Journal 3 (NETS-T 1): Bring The World Into Your Classroom

Citation: McDermon , Linda. (2010). Bring the world into your classroom . Learning and Leading with Technology, 38(2), Retrieved from: http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20100910#pg1

The opportunity for students in one classroom environment to interact with educators, scientists, and students potentially from the other side of the world is the premise behind the implementation of video-conferencing technology in the classroom. In a world that is becoming increasingly inter-connected by the internet, social media, and other communication technology, the article would argue for the importance of a means to share and present information, ideas, and activities in a manner that would be both exciting for the students and constructive for their education in sharpening their presentations and getting feedback and interaction with students who would give a different socio-cultural assessment of their projects. Moreover, the article points out that video-conferencing technology could potentially make traditional (and costly) field trips to educational settings such museums obsolete by bringing that environment to the classroom through interaction with educators via video-conferencing. Two programs in particular ‘Read Around the Planet’ where students share what they are reading with students in other schools, and ‘Megaconference Jr.’ where students can present information and leave it in a forum for other students to access are cultivating valuable presentation skills to students in the classroom.

Question 1
How can this technology be beneficial for student’s view of other people around the world and diversity?

Answer 1
With direct interaction with students from a culture and country that might be foreign to domestic students, students will speak directly to foreign students with background different from their own and gain an understanding of different cultures and regions of the world. Moreover, rather than learning about groups of people from the media, who often present an entire population in a stereotypical way, students will hear directly from the mouths of those people and form their own opinions of them. By exposing students to people who act and talk differently from themselves, video-conferencing technology will foster the acceptance of diversity.

Question 2
What other possible applications could video-conferencing technology have in the classroom?

Answer 2
For teachers, and much like in the business world, video-conferencing will allow for another avenue for the exchange of ideas between teachers. Instead of transporting teachers from around the country to a single place to discuss their profession and its issues, video-conference will eliminate the hassle of distance. Furthermore, it will allow teachers to view how other teachers, especially from different countries, operate in their classrooms and they will see first-hand the methods they use.