I thought the presentation I gave was a good beginning introduction to Google Earth and what it may offer to a language classroom. I really enjoyed watching the students maneuvere around it and see the potential benefits that it has. One of the reasons why I enjoy using it so much is because of my love of Geography and History. I can't wait to incorporate my web based lesson with this great tool. I think the recording feature offers many great things, but it still has faults. It would be nice if the images were clear in the 3-D viewing (they become blurry when recorded), and that you could see the multimedia pictures and videos that the author would click on. Nonetheless, it's a great thing to monkey around with! :)
James' podcasting presentation was a great thing to see. I really enjoyed seeing the potential benefits that casting offers to a class. I think this is something that I could utilize in future projects. Privacy would have to be very important. I think that when publishing them, especially for K-12 classes, they should be kept private on a site where you establish the personal settings.
Dira and I discussed our web based project some more. We're sticking to the travel theme and hopefully will use Google Earth to enhance our lesson. Perhaps we can even use some sort of voicethread to enhance the communication between students and teacher. I look forward to completing this assisngment.
I would say you and James did very good jobs!
ReplyDeleteFirst, your demonstration in using Google earth impressed me with practicality and authenticity. Besides the love of History and Geography as you mentioned, I want to add one more thing. It really nurtures the learners' imagination and the choice of what and how to do at their needs and levels.
Then, James' performance of podcast gave me a picture of online audio file. I thnk you raised a good point of privacy when publishing online.
Jesse I really enjoyed your presentation Bro. You surely know how to use technology as teaching aid tool. Your Google earth presentation was fantabulous. It never occurred to me that one can use Google earth in a manner you demonstrated. I think you chose CALL knowing exactly that you have the ability to explore technology far beyond an average person would do.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments guys. Google Earth is most certainly a fun toy to monkey with. And the fact that it is free really makes it accessible to any classroom or home. Manuvuering within it can be tricky, but if the students are taught step by step, I think there wouldn't be too many technical difficulties.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your Google Earth presentation!! I did not realize how much they have done with it that you can do!! It was very impressive. I especially like the giving a tour idea. I am excited to play with it some more and look at the places I have studied abroad. I agree with your privacy issue on podcasts.
ReplyDeleteHi Jesse, so (in reference to your comment on my blog) I went to Voice Thread and added all of you into my contact list, so I'm assuming you should have received emails from me???? Let me know if there's something else I still need to do. (It's not as if my comments were all that exciting, but it'd be nice to know whether I'm getting this to work or not.)
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed your Google Earth presentation. I am sure a lot of Chinese students use Google Earth so it should work in China.
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