My group continued in working towards putting together our professional development video that will be aimed at teaching existing teachers about a specific content area, a specific pedagogy and a technology (TPACK). We decided to go with:
Content: SOSE
Pedagogy: Inquiry Based Learning
Technology: Second Life
In order for this professional development video to be successful further research into each area will be necessary. I was conscious throughout the planning process that we were not taking on a “technocentric” approach as spoken about in previous weeks. Therefore, the first step my group took was exploring how to cover the Essential Learnings for the grade level appropriate.
We then decided that inquiry based learning would be appropriate for teaching SOSE using Second Life. Inquiry based learning is, “not so much seeking the right answer, it is a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge by seeking information through questioning” (EBC, 2004, p.1). The students will explore the world of Second Life through virtual fieldtrips, personal exploration and teacher-guided direction through questioning to create a research report. The planning around these lessons/unit was created using Marsh’s model of inquiry.
The last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning, “tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand” (EBC, 2004, p.1). Second Life effectively involves the students in their learning because it is engaging. Second Life, “enables deeply immersive, meaningful, and memorable experiences” (Linden Lab, 2011, p.3) and it caters, “to many kinds of learners - visual, auditory, and experiential” (Linden Lab, 2011, p.4).
For more information on Second Life in education read the following document:
Our professional development video is using a combination of different technologies including; jaycut.com video editing, Screencast-o-Matic, GoAnimate, video recording, Audacity, PowerPoint and Microsoft Word. I feel that I have mastered these technologies when putting together our group’s personal development video. Jaycut.com worked as a really good movie editing program because it worked within the ‘cloud’ allowing our entire movie to be saved online and no technological issues occurred that we were previously experiencing with Movie Maker. Screencast-o-Matic was the perfect tool to use within our movie as it provides the audience with clear guidance of how to use and implement our educational technology in the classroom. I was hesitant to use animations within our movie, although, I was pleasantly surprised when I worked out that it was a simple program to use. Overall, I feel that I not only mastered the understanding of the educational program Second Life, I also developed numerous technological skills that I did not have previously.
Reference List Education Broadcasting Corporation. (2004). Concept to classroom- what is inquiry based learning? Retrieved April 14, 2011, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html Linden Lab. (2011). Second life education: The virtual learning advantage. Retrieved April 14, 2011, from http://lecs-static-secondlife- com.s3.amazonaws.com/work/SL-Edu-Brochure-010411.pdf |
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