Brian Barkhurst's e-Portfolio

Mobile devices are currently particularly popular with my middle school students. For over a year now, I have tinkered with the idea of having my students using mobile learning technologies to complete assignments for French. My main concern regarding the use of mobile devices is regarding what they afford to the learner experience. In particular, I have considered give students various French homework assignments that they need to text to me via their or their parents’ cell phone. The following questions guide my thought process on this learning activity.

What is the rationale for implementing mobile learning technologies?
Related to cell phones, the main reason to implement their use is to bolster student interest. My students are avid text messengers, so my thought is that they would greatly like an assignment that actually requires them to text. I would contend that an assignment involving texting would motivate them to complete other assignments in the future.

How does ubiquitous access to a wireless network change the dynamics of learning both in and out of the classroom?
Cell phones are currently banned during school hours, so the assignments would need to be completed after school hours unless I have the principal’s permission. Many of my students have cell phones or their parents have cell phones, however I would need to ensure that all students could successfully complete these activities if they don’t have cell phones by developing an alternative assignment.

What are best practices for using mobile learning?
Cell phones are normally thought of as a communication device and not as an educational tool. Students would need to be instructed regarding appropriate cell phone behaviors if they were going to be used inside or outside of class. The issue of student privacy may also be a concern because I would have their cell phone numbers as a result of the activity, so certain students and parents may request an alternative learning assignment.

What end-user support is important for mobile learning? How can it best be provided?
I’m not sure what support is available other than the support offered by the actual cell phone companies. I could create a PowerPoint on how to text and also provide students with information on how to type accent marks for French text messaging.

Ensuring that all students have the appropriate tools to access online resources is critical to their educational success. As an instructor, this tool kit activity taught me that I have a lot more I need to be aware of in regards to student needs. Prior to completing this activity, I had not even known about certain adaptive technologies, such as pop-up braille readers and braille printers.

This activity taught me that I have to consider all student learning needs when planning and designing my actual course site for French 1 throughout this coming school year. I can better accommodate students by providing scripts for the media presentations, by adding descriptions for the presentations, by being careful not to select colors difficult for color-blind students to see, etc. I need to have conversations with the special education teachers in my school so that I have greater awareness and training on how to best accommodate students with various learning needs.

Lasty, an important question that arose in my mind after completing this toolkit activity is the following: How can students in my district access adaptive technology resources such as a pop-up braille reader, screen reading software, etc? This is something I need to find out when school starts up again.

Wikis are tool that I’ve become familiar with not only in everyday life through using Wikipedia, but also by developing my own wiki in ETEC 510. More recently, my group in another MET used a wiki on our own initiative to compose, edit, and comment on a group paper we were developing. My overarching opinions on wikis depend on how this tool is used.

In ETEC 510, I composed a wiki article on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), viewable here, as part of an assignment. In the process of creating the article, I learned coding language and navigation tools that were previously unfamiliar to me. While I found the skills I gained valuable at the time, it was until I clicked on a link to my wiki moments ago that I realized it had actually evolved since the time I had originally written it. Other students had added more information and enhanced the original article. I was surprised and excited to see the newest version on the wiki space. This process helped me better understand the importance of social collaboration and the relevance of wikis in our increasingly knowledge-building society.

In ETEC 520, my group used a wiki in Wikispaces to collaboratively compose a group paper. While I found the wiki easy to read and edit, I found that it was difficult to keep track of who wrote what and why. We color coded our comments and dated them, but in some ways it seemed liked a lot of work to do so. I also had mixed feelings about using tabs the different sections of our paper. After working with this tool, I concluded that I prefer Google Docs more for group projects, however I can appreciate the other affordances for collaboration available in wikis.

Today, I decided to research a more controversial topic on Wikipedia in order to view the discussion tab, which I had never even realized exited until doing this tool kit activity. Suffice it to say, I was shocked at how much discussion went on “behind-the-scenes” of a Wikipedia. Comments ranged from academic arguments to lewd remarks. The history tab was also interesting to view given that comments were made approximately on a biweekly basis.

In terms of my educational setting, I don’t necessary envision myself having students construct a wiki in the target language due to their beginning language skills. That said, however, I could see myself having students construct a wiki with review topics for the final exam. Each year students could continually update the wiki and to promote a knowledge-building community in the process.

A blog, or an online web log, is a type of website typically maintained by individual in a journal-like format. Many forms of blogs allow readers to respond to comment made on the blogs. Commentary, graphics, audio and video clips are frequently used to create blog entries.

In my own experience, I have used blogs in two of my MET courses, however this course have provided me with a much better awareness of the various educational implications for blogs. In my first course, I used a blog to document and publish on the internet various resources and websites related to indigenous people. In this particular course, I created a weblog for documenting and publishing online my experiences using various technology-based learning resources. In additional, I have searched for, read, and commented on various other blogs made by other educators and even by friends. I have always found them easy to construct, easy to update, and typically very informative.

In terms of their educational uses, blogs can be used to have students maintain online journals about their lives or their learning experiences in the classroom. In a world language class, students can be required to compose regular entries in the target language and then comment on each others’ posts in that language. Although student privacy issues can arise when using blogs, my district offers a blogging system that’s built into our FirstClass server, which is inaccessible to users outside our school district. As a result, I can definitely see myself having students create blogs in class this coming year.

Social software, ranging from Facebook to gaming sites, are becoming increasingly popular on the internet. A necessary step to understanding user responsibility, conditions of use, and proprietary right of the company is read through the terms and conditions of these sites. Particularly for educators, we need to be aware of the legal implications that signing up for these sites entail.

To better understand social software sites, I decided to research and review the terms of service (TOS) of four different sites. In particular, I reviewed the sites Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and Second Life. I chose these sites to view a broad range of social software tools. Flickr and Picasa are sites for uploading and sharing photos; Facebook is a online message board for sharing comments, photos, and videos that allows users to find and stay in touch with friends; and Second Life is a online program in which users create an avatar that they can use to interact with other user avatars in a virtual community.

My review of the TOS taught me that with social software comes great responsibility. TOSs are lengthy legal documents that contain oftentimes ambiguous terminology. What is clear, however, is that content is frequently saved by the social software company and users are legally responsible for what content they upload, copy, and create on their sites. In addition, the following themes were evident across the TOSs:

Protection for Minors
All of the TOSs have clauses for the protection of people under the age of 18 and especially for those children under 13 years of age. Flickr’s TOS is contained within Yahoo’s overaching TOS and emphasizes that minors under 13 need to have a family account created by their parents/guardians. Second Life has created a program called Second Life Teen to provide greater protections from mature themes. Facebook has privacy sections within its general privacy policy related to the user’s age. All the TOS also state that no information about minors under 13 will be collected and/or given to third-party advertising companies.

Third-Parties
In order to maintain free services to users, many of these social software sites allow third-party advertisers to market services on the various social websites. TOSs contain statements regarding the collection of information and how cookies will also be used to monitor user viewing in order to market certain goods to them.

Privacy
All the social networking sites contain privacy sections in order to explain how privacy is protected. Typically, these sites have various levels of privacy available to users so that they can choose how well they want to be protected from other users in the program and on the internet. The sites also states that links to various services not directly provided by the main site, for example through third-party advertisers, may operate under their own different terms and conditions.

In regards to using social software tools in an educational setting, the educational and legal implications need to be considered. Several social software sites would probably not be educationally appropriate for a school setting given that these programs are typically designed for gaming purposes of for staying in touch with friends. On the other hand, depending the learning goals, these sites could potentially offer educational affordances and garner student interest in ways that other learning activities cannot. In my own school setting, many of my students are not even 13 years old, so this raises numerous legal concerns in my mind about the importance of using these tools in class. Overall, protecting student privacy is critical, so I would be leery of using various social software tools a classroom setting and would seek counsel from my school principal and review the district policies prior to even considering using these tools.

Robert McKee, a creative writing professor at the University of Southern California, once wrote, “Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.” In the field of language education, stories are valuable learning tools that help students to understand new possibilities of language use. Indeed, my own experience in creating a story was a journey in itself.

My attempt at creating a story was two-fold. I first created a comic strip in French about my family, which can be viewed this link or below. I used a program called Toondoo to create my comic due to its user-friendly features and visually-appealing design. It wasn’t until after I had created my comic that I realized it neglected to tell an actual story. While the activity can still serve as a reading activity with
the comprehension questions I posted, I still needed to create a story.

Comic Strip

I instead decided to design my activity from a backwards design model based on defining the assessment and learning objectives prior to the actual activity. With my learning targets developed, I created a storyboard on paper about my experiences as a student in Quebec. As my story became clearer, I decided to search out a media design tool similar to PowerPoint that would allow me to display photos and text to create a reading comprehension activity based around my story. After an extensive search and a trial-and-error with different programs, I decided to use Scrapblog, which is a program that allows users to create a professional-looking, virtual scrapbook. I found the program easy-to-use, and I was able to embed reading comprehension questions on the actual scrapbook pages so that the student learning objectives could be met. Prior to finding this tool, I didn’t know that such programs existed and was impressed by the visual affordances of its features as I think it will greatly enhance student interest and motivation to do the reading activity. I would content that this tool had a definite impact on how my story was told since several photos could be uploaded onto one page, the scrapbook features create a strong visual impact, and the option of having a music clip provided yet another appealing addition. Below is my story:

Mon voyage au Quebec

My story is designed to be used as a partner activity in a language lab or as an individual homework assignment for students. Students can view the entire slide show or click slide by slide to ensure that they have read everything thoroughly and answered all the questions. Student responses can be handwritten and turn in or e-mailed to the professor. As an extension activity, students can create their own stories using this virtual scrapbook program and present them to the class. My middle school students would greatly enjoy this story media creation activity.

Overall, I found this story production project to be fun and rewarding. While the process itself was time consuming, I worked non-stop on the activity because it was hot only a hands-on learning activity for myself, but also one that I can actually use in my French class. Lastly, all the photos embedded in the slide show were my own, which I would argue adds appeal to my story and made copyright violations entirely a non-issue.

Skype is a synchronous communication tool that is very familiar to me. Although I have used it for group online group conferences in the MET program, I mainly use Skype to stay in touch with a good friend of mine in Newfoundland. We originally met at Laval University, so we frequently converse with each other in French at no cost using Skype. The video feature enables us to simultaneously view each other in real time, which adds a personal dynamic to our online conversations. This feature has even enabled us to give each other tours of our apartments, show off each other’s pets, etc. Skype was extremely easy to download, and I use it with ease on a regular basis.

In my school setting, I do not see myself using Skype on a day-to-day basis in the classroom; however, I can see myself recommending its use to students for group projects.  I know from my own experience through the MET program that Skype has greatly helped us collaborate on group projects and was a necessity given the long distances involved. I can also see myself hosting a live chat session with students in French on a snow day. In the long run, I can see myself finding conversation partners for my students that they could chat with via Skype either at school or at home.

Today, I designed and uploaded  a simple webpage using Amaya. Amaya is a web editor tool for designing and uploading basic websites. The editor is designed to be easy-to-use for people with limited or no website design experience.

I began my web design process by creating a basic story board. I then created a homepage in which I typed a welcome message, inserted my photo, and provided links underneath my photo describing places that I’ve traveled. The process went smoothly as I found the program particularly user-friendly. After creating my homepage, I added three additional pages and typed a basic message on each page. After a few failed attempts, I was able to successfully link the three pages to the text I had typed on the homepage.  When it came to uploading the website, I was unable to find a specific uploading feature. I saved all the websites, however, and they loaded without any problems on another browser I had opened. My basic web design process took approximately 30 minutes.

I currently have a website for my French classes through the school server, so I decided not to spent a particularly length amount of time on this particular activity. I know from firsthand experience that the process can be time consuming not only in terms of designing but also in terms of navigating the various design tools. My main challenge with web design continues to be learning to navigate the tools without the assistance of anyone else, however I tend to remember my steps better when I do something on my own. Furthermore, I found that my Amaya page was rather amateurish and have since taken it down because of this, which is something I’m trying to avoid on my school website. Overall, I found the process to be a refresher of the skills that I’ve already learned from building my class website and a skills training exercise in navigating a new web design editor.

Social learning networks are increasingly being used in classrooms to further student learning. Online discussion boards and wikis are two of the most common tools for academic purposes, however advantages and disadvantages arise with using each of these tools. As part of an assignment for ETEC 565, we were asked to explore the advantages and challenges related to group collaboration using these these learning tools.

Online discussion boards, such as the version in WebCT Vista, promotes social collaboration in the form of individual messages. In other words, a teacher can post a message (i.e. a question), students can respond to those questions by creating their own messages, and then students can respond to each other’s posts with even more messages. The messages are pre-organized into sections, called threads, based on topics. Similar to a newspaper format, one can read entire sections all the way through or skip to a particular thread that interests them. One key benefit of this format is that entire threads can be skipped to save time and posts changed from highlighted to un-highlighted after they have been read. One challenge to this format is that sets of messages can only be viewed by each thread or conversation topics, meaning that conversations cannot be viewed across topics.

In wikis, conversations are written on a message board and are viewed in their entirety. The format is similar to having students write linear messages on a chalkboard, however messages can be added inbetween already added ones. One difference between a wiki and a discussion board is that a wiki can also be a group workspace which can include or not include names. A history feature on wikis also allows readers to track who wrote a particular comment in order to track a group’s progress and individual contributions over time. A color coding feature is also available on wikis to help better designate individual contributions. Another advantage of wikis is that one group member can post an entire essay on the wiki and another group member can turn on an editing feature and edit and save the document. One disadvantage of wikis is that it is currently impossible to designate which comments have been previously read, unlike a discussion board which unhighlights read comments.

Overall, I would contend that the debate on whether to use an online discussion board or a wiki depends on the overarching purpose. In my own experience, I prefer the organization of discussion boards for entire class discussions. The fact that discussion boards unhighlight read messages saves a lot of time compared to skimming an entire wiki for unread messages, which can be time consuming. In contrast, I prefer wikis for small group projects because our essay or project can be read easily in entirety and then individual contributions can be read color-coded.

This past weekend was my first experience working with Moodle.  My goal was to create the general course format for my Moodle and prepare a self-introduction activity as an icebreaker.  As I was working with Moodle, I came to a number of conclusions based on my experiences.

Moodle itself is relatively user-friendly and easy-to-use, so the program wasn’t particularly challenging for me to navigate. I was surprised, however, by the planning process involved in designing quality activities and the overall appearance of Moodle page. The planning process can be extremely time consuming. I focused on the quality of the activities so they did not seem amateurish. Lastly, I designed my Moodle pages using images I found online, but realized the potential copyright violations involved and consequently redid my photos, which took even more time.

Overall, the experience taught me the importance of having an educational design team in each department to assess the quality of various Moodle activities and aid in preparing them. I also realized that having copyright-free resources for designing activities is particularly important.