Reflection on The Use of Blogging

 

💭All the topics are related to this course's weekly discussions and assignments. please review and let me know your thoughts. 

I love writing and keeping a private diary. But when I read that we need to maintain a blog on a weekly basis, I was not sure if I can do that.

At first, it was really terrifying. My entire reason for keeping a private diary was to reflect in private. The idea of sharing my ideas with everyone on the web meant opening myself up to more scrutiny and critique than I’d ever faced. But most of all, it meant sharing myself with the world. I’d barely been comfortable sharing myself with myself. How could I possibly share it with others?

I quickly learned that I wasn’t sharing myself with all that many people.  I feel now safer to share more and write more. And after about 9 weeks, I feel like I can write regularly, share my ideas, and I can learn an incredible amount from people’s reactions.

However, there is one thing I don’t like about blogging: writing about ideas frequently is great, and the feedback I get on social media can be insightful, but it’s no replacement for conversation. I wish there were a way to have a more frequent dialogue about my ideas and others' ideas in face-to-face, synchronous settings. Universities should be that, but they currently aren’t, because everyone is so busy. I mostly get this at conferences.

The insights from this experience guided me to the following:

• I will take it as seriously as I do with other responsibilities in research, teaching, and service.
• I will take the time to develop my own voice. It took a long time for me to figure out how I wanted to write, how authoritative I wanted to be, and how I fit into my numerous communities. Of course, I’m always evolving what and how I write, it’s an ongoing effort to improve and adapt.

• I need to put effort into building an audience. That might mean starting with a small group of people I know who will read what I write, give me feedback, and disseminate it.

 

I am including also my annotated bibliography below: 

Jones, G., & Alba, A. D. (2019). Reviewing the effectiveness and learning outcomes of a 3D virtual museum: A pilot study. In Virtual Reality in Education: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice (pp. 52-75). IGI Global.

           

           The authors, in this comparative descriptive mixed-methods pilot study, report outcomes of a combined study between the Independent University of the State of Mexico and the University of North Texas. Data was gathered and examined for usefulness, and information gaining through the online model and onsite of the Leopoldo Flores Museum (Mexico). The findings from this study indicated that students who used the online model first and then visited the museum demonstrated improved information gaining about the museum and had a better level of discussion during the onsite tour. Moreover, when used alone, the online 3D museum encounter, was an equivalent encounter to the onsite museum tour in the information acquired and usefulness.

 

Radianti, J., Majchrzak, R. Fromm, J., & Wohlgenannt, I. (2020). A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda. Computers & Education. 147, April 2020, 103778

            

           VR holds considerable possibility and its usage in learning has witnessed a lot of studies recently. In this study, the researchers have investigated the advantages and uses of VR in various settings. The researchers indicated that hardly efficient work at present exists on how to utilize VR for higher education considering the post-secondary education requirements. Therefore, a systematic mapping was used to recognize model aspects of current studies that contributed to the use of VR in post-secondary education. The examined studies were extracted from four digital libraries, which were categorized scientifically utilizing methods (inclusion, exclusion, manual and semi-automatic). The analysis highlighted three main points: the VR design elements, the present area construct for the learning contents, and the theories of learning, to establish a base for effective VR-centered education for post-secondary.

 

Spermon, M. (2020, October 22). Learn how to use Articulate Rise in 15 minutes. Upward Online Learning. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://upwardonlinelearning.com/articulate-rise-tutorial/.

 

           The author shared his experiences and practices of setting up Articulate 260, such as creating interactive courses. The author explained how to create your initial course by creating folders. It was suggested that to use the “templates”. Another tip was to use the “preview button” to make sure the content is viewable on different kinds of devices. In just 15 minutes, the author goes all through how to easily construct a translate course version in a different language. What is great about this resource is that it can be used as an excellent tool for using Articulate 360, I believe novice learners will find it brief and useful to easily build versions of any course in different languages to be viewed by a wider audience.

 

Johnson, S. (2009, June 5, 2009). How Twitter will change the way we live. Time, Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html

 

           This cover story showed at the top of the “Twitter mania craze” produced by the media. The author explained the growth of his thoughts and emotions about Twitter from early start to speedy growth and later appeal. The attraction is not aligned with the simple Twitter software system, but with the advanced techniques that have been broadly implemented. This revolution is indicated as proof that the United States is in the lead concerning affecting worldwide daily life. The author offered a “big picture” understanding of the community influence of Twitter and created some credible projections about upcoming effects. For some technology leaders, products like Twitter will ultimately take the lead to personalized information contact as individual simulated expanded networks are utilized. In this point of view, Twitter permits for secondary contribution, both asynchronously and synchronously.

 

Teamwork Caches. (n.d.). Learn about cache types. Retrieved from https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=127&pgid=814

 

           A great website that uses technology to “real-world” learning opportunities, which are designed jointly by two owners from various places. They promote two “geocachers” to work as a team to find a cache in numerous places. Geocachers exchange information that can lead each geocacher to the last box in their place. Geocaching is a global competition, and the chances are boundless. Additionally, it can be applied in learning a new language if we ever thought of finding a collaboration cache and studying some other geocaching language. The website also can offer fun activities that can, with assistance, instruct youngsters about natural features of the earth, math, reading, and many more subjects.

Murphy, T., & Williams, C. (2011, June). The iPad as a class presentation platform. In Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Southeastern Section Conference, ASEE, Charleston, SC. https://sites.asee.org/se/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2021/04/2011ASEESE199.pdf

 

           In their study, the authors encourage educators to incorporate as much technology in the education atmosphere as possible. The significance of combining equipment (hardware) in the classroom is supported. iPads have numerous limits. The storage capacity on the gadgets is little. Also, iPads are inadequate in performing compared to desktop computers, and the physical workspace on a larger monitor with a desktop is beneficial. The authors also noticed the need for a USB drive to connect to an external hard drive or transfer folders to a flash drive is not an option. There are connectors for this use, however, connectors are pricey, little, and definitely will be lost by learners. As well, a few learners get a very inadequate internet connection, if any, beyond the classrooms, thus a great deal of the ideal advantages of the iPad happened only in the classroom.

 

Benefits and Challenges of Technology in the Classroom. (2019, November 5). GoGuardian. https://www.goguardian.com/blog/learning/technology-in-the-classroom-importance-challenges/

           This article is focusing on “Launching technology” into the classroom to offer the students with innovative techniques to improve colleague-to-colleague and learner-teacher relations, in addition, to promote a helpful educational environment. I utilized students' assigned school email ID to link students with one another for shared project/assignment support and mentor them. Also, to offer students a method to email me for support with assignments and guidance. Though technology is developed more and more regularly in K-12 education, there are a number of issues we must think about (cost, ease of use, ongoing support for proper understanding and usage, ..etc) that will influence our choice of when, how, and if we have to bring in innovative technologies hardware to the classroom.

 

Kimmons, R. (2018). Technology Integration: Effectively Integrating Technology in Educational Settings. In A. Ottenbreit-Leftwich & R. Kimmons, The K-12 Educational Technology Handbook. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/k12handbook/technology_integration

 

           This handbook has offered a theoretical base for contemplating in what way we could decide the usefulness of tech incorporation into different learning situations. However, the handbook emphasized that there are no easy-going, wide-ranging answers for determining whether a specific purpose of technology is meaningful or effective. Rather, our determination of efficiency depends on our individual knowledge and recognition of learning theories. The author's values and beliefs, and the integration of the technology styles lead his philosophy. Therefore, as we consider technology incorporation in our instructions, we ought to use these initial conceptions to convey the importance of our choices and to manage to make selections that will be effective for our students.

 

Crouse-Machcinski, K. (2019). The benefits of utilizing learning management systems in peer tutor training. Learning Assistance Review (TLAR), 24(2), 73-84. 

 

               Educational programs in the 21st century should have a foundation where students can obtain all the knowledge required to be productive. The author stressed that organizing the information in an insightful and intellectual way is essential for students to be productive at studying curriculum content. This promotes students as they are competent to gain access to the materials and information for their convenience. Although there are many advantages for utilizing Canvas or any other LMS in the class, they do exhibit a hard task for students who may possibly still trying to gain knowledge of how to move between the several classes. This might be simplified by asking all teachers to utilize the same LMS and offer a common model for their subjects when designing a course.  

 

Drew, C. (2017). Edutaining audio: An exploration of education podcast design possibilities. Educational Media International, 54(1), 48-62. https://doi.org/1080/09523987.2017.1324360

       

             Based on the importance of podcasts and vodcasts, the author emphasized that both could achieve a larger audience instantly and effortlessly. Podcasts started in the early 2000s as a section of the web 2.0 surge. Podcasts can simply be utilized in learning as they can be constructed allowing the instructors to fulfill the learners' needs. According to the author, podcasts could be beneficial in education when carefully constructed to improve academic learning. Also, a podcast is an excellent means for learning since it can be copied and listened to later. Podcasts could be just about a hobby, a tv show, or actually anything!