one most of the time).
In Dr. Rose’s last class, he mentioned he is usually extremely anxious about lecturing and after the lecture is over, he also goes into a sort of depressed state because of the drop in adrenalin from all the stress from before and during the class.
Bingo! Now I know why my mood plummets and I must say, this has personally been a real revelation to me.
Now, I think I am a little less nuts than I thought I was. Phew!
Strengths:
a) Voicethread is a very simple tool to use. I found it hard to go wrong.
b) You are first guided to a page where you can learn how to use Voicethread so there is plenty of help.
c) It provides different options for physical action. You can use your voice or a video or type out text. You can also doodle.
d) It also provides options for fluency and expressive skills with videos, graphics and text.
e) You can practice your little video/audio bit and don’t have to save it until you feel you have got it right.
f) The telephone option is simple to use and is an option in case you don’t have a microphone.
g) You can record video on Voicethread itself, you don’t have to record it elsewhere and then upload it (though that could be another option that Voicethread could add).
Weaknesses:
a) One thing I personally wanted to do but did not find a way to was to upload both text and video for the same comment so that people can choose whether they want to listen to me or to read my comment. After all, some people prefer reading because you get the gist of a comment by simply scanning the text. You would have to go through the entire audio to listen to it. Having both options would also make it more accessible for people who have difficulty either hearing, seeing or reading.
b) I also wonder if there is a way of editing your audio if you make a mistake without having to start all over again.
Voicethread: Perspective of an Educator
Strengths:
a) The simplicity of Voicethread is important because some teachers may not be comfortable with technology and some may be afraid of it. Graphic files such as JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG as well as doc types such as PPT, PPS, PDF, DOC, XLS etc are all accepted so there are fewer issues of converting files to a specific format.
b) Teachers can also moderate students’ comments, edit their work and create groups (if the school is willing to pay $60 a year).
c) It provides different options for physical action such as video, audio, text and doodling. This is useful in the case of people who cannot use their hands and would rather speak or for people who cannot speak and would prefer typing. Also, you can zoom in and out which helps students to see a graphic better.
d) It provides options for fluency and expressive skills. Students can put up videos or graphics to show people what they are interested in on or comment on other videos through audio, video and text.
Weaknesses:
a) I think I would be a little cautious about allowing students to post videos and pictures of themselves. Of course, students can use an avatar instead, yet I am not in control of what they are doing on Voicethreads that I do not moderate.
b) I would also encourage my students to use the audio option instead of the telephone one since a number has to be provided online and many parents may not approve of that.
Suggestions:
a) I think it would be interesting if you could see related Voicethreads on one page. For example, when you are watching a Youtube video, related videos appear in little icons below so that people can watch those too. Even Amazon encourages people to buy new books by using the same strategy (“Readers who bought this book also bought…”)
b) The doodle feature is makes watching videos engaging and effective. Although, I didn’t use it for my submission, I had tried it out on various other videos. I like that you can pick a color to ensure your doodle will be seen on the screen or even just for fun. However, I prefer my work to be rather neat and when I was watching some videos, I was kind of distracted by the untidiness of the circles and arrows that people were making and when I tried it out myself, I noticed it isn’t very easy to talk and doodle neatly at the same time. Perhaps it would have been easier if Voicethread also had some basic shapes like circles, arrows, squares etc (like the one is MS Word or Paint) which people can use to make shapes.
After the Kindle, publishers want to take fiction to a new level. Not only do they want to put it on an electronic medium, but they also want to make it more graphic by including video and make it more interactive by allowing readers to comment on it!
It looks like one of the main target populations for this innovation is children. As one publisher puts it, “This is a new kind of storytelling for kids who are growing up using technology and being formed by it in ways we can’t even imagine. We are inviting them to collaborate and participate.”
I’m going to have to say that I found the Viddler video rather strange.
But I see the point. Unlike Youtube, where people can only comment separately, Viddler allows users to comment on the video itself at different points of the video. It’s a decent feature. After all, many Youtube users try doing the same by mentioning the exact point in the video that they are commenting on (eg. “Check out the kid’s expression in 2:33! Hilarious!”) or something like that.
I tried to look for more differences between the two and came across this:
I was just thinking about mirror neurons and was wondering what happens when we dream. If our motor neurons light up when we imagine something but are not really performing an action, do they also light up if we dream about an action?
Who doesn’t love a good cartoon? And if it’s about learning about the brain, all the better!
Here’s a clip I found from a cartoon called “Pinky and the Brain”. Pinky and Brain are two genetically modified mice. Brain’s goal is to take over the world (though he always fails to do so) but, as his name suggests, he is the super-smart one. As you will see, Pinky, his side-kick, isn’t so clever.
Hi again,
So I did manage to look at the McGill website and I am glad I did! The content of course is very interesting. As for the structure of the site, I particularly liked the level of explanations and level of organization that one can use to read about a subject. For example, I was looking at the page on phobias (which I don’t think was asked of us but you know how one link leads to another) and I could read about phobias from a neurological, psychological, social, cellular and molecular point of view and with different levels of explanations. Fascinating! Initially, I wasn’t too comfortable with the icons to the left that lead you to other sites. Somehow, the purpose of the color-coding and the icon images (globe, spectacles, microscope etc) wasn’t clear and I had to go to the help icon to it figure out. On the whole though, I found the site interesting.
On a side note, I have also been trying to get the older people in my family to become a little more net-savvy and I think this site might just perk the interests of my fiancé’s mother who is a doctor.
So on Prof. Rose’s recommendation, I got a one-month membership to Club Penguin. Let me first talk about my apprehensions. So initially, I felt pretty weird about getting on a site to see what kids are up to and a bit like a stalker… if my kid was on this site and I heard that there were adults out there, I guess I would be pretty freaked out. Then I got over it because I only paid for a one-month membership and will be out of there soon enough.
So all apprehensions aside, Club Penguin is pretty cool! I’m a bright blue penguin and get to go to all these fun places. I can chat to other kids if I want to (although I stay away from that), can collect coins when playing games and can even go to a night club with other penguins (which was packed, by the way). There is also a beach, a coffee shop, an ice rink and much more. It’s understandable why kids like going to these spots- in real life, they are places where the cool older kids hang out.
I visited Club Penguin on a Saturday morning so there are a lot of kids out there, and quite a few in the stores, buying new clothes. Doesn’t look like the bad economy has hit these kids!
I haven’t had the chance to explore any more places so I don’t know what else is out there, but honestly, I can see how this place can be addictive!
On a side note, I’m not into computer games much but played a game or two here. I feel like they made me a little more alert, and respond quicker to stimuli. Any thoughts on that?
