"Communication people, communication" --Dexter Weaver, AKA Weaver D

NETS Standard

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

This is what is expected of 21st century learners. How can a teacher do this and still make sure students understand shapes, the causes of the Civil War, parts of speech, and the phases of the moon? And don’t forget – they are supposed to differentiate, be culturally responsive, make sure materials are accessible to all students and a host of other expectations. Oh – and the learning should be engaging to students . . Can technology help or hinder the process of communication and collaboration in K12 learning environments?
There are many tools available to support communication and collaboration. We’ll spend the next few days looking at some of them. Here are a few that we will discuss:

Storybird
Skype
GoogleChat (text, voice, and video – within gmail)
Google Presentations (within Google Docs)
Twitter
Flickr
Writeboard
Oovoo
Edmodo
SimplyBox
Watchitoo
VoiceThread
LiveMocha (foreign language learning)

See which tools your classmates have chosen.

PREPARING FOR THURSDAY:
1. Select one of the tools listed above that you would like to explore. Let me know which tool you choose.
2. Spend some time exploring the tool and think about how you would explain this tool to someone else.
3. Start thinking about how you will create a commercial about your tool. What are its features? Why would a teacher, parent, administrator, resource teacher, and/or student use it?
4. Download Jing to your home computer BEFORE Monday. Then, watch the short video tutorial that is linked on the Jing Download page.

Content Learning

Learning styles? 
Here's a great news article to mull over while we settle in.

Covering the Curriculum
Chapter 2 talked about content learning. What does that mean? What does it mean to you? to your subject? What’s the difference between structural and procedural knowledge?

In groups of four (I’ll choose the groups), discuss one of the following guidelines.

1. Incorporate principles of just-in-time learning.
2. Differentiate instruction.
3. Teach in a culturally responsive manner.
4. Adapt materials to be accessible for all students
5. Balance content and tools

• What does it mean (summarize it in your own words)?
• What is an example? (Don’t use any included in the text.)
• Why is this guideline important to learners?/How can it support learning?
• If possible, create a visual to help represent your guideline.

Write/draw your answers and prepare to share with the whole group.
Which of these 5 guidelines do you feel you don’t see enough of here at UGA? Which do you see followed frequently? Which matters most to you?

We'll try a smart board response survey in class (if all the technology works for me).

For Friday we’ll be learning some new tools. Please try to remember to bring a pair of earphones and microphone  – just in case you need them.