Distributed learning is any educational experience that uses
many things, including technology, to enable learning. This certainly includes
distance education. I use all sorts of
materials with my students and they all help enable learning but at first it
was hard to think of a way that I could do any sort of distance education with
my kindergarten students! I did however do something very much like distance
education a month or so ago. Discovery education sent me (and I am sure every
other teacher that they had email addresses for) a link to a live lesson about
the solar system. My students and I
watched the live lesson and learned so much! It was a great experience for all
of us! I also considered for myself the many online classes that I have taken
to make myself a better teacher, whether it is at the university level or local
classes offered online by my district.
Reusable design was something totally new to me when I began
reading about it. I learned that reusability
means being able to use a resource (most often reachable through a web browser)
many times, many ways and for many reasons.
I think that Google™ Docs has really helped me make my lessons more
reusable! I plan all of my lessons in Google™ Docs as well as create slide
shows to aid in instruction and it is very easy to go back and make changes to
them as necessary. I share these
documents with my colleagues and they are able to reuse them as well. Tumblebook™ Library comes to mind as well! I
use Tumblebooks.com very frequently. This
is a website with various eBooks for children.
They are relatively short and it is easy to search for a specific topic
or author. I have used these eBooks in
various content areas or sometimes just for fun!
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Using rich media in the classroom is something that most people
find easy nowadays! It seems that there are many programs that are specifically
designed for educational purposes. One
of the things in the chapter that really caught my eye was the section on
simulations adding value to an instructional program. It was interesting to read and find out that
the students who participated in one particular math simulation learned better
than their peers who did not. In the
past, I have used programs like IXL math, which is actually found online, to
have students practice math problems. I
have often wondered if they were really learning from such a program. The text mentions that learners may need
scaffolding in making sense of a simulation.
This made me think that maybe I should provide manipulatives for my
students to help make the transition from the concrete to abstract a little
less trying.
Although Siri is not real artificial intelligence, this
could be a great tool for my youngsters to use when wanting to research a topic. How easy would it be for them to simply say
something like “search the web for volcano pictures” and have them pop right
up? I think this would be a great help
for someone who may not have the skills to type in what they are looking for. Just having a few iPads in the classroom
would be beneficial! There are so applications that are educational and would
help students learn or practice skills.
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