Digital Storytelling

A digital story is a personal story about a person, place, thing or experience that is created with media including pictures, videos, sound and music.  They are useful in education because they can examine historical events, explore a time period or show a science exploration. It helps the visual learning students to see what they are learning brought to life and added to a personal story with audio and visual aids. They promote thoughtful and emotional writing. I do not have much experience with digital stories. My teachers in school sometimes showed videos but not often and I have never created one. All I have used close to it is power point in my graphics design class in high school. Generally I think digital stories could be very helpful in classrooms. Kids retain information more when they see it from different angles and from different sources about the same topic. Visual students can benefit from this by seeing their topics in school being brought to life in a story. I do not really have any questions right now but I probably will later when I try to make one since I never made one before.

A Video Game Idea

Two Cents Worth
This post is about creating a video game that would let the gamer design a school and build onto it. The gamer would run the school daily, earn money and use the money to add onto the building or to buy things that the classrooms need. I find it interesting because I play games like that on my phone and I think this would be a fun game for new or aspiring teachers to play. The other three comments consisted of the same ideas that I commented on. They said it would be a great idea and that the goal is a very good one. The one just said that there will be a need for detail and fine-tuning, which is true.
This was my comment on the blog:
I think that is an excellent idea for a game. I get addicted to all of those types of games, where you have to run or manage some type of store or restaurant. I think the most popular game on Facebook is Farmville which has the same basic goal to it. Even though the timing and work load in the game would not be representative of real life but I think it would help new or aspiring teachers to get a glimpse of what its like. I think it would be important to see that the school has to be built and did not just come into existence. This could be a deciding factor when students are deciding their majors. Who would play it? I think a lot of young people would. Make it a mobile app and even more people would play it. Good ideas you have there!

Educational Blog

Mind Shift by Tina Barseghian
Click Here for Blog
This blog is about the transition that schools are making into the technology world. The various blogs that are posted discuss the future of learning, new research and education policies.
An interesting and relevant post on this blog from September 21, is called Should We Still Teach Students to Write in Cursive? by Audrey Watters. This is an increasingly popular topic for elementary schools. The article is effective and informative because it states both sides of the argument giving good explanations to back them up. Some say cursive is an unneeded skill and that students need to learn typing instead to keep up with the 21st century. Others say cursive is important to learn for motor skills and expression.
The post raises and doesn't answer the questions of should they continue to teach cursive or should they drop it from the curriculum for typing. Personally, I think they should keep it in the elementary curriculum.
There is a similiar article about cursive on the eCampus News website: Archaic Method?

Introduction

Hi, I am Michaiah Emenheiser and I am a sophomore early childhood education major. I think technology can be a helpful tool for the upcoming generations but there needs to be a balance. They should not use technology for everything. In this class, I want to learn this balance and how elementary kids specifically can effectively use technology in their education.
Words to describe me:
1. Caring - I try to always put other people before myself.
2. Perfectionist - I tend to try to perfect things and over think things.
3. Loving - I love my friends and family and I love working with children.
4. Creative - Photography is a passion of mine and I would love to be a photographer some day. I love taking pictures of everything around me.
5. Insecure - I usually think I can do better even if I try my best.
6. Listener - I'm always listening to music and my friends say I'm a good listener and give good advice.

Thank you for reading my blog :)