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Harris, J. (2002). Wherefore art though, telecollaboration? Learning and Leading with Technology, 29(6), 54-63.

The reading “Wherefore art thou, telecollaboration” By Judi Harris, speaks exactly of what i am interested. technology providing children with a a voice and communication with the rest of the world. Judi explain the many ways that technology connect children and helps them to learn collaboratly. these examples include:

Interpersonal exchange- are those activities “in which individuals talk electronically with other individuals, individuals talk with groups or groups talk with other groups. Interpersonal Exchanges include: key-pals, global classrooms, electronic appearances, telementoring, question-and answer activities“ (Harris, 1998, p. 18).

Information collection and analysis:  which “involve students collecting, compiling, and comparing different types of interesting information” eg  information exhanges, database creation, electronic publishing” (Harris, 1998, p. 18).

Problem solving: “activities that promote critical thinking, collaboration and problem based learning. Problem Solving structures include: information searches, peer feedback activities, parallel problem solving, sequential problem solving, and social action projects.” (Harris, 1998, p. 18).

i think that these examples are excellent ways in which teachers can incorporate computers into the classroom, to help set up communication between students and the rest of the world. At the beginning of the reading, the article explains that 75% of teachers believe that technology is valuable in education. however only 35% of teachers use it in their classroom.of course we all have our own personal reasons such as computer illiterate, time , unreliable computers, lack of computers ect. but this is no time to make excuses, as there are so many fascinating and exciting activities that teachers can involve students and help celebrate students work.  Judi expresses that teachers that use computers to allow students to get in touch with the world, are the ones that engage students straight away. students get tired of always having the same audience, same peers to express ideas and same people to critique their work. give children variety and use some of the examples  above, allow them to have a different set of people every day. yes that sounds hard, but with technology all you have to do is log on and there’s a whole world waiting to discover what children have to offer.

i read the observations that shalena made about the reading “How to use Podcasts at Your School”, i totally agree with her view that the opportunities that podcasting offers are endless. i think that podcasting really offers students valuable learning experiences that writing in a workbook cannot. As shalena said children can work on their listening and speaking skills without the fear of face to face confrontation. some children are not comfortable with speaking in front of the whole class and cannot perform to the best of their ability. therefor podcasting can be used as a medium for assessment as the teacher can ask children to record their answers and then assess children’s perfected recorded version. children can post personal reflections about lessons and express their feelings and actually say what they are thinking, not what they think they are suppose to say. another important point to note is that young children love to talk. they could talk before they could write, so why not embrace in knowledge that children much prefer to express in voice than written words. If you say to the class, today we are going to do some talking, naturally they will be engaged as its a task they know they can complete. Shalena ideas on the reading by Richardson can influence teachers to aim to try new things in their class. It no good teachers always doing the same old boring thing because before they know it children will become demotivated and uninterested in important units of learning. Podcasting is a simple, easy and interactive tool to use, its something that can encourage children in deep thoughtful thinking and allow children to really express themselves and have fun.

Shalenas blog post: http://shalena87.edublogs.org/2008/03/18/how-to-use-podcasts-at-your-school/

Richardson, W. (2006). . In Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Retrieved 18th March, 2008 from http://www.techsmith.com/community/articles/schoolpodcasts.asp?DCMP=NLC-edunews30&ATT=podcast

This is a mindmap done on ispiration based on the reading “Intigrating computers into the primary school curriculum“, it outlines the pro and cons of intergrating computers into the primary school. click on the thunbnail below and view the main points i picked up on from the reading.

Wood, J. (2005). Integrating computers into the primary school curriculum. Education Horizons, 8(5), 10-11.