Emerging Technologies in the Classroom

A web camera is a digital camera that streams video over the Internet. The images that are streamed over the web camera can be picked up on other web cams across the country or the world. Web cams allow people to pick up videos on current weather conditions, animals at the zoo, teacher's lectures, and much, much more. The great thing about web cameras is that they allow people to communicate face to face over the Internet. This is beneficial to users because it is much more personal than using Facebook or E-Mail. Web cams are great for teachers because they can allow their class to collaborate with another class across the state and the teachers can speak face to face to discuss the unit. A web cam would impact my teaching becuase it would let me show my students see, with their own eyes, what is going on all over the world. If we were doing a unit on natural disasters, the students would be able to watch a web cam broadcast the images from that area into our very own classroom. A web cam would impact student learning in a positive way because they woudl have the opportunity to see the events we are talking about in class and it would make the unit more realistic.

A SMART board is a large, interactive white board that involves using a projector and a computer. SMART boards allow users to draw with digital ink, manipulate applications on the computer's home page and use their fingers as a mouse. The great thing about SMART boards is that they allow teachers to manipulate items after they have been projected up onto the screen, unlike powerpoints or other traditional projector-friendly applications. A SMART board would impact my teaching because it would allow me to have more flexibility with my presentations. I would be able to work through corrections and editions with the students without having to tell them what corrections they need to be doing. A SMART board would impact my student's learning because they would have the opportunity to see and do corrections on the board in a real word document instead of a overhead film copy. This would be great for students because it would give them practice working in a word document and doing editions.

Second Life is an online, virtual world that allows users to communicate over the Internet. Users are represented by self-created avatars that can accumulate property, travel the world and interact with other user's avatars. Second Life does cost money, however there are free trial versions that are more limited than the real thing, but still allow the user to get a feel for the game. Second Life would have a limited impact on my teaching because it is more geared towards older children ages 13 and up. It could affect my teaching because it would allow me to meet other educators and potentially communicate and come up with new lesson plans or fun ideas for my students. Second Life could impact my student's learning because it would potentially give them a virtual world that they could express themselves if they felt to uncomfortable to do it real-life. However, they do not yet have a Second Life world for children younger than 13.

Web Cam: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech100.shtml
Second Life: http://secondlife.com/
SMART Board: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_board