March 31, 2013
Discuss your experience so far with your students.
What comments have you made on their work and how are their wikis coming along?
Did you have any issues with bridging the student-adviser gap? Any hurdles or
barriers to overcome?
At first I had some difficulty with the wiki, but I
have become more familiar with flat classroom over the past few weeks. I am an
expert adviser for flattener #10 group 9: Mobile and Ubiquitous. Ubiquitous
means present, appearing, or found everywhere. Mobile refers to portable
communication devices. This topic has to do with mobile connections being
everywhere. Laptops and smartphones are the most common mobile and ubiquitous
devices. Both teams have worked hard on their wikis. I made a few comments
about grammar and spelling. I told them they left some areas on the wiki
blank and they need to add more information. I told them to let me know if they
had any questions. Unfortunately, the students still haven’t made any changes
to the wiki of responded to my comments.
Although we are the tech advisers, we might not be
experts on the topic.
Have you learned anything new working with your students
on these topics? Feel free to share a snippet of their work, a link, article,
or more.
Both groups added a lot of interesting information
and graphics. Below are some examples of student work.
Team A:
How are cell phones changing the world and making
it faster to get in touch with people around the globe?
The more high tech cell phones get the faster they
get it's much easier and faster to get in touch with people. Computers, cell
phones, the internet, and emails changes how the world works and communicates.
One good thing about cell phones, emails, computers and the internet is it's
easier and faster to get in touch with someone. One bad thing about cell
phones, emails, computers and the internet is that kids are learning how to
misspell words at a young age and how to use text language and look up bad
information at a young age. More people now have access to emails and the internet
a lot of people admit that they take advantage of these sources at school or
work. "Majorities of residents in 37 of the 47 countries surveyed now own
a cell phone, including 98% of Czechs and Kuwaitis, and 97% of South Koreans,
as well as two-thirds of Nigerians (67%) and residents of Ivory Coast (66%).
While large differences persist in the overall rate of cell phone ownership in
the rich and poor nations, this gap appears to be narrowing rapidly." The
more computers grow and our nation is changing.
Team B: 6 steroids
• The first steroid: Computing power. in 1971,
the Intel 4004 microprocessor contained 2,3000 transistors. Intel's Tianium
processor has 1.7 billion transistors in 2006.
• The second steroid: Breakthroughs in instant
messaging, peer-to-peer networks and file sharing.
• The third steroid: Breakthroughs in making
phone calls over the Internet (VOIP) -- Skype.
• The fourth steroid: Videoconferencing --
people can collaborate, "communicate their thoughts, facial expressions,
feelings, ire, enthusiasm, and raised eyebrows."
• The fifth steroid:Advances in computer
graphics. "Video games are particularly important in this regard, because
in addition to their very realistic visual images and great sound, they are
highly interactive and increasingly collaborative." (p.194).
• The sixth steroid: Wireless technologies and
devices. In Japan, you can get uninterrupted wireless internet service on your
computer or cell phone while traveling on the bullet train at 150 mph.
According to Tamon Mitsuishi, senior VP at DoCoMo, the Japanese cellular giant,
" the mobile phone will become the essential controller of a person's
life. For example, in the medical field it will be your authentication system
and you can examine your medical records, and to make payments you will have to
hold a mobile phone. You will not be able to lead a life without a mobile
phone, and it will control things at home too. We believe that we need to
expand the range of machines that can be controlled by mobile phone."
Now that you have looked at the other projects
through Flat Classroom, can you envision completing one with your classroom or
student you work with? “The Flat Classroom® Project is a global, collaborative
project using Web 2.0 tools to foster connection, communication, collaboration
and creation.” What about implementing the ideas behind Flat Classroom on your
own? How would you flatten your classroom?
I don’t know if I would use flat classroom in my
classroom because I don’t think elementary students would know how to use this
wiki. I think flat classroom is great for older students. This project has
taught me a lot and I am looking forward to hearing more feedback from the
students.