The other day in class we were asked to watch a video that a keynote speaker had posted on our project page. The project is called the Flat Classroom Project where we communicate and collaborate with students from other schools around the world to discuss how and why the world is getting flatter. The speaker in the video discussed some very important points such as how technology can be used not only for entertainment but also in a learning environment. Once we watched the video, our instructors had asked us to answer four very essential questions: "what technology tools do you use for fun that can be used in education to communicate and collaborate, how are the 21st Century Skills that digital natives possess and educators promote being addressed in the Flat Classroom project you are in, in what ways do the communication and collaboration experiences that you are using in your Flat Classroom project prepare you for your future, and how can you use your existing communication and collaboration skills, as well as your expectations of immediate responses, to improve your participation in your Flat Classroom project?"
Technology has become so widespread that it is found everywhere and everyone utilizes it. Some of the devices I use on a daily basis is my iPhone and iPad. The use of portable devices have pretty much gotten rid of the traditional computers. Although, computers are still used in schools or in libraries, more and more of these public places are switching to tablets because of portability and cost. The tools I use everyday would include e-mail, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, YouTube, and others. Not only are these tools used for fun but can also be utilized for educational purposes. In my class of Digital Communication Tools, we use Twitter on a daily basis. We communicate with our teacher by tweeting at her. YouTube can be used to share informational videos with students in the class. Thousands of hours of videos get uploaded every day on YouTube. Although, most of the videos should not be shown in schools, others are very informational and can fit what the instructor is teaching in class. A lot of web 2.0 tools have been created to enhance learning. Sites such as Edmodo which is like Facebook but for teachers and students are being used so communication is easier. Evernote makes taking notes faster and easier than ever before. By taking notes online, we not only save trees by cutting on paper, but make our lives easier because everything is stored online where we can access it anywhere, anytime without the fear of ever losing anything important. There is an Evernote application that can be download for apple and android devices.
The 21st Century skills that the Flat Classroom Project promotes are the communication and collaboration skills. These skills are needed everywhere and with everyone. Through the flat classroom project,we learn how to communiacte with students in a different state and a different country. The project makes it possible for us to commnicate safely and to collaborate with each other to solve problems. We, the students, are leaning things we may have never learned if it wasn't for the project. We know how to communicate safely and to only post appropriate things.
This project is great when it comes in terms to preparing us for the future. For many of us, we will hold a job in which we will be required to communicate with people whom we have never seen or talked to and those people will be working on a project with us as a team. And most probably, they will be in a different state or country. The communication and collaboration skills are prepping us for our future careers. We will have to communicate and work with our teammates overseas in order to solve a problem and we will need great communication skills to talk them. Whether it be learning a new language or having correct grammer, we will be required to have these in order to guarantee a success of the project and to keep our jobs.
The current skills I hold are necessary in the Flat Classroom Project. When someone sends me a request or messages me a question, I should be ready to give them an immediate reply so that the next person does the same. The Flat Classroom Project is like facebook. We can chat and post and become friends with other memebers. The live chat in the Ning is a great Web 2.0 tool which lets us communicate with students from other schools quickly. I can use my current skiils in order to share ideas and to give solutions to other students who are facing porblems wiht the project. I can also use my current video making skills with the final video and to also help classmates and other students on the Ning if they're facing problems. Typing skills are also a huge plus for this project. The faster I type, the faster things get done thus allowing me to give back an immediate reply.
After answering the questions and watching the video that the keynote speaker posted, I have learned quite a few things about technological skills. The Flat Classroom Project has been great in terms of prepping us for our future careers. It also helped us improve our communication and collaboration skills when talking to someone online. I hope that this post has helped all of the readers in terms of what we're learning and how important projects like the Flat Classroom are to students.
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