EDTECH Department News

Congratulations to Annie Jeffery for Chapter proposal acceptance!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:37:49 GMT

by Dixie Conner.

“Multi-user Virtual Environments for International Classroom Collaboration: Practical Approaches for Teaching and Learning in Second Life” chapter proposal was accepted for publication in the book Teaching Arts and Science with the New Social Media , edited by Charles Wankel, St Johns University, New York.

This chapter was written by EDTECH Instructor, Annie Jeffery, and Monash University Instructor, Scott Grant, and EDTECH graduate students -Howard Gregory and Jenny Wakefield. Scott Grant is an instructor from Monash University in Australia. Scott was an EDTECH 597 Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds student in Spring 08. Howard Gregory came from Kent State University specifically to take this class, and Jenny came from The University of North Texas majoring in Computer Education and Cognitive Systems - Teaching and Learning with Technology.

In 2009, they explored the potential of joint project work between two seemingly disparate courses; Social Network Learning in Virtual Worlds and Chinese Media Studies. Monash University has, for the past two years, utilized the social networking affordances of the online 3D virtual environment Second Life to enable students studying online Chinese media to conduct a series of media-like interviews with Chinese speakers from around the world. The Boise State University’'s graduate level Second Life course explored social media and social networks in virtual worlds as a tools for learning and incorporating various emerging technology tools to facilitate this process. The nascent BSU/Monash collaboration offered the BSU students an opportunity to take over the entire production process of a real world video project, producing the machinima for Monash University students and to collaborate within virtual world networks, both new and existing. This paper will present the findings and experiences of this international collaborative project involving both educators and the pioneering efforts of volunteer BSU learners.

May 2010 Grads - Thesis/Project Oral Defense deadline upcoming

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:25:37 GMT

by Paul Castelin.

If you are doing a thesis or project as a culminating activity, April 9 is the last day for final oral thesis or project defense for May graduation. Contact your faculty advisor for more details.

New! National Education Technology Plan

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:55:01 GMT

by Barbara Schroeder, Ed.D..

From the Office of Educational Technology website (http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/index.html):

National Education Technology Plan — The draft National Education Technology Plan (NETP) was released March 5, 2010. It provides the context and vision for how information and communication technologies can help transform American education. The plan provides a set of concrete goals to inform state and local educational technology plans, as well as recommendations to inspire research, development, and innovation.
- Executive Summary PDF (164K)
- Plan PDF (1.6M)

EdTechTalk

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:21:52 GMT

by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D..

Hi, All:

I recently became one of the editors of EdTechTalk Weekly. EdTechTalk is a community of people interested in the use of technology to improve teaching and learning at all levels of education throughout the world. As a Worldbridges community, it embraces the values of collaboration and inclusiveness. The primary activity of the community is the production of a number of live, interactive webcasts. These programs cover a wide range of topics relating to educational technology. Shows are typically streamed live, and listeners can interact with one another and the show hosts through a text chat. Recordings of the shows are released as podcasts.

One of the goals in providing this newsletter each week is to make it convenient for our readers to quickly review the excellent ETT webcasts that have been posted in the previous week (in case you missed the live session). We just provide the links and highlights in the newsletter, but if you go to the actual link you not only will be able to listen to the recording, but you can read the chat log and additional information provided by the show hosts. Often there are links shared in the chat, videos, and other resources. Also many of the show hosts have created websites or Ning Networks to post additional information about their shows with an opportunity to continue the conversations.

Here is the link for subscribing to the newsletter: http://www.edtechtalk.com//user/register

Today's Cool Teacher Podcast

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:16:43 GMT

by Barbara Schroeder, Ed.D..

Today's show was recorded yesterday at the NCCE Conference in Seattle, Washington. Chris and Barbara recorded the presentation using iChat and GarageBand. It's a podcast about podcasting.

To listen, please go to our Cool Teachers website: http://coolteachers.org/ctp or subscribe to the Cool Teacher Podcast in iTunes.