Horizon Report
Video in the Classroom Presentation Script
YouTube video link: https://youtu.be/R3wNP4C9GOY
Friday, February 17, 2017
Diversity, Cultural Understanding, and Global Awareness
Diversity,
Cultural Understanding, and Global Awareness
As an educator I would model and promote diversity in
the classroom by creating a collaborative project that would involve showcasing
diversity. Students would be required to create a video using the free app
iMovie to create a video presentation related to their culture. Students would include
in the film their parent or guardian discussing their ethnic background. The
film can include cultural beliefs, foods, and languages associated with their
cultural. As an educator having the students explain
their cultural heritage allows for a deeper understanding and
appreciation of what each student brings to the classroom. This project would
be a good collaborative piece to allow for open-ended questions to give
students the freedom to discuss diversity in the classroom. To further
promote/model diversity in the classroom could be to have translators and translation
apps in the classroom to address language
barriers. As an educator I need the
students and parents to feel a part of the learning process without the worry
of not be able to be heard in the classroom. Including translators in
the classroom, would show the parent and student that their voice matters in the learning process. Notably, learning is universal, and it takes a collaborative
approach to making learning accessible to
all cultures.
Secondly, as an educator I would address cultural understanding by finding
learning material that represented all students in the classroom. For example,
if teaching reading, I could include different books from all around the world to
be read. As an educator, having all students exposed to different literature
around the world, would promote unity in the classroom. Each student can relate
in some fashion to the reading material and learn to embrace another culture
learning curriculum. Another tactic to promote culture understanding as an
educator would be to have students work in groups. By assigning specific tasks
to each group, students can learn how to express their problems and solutions
in a team environment. Students can learn from one another how to resolve
conflicts and value everybody’s contributions within a group. Lastly, another
collaborative project would be to have each student draw something related to
their heritage. Students can use the free app Drawing Something to share their
artwork digitally to engage the classroom. Gives each student an opportunity to
show visually how each culture operates and provides students with valuable
information to understand their classmates. Overall, to understand another person culture
is to have an open line of communication to learn from one another.
Lastly, to address global
awareness, students can use online apps like a wiki
to collaborate and communicate with other students around the world. The wiki allows for students to interact with
other international students to form a social
bond. As an educator, another tool to
address global awareness is Skype. With Skype,
students can speak with other students around the world in real-time. Skype
enables students to a have visual of the student they are speaking with to make it a real virtual interaction. Wiki and
Skype provide students a way to reach other students around the world to
understand how they learn and live. Overall, as
an educator to promote global awareness is using online social media apps to
interact with other students around the world to learn their cultural history
and learning curriculum.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Video Game Seduction Secrets
Video
Game Seduction Secrets
Playing games provide an
effective learning environment wherein
there is no punishment in the virtual
world for making mistakes but rather an
encouragement to try new adventures without judgment. Having that open-ended freedom to explore the learning environment promotes positive critical thinkers to solve theoretical issues. So, implementing games into
the classroom can work in the same manner to have students play educational
games that encourage a variety of problem-solving
strategies without penalty. The students can have free range to think outside
the box to solve complex problems in a manner that best suits them without judgment. Overall, games permit players to have
creative control and set the pace of how they will conquer the journey without
set perimeters.
Secondly, including interesting
educational tools like magic wands or keys that unlock mystery doors to the next
adventure, promotes engagement in the learning process. Learners out of curiosity want to succeed to
the next level because of the mystery bonuses and items that await them in
their educational journey. The “acquire,
test, master model” engages learners to experiment within the virtual world and
challenge themselves to evolve through intuition (Stuart, 2011). Games like
Portal 2 used the concept of puzzling challenges to promote experimentation continually with the virtual
world and rely on the players to use their reasoning on how to solve the
problems. Overall, the tools are an added exploratory feature embedded to
enhance the learner’s quest to progress through the game.
Notably, games like The
Sims games allows the player to control how the virtual humans will live in
their virtual world. The player essentially controls when and how they eat,
sleep, and interact in the virtual world. To some extent, players have the creative control to strategize how they
will interact with the virtual world. In an educational setting, students to a certain
degree have control over their
learning environment. Respectively, whether the student is actively or passively
involved in the gaming experience is their choice.
The gaming industry uses the senses of curiosity and motivation in
creating engaging games. Students will engage in
games that peak their curiosity and provide rewards along the way to keep them motivated
to learn. Game developers strive to incorporate twist and unexpected adventures along the educational
journey to keep learners on their edge of their seat for the climax of the
story. The players enjoy the interactive challenges because it provides them
control over their destiny. However, once the player reaches their desired
destiny, they are self-fulfilled in their accomplishments.
Furthermore, when it
comes to the design of accolades in a game, students enjoy being celebrated for
their hard work but also enjoy the motivational rewards when they fail the game. These reward designs provide a
disproportionate feedback that gives the player a sense of accomplishment and
empowers them to be life-long learners. Surprisingly, the theory of
disproportionate feedback can be celebrated in a win or lose situation. Oddly
enough the disproportionate feedback can be looked upon as a positive
reinforcement in the learning design.
In conclusion, games are
not seen as a waste of time now but rather a way to fulfill the intrinsic human need to have control and acceptance.
The students desire to have control over how they learn and embrace changes
that are vital to their learning process. Educational games need an array of options
that are relatable to the student’s needs. Embedding accolades that are
positive and negative build the learner’s
confidence to stay motivated in the learning process no matter how complicated
it may get. The overall design concept in
games is the virtual control to manipulate how to succeeded in the learning
journey.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Tactus Technology
Tactus
Technology
Tactus Technology created
a new type of overlay hardware that externally raises the flat keyboard and
gaming controls on the touch screen mobile devices to have a virtual hands-on
experience. The thin semi-elastic polymer glass surface fills up with this clear
micro fluid to produce real buttons to
enhance the gaming and typing experience. The fluid within the raised keypad adjusts to
the amount of pressure applied to the touchscreen buttons. So, the keys could
feel extremely soft or hard depending on the applied pressure. Notably, the
enhanced screen can morph down flat once the screen is no longer needed. Tactus
Technology hopes in the next few years to have this morph technology embedded
within the smartphones and tablets. Tactus Technology created the raised
surface to offer better control and feel to the surface of the mobile devices.
The cost of the Phorm keyboard with a screen
protector is $149.99 on Amazon.
Reference:
http://www.businessinsider.com/tactus-technology-tactile-touchscreen-2014-1
Friday, February 10, 2017
Top Mobile Apps
Top
Mobile Apps
Haiku Deck is an app that
students/teachers can use to create impressive,
engaging professional presentations to share on any smart device. The app is
easy to use and has over millions of professional looking templates to choose
from to enhance the learning experience. For example, teachers can use the app
to create lesson plans that have graphics behind the learning material to make
it eye appealing to their students. Students can use Haiku Deck to create short, meaningful presentations that showcase a
student’s comprehension of the material in a visual manner. Some of the
features of Haiku Deck are being able to store presentation in the cloud
database for easy retrieval. The price for Haiku Deck depends on the
subscription selected. The Pro package is $9.99/month, Premium support is
$29.99/month, and the Bulk subscription is $499.00/year. However, there is a
free version that can be used but limited to 1 publicly shared presentation.
Another helpful educational app is Knowji to help build
vocabulary words in a visual manner through animated flashcards with audio.
Teachers can have the students play this interactive app to gain knowledge of
new words and sharpen their skills on previously learned words for memorization
purposes. Teachers have the option to
use the pre-recorded pronunciation of the
vocabulary words or add a personal touch to the program by recording their
voice within the game. Students can benefit from actively learning new words
and watching entertaining stories of how to pronounce and use the terminology. The
cost for the app on iTunes is $9.99 and can be used with a smart board to
engage students in learning their vocabulary words in a fun, interactive manner.
Students struggling with math
can benefit from the Photomath app that uses the
phone's camera to capture a written math problem and provides a
step-by-step tutorial on how to solve the equation. Teachers can have students
use their mobile devices to understand difficult equations and learn how to
break down the math problem by using the app as a tutor. The Photomath app is great tool for teachers
to consider when students are stuck on a particular math problem and need additional
guidance. The price to download this program is free on google play and
Appstore.
A teacher
wanting to turn their quizzes or lessons plans into an interactive game can use
Kahoot to make this a reality. Teachers can input their questions into the
Kahoot database and choose an interactive game to display their material in a stylish manner. There are options to add
videos, images, and diagrams to add an engaging presentation for students to be
excited to learn and answer educational questions. This app is recommended to
have students work in groups to collaborate and critically think about the
questions presented. Students will want to engage in the lesson plan because
they get to solve the problems in game form. Also, students can discuss their
Kahoots or create their own to showcase their mastery of the curriculum. The
price to download this program is free and easy to use.
Lastly, open
communication within and outside the classroom is beneficial in the learning
process and the app Remind makes this
easier. Remind helps the teacher
communicate with students and parents with their smart device to make the line
of communications convenient. This app has real-time messaging and reminders on
important meetings to keep teachers ahead of schedule. Another benefit to
Remind is that it has a language translator that can translate over 70
languages. The translator is beneficial
when teachers have students that do not speak the English language and need to
communicate with the student in their language. Teachers can also communicate
with parents and students in email style as another means of communication. The
price of this app is free and a great social tool to keep the lines of
communication open in and out of the classroom.
References
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
The Future of Cell Phone Connectivity
The
Future of Cell Phone Connectivity
This article revealed an
innovative discovery of using the smartphone’s wireless technology LTE radio to
connect directly to other smart devices without a cell phone tower connection. The LTE Direct can outdo Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
connectivity ranges because of its 500-meter
range. Also, because LTE can operate on minimum power,
the smartphone's battery is not being overused. To make this transition
a reality, the manufacturer Qualcomm has partnered with Facebook and Yahoo to
find intelligent ways to utilize this
wireless technology. The primary intended
goal is to have smartphones connect instantly with people and businesses to
receive vital information. For example, smartphone
users could receive flight delays instantly by
connecting their phone to the airlines database at check-in. Alerts like
this allow the user to make an informed
decision on how to handle the situation promptly.
Another LTE direct invention is Facebook’s experiment with using their mobile
app to connect with local businesses and nearby friends. Facebook’s mobile app
would allow for people to set-up impromptu chats and find out about local
events all from their smartphone. Notably, retailers
like Macy want to be able to track and connect with their shoppers via their
smartphone as a marketing strategy. Even Yahoo is creating a tour guide app
that will download information from the internet to the user’s smartphone to
guide them in the best direction to meet all their points of interest.
Surprisingly, networks are finding LTE Direct beneficial in solving network
glitches that occur when there are too many people trying to connect to one
cell phone tower. LTE Direct would provide the necessary wireless data needed to
keep smart devices streaming online even
when the network is down. Overall, LTE Direct can provide the appropriate wireless technology required to keep users connected and informed.
Businesses can capitalize on how to sync
promotions and emergency information to smartphone users in an inexpensive way.
Reference:
Monday, February 6, 2017
Realsense Technology
Realsense Technology
What Realsense technology
does for images is heightened one’s perception
on how to create authentic video chats rooms
and presentations in an interactive 3D manner. Users can create chat rooms and
presentations that explore innovative
ways to interact with others through touch
and sight. The user can create 3D images that can represent the user in a chat room or virtual
presentation as a creative way to engage the audience. Next, gesture
control in Realsense technology enables a gamer to use their natural body
movements as the controls to manipulate the screen. Realsense technology gives the gamer an
interactive connection with the computer screen to play various games that utilize body gestures. The interactive
connection gives the gamer an opportunity to be creative in how they humanly
connect to the game. Thirdly, with Realsense technology videos, users can create a variety of human-like avatars to bring a unique visual and collaboration to a chat room setting. Users have
an opportunity to create a virtual setting that is not only informative but
interactive. Furthermore, users have the
ability to scan their faces into the computer and create a digital body of
themselves to print off as a figurine. The 3D image prints created can even be embedded
into decorative crystal paperweights that give
the visual of a miniature human being in hologram form. Lastly, with Realsense
technology users can change the background settings within their video chat rooms. The Realsense technology has a feature that can remove unwanted
objects from the background and replace them with other background gallery pictures to enhance the video chat
experience. Users can create a meaningful
podcast that can be eye appealing through creating various backdrops that
relate to the podcast. Overall, Realsense technology promotes users to interact
with the virtual world as they would in the real-world.
Realsense technology uses the human senses like
touch and sight to make the virtual experience a more human interaction.
Reference
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/realsense-overview.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)