Day+Seven


 * Welcome to Day Seven**

We watched the video Did You Know 2012 and left comments in the forum. This is a word cloud made from your comments. Move your mouse over the cloud to see how the words jump out. media type="custom" key="20378520"
 * Yesterday** we started working on our digital stories, our units, and we set up a Twitter account- or at least tried to.

Things to do or finish up
 * Today** we will continue to work on our digital stories, our units, and listen to a thought provoking video on social networking.
 * If you haven't already done so, please set up a Twitter account.
 * Add to the Prezi
 * Finish writing your 200 word story about your picture.

A. New Media Literacies

Many of you made the comment in the forum that we need to get with the program - we need the technology in order to help prepare our students for the 21st century. Henry Jenkins says " It is not about the technology- it is about the skills." The New Media Literacy skills that we have been talking about each class are easier to teach with technology but if you don't have the technology you need to find some way to provide those skills to the students. He says lack of technology is **not an excuse for not teaching those skills.** There are ways to teach these skills with high tech, low tech or no tech. Click on the link to the article High Tech, Low Tech, No Tech and read it. In the forum comment on what you have read.

Today's new literacy skills are visualization and simulation

Visualization - the ability to translate information into visual models and understand the information visual models are communicating. VIsualization has become a key way we cope with large data sets and make sense of the complexity of our environment. Displaying data is charts and graphs, creating flow charts, timelines, digital stories, and venn diagrams are all ways of visualzing information.

In the table below suggest one way you could have your students work on **visualization** of the following concepts using the 3 levels of technology. You need to click on the edit button in order to add to the chart.


 * Activity || High Tech || Low Tech || No Tech ||
 * Different characters in a story ||  ||   ||   ||
 * History of the independence of Dominica || Create a time line using XTimeline.com ||  ||   ||
 * Directions on how to get somewhere ||  ||   ||   ||
 * The similarities and differences of Dominica and Martinique ||  ||   ||   ||
 * How to change a tire || View a youtube video [] || use your smartphone's google search in the browser to see step by step pictures || watch a mechanic changing a tire ||
 * Monthly expenses ||  ||   ||   ||
 * The directions to somewhere in a foreign language ||  ||   ||   ||

Simulation **:** the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes. Being able to interpret, manipulate and create simulations can help you understand innumerable complex systems, like ecologies and computer networks - and make you better at playing video games Examples of simulations- Teachers in a business class ask students to make imaginary investments in the stock market and then monitor actual business reports to track the rise and falls of their “holdings.” This well-established classroom practice mirrors what youth do when they form fantasy sports leagues, tracking the performance of players on the sports page to score their results, and engaging in imaginary trades to enhance their overall standings. Both of these practices share a movement between imaginary scenarios (pretend investments or teams) and real-world data.The simulated activities introduce them to the logics by which their real-world counterparts operate and to actual data sets, research processes, and information sources. or Simulation games such as SimCity provide a context for learning a skill Clark calls “embracing co-control” (2003, p 160). In this game, creating and maintaining a city requires exerting various forms of indirect control. Instead of having a top-down control to design a happy, thriving city, the player must engage in a bottom-up process, where the player “grows” a city by manipulating such variables as zoning and land prices. It is only through gaining a familiarity with all the parts of the system, and how they inter- act, that the player is able to nudge the flow in a way that respects the flow. Such a skill can be understood as a process of “com[ing] to grips with decentralized emergent order” (p. 160); a mandatory skill for understanding complex systems.


 * B. Unit Planning**

Continue working on your unit. You do not have to do this in Wikispaces- you can also create a blog. Wikispaces would be used if you want the students to add content to the site. In a wiki students are editors. A blog can be used if you just want the students to read and comment. Students will be unable to edit anything- but they can comment.

Below is an example of another thing that can be embedded or added to your wiki.

This is a file I uploaded from my computer. Students are able to edit this document.



There are many tutorials on wiki spaces. Here is a link to Wikispaces- Wiki Tours that has many tutorials. Just click on Choose a Tour drop down menu and pick a topic.. Each tutorial is a short 2-3 minute video that will lead you step by step on the topic you a chosen.


 * C.** Together- Alone a commentary on Social Networking by Sherry Turkle.

As you listen to this video post comments to our Twitter Hashtag #ITDominica. Respond to the posts of others.


 * D. Digital Storytelling**

Story circle. This is the next step in digital storytelling. In smaller groups we will share the ideas of our stories and get some input from others. This helps students to clarify ideas, generate new ideas, and affirm they are on the right track. Once we have completed this step you will go back and write a final draft of your story. When the final draft is written you need to record your story using audacity. The stories will be coverted to an MP3 and uploaded to the file on your desktop.