And the winners are...

After reviewing the tremendous resources submitted by my peers over the past couple of months I’ve begun to realize that without being hooked into a supportive online learning network, an educator will find it difficult to keep up with the new options arriving daily. There are many great resources to choose but the three technologies that stood out for my intended future practice are Zondle, EveryoneOn, and Ko-Su.


Esther introduced Zondle in her Games for Learning posting.  This application rose to the top of my list because I am a late adaptor to educational gaming.  Having never bothered to play computerized games, I like many others, felt that games were a waste of time.  After exploring educational games, such as ThemeHotel and Bed & Breakfast  (found by Kamala in week 5) I realized that virtual on the job gaming could help adults seeking employment role play potential conflict situations prior to applying for a given position. 

Utilizing Zondle in the classroom could either be done through setting up a game that replicates a potential job task scenario for the adult student to explore or having the students create a game for their classmates as a group project. In this way, the gaming environment allows the player to become take on new roles within the transformative game challenge experience (Richardson, 2011).

The second technology concept that is transforming my future practice wasEveryoneOn, introduced by Kamala in theDigital Citizenship, Ethics and Netiquette posting. Somehow through my stumbling I happened upon the websiteZubaBox and after a few minutes of seeing how adults are accessing broadband services from shipping containers in Zambia and other areas without basic utility services, I realized that if I was ever going to get a local internet learning annex going, now would be the time to get started. If it can be done in a shipping crate, then it can be done in our local farming community.

I would first utilize the information available through the site to support the message when speaking with community leaders about getting a learning annex project off the ground. Secondly the access maps could be a source of data for local learners to review. Since the site shows that there is nothing nearby, the learners could be guided into realizing that by tackling this challenge they are not only benefiting their citizens by being technically competitive, but they are also creating a draw for people just outside the area to come into the area for educational opportunities. Being excluded from the technology race is not an option if the rural area intends to stay vibrant and populated. Providing access to all despite financial limitations that may have to be overcome is a responsibility of all digital citizens. No one should be denied digital access based upon financial hurdles (Ribble, n.d.).

The last technology that will come in handy as an online educator is Ko-Su as introduced by Rosaleen in the Mobile Technologies posting. Now that I am finally writing a blog, I realize that I got on the blog bandwagon way too late. Using technologies that work on Twitter feed micro-blogging is the current norm and blogging is headed on its way out. In the same vein, offering sites that is best viewed through a desktop station is incompatible with the current technological curve to smartphone applications in a mobile learning environment. 

After a short tutorial session with Ko-Su, I’m not sure how I will utilize this technology in future courses. However what I have begun to realize is that this application is very user friendly and easily converts activities into both IOS and Android platforms easily. Since I use a Windows Phone, I am not sure if my operating system would be compatible or not. This is something that educators should always be aware of because there are always off brands or operating systems that choose to run on their own systems.

Dr Cavallo showcases the importance of mobile learning in his honeybee example. With mobile technology, the classroom can be extended in to a multitude of spheres. Students can access activities through their personal phone and then apply the lesson to their present situation. Collecting data, analyzing situations and critically reviewing the surroundings helps learners apply knowledge as they begin to develop the concepts (Laureate Education Inc., 2012). 
 
One way that I could use Ko-Su would be in creating off site activities that correlate back to the classroom lessons. For instance, if the topic was conflict resolution, the activity sent out through mobile feed could ask the student to identify a situation that applies and report back through the app about what they saw, the theory it applies to and how the situation was resolved. Extending this lesson further could involve a comment options so the learners could support one another with feedback postings.

I see the point of choosing just three technologies to focus on. Most of the time I can see myself incorporating one technology into the curriculum in a certain way, but I am not able to figure out how to use multiple technologies on a single lesson. It is too overwhelming and frankly I can’t see where technologies are integrating themselves with other applications. Perhaps the next phase of the eLearning revolution will include app bundling so that different platforms work together instead of having to have a million passwords to piece together multiple online learning applications for curriculum development. 

For now, we will have to move from the saying, “there’s an app for that” into hopefully saying “this app connects all the others you’ve been using.” It would be nice if I could at least combine the three I’ve chosen today, but that will have to wait for another day in the not too soon future.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012). EDUC 6177: EDUC 6177- Using Technology to Enhance Learning [Video webcast program transcript]. In Mobile Learning. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/Walden/EDUC/6177/04/downloads/WAL_EDUC6177_04_A_EN.pdf

Ribble, M. (n.d.). Nine elements: Nine themes of digital citizenship. Retrieved May 30, 2012, from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html 

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.