VR in Education

"Do any of these tools look like something you could utilize in your classroom? Does virtual reality (VR) or the 3D web have a place in K-12 education? If so, in what context? If not, why not? Is virtual reality safe? Given the time it takes to learn to interact in a virtual world, can an educator justify spending that time away from the typical curriculum? Do you think VR is just a fad? Explain your reasoning."
Personally, I didn't really like what I saw with the virtual reality/3D web. The second life things kind of creeped me out and some of the YouTube videos almost started making me motion sick with the quick turns and spins and jumps from one place to another. I think that some students spend enough time in virtual reality and school is a place where they need to be in the real world. Social networking online is nice, but students need practice with face to face communication too. Don't get me wrong some of the virtual tours of museums and monuments maybe neat for a social studies class or an art class to visit for a short time here and there, but I couldn't ever see myself implementing most of these in my classroom. The closest I could ever see myself using is a system called HOPSports for physical education that I wrote about a couple weeks ago on our discussion board. One of the games is like students are the video game characters and are punching and kicking meteors to earn points and working out at the same time, but the way I see it is at least here they are active and becoming healthier and they are still doing it with all of their classmates as a group.
I think the safety issue of the virtual reality is what worries me the most. There are predators online, and it is difficult to know who students are talking to and about what on these VR sites. If a teacher wants the students to explore the tours of specific location, maybe instead of the entire class doing so individually, the class can do it together with the teacher in charge of the mouse. This way only the teacher has to have specific training, and the students can kind of learn as they go. Plus the quiz questions that can pop up can still be answered individual on paper and turned in for participation points. Maybe at some point a large VR site specifically for only educational purposes will be created with multiple branches of topics for K-12 grades to use. This might make it safer, and teachers more confident in using it.
I don't think that VR is just a fad. I think it is going to continue to grow. Nobody's life is perfect, and in VR, people can be seen how ever they want to be seen, and they like that. They can do things that they will probably never have a chance to do in real life. Most want what they can't have, and VR gives them a taste of that.
I still think some of it is just kind of creepy.

Educational Software

I think we have all seen the Rosetta Stone comercials on television. In fact, I just saw one yesterday evening. I may not ever try to constantly teach students a foriegn language, but a language program might find some use in cross-curriculum activities. Not to mention with the every increasing numbers of the population of Spanish speaking students, lessons to teachers may come in handy. I decided to try to find a review on the Roseta Stone program and found this website: http://www.language-learning-advisor.com/review-of-rosetta-stone.html. This review is written by a single who has reviewed multiple language learning systems. Then at the bottom there are multiple reviews from other consumers.
The creator of the site is Ron Tichenor, CPhT. He calls himself a hobbyist, that plans on going back to school to study languages. His review of Rosetta Stone summed up told me to use the trial first instead of paying hundreds of dollars first to see if the product will work for me. Rosetta Stone does not use translation from the native language to the new one. The native language is not involved. It is all done in the new language and pictures and hints are used along with trial and error. Tichenor said that this can lead to students just being lazy and guessing without learning or cheating with the latin base of the word.
From the both Tichenor's and the personal reviews, Rosetta Stone can be summed up by saying it is an expensive program that needs to work more on proper language grammar and it only works well with some people.
I think I would probably be on the look out for good reviews on less expensive language learning programs.

Ning Post

http://suekriz.ning.com/
Ning is a social networking site that can easily be used for the classroom. It can be set as a public site or a private site to provide more safety for your students. There are multiple options to make the site the best it can be for your specific class. Groups can be created, which may be helpful for group project work, and the groups' progress can be observed more closely by you. Events and due dates can be listed in another box. You can also list notes for the class in another area. The blog is another interesting option. Not only can you have class discussions through the blog, but you can also have some of your posts done in advance and just list the date you want the site to post it, so it is not forgotten.
The chat option can also have different uses. You might have an hour every night in which the students can ask you questions. The site can also be used to easily send class wide email.
Bing also has music, video, and picture options. You can use these options to post podcasts or videos you want your class to see. You can also take pictures of your class activities and post them on your bing site.

Responce #2

http://lizsdregas.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/education-blog-uses/ was the blog that I responded to. It is about using blogs in education.

Thoughts on ED 205 Online

I'm not a big fan of online classes, although I still think this one is pretty well, especially compared to some online classes I've heard about. I'm learning new things and trying out new things, so that can always be considered a success. I haven't taken any online classes before, and if I can avoid it I don't think I'll take many in the future. I much prefer the live discussions that take place in regular classes compared to trying to write a couple paragraphs twice a week for a discussion board conversation. I think I would get my thoughts across better. If there had been the option of taking the class on the Allendale campus, unless it was a Friday class, I'm pretty sure I would have chosen that over the online class.
I like that lectures are done in a combination of written items and podcasts. I would like a little more information on how the exams are going to be done (multiple choice, T/F, short answer) and possibly some sort of study guide. I also appreciate the fact that our opinions for improvement are asked about this class, and then THEY ARE ACTUALLY LISTENED TO AND USED.
I would prefer to have direct face to face contact for a class, but even though I don't, I think I still doing pretty good.

http://www.wahpetondailynews.com/articles/2009/09/18/news/doc4ab3ea5944f2b211114578.txt#blogcomments
is the website that I posted on. At this time my comment is still waiting approval. Unfortunately they had a word limit on their comment lengths, so I had to cut down my comment to about half of what it was.
P.S. Happy Weekend

This is a test post to see if I actually did this correctly.