Blog #10

Bibliography #10

Chau, P., (2010).  Online Higher Education Commodity.  Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 22, 177-179.  Retrieved on December 16, 2010 from http://www.springerlink.com/content/bg6047wm757168q0/fulltext.pdf.

This is a peer-reviewed article.  The author Paule Chau has a Master's degree in English Composition. She has taught English as a Second Language in the United States and China. Since 2008, she has worked as an online instructor.  She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Composition and TESOL at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

This article examines the growing trends in the direction of on-line learning.  According to the article, many of the motivating factors for online education are the low cost, accessibility and flexibility on the lecturers and students.  The University of Phoenix’s goal was to provide the non-traditional student, who could not addend in-class lectures due to time restraints, an online learning experience.  Many suggest that technology and online education is useful because it is a necessity for the future.  The article suggest that many corporations, businesses and governments are in a demand for technology and are supporting the increase of technology in the classroom.  Furthermore, the article states that online education has increased by 12.9% since 2006. Although there is such a demand for online education, it is providing a knowledge-based economy.   Online education is used as a commodity, where there is a sense of producers and consumers.  The author states, that current trends in online education are increasing online programs due to financial circumstances.  For example, the University of Phoenix had a net earning of $2.9 million dollars for the University of Phoenix sector alone.  Chau states, that’s students are becoming more like consumers, faculty into entrepreneurs, and institutions of higher learning into storefronts for knowledge (178).  This demand for online education has changed the role of institutions.  According to the article, students are not being viewed as learners but consumers of a product and the educator provides the merchandise.  Chau states that educators should be aware of the trends and look closely into the true rational for promoting online education.  

Blog #9

Bibliography #9

Smith, M., and Butrymowicz, S. (2010).  Charters and Public Schools Team Up in Texas. Education Week, retrieved on December 11, 2010 from

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/12/10/15txcharter_ep.h30.html?tkn=QYZFiPoI6iuxSP2VBCgOUlWq7iTTIcQhjDNB&cmp=clp-edweek

This article’s focus was on how charter schools and public schools in Texas are coming together for professional development programs to help improve student learning.  The teachers at the public school, San Juan of IDEA public schools and the charter school in Rio Grande Valley are sharing their students’ success stories.  The teachers have been attending the valley training center.  The center is designed to allow schools to work together to take in students that are typically not expected to graduate from high school—get them to graduate, and help them get ready for college.  The program helps prepare the teachers for the social academic challenges that are faced from these students.  

The article mentioned that there has been much funding for the charter school program.  According to the article, the Obama Administration has supported the charter school collaboration and has provided funding.  Additionally, to help start the program IDEA received $3 million from private establishments.  It is expected that 1,200 teachers will attend the center over the next four years. 

Blog #8

Bibliography #8

Preston, G., Philips R., Gosper M., McNeill M., Woo K., and Green D. (2010). Web-Based Lectures Technologies: Highlighting the Changing Nature of Teaching and Learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26, 6, 717-728.  Retrieved on December 4, 2010 from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/preston.pdf.

The articles’ focus was to determine if Web-Based Lecture Technologies (WBLT) such as, lectures for web delivery in streaming, downloadable lessons or podcast were an effective tool for teaching.  The article suggested that, in the past, many students have preferred WBLT because they allow for flexibility and easy access to lectures.  Many universities have adapted to this change in technology by using WBLT, however, some universities have not made connections with their students and their individual needs.

In the article, James Preston conducted a study, interviewing four Australian universities.  A total of 815 students were interviewed or completed a survey.  A total of 135 academic lecturers where interviewed and asked to complete a survey.  The study found that WBLT was very popular amongst the students.  The students were in favor of the WBLT because it allowed for student flexibility.  Furthermore, students felt that WBLT made learning easier.  76% of the students agreed that WBLT had a positive effect on their learning experience.  The article stated that the lecturers' saw a reduction in the student attendance when using the WBLT.  55% of the lecturers' felt that WBLT decreased lecture attendance (Preston 2010, 721).  The lecturers' were concerned about the many students that were not able to keep up with the curriculum.

The author suggests that WBLT is a great tool for students to use because it gives students the ability to be flexible with their schedules.  However, if teachers decide to use WBLT, they should monitor their students’ attendance closely.  Furthermore, teachers should manage their student expectations (Preston, 2010 725).  Teachers should examine their role closely in their part that they play in the WBLT.  

Blog #7

Bibliography 7

Arena, C. (2008) Blogging in the Language Classroom: It Doesn’t “Simply Happen” [Electronic Version].  Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 11, 4, 1-7. Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from

http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.43

This is a peer-reviewed article.  The author of this article is Carla Arena a Brazilian EFL teacher, explorer of the potential of technology integration into language learning.

The article’s focus is on how important it is to teach students the importance of the use of blogs and how effective they can be in education.  The article focus is on how teachers need to address the best practices’ for the use of blogs.  According to the article, many understand that blogs can be used to construct knowledge and are used to post material online, however there is much more to blogging.  The article states that blogging can be used for professional development, class blogs, and students' individual blogs, (Arena, 2008, p1).  The article states that blogs can be used as conversations.  When blogs are used for conversations, the teacher has to define his or her role as the communicator and their particular position they play in blogging.  The educator should be monitoring the conversations amongst the students.  Students can use blogging to answer posts and learn how to properly cite sources. 

The article suggests that students can use blogs as a way to establish their own blogging voice.  Blogging can be used to develop thinking skills.  Students should be writing about a topic that is sincere to them, which allows them to stay engaged in the writing.  The teacher has to support the students in this process of finding their tone by commenting on the dialogue.  Additionally, the article states that blogging can be used for Authentic Audience.  Blogs allow for relationships to build beyond the instructor (Arena, 2008, p4).  Blogs allow for students to open up and establish relationships with other students in the class.

The article suggests that blogging can be used as a tool for tagging.  In the article Arena carried out a study on a group of teachers.  The study's focus was on the use of tagged blogs.  The study was called Blogging for Educators.  Many teachers participated in a blog discussion.  The study had all teachers tag there content with the tag Blogging for Educators.  The educators then did a search and found that their searches were already tagged with Blogging for Educators.  Arena created a new tag each week.  Although the participants were falling behind, they still were able to communicate by following their tagged colleges. 

The article covered the various use of blogging.  The author points out that learning via blogs does not just happen over night.  Blogging doesn't "simply happen" (Arena, 2010, p6).  It happens when the educators and learners completely put forth the effort to establish and participate in meaningful conversations.

Blog #6

Bibliography 6

Gibson, D. (2001). The Way We Were…Education on the Fly [Electric version].  Technos Quarterly, 10, 3. Retrieved November 20, 2010, from http://www.ait.net/technos/tq_10/3gibson.php.

This article’s focus was on the change that has occurred in Distance Learning Programs from the past to the present, and how driven educators can make a difference in our education system.  The article was about the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI), which was a distance learning program back in the 1960’s.  MAPTI was an instructional television program that provided high quality instruction to students through out the Midwest.  To increase its audience, the recording occurred on an airplane. The instruction was recorded on videotape and broadcasted in six different states: Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, and Wisconsi (Gibson 2001).

The article stated that MPATI had its troubles with staying functional.  Many times the electronic equipment was vacuum-tube and would constantly burn out.  However, this did not stop MPATI.  MPATI continued to carry out television transmissions for over 20 years.  MPATI provided effective instruction to many schools (Gibson 2001.) The Airplane was eventually taken over in the late 1980’ by interactive satellites, which delivered the distance learning.  Today schools have the capability to videoconference school-to-school and network with each other.

What the article was trying to point out is that an individual with instructional needs will always find a way to overcome its barriers.

Blog #5

Bibliography 5

McCarthy, J. (2010). Blended learning environments: Using social networking sites to enhance the first year experience. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 26, 6, 729-740.

This article focuses on the social and academic interaction between peers at the university level.  The study was done to determine if social network sites are meaningful in the learning environments.  The researchers studied to see if engaging students with their peers on the online site Facebook was just as effective to learning as traditional teaching mechanisms.  In the article, 120 students had to create an account on Facebook, interact with their peers and build relationships with each other.  Additionally, students had to submit work online and take an assessment on Facebook.  Students then had to attend an in class lecture to discuss their experience on Facebook.  The students had to take a survey to answer various questions to their experience on Facebook.  The questions assessed the students attitudes towards ‘on-line’ and ‘in class’ communication with their colleague. 

The article found that many of the students thought the opportunity to interact with their peer on Facebook was an effective tool for the learning experience.  They preferred the online interaction instead of being singled out in a classroom.  Furthermore, students thought the assessment was a good learning tool.

In general, I thought the article was meaningful for Facebook.  However, this article does not provide adequate generalizations for all social networking sites.  To be more comprehensive, more research should be completed on the other social networking sites.

Blog #4

Bibliography 4

McKenzie, Jamie (2010). Over-Equipped? Is it possible to have too many laptops? [Electronic version]. from now on: the educational technology journal 20, 1.  Retrieved on November 6, 2010 from http://fno.org/sept2010/overequipped.html.

This article’s focus was to determine if it is necessary for every single student in the classroom to have a laptop.  The article states that it has been assumed that all students should have their own laptop.  Each student having his or her own laptop can be beneficial when working on a personal assignment.  However, a single laptop amongst a group of students working coherently provides a more effective learning experience.

In the article, six teachers in Tasmania attended a Professional development program.  The teachers were to interpret a painting.  Each teacher used their own laptop for a given assignment, and later used 1 laptop when interacting with each other on the assignment.  The use of the single laptop was more beneficial to the learning process because the teachers were able to interact with each other.  The article also suggested that having a laptop does not necessarily make students better readers, writers, or thinkers (Mckenzie 2010, 1).  It depends on how the students are using the laptop that makes a difference.  Many teachers have discovered that activities work better when students are interacting with each other instead of being isolated.  Students isolate themselves when working on a single laptop, but are interactive with each other when working in a group on a single laptop.

This article does not provide adequate generalizations for students. The article shows limitations because it provides research on the use of laptops by teachers only instead of students.  The focus of the article was student interaction with laptops in the classroom, not teachers.  I think that the article should have more evidence for student interaction and not just teacher interaction, if the overall viewpoint is student interaction on laptops.