2.4 Emerging Technologies - Digital Comics - ComicLife

For my emerging technology, I chose to explore digital comics, specifically the program ComicLife.

This is a visual program for making comics, available for Windows, Mac and iPad. It has a 30 day free trial.

One project I witnessed with this software allowed students to share information about where they immigrated from. Students not only shared about their country, but had to research about it and then describe it in basic English in their comic. Many students were very proud when these comic style reports went up on the bulletin board.

It also gave them computer literacy confidence because the program is very easy to start using; and some of the students being refugees, this was very important.

Also, this program was utilized across the school for a variety of projects, not just in the ESL program.

In my current school setting in Thailand, I feel this could be utilized more for actual storytelling as opposed to a 'where you are from' project. As my school is currently delayed due to the floods, this could be an excellent resource for having my students tell the story of how they dealt with the floods which are currently affecting many of them. I feel it could be therapeutic for them to get the story of what happened to their homes out, but I do not yet know how many of my students are affected or to what degree, just that many of them are.

School is tentatively scheduled to begin November 14 instead of November 1, but the flood situation is far from resolved and my area could be affected further. Drinking water and dry goods are scarce. I've taken a week in Malaysia to get some distance from it.

Below is an example of the 'where you come from' assignment in ComicLife.

Also shared here.

4.2: Digital Literacy

The Edutopia Blog article that I chose to read is not necessarily directly linked to digital literacy, but I think it is directly tied to learning retention and just as important.

Balancing Work and Life: The Ongoing Challenge for Educators.

I don't feel like I can adequately learn new technologies or implement them in my classroom when I'm stretched too thin. I don't feel I retain what I'm learning myself - how can I expect my students to have learning retention if the learning curve is too fast and too steep? They'll do exactly what I did to get through high school - cram the night before the test, rely on having a good short term memory, and not retain the information for use later in life.

I spend so much time in front of a computer screen these days, I feel like my retinas are melting and my brain is rotting. Yes, technology is wonderful. But you need exercise, you need outdoors - those are valuable pursuits personally and educationally too, and I've found a lack of time for them.

This is the second online graduate course I've taken this year, and the second time I've found myself working on a class when I'm supposed to be on vacation, because I've just overbooked myself and the internet is not that reliable. Ok I can't fully blame the internet connection.

But really, how can you teach effectively, use good technological scaffolding, when you're not eating breakfast, you're not taking time out for vacation, and when you're overloaded by criticism of teachers?

I teach in an environment that I find particularly challenging for implementing successful lessons, much less digitally rich ones, and I'm constantly reminding myself I'm doing my best and learning to be a better educator just as my students are learning grammar from me.

So taking a lesson in mai pen rai (Thai for nevermind, don't worry about it), and embracing chaos as taught in Buddhism, I'm reminding myself that it's a journey to take, not a destination reached at once.

We may not be as far along as students in the states, it may not even be advisable or appropriate to utilize the same instructional techniques, but we are on a path and moving forward.

4.1: Learning World Affairs Through Digital Media

I chose this video, Learning World Affairs Through Digital Media, because as an expat educator it has clear implications for my students. My students are aware of affairs in their country and continent, but very often unaware of events in other parts of the world. I believe the same is often true of American students. In a globalized society, we need to work on filling the gaps in global history in our curriculums the world over.

I have not used the program Second Life before, but it appears to be very similar to the video game The Sims and would be very easy for students to learn to use. I do not see a place for that particular platform in my current curriculum, but integrating more information about global affairs and visiting news sources from other countries is something that can be included in my students writing assignments, whether on or offline.

I feel my kids would prefer to play The Sims (which they do) than create another online environment, and of the computer education endeavors I may implement I'm not sure my boss would understand the merit of this particular platform either.

I feel a good goal for my classroom is to re-visit my 'five minute writing' activity at the beginning of class utilizing more global affairs types of issues; and highlighting news on foreign, English language news websites for my students to get a more global perspective.

Technology in The Classroom

I'm rather fortunate in the technology I have available to me here.

1. Chalkboards and chalk.

2. An unlimited supply of office copy paper (within reason) and two functional copy machines.

3. A teacher's PC terminal which is connected to the office printer via the network and a personal desk (this is a really big deal here everybody).

4. A school computer lab with enough computers for every student in every class, and it's in the same building as the rest of my classes this semester! Last semester it was several buildings away. We don't have passing periods since mostly the teachers move and the classes don't, that was stressful.

5. Each classroom has a PC, a sound system, a projector and screen that rolls up and down. Most teachers have and use a microphone, but us foreigners usually don't.

6. The computers all use the Windows Operating System. Whether or not they are 'genuine' copies of windows is up to debate.

7. The school as a whole has a high speed internet connection, however it's often being reconfigured, unavailable in part of the building, or cuts out altogether. I've cut back my lesson planning with internet greatly because there's just no telling if it'll work during the 45-50 minute period you've got that class. Also, the whole school network is viral. External websites often inform me of this fact, disable portions of their page, and urge me to run virus scan measures. By the whole network, I mean the whole university campus, not just my middle school/high school portion of the network. There's an article about the issue in my diigo bookmarks.

8. The IT department here is quite supportive, however sometimes there is a language barrier (less this semester) and other times I just don't want to add to the poor tech's workload when my educational objective can be met just as well with plain old chalk, pen and paper.

My students already get so distracted by their phones (supposed to be handed in to homeroom teachers during the day), their new iPads they pass around and play games on, etc., sometimes I think just keeping things on paper helps maintain their attention better. The class I see most often we utilize the computer lab once a week for various research tasks, and I'm pondering how else to use that time that's educationally beneficial and culturally sensitive.

Oh, and the most important technology we have: air conditioning!