Second Life

Second Life is a virtual reality program used by people all over the globe. It was created for users over the age of 18. There is no cost for a regular membership. Users create avatars and walk around the virtual world, communicating with others. A form of Instant Messaging is used for communication between users. The virtual world has it's own currency, the Linden dollar, which can be used to purchase virtual goods. There are virtual businesses, art galleries, and theaters. Some bands have toured virtually in Second Life and theater groups such as the Second Life Shakespeare Company have performed plays. Some religious organizations have started to appear in the virtual world. Second Life works with a variety of operating systems. Many higher education institutions use it for research and instruction as well as language learning. Virtual businesses are regulated and gambling is prohibited. Some criticisms of Second Life have been voiced. Some people have complained of limited access due to not having a mouse. People with visual impairment also struggle with using Second Life. The owners of the virtual world are trying to solve these problems. Second Life has also been criticized for adult content.

Award-Winning Publishers

An award winning publisher in computer assisted instruction is Sunburst Technology. Their website can be accessed at http://store.sunburst.com/. Sunburst Technology develops and distributes supplemental curriculum materials for schools. It is a leading resource for school technology products. The company has become well-known in the educational technology field by developing and publishing award-winning, multimedia educational software, videos, and printed supplements for use in schools. It publishes school products for grades kindergarten to 12th grade. Sunburst Technology offers over 500 software, print, and web-delivered titles in various subject areas including reading and language, science, math, and social studies.

Sunburst Technology could be a valuable resource in the elementary education classroom. Teachers can access a variety of activities and learning programs from the website to download for free or to order. In the elementary classroom where there are probably only a few computers, teachers can allow students to use these computers during “free-time” or activity rotations during which students can play educational games such as those provided by Sunburst Technology. Thus students become accustomed to using computers, are introduced to technology, and learn as well! The games also generate formative assessment reports for teachers which shows students progress in comparison to state’s standards. The resources provided by Sunburst Technology are a great tool for the classroom and should be considered for use.

Google Earth

What is Google Earth? Google Earth is a very interesting example of technology in the form of virtual simulations. The program that needs to be downloaded to the computer gives the user an aerial view of the world and areas. A person can zoom in a view visual replicas created through satellite imagery of the world. Google Earth also has 3-D representations of some areas such as Grove City Campus. The building on campus can be viewed from a three-dimensional perspective.

In the elementary school classroom, Google Earth can be used to allow the students to explore the terrain of areas of the world about which they are learning. Students can see a visual representation of the countries or cities that they read about in literature or that they study in history. In addition to looking at an aerial view of the areas, the teacher can create supplementary informational posts regarding various areas and topics. Google Earth can be very useful in the classroom environment.

PhotoStory 3

We were introduced to PhotoStory 3 today. This is a free program that you can download. Using PhotoStory, you can upload you photos, crop them, add text or vocal comments, and add music. This program is fairly limited. Placing text on the photos is difficult to do, because there are few places it can go. The program allows you to make your own music, but it tends to be low quality. Overall, this program can be very useful for making short movies of your pictures.
This program can even be used in the classroom! Educators can use photostory to make a movie from photos of class projects or field trips. They could use this program to create a film of pictures from the entire year for an end of the year ceremony. Teachers could also offer this as an option for presenting a project or report. Instead of giving a book report, students could choose to do a photostory that they narrate. This program certainly has educational possibilities!