EDTC 650

Live with Stephanie and Romalyn Show

----Introduction Dialogue-----

Stephanie: Good morning America!

Romalyn: Thank you for joining us at the Live with Stephanie and Romalyn Show!
Stephanie: Those of you who have been watching us the last 9 weeks, our topic of interest have
been how well do we know our Web 2.0 tools?
Romalyn: This week, we will be discussing issues teachers face in the classroom with Web 2.0
tools and what tools actually grab the students’ attention the best in the classroom.
Stephanie: Romalyn and I had the opportunity to interview a few teachers in different grade
levels and we were able to shed some light on Web 2.0 tools.
Romalyn: Yes, we did, and boy there were some quite interesting information and answers these
teachers gave us.
Stephanie: I interviewed Dr. Thomas Hulsman, who helped launch the master in distance
education joint program between University of Oldenburg and UMUC, and also Professor
Carmela Lupica who was involved in recording some of the first correspondence courses that
UMUC developed.
Romalyn: And I had the pleasure of interviewing a Pre-School Bilingual teacher in a low in-
come level zone in Arizona.

------Some of my questions I want to use:

--------Dialogue-----
Stephanie: when asked:
1. How is technology implemented in your school? What is the primary use of
technology in your school?

(Romalyn) Well Mr. Archulata stated that there are many various types of technology used
at Stewart Elementary School. Examples of technology are computer labs with printing
capabilities, both wireless and landlines readily available in all classrooms, electronic
scanning devices for checking books out in the library, LobbyGuard computerized Visitor
Management program, Promethean Boards (PMB), I-PODs for songs, Leap Frog Learning
Technologies, digital cameras and digital recorders.

The primary use of technology in my school is the true integration of technology into the
teaching learning process. School leaders are requesting a sound educational direction for
technology. This demand is being met with innovative equipment and dedicated teacher
training, and scrolling digital marquees.

How about you Stephanie?

(Stephanie) Both professors stated while they use the Webtycho classroom for course
delivery that there are no other tools that are implemented. But it is left up to the professors
to research the web 2.0 tools and to learn how to use them to deliver their particular subject
 Expert Interview|2

matter. There is no mandate on professors using web 2.0 tools so they can simply use the
webtycho with no additional supplemental materials to that if they wish.

UMUC has started using Wimba, which is a site that professors can use to upload
directional material that can be manipulated for the students to view and the ability to record
the professor’s directions. One of the complaints that were received about this site was the
lack of training and the time it took to upload the material into the site. Both professors feel
that if the technology is too difficult and they do not have the technical support they need
then there is no incentive to use it.

Romalyn
3. How effective is the program/tool being used in the classroom to your students?

(Romalyn) The PMB is very effective for my students in the following ways; using
the wand for touch and move lessons, the students are learning how to strengthen
their fine motor gross skills, the PMB provides clear abstract pictures when learning
about colors, & shapes, clear picture of the four seasons when learning about different
times of the year, addition lessons using pie graphs, circle charts, and patterns. This
is a very effective piece of equipment, because every child has different means of
comprehension, so where one child might encompass difficulty with one on one,
he/she may absorb better the material using the PMB.

(Stephanie) A direct quote that Dr. Hulsman used was “horses for courses”; meaning
that you cannot rate all web 2.0 tools in the same effective category. A different tool
may need to be used for different subject matter in order to affectively deliver the
material. So to try to gage how all web 2.0 tools are effectively being used would be
impossible. Professor Lupica feels that the Wimba tool that UMUC is currently
trying to use is not effective due to lack of training. She has taken the time to do
certifications in order to use these tools effectively in her classroom but feels that
unless the school offers these certificates as a requirement that professors must do
that most professors won’t take the time to do so.

Stephanie:

4. What are or are there any other technology based programs and tools used
in your Classroom or school?

(Romalyn) Yes, Scholastic's Huggly's Sleepover, Reader Rabbit Personalized

Kindergarten, Jump Start Kindergarten, and Arthur’s Kindergarten

(Stephanie) Professors can use any tool that they choose that will deliver the material
to the students affectively. UMUC currently has no policy set forth that restricts any
type of Web 2.0 use so if a professor chooses to use YouTube videos for teaching he
is able to do so.
 Expert Interview|3

Romalyn:

5. What do you feel about introducing Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs,
interactive power point presentations and incorporating audio/video tools in
the classroom for learning purposes for the students?

(Romalyn) I use power point presentations when learning everyone’s names by

creating a slide that is a photo of the student, then the following slide has his/her
name typed out. Audio/video is helpful when we go on nature walks outside; I
sometimes bring the recorder and film us on our expeditions or butterfly hunts. Upon
returning to the classroom the students love watching themselves, plus repetition of
our purpose for being out there is reinforced for clarity and understanding.

(Stephanie) Dr. Hulsman likes to use Wimba because he can demonstrate a project
that has a step by step process while walking the student verbally through the process.
He also states that the use of podcast is helpful in expressing your thoughts when you
feel that the instructions may be lost in text

Stephane

6. Do you feel the technology is engaging to the students or distracting?

(Romalyn) Mr. Archuleta loves technology in the classroom. He strongly believes

that technology is a tool for his students to crave learning. Since he teaches Pre-K, the
students love it when it’s reading time and they get to use the Leap Frog books and music
time is quite a fiesta in the classroom. The students love to watch pictures of themselves
on the PMB after a walk or just playing outside in the playground. The students are very
well intuned with the different types of technology in the classroom. He stated that
technology makes the students learn.

(Stephanie) Dr. Hulsman believes that it depends on the audience. He finds that
unless the media is directly connected to the student’s homework or grade then they
have little interest in it. Again he states that you cannot bundle all web 2.0 tools into
the same rating when it comes to engaging or distracting the student. Each tool holds
a different rating when applied to a certain subject matter.

-----------Wrapping Up Dialogue---------

Romalyn: Sounds like technology in the classroom in higher learning has more issues
than in grades Pre-K.
Stephanie: That is true because the use gets to be more independent where the student
and professor must take the learning on themselves to use the technology. Professors are
expected to seek out the training to use the tools and the students are expected to be
familiar with the tools when they are presented to them.
 Expert Interview|4

Stephanie: Thanks for joining us at Live with Stephanie and Romalyn Show!
Together: See you next time America!