technology integration : weblog

Sunday Jun 18, 2006

Blog 5- Digital archives

In order to compete with the rich multimedia experiences our children receive outside of the classrooms, it is our responsibility as teachers to incorporate these same experiences into our lessons and classrooms. There is a digital divide between teachers and the children they are teaching, and we must provide our students with the tools and resources to compete with our technological world. Online digital archives make this possible. Digital archives are a web-based collection of a wide variety of digital media focused around a common topic. Government agencies or universities can host these archives. Each archive can include text files, images, video, sound, or animation. Students can bring to life events in history such as September 11, or explore and research space programs.

In the article, Online Digital Archives, Hofer shares important findings related to digital archives. In order for digital archives to effectively support teaching and learning, the activities need to be structured to address the most important content standards that will effectively maximize meaningful student learning. The most difficult concept for students to grasp is how to apply mathematics to the real world. Hofer states that Archimedes digital archives solves this problem by providing students with a variety of text, images and animation to see how mathematics has changed our world. Hofer also points out that local and national standards are placing an emphasis on student-centered inquiry projects and higher-order thinking skills. Digital archives supports this idea because students are challenged to ask questions about a particular topic and then design a plan to analyze and gather information in order to reach a conclusion. The article states that there are a few concerns to consider such as bandwidth limitations, copyright and fair use issues. The author makes it very clear that although these could be potential barricades, the potential of digital archives to support a multitude of student-centered activities outweigh the negatives.

An increasingly popular application for students to use that demonstrates their understanding is through the use of digital storytelling. Getting students to develop a topic and write about related ideas is half the battle when teaching writing. A lot of my students lack the experiences needed in order to write freely and creatively, and I can make up for this void my providing them with digital archives, virtual field trips, animations, etc. I am confident that if I use digital storytelling with my students they will be more motivated and gain a plethora of ideas related to one topic, which in return produces better writing. There are a variety of ways to incorporate digital storytelling in a classroom, especially through thematic units. One way I plan to incorporate digital storytelling is through my animal unit. Students can use the digital archives to download text images and animations of animals from around the world. I could have my students do a scavenger hunt, which would challenge them to use all the provided resources. At the end, my students can collect their wealth of information to create a Power Point presentation to share with their classmates. I could also use digital archives and have my students communicate with other students from around the world by sharing their writings, poetry, etc.

Posted at 07:20PM Jun 18, 2006 by CANTELUPE, CARICE in General | Comments[22]