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I was given the opportunity to explore many different technologies and online resources that have the potential to enhance adult learning. I have also had the opportunity to review technologies investigated by my peers. I thought that these three resources have the potential to enhance adult learning in digital citizenship, ethics and netiquette.

The first technology that I thought was very useful was posted by Carla Brown on her blog http://carlabrown6.wordpress.com/. The website is called a Thin Line (http://www.athinline.org/). It was developed by MTV to empower individuals to t identify, respond to, and stop the spread of digital abuse in their lives and among their peers. It aims at helping individuals to understand that there is a thin line between what is considered a harmless joke and something that can negatively impact the lives of others. The website offers information about unacceptable digital practices such as cyber bullying and sexting as well resources that help individual address these issues. There is also a digital quiz that tests individuals’ knowledge of digital abuse. I think that this website is a great resource for adults and children. I would provide this resource to my adult learners so that they can use it to assess instances of digital abuse in their lives. They can even use it to help their children as well.

Another resource that I thought was useful was Five-Minute Film Festival: Teaching Digital Citizenship (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-digital-citizenship) posted by Kamala Mukerji on her blog http://kamalamukerji12.blogspot.com. This resource conveys information about digital citizenship such as its definition, how to be a digital citizen, internet safety issues and much more.  The videos are all short and hold the interest of viewers. I would use these videos in my ESL classes because I think that they provide learners with useful information about digital protocol and give them an opportunity to sharpen their listening comprehension skills!

“Buzzle’s Top Ten Netiquette Rules” ( http://www.buzzle.com/articles/netiquette-rules.html) is a simple one page reference  that can be used to bring learners up to date on the does and don’ts of discussion board, chat room, and e-mail interactions in  learning settings. The reference offers headings with short descriptions of netiquette rules.I would incorporate this quick reference as a resource for my students so they would be able to apply it to segments of the class that are done online. They can even apply the information to online interactions outside of the classroom.  This useful resource was found by Christian Russo and posted on his blog http://edutechinnovations.wordpress.com/.

References

Brown, C. (2013). Two technologies related to digital citizenship, ethics, and netiquette. Retrieved from http://carlabrown6.wordpress.com/

 Mukerji, K. (2013). Digital citizenship, ethics and netiquette. Retrieved from http://kamalamukerji12.blogspot.com/2013/10/digital-citizenship-ethics-and.html

Russo, C. (2013).Netiquette 1, misunderstandings 0. Retrieved from http://edutechinnovations.wordpress.com/

Two Technologies promoting Digital Citizenship and Ethics

The first resource I selected is a website called Ethics Game. This online source would be good for administrators, teachers, and students.  According to the website, the online tools provided teach critical thinking, ethical awareness and ethical decision making. “Students who go through Ethics Game programs gain a common language and understanding of ethics” (www.ethicsgame.com).

When I become an ESL teacher, I will introduce this website to my students. The students in my classes will need to know how to interact in the online community with their peers and their instructors. This site can help students understand the differences between communication with peers outside of the classroom as opposed to communication with classmates in formal class activities as well as with instructors and employers.

The second resource is Common Sense Media (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence). This resource deals with Digital Citizenship curriculum. The resources are identified as K-12, but I think they could be useful for adults as well.  There are lessons about internet safety, privacy, communication, information literacy, copyrighting and cyber bullying among others.

 I would share this information with my students. Some adult learners are not very tech savvy and may not be aware of acceptable digital protocol. My students in turn, can share this information with their children and friends.  I believe that raising awareness of digital protocols will result in better digital citizens.

References

Common Sense Media. (2013). Scope and Sequence. Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence

Ethics Game (2013). Retrieved from http://www.ethicsgame.com

Distance Education Technologies That Have the Potential to Enhance Adult Education

Two technologies that can be useful to educators and learners participating in distance learning programs are webinars and Vyew, a website that facilitates online collaboration and web conferencing.

Webinars are lectures, seminars or meetings that are conducted online in real time and recorded for reuse. Webinars enable interactive conferencing. Their use within education is becoming popular especially in distance learning. Webinars offer a number of opportunities for teaching and learning. They support remote teaching sessions and facilitate group or individual activity (Jisc Digital Media,2013).Professors can use webinars to host lectures by guest professors or to cover various topics. Learners can use webinars to help them get more information about topics relevant to their area of study, to learn research and academic writing skills. I believe that this digital tool can be used to support adult learners in their studies.

The other online tool I chose was Vyew. Vyew is a website that allows users to “host live conferences and work collaboratively on content asynchronously over time, any time” (www.vyew.com). This tool is free and it gives users opportunities to collaborate through different mediums. It has the ability to integrate files, pictures and videos etc (pretty terrific!). I think that this ability makes Vyew an attractive collaboration tool. There are many other attractive features which give this tool potential to enhance adult learning.

For more information visit: http://www.vyew.com

References:

Jisc Digital Media, (2013). Webinars in education. Retrieved from http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/webinars-in-education

Vyew (2013). Retrieved from http://www.vyew.com

Games for learning

The technologies identified here have the potential to engage English Language learners in tasks that will enhance their use of the target language in their writing and speaking. The two technologies are SimCity and Zondle.

SimCity requires players to create their own city, plan the layout of the city and provide support services that the city will need. Players need to be very strategic when building their city so that it can be successful. This game can be used to engage students in conversation activities in an ESL class.  Students can be placed into groups to plan the construction of their city. They will have to discuss the strategy they will use for their city. As the city planners,  they will have to come up with solutions that arise in their town. This activity allows students to practice using their speaking and listening skills. It will also keep them engaged in their learning.

Students can be further engaged by asking them to write about their experience. They will have to specify what their contributions were to the project and what they thought was good or bad about the outcome. They can also include what they would do if they had to plan the city on their own.

Another technology that I reviewed was Zondle. Zondle is a free online tool that can be used to create, play and share games to support online learning.  The game formats are already built into Zondle and instructors can add the educational content that is specific to their course. The site already has topics built into it, but educators have the option of creating their own topics and questions. Instructors can establish a virtual classroom and can enroll users. Students will login to the Zondle website using the information provided by their instructors and complete the game assigned to them. Teachers can then monitor students’ progress after they have completed their assignments.  The games on Zondle are very useful for homework, assessment, revision and learning.

I would use this technology to create games that deal specifically with topics covered in the course. For instance, I would create questions based on different situations covered in the class (e.g placing an order at a restaurant, going on a job interview etc)  that require students to use contextually appropriate language. To create a game, I would apply these questions to one of the formats provided on Zondle. I would  assign  that game to students. I would also utilize existing games for various topics covered in my class.

References

 SimCity. (2013). SimCity official website. Retrieved from http://www.simcity.com/

 Zondle. (2013). Zondle: Create, play and share games to support teaching and learning. Retrieved from https://www.zondle.com/publicPages/welcome.aspx