Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Teachers College Educational ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Video Games and Vocabulary: Exploring New Possibilities for Vocabulary Acquisition and Instruction Mark Barba Pacheco, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, #329 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, Email: mark.b.pacheco@vanderbilt.edu Abstract: This paper explores the possibilities within four video games for middle school and high school student vocabulary acquisition. While vocabulary knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension, effective vocabulary instruction and acquisition continue to challenge educators and students. Through creating virtual identities, interacting with player and nonplayer characters, and manipulating and exploring virtual environments in Vocab Challenge, Plague World: A Modern Prometheus, Civilization V, and Limbo, adolescent gamers can build word consciousness, develop metalinguistic strategies for word problem solving, and strengthen understandings of academic vocabulary. This paper examines the affordances and constraints of each game in providing a rich and varied language experience, situating academic vocabulary within authentic contexts, and leveraging students’ identities. 51
Online Learning Environments in Higher Education: Connectivism vs. Dissociation Sasha Reese, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 571 Greendale Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15218, Email: sashaconnors@yahoo.com Abstract: Over the last decade online education has emerged as ways for students and faculty to collaborate more freely, attain greater flexibility, and utilize new media to learn. The burning debate lies in whether online educational options are harmful to traditional education or offer endless benefits necessary to accommodate a 21 st century learner. Supporters of virtual learning environments suggest that 21 st century learners require the construction and creation capabilities offered through Web 2.0 to succeed while critics suggest that asynchronous interactions are not engaging and rigorous enough for higher education. A balanced online environment should provide a blend of both asynchronous and synchronous opportunities, which promote communication and collaboration among classmates and instructors. Virtual Learning in Higher Education In an effort to modernize education, many institutes of higher education have adopted online courses in fully virtual and blended formats. Fully virtual courses allow students to interact with peers and instructors solely through the use of technology, whereas blended courses use online learning as a supplement to face-to-face interactions. The current educational trend toward the development of 21st century skills has made online learning attractive to both basic and tertiary education. Twenty-first century skills include, but are not limited to cultural and global awareness, self-direction, risk-taking and creativity, communication, reflection, and real world applications of knowledge (Green, 2010). Controversy rests in whether this educational option is viable for both instructors and students. Research that supports the growth of online learning suggests that today’s learners need collaboration, freedom to create knowledge, and an authentic audience in order to increase engagement, participation, and activity (Rheingold, 2010). This suggests that instructors in online environments should provide students with an experience, which promotes both autonomy and community. Conversely, researchers who critic online education mention the dissociative process that can accompany virtual learning environments, and acknowledge a disconnect in the instructor and student relationship, as well as in the ability to build a learning community. Supporters of this perspective exhort that online learning must evolve from a delivery system of knowledge into a constructivist activity where learners engage in building knowledge (Hamilton, 2004, p. 843). This shift could help critics to view online schooling as a viable option. Preparing for the Future Through Connectivism Online education has emerged at universities across the country because of its ability to connect students to instructors, peers, and course content through flexible and asynchronous environments. Online learning creates a recipe of circumstances that can accommodate learners of the 21st century and their need for collaboration, creation, and construction (Green, 2010). According to Barbara Hoskin (2011), professor at Clemson University, adult and continuing educators are leading the way from traditional education to Web 2.0 enabled education, which promotes engagement and collaboration (p. 57). A need for a pedagogical shift is evident in the claim that 21st century learners also need to develop skills and competencies that will allow them to decipher and utilize information quickly and efficiently (Siemens, 2004). Current and future university students must learn how social media literacy applies to the real world, and instructors need to begin teaching students how to use this knowledge advantageously. 52
Page 1 and 2:
Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Te
Page 3 and 4:
Table of Contents Math Strategies i
Page 5 and 6: Harnessing the Power of Emotionally
Page 7 and 8: Think Facts introduces four charact
Page 9 and 10: Guidelines for an Online Networking
Page 11 and 12: Mode S = Synchronous A=Asynchronous
Page 13 and 14: Investigating Potential Factors to
Page 15 and 16: Investigating the Effects of Choice
Page 17 and 18: Videogames in Institutional Practic
Page 19 and 20: Youth in the Digital Age: Digital M
Page 21 and 22: Augmenting The Arrival: Students’
Page 23 and 24: Connected to Word Problems: Improvi
Page 25 and 26: ased approach. Future research may
Page 27 and 28: MOOCs, Open Education, and Implicat
Page 29 and 30: Promoting Healthy Eating Habits Thr
Page 31 and 32: Figure 2: Monster Appetite in actio
Page 33 and 34: This year, the first participant gr
Page 35 and 36: Figure 2: The Aesthetigraph represe
Page 37 and 38: Digital Modeling Artifacts as Geome
Page 39 and 40: Using Weblogs to Increase Language
Page 41 and 42: Total 3 Advanced Performance Level
Page 43 and 44: “Media Literacy in Action: Using
Page 45 and 46: Learning Science Systems with Graph
Page 47 and 48: Liu, L., & Hmelo-Silver, C. E. (200
Page 49 and 50: Applying Physics to the Real World:
Page 51 and 52: Credibility of Culturally Situated
Page 53 and 54: notion that similarity with the use
Page 55: Duncan, H., Tan, J. (2012). A Visua
Page 59 and 60: Exploration of concepts to facilita
Page 61 and 62: Exploring the Intersection of Forma
Page 63 and 64: Barab, S. & Squire, K. (2004). Desi
Page 65 and 66: information and the world according
Page 67 and 68: #phdchat: a community of practice o
Page 69 and 70: A Difficult Balance: Regulating Cyb
Page 71 and 72: References Bethel School District v
Page 73 and 74: that children’s photographs were
Page 75 and 76: A variety of data sources were coll
Page 77 and 78: control and mastery increased in vi
Page 79 and 80: Design of computer assisted tools f
Page 81 and 82: Figure 2: Interactive functions of
Page 83 and 84: User Experiences with Avatar Custom
Page 85 and 86: Design Patterns for Promoting Self-
Page 87 and 88: Cooperative Inquiry in Designing Te
Page 89 and 90: Implications Our work with CI exten
Page 91 and 92: References Allen, E., & Seaman, J.
show all

Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Teachers College Educational ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?