Abbie Brown

Video Podcasting in Perspective: The History, Technology, Aesthetics, and Instructional Uses of a New Medium.

An examination of the current state of the art of podcasting, with a focus on video podcasting. Included are a review of the history and technical aspects of podcasting and an overview of current educational applications of podcasting. A detailed description of an experiment conducted in creating and distributing video podcast episodes is provided. Issues related to the development and distribution of podcasts are discussed.

Using Multimedia Graphic Organizer Software in the Prewriting Activities of Primary School Students: What Are the Benefits?

The use of multimedia graphic organizer software and how it influenced the prewriting process for primary school children were evaluated. An analysis of writing samples generated by second-grade students with diverse writing abilities was carried out. Students were given two opportunities to participate in prewriting activities—one without and one with the use of multimedia graphic organizer software. The results indicated that the use of multimedia graphic organizer software can provide some benefits to writing for elementary school children.

Instructional Uses of Podcasting in Online Learning Environments: A Cooperative Inquiry Study

A report on the results of a year-long cooperative inquiry study in which 11 faculty members at a southeastern university examined their various uses of podcasting for instruction. Through participation in the study, members developed insights into what technologies are most commonly applied to the task of podcast production and dissemination as well as instructional purposes and tasks commonly addressed when using podcasting as a teaching strategy. The benefits of using podcasting instead of traditional text-based media were explored. The group discovered the faculty members involved were making use of 4 distinct podcasting technologies to apply 8 discrete instructional strategies.

Twenty-First Century Literacy: A Matter of Scale from Micro to Mega

Abstract Twenty-first century technologies require educators to look for new ways to teach literacy skills. Current communication methods are combinations of traditional and newer, network-driven forms. This article describes the changes twenty-first century technologies cause in the perception of time, size, distance, audience, and available data, and offers suggestions for teaching with these differences in mind.

Issues and Trends in Instructional Technology: Growth and Maturation of Web-Based Tools in a Challenging Climate; Social Networks Gain Educators’ Attention

Composed of four sections – Overall Developments, Corporate Training and Development, Higher Education, and K-12 Education – this chapter synthesizes the findings of major annual reports including ASTD’s State of the Industry Report, the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2007 Summary Report, The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, Education Week’s Technology Counts 2009, Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up 2009, and the Greaves Group’s America’s Digital Schools. The authors describe the economy’s impact on instructional technology and comment on the importance of Web 2.0, online learning, and increased attention paid to social networking sites for educational purposes.

Issues and Trends in Instructional Technology: Maximizing Budgets and Minimizing Costs in Order to Provide Personalized Learning Opportunities

Comprising four sections: Overall Developments; Corporate Training and Development; Higher Education; and K-12 Education, this chapter synthesizes the findings of major annual reports including, ASTD’s Annual Review of Workplace Learning and Development Data (State of the industry, 2012: ASTD’s annual review of workplace learning and development data, Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training & Development); The EDUCAUSE 2011 Core Data Service Report (The EDUCAUSE 2011 core data service report: Highlights and insights into higher education information technology, Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE); ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2012 (ECAR Study of undergraduate students and information technology, 2012, Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research); NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition (NMC horizon report: 2012 Higher education edition, Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium); Going the distance: Online education in the United States, 2011 (Going the distance: Online education in the United States, 2011, Babson Park, MA: Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC); Education Week’s, Technology Counts 2012; The New Media Consortium and the Consortium for School Networking’s, The 2012 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition; and Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up National Findings Reports,. Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey: K-12 Students and Parents Connect the Dots with Digital Learning (Mapping a personalized learning journey: K-12 students and parents connect the dots with digital learning, http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/2012_PersonalizedLearning.html), and Personalizing the Classroom Experience—Teachers, Librarians and Administrators Connect the Dots with Digital Learning (Personalizing the classroom experience: Teachers, librarians and administrators connect the dots with digital learning, http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU11_PersonalizedLearning_Educators.pdf). The authors note continued increased interest in and use of online learning, increased use of shared resources, and continued interest in making best use of the mobile devices students bring with them to learning environments.

Issues and Trends in Instructional Technology: Despite Lean Times, Continued Interest and Opportunity in K-12, Business, and Higher Education

This chapter is comprised of four sections: Overall Developments, Corporate Training and Development, Higher Education, and K-12 Education; this chapter synthesizes the findings of major annual reports including ASTD’s 2010 State of the Industry Report, the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2009 Summary Report, The ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology, 2010; Education Week’s Technology Counts 2011, The New Media Consortium and the Consortium for School Networkings’ The 2011 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition, and Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up National Findings Report, The New 3 E’s of Education: Enabled, engaged, Empowered; How Today’s Students are Leverage Emerging Technologies for Learning. The authors describe the economy’s impact on instructional technology and comment on the importance of online learning, the use of mobile devices (particularly, tablet computing, smart phones, and e-readers), the current state of online learning, and the continued interest in and use of Web 2.0—collaborative environments, in particular.

Issues and Trends in Instructional Technology: Web 2.0, Second Life, and STEM Share the Spotlight

Comprised of four sections: Overall Developments; Corporate Training and Development; Higher Education; and K-12 Settings, this chapter synthesizes the findings of major annual reports including ASTD’s, State of the Industry Report; the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2006 Summary Report; The ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology; the fifth annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education; Education Week’s Technology Counts annual report, and the fifth annual Speak Up and Horizon Report. The authors describe the state of the economy and its impact on instructional technology and comment on the importance of Web 2.0, Second Life, and Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiatives.

Widgets on the Web: Using Computer-Based Learning Tools

puterized tools that are easy to use, appeal to students, help them learn abstract concepts, and can be found on the Internet? This article describes such tools. They are not big, fancy, expensive software packages. They are small, friendly programs written by other teachers. And they are out there waiting for you and your students Learning abstract concepts can be a challenge for students with mild disabilities. These students often require more practice than do students without disabilities to master the understanding of concepts (Bender, 2001). To help students with mild disabilities succeed, their teachers need a variety of tools to teach abstract concepts, as well as interesting activities to facilitate mastery through practice. Both in the initial stages of concept instruction and in subsequent practice sessions, it is essential that the instructional tools not only be effective, but highly motivating and interesting to students. Through the use of technology, new instructional tools can be developed that are not only effective, and flexible, but also motivating to students (Lindsey, 2000). Current technological applications are now available to make computerbased, flexible learning tools that can facilitate effective concept instruction and practice. Traditionally, special education teachers have used computers and software for drill and practice, academic mastery, and functional skills enhancement (Babbit & Miller, 1996; Gardner & Edyburn, 2000; Okolo, 2000; Wissick, 2001). Most software programs, however, are controlled and sequenced (Bottge & Hasselbring, 1993; Wiebe, 2000) and do not allow the teacher, as a decisionmaker, to easily integrate them into curriculum content or individualized education program (IEP) objectives. The Widgets were designed to meet the instructional need for computer-based, flexible tools that can be used across student ability levels for many purposes (Brown & Miller, 2001; Mayer, 2001). Widgets are relatively new computer-based learning tools, sometimes referred to as “knowledge objects” or “learning objects” (Beck, 2001; Merrill, 2001). These learning tools are small, self-contained instructional activities that, according to the Wisconsin Online Resource Center (2001), offer justenough, just-in-time instruction and are well suited to the creation of customized instruction. Widgets are actually small computer programs that are created using an authoring software program and can be stored on CDs or accessed via the internet. They are flexible computer programs that can be designed as instructional tools for a wide range of concepts and ability levels. Just as teachers use overhead transparencies, manipulatives, and dry markers in their everyday instruction, teachers can also use Widgets as instructional tools. Widgets are not “drill and practice” software programs, nor are they “programmed instruction”; rather, the Widgets are mediational software programs to be used by the teacher when interacting with a student in a learning task.

Issues and Trends in Instructional Technology: Lean Times, Shifts in Online Learning, and Increased Attention to Mobile Devices

Comprised of four sections: overall developments; corporate training and development; higher education; and K-12 education, this chapter synthesizes the findings of major annual reports including ASTDs, State of the Industry Report; the, EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2008 Summary Report; The ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology; Education Week’s, Technology Counts 2010; The New Media Consortium and the Consortium for School Networkings’ The 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition; Project Tomorrow’s Learning in the 21st Century: 2009 Trends Update; and The Kaiser Family Foundation’s Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. The authors describe the economy’s impact on instructional technology and comment on the importance of online learning mobile devices, the current state of online learning, and the continued interest in and use of Web 2.0 and social networking sites for educational purposes.