Week 14

Symptoms that the digital future has arrived
What’s colorless, odorless and has been silently seeping into our child’s backpack, classroom, playroom and library?
Our child’s digital future. After 25 years of rosy predictions from experts, there are signs that the long-awaited tipping point for technology & learning has arrived. If you’re one of the many impatient people—like me— who have been waiting for that LED at the end of tunnel, I think that this time it is really happening. Here’s why.
• Batteries. For the first time, batteries are able to power a netbook through a six-hour school day on a single charge. They’re smaller, lighter and powerful; the heart and lungs of iPods, Nintendo DSis, toys and netbooks. See the Cinemin, on page 20 for example.
• LEDs. (Light Emitting Diods) are molded into your child’s shoes, and lighting the earrings on the new Dora Links doll.
• Wi-Fi. Thanks to eRate, most schools were wired years ago. Unfortunately the Internet never made it to the child’s desktop. There are signs this is starting to change. For the first time in her K-12 education, my daughter, a high school senior, is now encouraged to bring her laptop to school. And half of her teachers are using Moodle for assignments.
• The App store and Google Ads. Small publishers can make money from their interactive ideas, and reach their intended audience, sidestepping the retail bottleneck.
• Cloud computing. Google’s gmail, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr have earned the trust of the masses, including many of our children who are flocking to games like FarmVille (page 21).
• Flash 10. It used to be that online animation chugged. Not anymore. I just previewed a virtual world for children that is fast, responsive and -- for the first time— is in 3D.
• Kinesthetic (motion based) interfaces. The Wii was magic. This year, there’s more. Besides the Wii-Motionplus, there’s Microsoft’s Project Natal, which uses cameras to detect motion. Interface guru Jakob Nielson points out two motion-based Windows 7 features: "Snap" (the ability to resize open Windows) and "Shake" (grab a window, hold your mouse button and give it a shake to hide the windows behind it). Nielson writes, "Both may herald a renaissance for the gestural interaction styles."
• Multitouch. Apple's multitouch/accelerometer combination is "the perfect storm" for children's interactivity. Compare it to the DSi monotouch screen and you have "dumb touch" and "smart touch" from this point forward
• There’s a Wii in the Whitehouse. Barack Obama is the first president to type a book on a computer, use a Blackberry and post speeches on YouTube. Both of his daughters play video games. This could open the door for more research and policy related to interactive media.
Now that the digital future has arrived, what does it mean? For one, there will be a lot more to review. It’s safe to say that 2010 will bring a surge in new children’s apps, sites, games and toys, and we’re ready to critique them. Enjoy the issue.

PS. Did you know that more kids watch online videos on YouTube.com than on Disney.com, Nick.com and CartoonNetwork.com, combined? Learn how to harness the power of YouTube for kids, in LittleClickers (p. 4)
hence, in this last blog, i would like to remind dear friends and myself that we need to update ourselves with these techological stuffs in order to cater our pupils' need.

Week 13

Assignment 4: Lesson plan. Developing fabulous teaching materials is not a credit to become a good teacher. Using those materials in the correct phase of teaching and learning is another skill a teacher should acquire. The fourth assignment not only provided me with the opportunity to develop teaching materials but also give me the opportunity to plan a lesson. Given the so called easiest skill, listening, I have to develop two lesson plans. My first lesson plan is on H1N1 and it intends to teach vocabulary such as cough, throw, sneeze, wash and wear. For this lesson plan, I intend to use a video and task sheets as below.The second lesson plan deals with ways to maintain fitness and it intends to teach vocabulary such as spin, jump, twist, flap and freeze. This lesson plan is founded on the total physical response approach.By doing this assignment, I have learnt many facts about being a teacher. Although it sounds simple, planning a lesson is not easy. Several factors such as learners, proficiency and teaching and learning theory need to be addressed while devising each step. I believe this experience will equip me to become a planner of teaching in future