Cloud Party

Cloud Party is another option for Virtual Worlds. It is completely web based, so no downloads, the beauty of working in the Cloud. Upon initial preview, it visually looks very similar to Second Life, but after reading the FAQ's and knowledge base pages, it seems much more user friendly. 
Players can enter via a direct link without an account and will be prompted to create a username, that everyone sees, and choose an avatar.  Another option is to create an account by logging in with their Facebook or Google+ account. In an educational setting this could be a plus for easy log ins, but also can be a negative depending on whether their school has these social medias blocked.
When I compare the control settings they are all very similar to other Virtual World platforms. You have the typical W, S, A, and D commands, but you also have the option to click where you want to go, or even use the arrow keys, which for me, is much more appealing. The guys who developed Cloud Party must have a lot of experience studying what they liked and disliked from other worlds. They made all the controls much more user friendly. All of your settings are found by clicking on the cell phone. The cell phone can control your contacts, your teleporting, customizing your avatar from the avatar itself to its clothing, meaning I don't have to go shopping in bizarre stores to find outfits, your builds, linking to Facebook, and the Marketplace. Basically everything you want to do can be accessed through this link. 
Building also looks similar to Second Life, maybe the most confusing part of Cloud Party, but I can't completely assess that without actually creating an account and trying to build. 
Cloud Party offers a free version for people who just want to get a feel for the Virtual World, but they also have subscription rates for people who want to build more elaborate worlds or to be able to make their worlds private. One of my questions would be if I make a world private, could my students access it?
My biggest concern about using a Virtual World like this or Second Life is the publicity factor. My students would really have to understand the necessity of being digital citizens and cyber safety. This would be one of the benefits of setting up secure servers in Minecraft, at least they aren't completely public. 

Building in Second Life

I found Building in Second Life to be frustrating. You have a very limited amount of objects to choose from and build upon to create even bigger and more elaborate objects. I watched several tutorials on YouTube as well as read about building processes. I learned how to put objects, Prims, together and I came out with a trestle table and chairs. I did not want to change the texture or color since this was supposed to be a wooden table.
I started with the table, learned how to create the top out of a cube by stretching, resizing, and rotating. After the top I started on the trestle by putting 2 semicircles together with a flattened rectangle in between. I linked all of these Prims together and copied it. I then I had to figure out how to rotate, reshape, and place the legs under my table top. It took quite a bit of time to adjust everything from different angles so all of my Prims would fit together as a table. I then linked all of these as well.
The chairs were even more tricky because it required working with about 8 different Prims. I constructed all of my pieces and put them together using the same process I had figured out for the table. After much trial, error, reshaping, and linking I had a table and chairs. It is now available in my inventory. I had hoped to save each individual piece in my inventory, and thought I had, but when I was finished I realized the individual pieces did not save. I think I should have right clicked on each Prim I had created and selected "take" in order to place the Prims in my inventory. It would also probably be easier to create Prims if you were using a mouse, but I wasn't at home and did not have one on me.

Second Life

Second Life is another alternative to Virtual Worlds. It is three dimensional and everything you see has been built by a user like yourself. Everyone in the Virtual World is a real person. You have the option to communicate and collaborate via chat, IM, and voice. The controls are similar to most games with the typical A, W, S, D commands. You can double click the space bar to fly. Other options within Second Life are the ability to teleport to different worlds, change your wardrobe, check your inventory, maps, and search for people or different worlds. In my hands on experience with Second Life, there are many glitches my students wouldn't be able to adapt to.

Communities of Play

Gaming, the New Classroom

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Minecraft: Build Something Epic

For this quest, my job was to build something epic and be able to explain my creation. Minecraft is very new to me, so this has taken hours and hours and days to create the simple house below. I have learned how to mine and craft for all of the materials in and around my house. In order to learn how to craft I Googled Minecraft recipes and found Minecraft Gamepedia. This site has been essential in my learning how to craft.

I spent hours exploring this new world to collect the resources I needed. As well as lacking the ability to visualize, I also have zero sense of direction, so getting lost on my new world was always a huge problem. I must have crafted hundreds of torches and used them as my crumb trail to be able to find my way back to my house. My students explained I could make a map, but I haven't been able to find the resources for that recipe as of yet. I am the type of person that gets lost even using the map program on my phone, so I am not sure how well a map will work for me.

All that being said, I wanted to construct my house out of wood this time. I am a mountain girl and find wood very comforting/warming. I chose a space in the side of a mountain and began construction. I had to mine hundreds of cubes of dirt and cobblestone to get enough space for my floor plan. I chopped trees down and crafted wood planks and began building. I found sand and learned how to craft glass, I was very proud of myself; I didn't have to look up the recipe for that one. I discovered how to make beds and fences. I was also able to enlarge the pond so it is closer to my house. The house offers two great rooms and five bedrooms. It definitely needs some more furnishings. Later, I would like to go back and add in some gardens and learn how to garden.

 

  

 The view from the upper deck, you can barely see my pond on the right, down where the torches are.

 

 

I came home today and found 2 strays on my upper deck. I must have left the doors open.

For me, my house is an epic start. I can't compare it to anything like what the kids are creating in Lucas Gillispie's Worlds, but I am proud of what I have accomplished here. I can also say, I am hooked.

School Evaluation Summary

This assignment was quite interesting. I found the survey to be much like a grading rubric and tried to keep my assessments of all the categories objective and unbiased. It was somewhat difficult to do because I have great faith in my school and its possibilities, but I also see where we are very deficient.

An example that comes up in almost every category is that only 25% of our staff routinely uses any technology. We still have some staff that can't make a folder on their desktop or even make a copy of a document. Every year though we are able to encourage maybe one or two more educators to take the plunge into using our Google Apps or even take their classes to the lab consistently.

Fault Line High School is one of two continuation high schools servicing a huge inter-city district. Every year and intake period always tops out with a waiting list of students needing to get in. Student eligibility comes down to need of/lack of credits. Over 90% of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged  and 94% qualify for free or reduced lunch programs. Out of 733 students, 70% are Hispanic/Latino with 42% second language learners. 16% of the student population are African American and 9% are white. The schools suspension rate is 27% and the drop out rate is 20% compared with the states 14%.

Students at Fault Line are inter-city. They come from very broken/limited backgrounds. Many are appointed to us from County Schools and Juvenile Hall. A large percentage of students also have gang affiliations. There is a student day care on the premisses so we have a large percentage of teen moms, some even have 2 children already. Student attendance is a huge issue every year and we try and find ways to encourage and offer incentives to increase attendance.

Overall, the school falls within the Islands criteria in the Technology Maturity Model. There were a few exceptions where things were more integrated and other areas that seemed more emergent. We definitely have areas that could be stressed more this year. I know one of our goals this year is to get more teachers on board routinely using the technology we have.

Survey Sheet

Evaluation Sheet

Tech Use Planning Overview

Effective technology planning can be looked at as determining the need and the how it is going to make everyone more productive, making it, "output based, not input based." See says that just like you figure all the costs of everything into a business’ budget, do the same for technology. Plan the budget around the technology and make sure it is for a short duration so it can be rethought if tech changes.

The National Education Technology Plan is an effective and powerful resource for technology use planning because it is giving districts the go ahead to invest in technology. The technology plan is pushing for innovation using technology so districts can’t ignore this. We can use this to leverage our cause when facing the school board. In my VoiceThread from last week I quoted the NETP, it wants to create “lifelong learners” “calling for a revolutionary transformation” “powered by technology” “by bringing state-of-the art technology into learning to enable, motivate, and inspire all students.” The NETP recognizes the need to bring collaboration and practical life skill applications into our classrooms, our districts need to focus on this as well.

I agree with See regarding technology plans needing to be short term. Technology changes so fast. Look at what happened in this class. The instructor went from using Xtranormal and then it was suspended and he had to use another. This is always happening. It happens with equipment and all applications of technology.

I find that "effective technology plans focus on applications, not technology," true as well. Why do you want to spend thousands of dollars on Microsoft Office when you could get the same applications using Google Apps for Education. Why do you want to spend twice as much on Apples when you can do the same things using Chromebooks. It is just a name.

I have been on the outskirts of tech planning. I have not had any real, practical experiences yet. We have tried to convince our tech department that Chromebooks would be a good answer, however, for whatever reason, they won’t approve them. I am hoping to get more involved with the tech planning this year. See pointed out how technology that is bought just because, ends up on a storage shelf somewhere. I have seen this first hand this year and was disgusted by it. Things like this happen when someone needs to spend $500,000 before such and such date. This does not help our staff or our students.

Digital Inequality

The digital divide/digital inequality has always been present. I never really paid too much attention to it, although I knew it existed. The video by Aleph Molinari: Bridging the Digital Divide forced me to see the examples within my own schools. My favorite analogy Molinari used was that the digital divide is the new illiteracy. I thought this was a great video and shared it with my fellow teachers via Twitter. There are specific areas within the district I teach at and the district my own children attend which definitely have gaps related to the haves and have nots. In the San Bernardino District the majority of our schools are above 93% of the students qualifying for free or reduced lunch programs. Many of my students do not have internet access at home. Ninety percent of my students do have some type of mobile device, however, they may not have a data plan. They have access to public libraries, if they can get transportation. I have a classroom lab, but not all of my teachers do. We are increasing the labs and tablets every year though. In the Rim of the World School District, where my children will be attending, there are haves and have nots, but I think the biggest gap for my own children is the availability of technology in the schools themselves and the lack of trained, new blood. The district here is holding on to teachers that should be retired. They don't like their job, they don't like the children anymore, burn out is evident, but they continue to hold on for a better retirement package. Most of the classrooms have one computer and nobody knows how to use it. It drives me crazy. We know the gaps are there, now how can we help to close them? At my school, I would like to see more labs opened up to students after or before school. There are grants that will fund ideas like this. Also, my principal and I have been playing with the idea of Neighborhood Outreaches. How can we educate those around us, our parents, our students, our communities? If we reach out and try and involve and educate our parents then maybe our children will take more responsibility for their own learning as well.

EdTech Challenges

The top challenges I get discouraged by are the lack of teacher training and the "system". Educators can't even begin to look at a flipped classroom approach or personalized learning using technology without some training and without the District's support.

Everything I use in my classroom I learned by other educators at conferences, not my District. My principal has been a huge support and will say, "Why don't you try this?" He puts out suggestions and then I play with them and realize the potential. If I see a technology fair or conference coming up I hit him up for it and he sends me. Conferences led by other educators have been essential to my professional development.

I have had many conversations with my principal on why our IT or even our Research and Technology Department do not go to these conferences. Isn't it their job to know the latest and be able to train their teachers? This drives me crazy. The "system" is our biggest set back. If we don't have the support from the top, then it is very difficult to see the potential.

This past year, I started training other teachers. First, it was training specific to Google Apps and then it branched out into other programs like Prezi, Poll Everywhere, Quizlet, and a multitude of other online programs we can incorporate into our learning environment. I also became involved with our District's Research and Technology Department and have been training other teachers from my District in using Google Apps for Education. I hope I can inspire and motivate this department to want to know more. I know the more I feed the teachers at my own school the more their excitement grows.

My hopes for this upcoming year are to create a team of several other like-minded educators.  I have already spoken with 3 others: an elementary teacher, my principal, and a member of the Research and Technology Department. All of us are on the same page and have the same goal in mind.  We hope to present to the School Board, the endless learning possibilities and financial savings that technology can bring to our schools.

EdTech Research 501

Our assignments this week for familiarizing ourselves with additional research tools was very helpful. I had previously heard about Google Scholar, but never took the time to really explore. I knew you could easily use the Research Tools within Google, but searching through Scholar was also new to me.
I was at ISTE last week, and during a Coffee Cue with other educators we talked about advance searches using Google. Google Scholar came up as well as ways to customize your searches for ".org" or ".edu" websites and another technique to use to customize your search engine. I am finding that the more you get involved with technology the learning is limitless.
I am always showing my students new ways to do research, whether it is simply to search for something by reading level, or to search for phrases using quotation marks. Now, I need to find a way to incorporate the research within a Google Doc. A lot of times we are not writing in Google Docs, we are writing directly in our blogs, but I could find something where they need to link their Google Doc to the blog, much like we are doing for this class.

EdTech Research Google Doc

AECT Standards:
3.1 Media Utilization
4.4 Information Management

RSS in Education-501

These tutorials were made with my students in mind. I have been wanting to figure out a way to teach them how to use RSS Feeds for the last several months. I have my students doing all of their projects through blogging. I went to CUE last March in Palm Springs and saw an incredible teacher, Kate Petty, do a presentation on RSS Feeds and blogging. I wanted to figure out the best way to incorporate RSS Feeds into my own classroom. 

The tutorial is very basic. Even though I teach high school, grades 9-12, I do not have honors' kids, I have students that are behind in credits and are trying to catch up as fast as possible. I am lucky if they can read and write above a fourth grade level. I love to use Voki in my classroom and Prezi. I teach my students how to use these tools to grab their attention. 

From this assignment I learned that you cannot embed a Voki into a Prezi and also that Screencast-o-matic does not format correctly when trying to enlarge a screen size from one picture to the next. I also learned how to subscribe to RSS feeds myself. I had previously started to play with it, but never put in the time to really get into it. I am still a bit confused as to why the RSS Ticker warning comes up every time I open my browser.

I am currently trying to find ways to incorporate RSS Feeds into my class structure. I like to give my students choice in their projects, but I am limited to a 6 week time frame and a severe lack of motivation. The last few months of this school year I gave the students a project that was based on something they were passionate about, something they would want to learn more about. I had more kids pass this last grading period than I had in the previous periods. I still gave them requirements that had to be met, but I let them choose the topic. I want to be able to incorporate RSS Feeds into this style of learning.

2.4 Integrated Technologies
3.1 Media Utilization
4.4 Information Management

Elements of Educational Technology 501

The Elements of Educational Technology 501

My opinions were very similar to the definitions in this paper. I think the definitions for "study" were more difficult for me to comprehend. Even when I reread that section I feel like the author is almost rambling a bit. Maybe it is just me. I found a lot of similarities between what I am trying to do in my classroom and what the definitions state.
The "creating" definition had great points on analyzing, designing, developing, evaluating and revising that I would like to take back to my school and discuss. I would like to create projects that could focus on these elements. 

3.4 Policies and Regulations

Welcome

My name is Alissa and I am from the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. My husband and I have 5 children that keep us very busy. We love camping, hiking, and Bluegrass. I love teaching and am having a blast finding new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom.