Sunday, January 29, 2012

Double Entry Journal #2: Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/Learning Styles

Quote
"Video games provide the learner with real environment that gives the students chance to stimulate what they want to learn. Now, there are many examples of using the video games in school. According to BBC News many educators do not use video games in learning. They think this kind of technology is only for fun and does not benefit their children. This point of view is wrong. According to many researchers, children can learn more effectively when they play video games than when they read books. Dr. David Lewis conducted a research on the MediEvil 2 historical game which is about the history of Victorian London. He found that the children can understand this story better by playing the game more than by reading the book (BBC News, 2000)."


Response
This statement that I found in the article was the one that made the most sense to me over all the other types of learning that this article talked about. I have been playing video games my whole life and I would to agree that I learned many things better if they are in a game than I would if they were in a book. Because of computer games I can type at much higher speeds than I could before I ever started playing them. My reading speed and comprehension was also improved from the years of reading text across my screen. Any game that I play that has some type of factual information seems to stick in my head better than it would if i got the information from a book.


Citation
http://en.wikibooks.org. (2011). Retrieved from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Web_2.0_and_Emerging_Learning_Technologies/Learning_Styles


Video
Video Citation
Youtube. (2011, October 18). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFsG1KPjKc




Double Entry Journal #1: Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade

Quote
"According to Cathy N. Davidson, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions, fully 65 percent of today’s grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet."

Response
The above statement is very fascinating to me. Knowing that all the students that I will someday teach may not need to know the information that I am teaching them just amazes me. How are we supposed to prepare students for jobs that are not available or even understood at this point in time? The only thing that I can see being a valid way to prepare students for a Technological world is involving them in different types of Technology in the classroom. I believe that if students use technology regular they will be accustomed to it.  Without the ability to adapt to new technologies students in the future may have trouble existing in the new world. 


Citation
Heffernen, V. (2011, August 7). The new york times. Retrieved from                                   http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/?hp


Video
Video Citation
Youtube. (2011, March 12). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oEgxwLhvV8&feature=related

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Introduction

My name is Mason Nice. I am 22 years old. I am from Reader, WV. I graduated from Valley High School in 2007. I have an Associates degree in Accounting. I came back to Fairmont State University because I want to be a History teacher. I am currently in a Social Studies Education field of study at Fairmont. I want to teach a variety of different History subjects but my favorite is Ancient History.  I want to teach High school students, preferably 11th and 12th graders.