Connected Classrooms and the Information Age Lauren Cifuentes

DISTANCE LEARNING Your activities/assignments:  Computer Conferencing  Online Mentoring  Cultural Connections Activity  Web Workstation

DISTANCE LEARNING Be able to:  define  provide examples of classroom applications  discuss issues

A Definition: Distance learning is composed of three criteria--  participants separated by geographic distance  at least two-way interactive communication  technology facilitating the process

Varieties of Delivery Systems print or video through mail one-way audio and video instructional TV 2-way audio and video conferencing (DVC or lg. group) networking with computers

Critical questions to ask when designing instruction--  Will distance learning tools enable students to do something they couldn’t do otherwise? or  Will distance learning tools enable students to do something much better?

Activity Structures By Judy Harris, UT, Austin 1. Interpersonal Exchange 2. Information Collection 3. Problem Solving

1. Interpersonal Exchange Keypals Global Classrooms Electronic Appearances Telemonitoring Question and answer activities Impersonations

2. Information Collection Information exchanges Database creation Electronic publishing Telefieldtrips Pooled data analysis

3. Problem Solving Information searches Peer feedback activities Parallel problem solving Sequential creations Telepresent problem solving Simulations Social action projects

URL of examples of each activity structure architecture.wm.edu//

PBS Mathline is just one example of year long curriculum in the content areas Exemplifies integrated distance learning-- –teachers connected on-line –mailed videos model teaching excellence –video conference for national discussion

Networking with Computers  Access to information  Access to world-wide activities  Access to knowledgeable people  Access to each other

Subscribe to mailing lists: Online discussion groups “listservs”--100,000+ Two types: – moderated: an administrator reads all incoming posts and sends only “good” ones to subcribers – unmoderated: computer program sends all incoming posts out to the subscribers automatically

How to subscribe to a list: 1. Create a new message. 2. Address it to a mailing list. 3. Type subscribe in the body, or subcribe i.e. subscribe EDNET Jane L.Doe To sign off a list, do the same except type unsubscribe instead of subscribe.

ERIC Search WWW to: keyword, author, title, journal searches Check out the lesson plans

TrackStar  URL= Locate TrackStar as an easy tool for Web Activity development. Locate lessons already developed in TrackStar

Benefits of Integrating Distance Technologies into Your Classroom  Immediacy  Increased critical thinking  Improved dialogue for multiple perspectives  Individualized activity  Active learning  Connection to the world

Provocative Questions to Discuss at Parties:  How might teachers and students’ roles change now that students have easy access to information unknown to the teacher?

How can we control plagiarism in this age of easy access?

 What will textbooks look like?

 What things now are crucial in an optimum teacher/student relationship that must not be lost?

 How will telecommunications technologies help a teacher be more productive?