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I found this interesting article that look at divers types of technologies apply in multicultural education context.. I hope someone find it useful! I copied here the abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss several technology applications that are being used to address current problems or opportunities related to multicultural education. Five technology applications or technology-related projects are discussed, including a teacher education literacy tool, social networking communities, massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs), virtual patients, and an International Leadership in Educational Technology (ILET) consortium. Research and practical implications of this paper include the introduction of new technologies for improving multicultural education, research findings on the use of these tools, and potential opportunities or pitfalls as such tools are implemented and evaluated. The paper concludes with a call for new research in the area of technologies for multicultural education.

The authors of this book provide concrete examples of activities for using constructivism and technology to allow students to construct knowledge, to think and to learn. Constructivist learning emphasizes the five different attributes of meaningful learning which are (i) intentional learning, (ii) active learning, (iii) constructive learning, (iv) cooperative learning, and (v) authentic learning. Real learning requires combining the different elements of meaningful learning. The authors describe six ways to use technology and constructivist learning to allow students to construct understanding and learn. The authors describe the types of technology in very basic terms and the specific hardware and software that are required for the classroom in order to partake in the activities described in the book. For each technology, the authors describe activities and projects that can be used to facilitate learning. They also describe the learning process, the role of the student, the role of the teacher, and ways to assess the learning process. The goal of this book is to advocate educational reform and change through constructivist methodologies by demonstrating specific examples of how the tools of technology can be employed to empower students to construct knowledge and meaning. What I found interesting (and possibly useful for us) is that at the end of each chapter, the authors pose "things to think about" and list numerous questions for further discussion.

Current methods for controlling one's avatar in a virtual environment interacting with intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are unnatural, typically requiring a complex set of keyboard commands for controlling your avatar, and dialog menus for interacting with IVAs. Recent advances in markerless body and motion tracking, speech and gesture recognition technologies, coupled with intelligent agent/behavior modeling and speech synthesis technologies, now make it possible to naturally control one's avatar through the movement of one's body and to interact with IVAs through speech and gesture. These capabilities are now just beginning to emerge in the arena of computer gaming, and offer great promise for military training. In this paper we describe our recent work integrating motion capture, gesture recognition, speech recognition, natural language understanding, and intelligent agent/behavior modeling technologies to produce more natural mechanisms for avatar control as well as IVAs that are able to understand relatively unconstrained speech and recognize human movement and gesture. We illustrate these capabilities within the domain of roadside security checkpoint training, where trainees are able to gesture (e.g., wave forward, stop, point to a location) and speak to IVAs (drivers and passengers) in the scene.

This shall be one of our main inspiration within the framework of our experiment for LEARNING WITH MEDIA, during which we performed a session of "Start the Party" for "Playstation Move" on the Playstation 3, in comparison to our previous experiment with "Wii Sports"…

I would like to share with you this new project that gives light a new dimension to education using the social media as tool to increase the interaction between teacher and students. The Flat Classroom Project is an innovative approach where educators have built social-networking sites specifically for use in class and home assignments. This project allows communication for students in the classroom, but for them to interact with students in far away classrooms all around the world can reach and learn from each other. A recent survey (http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.aspx) from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 73 percent of online teens use social-networking sites. Updating their Facebook or MySpace page has become a regular activity for teens as is using these services to catch up on what their peers are doing. Using similar tools will encourage students to interact with each other, using many of the same techniques they do when away from school but focused on their educational goals. Hope for someone will be useful

Its is very interesting to see that new technologies are more and more taking part of the class as being a tool like any other ones. It is very important to let them get in the class and not leave them out as new media and new technologies are used on a everyday basis by most of the students. One of the most important point of this article to make sure that the use of tools should be customized depending on the students. It is also in my opinion that the more customized the process of learning is, the better will be the learning. Customizing a class lead to a better motivation for the students and so lead to a better learning and more important remembering of what is done during the class. Moreover, I agree with the authors when saying that new technologies should be used and learned from the very beginning of school. As I said, new technologies should not be let outside of the school as it takes a great part of our lifes nowadays. And the earliest it is learnt, the better the students will know how to use them to make them as most efficient in their lifes (private ones, during their studies, careers...) as possible. It is said in the article that this project is used in different countries. However, besides Spain, the rest of them are english speaking countries. How could this project be developed in order to touch more and more countries? Or could it be used during english classes in other countries than the one mentionned?

LLT is an international journal (published exclusiveley on the web) with an editorial board of international scholars in the fields of second language acquisition and computer-assisted language learning. LLT publishes articles that report on original research or present an original framework that links second language acquisition theory, previous research, and language learning, teaching, and testing practices that utilize technology. It aims at reaching a broad audience in a timely manner, providing a multimedia format which can more fully illustrate the technologies under discussion, as well as providing hypermedia links to related background information. It is published three times per year and it was ranked in the top 20 Education Journals. Important: Besides the very interesting articles, it also contains a section of general guidelines for both quantitative and qualitative research!

I find it interesting to think of how we function in the traditional school system, where we are taught to learn things or concepts by heart (like for example mathematics) without really needing to reason or understand what we are actually doing. This article shows how children, thanks to this technological tool, "[d]eepen[...] mathematical understanding and higher-order thinking skills (HOTS)[, meaning] communicating about mathematics (Analyzing), [d]etermining values of shapes (Evaluating), [c]reating equations to explain relationships between shape values (Creating)". (Polly, 2011)

I wanted to share a blog entry about using the Nintendo DS in school as a learning tool. I chose this because I have already had experience with this gaming device in an educational setting. At the Lushootseed language camp I was at this summer, the tribe had purchased about a dozen nintendo ds and created and installed a few different programs for learning and practicing Lushootseed. I see the value of the tool for language learning, yet in my experience it was not so successful. The kids of course did not want to do the language learning programs and very quickly figured out how to play other games and play with sounds and things. They were so distracted by the device that rarely did they complete and language learning tasks. Part of this was the rather informal non-classroom context (it might work well in a classroom setting) and it was almost impossible to force each child to use the programs. There was some success when the children were engaged in a collaborative game where the teacher would say a word in Lushootseed and the kids would have to write it on the ds. The first person to write it correctly got a point. They enjoyed this and it worked somewhat ok because everyone was engaged and they were competing, unlike all the other "games" which were individual and the kids had no motivation to do them. What do you think about using an individual gaming device such as this for language learning?

Uaaaa very interesting to see that you can use a game can be transformed and used for another purpose than just entertaining the children. I´ve been always against the dependence of the children or young people toward these kind of games. It´s good to see how someone can integrate the game with education´s aim. Now days, it´s important to find different ways and tools to adapt the education with the new changes happening around us.

Some of you might have already discovered this link, concerning a school which bases it's whole curriculum on videogames, on our multi-LEARN unveil group or through Martin aka. James Kirks' profile - if not: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/09/15/magazine/1248069030957/games-theory.html?scp=1&sq=Video+game+school+design&st=cse In contrast to this article, they use the videogames as a holistic and transdisciplinary approach to teach or rather convey all the branches through integrating them in the development - as they play games like Little Big Planet, in which they have to create worlds through basic designing/programming… and in order to achieve the assigned goals, they have to develop specific skills/competences, while making strategic use of their knowledge… learning mathematics, physics, chemistry, languages etc literally, whilst playing! So even though I think it's nice to use a DS during class, like in this rticle - if it's only to train your brain with computation problems or preparing for SAT scores, I think that's sth that would rather be appropriate for the home use, as training or fun homeworks… but in order to take it to the next level, they should rather follow the example of this school in the US and not just use technology just for the sake of using it?!

This article retraces the use of new media and new technologies in a class of Oral History. It shows that by using those new tools, it enhanced learning through a more interactive, participative and collaborative way. During the Oral History Class, the students were engaged in a collaborative project aimed at giving the "opportunity to play an action-research and community service role". The use of new media and technologies were used in class (using computers) as well as outside the classroom. For this project a "Class folder" was created where students and teacher could put their work as well as knowing about the assignment or the advancement of the project. This "Class folder" developed a conceptualization of "centralization" of the work: the access was free, any time and it was for the student a good way to share their ideas, comments and work. It also enhanced the "decentralization of knowledge": the students were more autonomous and the teacher became a "facilitator rather than a singular authority in the classroom".

This article shows how the language learning process is integrated with the technology. Different social media tools create different interactive possibilities to improve the language skills of the students. This article emphasises the use of voicethread as a tool of Web 2.0 that combine different methods in itself that allows students to use their creativity and skills. I have already use voice thread the last year during the class of Telecolloboration. It´s very interesting for the ones that didn´t take this class and also for others that want to integrate different social media tools into education.

"As part of its Transforming Undergraduate Education Program, the University of Texas SYSTEM has initiated a statewide virtual learning community of students, faculty, researchers and administrators, that offers a creative approach to undergraduate instruction through the innovative use of a 21st century low-cost online virtual world technology."

First of all, to understand what this article is about, we need to ask ourselves the question: What is parasocial interaction (PSI)? It is the relation that individual makes with media persona (TV characters from TV shows, TV programs…). 'This present study examines how specific social and emotional tendencies (i.e. belongingness needs and solitude experiences) are related to specific social and emotional forms of media involvement, namely, PSI with media characters and transportability into media programs'. Specific social and emotional tendencies can be seen a negative experiences as well as positive experiences (i.e. being alone can increase creativity in art, philosophy, or else). After reading this article, I asked myself: is engaging in a parasocial interaction a consequence or a cause of these social and emotional tendencies? I think this article is talking about an interesting concept that is growing more and more with the evolution of technology and it shows the shift occurring when coming to define what is interaction.

As I mentioned during the class, I read this article to know media are embodied within activist group, or by their opponant i.e. gouvernments, polices... But what is interesting in this article is to analyze how new media had an impact in the transformation of activist groups, such as for example going from being more local to becoming global. Interesting article when it comes to see how people are in practice interacting with these media.

I agree with Cecile that, this article shows very good results of the interaction of social action with social media tools. The use of social media tools have a greater and faster impact to the society. The information about what is happening around you about a lot of injustice is spreading so quickly. I want to give a very recently example. And International organization was posting via email, fb, you tube concerning a cause in South Africa. They got the signature for this petition in very short time and the reaction of the government very soon and everyone is informed about the future actions to help this cause. It´s amazing when you think how quickly can happen, and imagine if these tools didn´t exist, most probably we will not even know what is happening around us.

In this study, we investigated the effect of using the social network site Facebook for discussions in an online course. Data were collected from concurrent offerings of an introductory educational psychology course, one using Facebook discussion boards and the other Moodle forums. We measured student perceptions of social presence and the frequency and length of their discussion interactions. Evaluation of this data indicated that there were no differences in our measures. We discuss why the potential benefits of Facebook for online teaching may not have emerged in this study and provide suggestions for further research in this area.

I agree with Lucas. It is still kind of difficult to deal with it, but it will become natural. However it does not sound odd to me. Not at all. It is simply a question of time. The same happened with the Email taking over the traditional "sending letters ritual". It is the natural course of technology! :) As far as I am concerned it can work out pretty well. We have the example of moodle within our master and I also have already the experience with facebook for school discussions (within my german course). One of my friends, who is TOTALLY addicted to facebook, was telling us the other day that she spends so much time on facebook that she gets now the feeling that she is "outdated" when it comes to news. And we told her to join/add one newspaper (or so), which has a facebook page. Like this she would get the information anyway. It is a good point also valid for education. Why not to "combine business with pleasure"? It is not only usefull, but it can also be a motivator for the students.

one year later... :) it is interesting to see how facebook and its use actually changed during this year. For our Media class with Charles Max we made a little research on whether the students from the Master program use the Socializing Forum of the Moodle platform or not and why. While one year ago the Moodle platform was the main space where students shared and discussed ideas about academic topics and issues, this year it turned out that the students prefer to communicate and discuss things through facebook rather than on Moodle. Facebook seems to become an easy and handy way to communicate and exchange ideas not only on a personal level but also for academic reasons.

Even in Montana social media has become important. It's true it is "en train de changer" the way politics is run. In a place with so few people, each person could really have a direct line to candidates and I suppose a more direct dialogue with the people is much easier. However, as the article states, could this lead to a more polarizing political field--meaning only strong supporters of a candidate would follow them through social media, and thus the candidate is really only talking to people on one even extreme side? Is social media used in politics in Luxembourg? It could have a strong impact here, seeing as how there are even half as many people in this country as in Montana! Oh and off the subject, Montana is so small. The senator Baucus referred to in the article bought my grandpa's car from us after he died.

This is the article that we just presented during our last class, Just to refresh your mind, the author present the interaction of children with media tools. Understanding the concept of "Embodiment means how the nature of a living entity's cognition is shaped by the form of its physical manifestation in the world" As we saw the theory is basis in the believe that the nature of the human mind is largely determined by the form of the human body. Then, Dividing the cognition then in Spatial, Physical and finally Metaphorical. Moreover the Embodied Child were analysed by the interaction with the computer, categorizing in Input design, interface design and interaction design.

The internet in this case has assumed the role of a very effective uncensored news agency from which every broadcaster and news corporation have been able to freely source newsfeeds, raw from the scene.

Interesting! This makes me wonder if government-controlled media is an idea that will disappear in the coming years as social media grows. It might just become archaic and completely incompatible with the world situation. I feel like governments can only have so much power in this and as the world becomes even more connected, perhaps other countries will have similar revolutions. Iran? China?...even North Korea? (I think that one might take a long while though. They are pretty isolated).

According to the synopsis, John McCutchan, SCEA's lead for Game Systems and Developer Support, will be on hand to discuss the "Move Server project that will make it possible for academics and hobbyists to develop software using the PlayStation Move controller on their own PCs.

As our project was based on analysing our interaction with the tv through the tool that is Playstation Move, I think the info, that further research might be driven by connecting it to a PC or a Mac is quite interesting! :O)

Media and advertising companies still use the same old demographics to understand audiences, but they're becoming increasingly harder to track online, says media researcher Johanna Blakley. As social media outgrows traditional media, and women users outnumber men, Blakley explains what changes are in store for the future of media.

About TASTE COMMUNITIES - in contrast to "(…) genre categories that assume that certain demographic groups like certain things… that 'hispanics' like certain things, that 'young' people like certain things, … This is far too simplistic!"

This is a really interesting video. Thanks for sharing. I like the very end of Blakley's talk when she mentions that the future development of media and advertisement companies will be based on understanding and working WITH the people's interests and tastes, rather than continuing to work on stereotypes and demographics, which are no longer valid, or maybe they have never actually been?!

For those who are interested in videogames, is a microethnography and cybertextual analysis that articulates the everyday context of a smallscale event of videogame play. This event is studied as the collusion (the coming together in play), of a heterogeneous network of human and nonhuman part(icipant)s: the conventions, rules and prescriptions of games software; children's embodied knowledges, pleasures, anxieties, imaginations; play practices and rules; screen media images and characters; and the inaesthetics and virtual physics of videogameworlds.

I think the thesis posted by Miriam is good reading for everyone who is interested in how micro-ethnography is being transformed through the digital media and not just for those interested in video games. What I liked is this idea of non-human agency that is taken from Latour; we also saw it in Professor Portante's literacy studies in relation to the agency of texts. In the case of videogames the agency of the material actors is an integral part of the study and not just an additional, secondary factor that influences the agency of the human actors. According to Latour's irreducibility principle nothing -either human or non-human- is reducible to anything else.

I just discover that From 1888 to 1890, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was literally overwhelmed by a transatlantic migration wave, the so-called Argentinienfieber - an expression which could be translated into English by Argentine fever. In less than two years, more than one thousand Luxembourgers - representing 0.5 per cent of the entire population - decided to emigrate to Argentina.

HI Myriam can you explain me how this post is related to the "interacting with media and technology" topic of the entire folder

Sorry, wrong folder. It still interested! :)