Towards the end of the chapter there was a compelling section that discussed the use of educational websites interactively. The portion that stuck out the most to me was engagement. In other chapters we’ve discussed the importance of interactions between students and technology, as well as ways to engage students. However, this small section brought up the point of how information is presented in a way that would compel students to interact and better respond to information. Instead of providing information in a bland way through regular textbook readings or assignments, introducing a more exciting and engaging method would reap more benefits. The book describes “a compelling storyline, interesting characters, a perplexing mystery, or a controversial issue or idea” to attract the students (Maloy, et al, 2014, p. 150).
A tool for managing information electronically that has vastly gone
unnoticed in our daily lives is the use of bookmarking. This utensil has become
so common and secondary that we forget just how useful and vital it actually
is. Remember the days when we had to look through countless books just to find
one page or paragraph of information we needed? Then we would fold the page,
highlight the information, or place of bookmark in so we could go back and find
it later. Now, imagine finding multiple sites or web pages with information you
need, and having to leave up all the tabs hoping you don’t accidentally exit
out of one which would mean you lost that page you might have searched for
hours. Thanks to bookmarking, once we find a page with valuable information
that we would like to view again in the future, we are able to SAVE that page
online and refer to it later; even after we exit out of it! We may take it for
granted, but bookmarking is just as handy as it was when it was first
introduced.
In conclusion, virtual tools are becoming more and more powerful and
useful within the world of education. Virtual schools have become more popular
and are able to cater to a diverse group of students that benefit greatly from
its flexibility, availability, and the resources it provides. Interactive and
engaging websites and programs are paving a new path for students to better
understand and relate to the information they are being presented with. And
lastly, even though technology is forever moving forward, we are still
benefiting greatly from the features that were first introduced when the online
world was beginning to take off.
Resources
Goshay, N. (2015, November 15). Virtual Schools. Created with Picktochart
https://magic.piktochart.com/editor/piktochart/9336684#
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2014). Transforming Learning with New Technologies.
2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
zSpace (2015, January 19). zSpace VR in K-12 Education.
Retrieved November 15, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd2tgj6KBGs
Love your Picktochart! :) As a future teacher, can you imagine how beneficial the infographic could be to help students understand (and create) the relationship between numbers and text/image. When you look at USA Today newspaper, you'll see their heavy use of infographics to draw attention to the written text, as well. Nice job on your post. :)
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