Peer teaching is the way to go!

I must say that I was impressed by the presentation rendered by Dana.  She presented on Second life, another virtual world made up avatars.  Dana mentioned that Second Life, can be compared to MOOs and other programs.  The one thing I learned from Wednesday's class, is that Second life can be really enjoyable if the teacher and students know how to get their way around it. I remember that Dr. Lybeck conducted some form of a pilot study on us about Second life, she even invited Dana to come and help us.  Every now and then when we logged on to the class meeting Dana would be there to help those that struggled to join the class. I had troubles following the class meeting.  In most cases, I would find myself wondering in the middle of nowhere, where there were no people.  Sometimes when I get lucky and find my way into the class, I ended up sitting or hanging on the fan attached to the ceiling.  Such experiences distracted me and i think that I have com...

I have enjoyed the presentation by Dr. Bibbie.  I think I like this program for a good reason that it looks familiar to facebook.  i think students also don't like seeing something or don't like trying out new things especially if extremely strange to them. The amount of privacy students can get in Edmodo, I would definitely not mind using it. I like keeping students' records in safe places and as for as long as software programs like Edmodo exists, i don't see how we should be skeptical to try out new things.  I know students don't like showing each other grades so if Edmodo provides privacy, I guess it wouldn't be too bad to try it out.  I wonder if it is also completely free for the entire period of use or someone needs to buy subscription to buy a better version. It offers, chat box and discussion box.  I think students can do like we do in our D2L.   We also discussed our final interview questions in small groups. Esther grouped us according to ...

Wednesday's class was very interesting.  Our guest presenter discussed how uses cellphones in his class.  I thought it was interesting to learn that while some of us are  still thinking about incorporating or infusing cellphone technology use in their classes, some teachers have already started the process.  I think using cellphones can be very cost effective for students and convenient for teachers, because in most cases students have cellphones that have internet access, and frequently, they use their cellphones for social networking sites such as facebook and twitter.  Such networks can be put to good use such learning and classroom discussions. The speaker also talked about the use of E-books which are usually cheaper than paper books.  He said the books they buy usually expire after 6 years. Secondly, we learned about MOOS from Karen's presentation.  I would have love to really experience MOOS in details but I was unable to do that since I ...

Our second online encounter wanted to cartoon me because my screen was not showing me what I expected to see!lol. Anyhow, I figured it out and joined the class successfully.  Even though  I missed telling our guest professor about myself, I did not miss hearing her telling us about the advantages and pros of online teaching and virtual learning.  When she mentioned virtual online learning I thought of second life in Karen's class. Lily mentioned that online has come in handy in the sense that it has provided access to education especially for people who live in extreme remote and rural areas.  She mentioned that because of online learning, people who cannot physically make it to class or school, have the opportunity to learn and not miss out on anything. Lily's comment coincided with what the Professor I'm observing said. They both agree that online class allows people who have jobs or people who are very busy with other things than just school to an opportunity of ...

This week we have learned about twitter and how we as teachers can use it as a teaching aid in our classrooms.  We also created twiiter accounts. Furthermore, I learned about how rapidly technology changes.  It was fun sitting in a cirle discussing about our opinions regarding technology and how we understood the article that was posted in D2L about teachnolgy as a transformer or replica of the traditional method of teaching.  What interested me most was the fact that many of us are technophobic which is something to look at from a different angle.

Many students learn much better when helped by their peers.  Sometimes students do not understand what is taught instantly, therefore, teachers use those that understood better to explain and help those that didn't understand the material taught.  However, there are some students who may not really benefit from peer teaching, but majority of students will always understand if helped by their peers. What do you think?