As I began to look for communication systems, I found a company called Sun. In 2008 Sun launched two different portals or web programs for the education community to use to communicate about education. One of the portals is used to connect the educators and people from the education community. The second is for students who are interest in these tools and communicating. The first portal is called educonnect.org. This site allows schools from across the nation enter in their information about new technologies for schools and allows Sun to engage and support the educational community. This program works to find out the information about the technologies, give all the information about them good and bad, and provide support for solving technology issues. There is also a link on the page called parish web portal. This sounds almost like a home page for people to get to know you and then interact with others. The second program is called Open Source University Meet Up. This site was created to help students connect and share information about tech tools like Java. The site lists several times and places where groups of students will meet up to have conversations and ideas about them as well. In a way both of the websites connect the world of students and of educators. May people can see what students are thinking about the tech tools and the same with the education world. Sun also supports a program which creates a virtual classroom. This is a free and open program called Project Wonderland. There are also digital libraries and identity software to make sure that once a student logs in, they are who they say they are. This website is full of wonderful information and a world which little people know about. Virtual Classrooms are becoming more popular in the education world and it is important for many educators to understand and navigate them. The website that had the article about these programs is
http://sun.systemnews.com/articles/128/5/opt-edu/20800.
The virtual classrooms are like any classroom with students asked to raise their hands and provide wonderful points on readings and the class homework. The conversation revolves around educational technology as well for the web sites.
This is an image from Project Wonderland.
I think in Anchorage there is a virtual classroom school. I think its designed to suppliment homeschoolers. I think its a good idea. Studies have shown many children homeschooled get higher test scores when they have to do the yearly evaluation. Vitual classrooms is also nice for small Alaskan towns were schools may not exist need supplimental support.
ReplyDeleteReally Nicole? How interesting. I myself am partial to a face to face classroom. I think that is why this summer has been so difficult for me because all four of my classes are online. I could definitely see how if you were in a remote location or had mobility issues, digital classrooms would be awesome!
ReplyDeleteThese portals sound really cool I have never used one. I think the best part is that students are giving their opinions on tech tools in the classroom. Teachers may think that a certain tech tool is just the coolest but, the students just think that it is lame. So having students input is very valuable that way teacher can not spend the time and energy on a tech tool that tehe student do not want to use in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Project Wonderland. That's a neat concept. I think it would be very useful in Alaska, as Nicole mentioned. I like that idea because I am interested in working with homeschool programs. Alaska is very "homeschool-friendly" because of the bush communities/villages. My own kids attended public school, charter schools, and were homeschooled at times. I can see the pros and cons of both public and homeschool programs. A virtual classroom would have definitely been beneficial when my sons were younger. Others who would benefit from this type of classroom would be those who are not able to attend school due to medical reasons. If a student is contagious or is receiving medical treatment out of state, he or she could still keep up with schoolwork and not have to repeat a grade as is so often the case.
I also like what Kevin had to say about student input. I have noticed that a lot this summer in my 301 practicum. Some books and projects that I think kids will like have not been received with much enthusiasm, while others that I would not have chosen myself are what kids really enjoy.
Thanks for checking out this website!
What a great way to connect people together. It seems like this type of technology could be the future for internet classes like this one. It is neat to see sites like this because it really helps to open education to all people. No matter where someone lives they are able to connect and become part of a class as long as they have an internet connection.
ReplyDeleteProject Wonderland sounds pretty sweet, it seems like a great way to communicate through technology. I liked that they have an online library too, I think that is especially helpful for students. I also see this technology as a good resource for home schoolers. It might be a little intimidating at first but I think students could really benefit from the virtual interaction and the ability to collaborate.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of Sun, but their virtual classroom reminds me of the virtual meetings people "travel" to for work. I think students would pay attention to their actions in a classroom where they can see their peers, instead of in elive where we all feel so alone.
ReplyDelete