Virtual Classrooms

A virtual classroom is a classroom in which the learning is real but the actual place it not. Virtual reality goggles are used to portray a fictional or imaginary classroom. Video gamer producers and directors have been using this technology for years, and now teachers are using it to gain more interesting in learning. Psychologists also believe there are many good used for this technology including, figuring out peoples behaviors in different situations.
Virtual reality can also help students who might have disorders such as ADD or ADHD and do not have long attention spans. The original reason for creating this type of classroom was for attention disorders. The test performed with ADD and ADHD students was to use the virtual classroom and perform one of the classic tests to diagnose these problems. For students with ADD the tester used a classroom with no distractions and with the students without, they added many distractions. They found that the students with distractions did better than the ADD students with no distractions at all. Thus making this a more effective test for ADD.
New technology is actually covered in the article itself. Virtual offices are in the making to help people become more organized. Also, virtual reality is being developed for use during medical procedures to make things less painful to the patient.

I think this is an amazing thing for students. It can really cut down on distractions and discipline problems. Without other people to show off for or impress, students probably not act up as much.

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20031022/Feature1.asp

Podcasting

Lars Brownworth, a teacher at a Stoneybrook school started pod casting before it became a big deal. He decided one day to post a recording of himself teaching about the Byzantine Empire and posted it on his personal website. He hardly received any viewers. After Apple started posting pod casts on Itunes, Brownworth’s brother posted his pod cast onto the itunes site. By the time he was back from a trip 1,392 people had already downloaded it. There are other pod casts such as “Word Nerds” and “Grammar Girl” are geared towards teaching and learning.

Pod casting is great way to teach students. So many students today have some form of mp3 player whether it be an Ipod or not, and most of these students are permanently affixed to them so why not put something educational on it?

This may not be the most effective way of teaching but it sure would not hurt. If students are willing to download and listen to these pod casts then they have a greater chance of learning. But I do no think that the majority of the students will be willing to listen to pod casts about education rather then listening to their music or watching videos.

Further technology would be great in order to create a low cost mp3 player that can only play a type of file geared towards learning. This could then solely be used in a classroom setting to aid in teaching. Games can also be created to make the pod cast more rewarding and fun.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/education/31education.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=podcasting%20education&st=nyt&scp=2