REFLECTION on “Engaging students with new strategies and tools” - (describe how you can bring the technological tools learners are using outside the classroom into the educational process, and which tools and strategies are best for this purpose. Make sure to explain why each tool works well in a learning environment and the benefits and advantages it provides).

I attempted to create this graphic organizer with tools to support content, communication, and collaboration that applied to DE. They could be used in the classroom, but are more a necessity for Distance Learners.

CONTENT:
Edutopia: created by the George Lucas Foundation. A rich resource with multimedia , examples, and other resources with a k-12 focus. It includes case studies, problem-based learning, and tutorials.
Slideshare: free power point slide shows posted on many different content areas
iTunes University – iTunes U – a powerful distribution system for everything from lectures to language lessons, films to labs, audiobooks to tours. It is an innovative way to get educational content into the hands of students. Includes an extensive collection of Florida Virtual school curriculum.
YouTubeEDUC is YouTube with a focus on education/TeacherTube includes videos, docs, audio, photos, channels, community, blogs, classifieds, and teaching resources/SchoolTube is a website dedicated to student video and media sharing for entertainment and classroom use. Students and Teachers can share video lots of great short educational videos, science demos that are not easily done in the classroom, great teaching videos on complex content (Chemistry & Physics).
Thinkfinity (Verizon) and Filamentality (AT&T) – both sites are libraries of educational resources.
Annenberg media/Hippocampus/Kahn Academy: all free sites for educational tutorials and videos, especially for use in K-12.

COMMUNICATION
Twitter is a social networking in real time, it is convenient to keep up with the latest info, it is short (referred to as micro-blogging) and limited to 142 characters
Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends of their choosing and privacy is controlled by the user, although privacy issues have been known to be compromised. Twitter would be a better educational tool, especially for teams that are problem solving. I would not recommend Facebook for educational uses.
Skype & Video Conferencing: both are vehicles for synchronous communications and collaborating. Webcams are used so person can be seen as well as heard.
Forums and Blogs: these are threaded discussions. Blogs are open to the public and great for educational discussions globally. Good for building PLNS (Personal Learning Networks) (Siemens, 2008).
Ning is starting to charge (from $3 to $50 / month), it offers an easy-to-use service that enables people to create custom branded social networks (see a 10 min video in YouTube on “Ning in Education”)and Diigo is a powerful research tool and knowledge-sharing community for highlighting, collecting, and sharing research. A specific account can be created to follow a specific title and research can be added by anyone to build the base.
Mind Maps and Graphic Organizers are tools for teachers and students to get the big picture, to analyze and draw connections, for helping with remembering and learning concepts by analyzing their similarities and differences.

COLLABORATION
VoiceThread – this could be used as a communication or collaboration tool: VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slideshow that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways: using voice (with a mic), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam). Shared a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.
Webquests – student-centered and inquiry-based team experiences using the internet, for K-12. Traditionally WebQuests have an introduction, a process, a task, a list of resources, a conclusion, and an evaluation. Bernie Dodge and Tom developed the WebQuest model in early 1995 at San Diego State University.
Online Team Case Analysis – the TDC Model (Anderson, 2010) for online computer individual simulation, online synchronous chat rooms for weekly team meetings, and case analysis scenarios where decisions and project management activities are involved.
Wikispaces: a great place to work as a team and post work, compile ideas, review team mates ideas and collaborate, make decisions, and post reflections.
Second Life for Teaching and Learning – a hotlist of sites for educators including Introductory videos and media, professional support, teaching and learning, examples, NASA resources, virtual tours, and also how to build your own second life environment – all free
Educational MUVEs (Multi-User Virtual Environments) like the River City Project, developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education for 6-9th grade. A complex problem solving scenario in a 19th century town where students apply their 21st century skills to explore, research, interview citizens, collect data, formulate hypothesis, test and draw conclusions. It integrates many disciplines.

References:
Anderson, T. (2010). Teaching in an online learning context. In T. Anderson (Ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed.), (pp. pp343-365). Edmonton, AB: AU Press, Athabasca University.

Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching, 54(1), 190−193. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=14&sid=92990109-4ba7-4ad4-a8a1-90081e57245b%40sessionmgr13, Accession Number 19754742.

Siemens, G. (2008, January). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. IT Forum. Retrieved from Google Scholar: http://www.tskills.it/userfiles/Siemens.pdf

Siemens. (2008, Nov 18). Personal learning environments. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2008/11/18/personal-learning-environments-7/.

Siemens, G. (2007, September). 10 minute lecture – George Siemens - Curatorial teaching. Retrieved from: http://elluminate.tekotago.ac.nz/play_recording.html?recordingId=1188267162821_1190072043500.