Samantha Horowitz

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Week 9

This week’s readings focused on developmental aspects of iPad apps. As I have watched many elder members of my family buy iPads or receive them as presents, the usability of many apps becomes difficult when navigating through. I have heard statements such as “Sam, this stupid thing doesn’t work!” or “Sam, why won’t this let me click?!” while my grandmother pokes the screen over and over again. I have to explain to them that there is a specific way and a gentle touch that needs to be applied to these kinds of touch-screens. Nielsen’s article describes how users accidentally touch something and can’t find their way back to their starting point. I believe this accidental touch happens all too often, and apps should have a simple “home” or “back” button. I noted that this article was written in 2011, and believe that these findings would be altered now in the year 2014. It’s (almost) safe to say that every house has atleast one iPad or tablet device. Usability must have increased over the past 4 years. Additionally, the various uses of iPads has increased over the years. Many schools and companies are using iPads to assist in their everyday routines. As Nielsen says, “We've come far in just a year” and I believe in the next few years, the iPad experience for users will soar above and beyond.

I truly enjoyed reading and laughed through Rian van der Merwe’s article titled “A Dad’s Plea To Developers of iPad Apps for Children.” His descriptions and discoveries are accurate and his solutions for each discussed application would increase the usability for children. I understand his description of the bottom of the screen as behind a “hot area.” Anytime I am playing a game or showing something to a kid I babysit for, they continue to accidentally touch the bottom of the screen. Leaving that area clear of interactive elements would avoid the never-ending “HELP ME! I PRESSED SOMETHING I SHOULDN’T HAVE” cry! :) As van der Merwe discusses Talking Tom Cat and accidental purchases, I couldn’t help but think of an app I discovered while creating my final unit plan. The app is titled “Learning About Plants” and shows informational videos. To the app’s benefit, only two of the videos on the home screen can be viewed for free. If the user would like to watch all the videos, they must pay 99 cents a piece; ridiculous! Obviously, children are unaware of these hidden tricks and advertisements and continuously click on the screen. I totally agree with van der Merwe; “If you try to trick my kid into buying stuff, you’re dead to me!”

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App Review

As an educator within our 21st century world, there are a plethora of amazing applications that can be used to enhance learning for students. It is imperative that teachers jump on board with the technology because it can truly take learning to a level that it hasn’t reached before.

Educational App: ShowMe: Interactive Whiteboard.

Description: ShowMe is an easy way to create and share whiteboard-style tutorials. You can share your ShowMes with anyone, even if they don’t have an iPad. To create a ShowMe, you just hit the record button and speak loudly while writing on the whiteboard. You can also erase, add pictures, undo and clear. This app is intended for every age, young or old, because of it’s simple instructions and easy-to-create tutorials. The app is created by Learnbat, Inc.  

Educational Value: ShowMe tutorials can range from educational topics such as math, science, languages and arts to sports diagrams and knitting tutorials. Personal messages and detailed explanations can be discussed in the videos. Student work can be graded on a ShowMe video to explain specific strategies or steps used to complete a task. These video tutorials can also be used as homework help for parents. With the rigorous curriculum implemented in todays schools, parents are having difficulty assisting their children with homework problems. Teachers can e-mail or share these ShowMe videos to parents to explain the processes and steps taken to solve the homework problems. Additionally, ShowMe has uploaded videos and tutorials related to Common Core lessons. These tutorials range from grades K-8, along with Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 2 and Precalculus. ShowMe can provide teachers, students and parents with a “flipped classroom” model. Teachers can record their lectures on ShowMes for students to watch at home. Therefore, class time can be used for project based learning and collaboration with others. An alternative way that this app can be used in the classroom is to have students create videos to teach other students. This type of learning by teaching will give students time to master a topic then confidently use their learned skills to teach others. A useful tool that ShowMe offers for teachers is called Groups. ‘Groups’ is an auto-renewing montly subscription that allows teachers to share their ShowMes and interact with students privately. For $5 a month, teachers can create an unlimited amount of groups and invite their students. Students can join groups for free.

Learning Theory: A theory of learning that I believe this app embodies is community of practice. According to Lave and Wenger, a community of practice is a group of people who share a similarity or enjoyment in a certain subject. The ShowMe app brings people from all over the world who enjoy or want to learn similar things together. In the educational sense, the videos and tutorials can bring learners from the same classroom or learners from across the world, and bring them together to engage in education.

UDL: ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard follows the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines. Specifically, guideline 5 (found here: http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle2#principle2_g5)  which provides options for expression and communication, is displayed throughout the application. Learners are able to absorb and gain information in a variety of ways through the video tutorials. In this type of learning environment (video tutorials), students are given an alternative mode of learning, which can assist them in learning and retaining the information.

Limitations: A limitation that I have found while using and researching this app is that there is no way to delete or edit only a section of the video. If you make a mistake or mess up while recording, you have to start from scratch. This inconveniences and causes problems for professors or teachers who are recording longer lectures or videos.

This application has become a global learning community where anyone can learn or teach anything. ShowMe’s mission is to connect great teachers and experts to students across the world. I truly believe if educators were to utilize the new wonderful technologies (such as ShowMe) to the best of their abilities, student’s desire to learn would blossom. 

Here are some screen shots of the ShowMe application:

Home Screen

This is me creating a video

This is me watching someone else's video

This is me creating a video

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Week 8

Promoting understanding in learners is the goal of multimedia messages. Creating a mental model will enable learners to understand how things work. While reading Meyer’s article "Five Features of Effective Multimedia Messages: An Evidence-Based Approach," I made a connection between differentiating materials and creating multimedia messages. As we all know, each student learns differently. Therefore, multimedia messages need to be created to fit the needs of a variety of learners. On pages 175 and 176, Meyer discusses research done with college students showing that mental models are difficult to create when just words are used. He goes on to discuss how when related pictures are added, mental models are much easier to create. Meyer’s research proves that simple text is not enough for students to create learning, but when animation and narration is added, learners are more likely to build connections and gain concrete knowledge. Additional research about the various channels that learners process information through sparked my interest when thinking about my own learning styles and environments. I find that when I am using an app or website that has too many pictures, words, sounds and is just not put together well, I am overwhelmed and not able to focus; this creates what Sweller (1999) calls a split attention affect (181) which makes it difficult for learners to grasp concepts or ideas easily. I see this happening to my students as well when they are given too many visuals, narrations and animations all at once. It is important for creators of multimedia instruction to think about and research the most beneficial ways to design multimedia messages for learners.

Ritter et. al’s article “Cognitive Tutor: Applied research in mathematics education” gave me a general idea of the success that a virtual tutor can have on students education. Research from the article shows students who used Cognitive Tutor scored significantly higher than their peers on state exams (252). A main benefit of Cognitive Tutor that truly intrigued me was how the system frequently observes students. This type of observation is correlated to how teachers are (or should be) assessing their students. “It is continually evaluating the student and predicting what the student knows and does not know” (253) which will undoubtedly benefit the learner. The system can then give the student another task that is directly beneficial to their learning at that moment. By observing student’s interfaces, the system is able to provide information to guide students learning based on individual student needs. I believe the Cognitive Tutor, or any kind of virtual tutor, can be extremely beneficial to a variety of learners and aid in the rigorous curriculum being presented to students. 

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Week 7

I want to preface my reading response with my feelings on the topic of eReading and the technological literacy… I’m not a fan of this type of instruction because I find it difficult to read and find meaning behind lengthy articles and resources on a digital screen. I guess you may say I prefer traditional literacy over technological literacy. The reason for my dislike towards eReading may be because I am a visual learner and need a hands-on learning experience to fully grasp ideas and concepts. For example, each article that is posted for our class, I have printed out, highlighted and written notes on; it’s just the way I learn! I find it hard to read on digital screens for long periods of times (it gives me a headache sometimes). I am sure that there are students out there who have similar feelings as I do, which is why I’m not sure eReading and iPads in the classroom would be the best option for all students. Nevertheless, I do believe that iPads and eReading in the classroom have value and immense possibilities for the future of education.

Winnie Hu’s article “Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the iPad” describes an effective (or so they say) iPad pilot program in Roslyn, NY (a weathly area, I might add). When the outcomes and assessments of students were tested, educators are discovering that the iPads may not truly be making a difference academically. In theory, it’s a wonderful concept; simulations, instant connection, relief from heavy books, etc. A concern I have towards these iPad programs and technology initiatives in schools is that teachers are not being properly trained to use these tools to the best of their ability. The technology (SMART Boards, iPads, etc) is sitting in the classroom and not being used properly (or at all). The districts need to provide tutorials and professional development trainings for teachers to learn how to implement and utilize the technologies to the best of its abilities. In my school district, every room has a SMART Board, however most of the teachers only know the basics of using SMART Notebook software. The software contains thousands and thousands of simulations, applications, tools and widgets that teachers are unaware of. If trainings and seminars were provided, teachers would be able to utilize the software to benefit the students learning. Hu states “school leaders say the iPad is not just a cool new toy but rather a powerful and versatile tool with a multitude of applications, including thousands with educational uses.” Though powerful and versatile, I notice children using the iPad for recreational more than educational use. I am sure with proper implementation, iPads can create a successful, fun learning environment for students. One thing I cannot disagree with, as discussed in Hu’s article, is that iPads and their applications make learning come alive.

Hillesund discusses a variety of researcher’s theories on eReaders and how readers are dealing with the change from print reading to digital reading. “Chartier (1995) strongly argues that texts apprehended through different mechanisms of representation are no longer the same,” which correlates to my feelings of eReaders and digital text; reading on an eReader is not the same as reading in print. eReaders and computer texts are used for skimming, browsing and summarizing ideas, where reading in print is used for deeper comprehension. I was happy to read in the article that a majority of online users still print out electronic documents for highlighting and annotating. Though it is possible to do on certain applications, highlighting and annotating is not a seamless task on an iPad or eReader.

The interviewees in Hillesund’s study concluded that “online scholarly reading is definitely discontinuous and often fragmented in character.” Discontinuous reading is described as reading out of order, short acts of reading or reading that is repeatedly interrupted (Hillesund). This type of reading cannot possibly create true learning. As mentioned in Hu’s article, “educators are discovering that the iPads may not truly be making a difference academically.” These two authors have connected thoughts, where they believe students who are not fully immersed and engaged in the lessons behind the technology, will not make any academic improvements. Students who have the ability to be technologically literate will make academic improvements using iPads and eReaders. On the other hand, students who are traditionally literate (like myself) will encounter a bit of trouble and have to work harder to adapt to the technologically literate times. 

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Week Six

           Educational gaming and augmented reality has the potential to reform the educational system. The Mad City Mystery and Savannah articles discuss mobile gaming initiatives that truly engage and empower students to create their own learning. Having the opportunity to closely read these articles and create this week’s podcast led me to discover that with the appropriate amount of physical world and digital world, students can participate in a collaborative, thoughtful, educational gaming experience. In Facer’s exploratory study about lion animal behavior, the students had a chance to freely explore the virtual Savannah before beginning their adventures. I think this type of free exploration before beginning will be beneficial to the students’ gaming outcomes because they will be aware of their surroundings before jumping into the game.

            Mobile gaming, in general, provides students a rich, simulating educational experience. From 4th graders, to middle school students to alternative high school students, everyone can become engaged in games. The goals of the mobile games discussed in the readings require players to constantly be observing, questioning, reading, and investigating ideas to virtually navigate through the game. These requirements create skillful learners. The ability to inquire and investigate is necessary for students to become educated. Many aspects of today’s technology limits student’s ability to read and reflect on what they’ve read. These mobile games are about to take the educationally limiting technology, and turn it into educational technology. It’s our job, as future educators, to immerse ourselves in these mobile games and learn the ins and outs of them so we can use them in our classrooms to benefit our students. I believe mobile games and augmented reality that connect users can create a plethora of wonderful experiences for our students. Students engage in “just-in-time learning, trial and error and participation in activities with more knowledgeable others” (Facer, 407). These ideas of ‘learning as you go’ and ‘learning with others’ are important to my philosophy of teaching. I believe it is important for students to collaborate and create learning with others. Bringing mobile gaming and augmented realities into the classroom setting will self-motivate students and give them a desirable learning experience.

         Megan Glover Adams wrote an article titled Engaging 21st-Century Adolescents: Video Games in the Reading Classroom (http://www.jstor.org/stable/40503460) which discusses a cross-age tutoring strategy where older students work with younger students to develop reading skills. This type of tutoring gives courage to younger readers and confidence to older students. Adams describes using video games with tutoring to increase both reading and collaboration skills. Reluctant or unsuccessful readers can become self-motivated readers and learners if teachers are able to implement these types of video games. The connection I’ve made between this article and this week’s articles is the theme of engaging students to promote learning. Each mobile game discussed has the ability to engage students and develop their higher order thinking and inquiry skills. With today’s connected 21st century learners, it’s difficult to create meaningful and relevant learning experiences. Augmented reality and mobile gaming creates engaging scenarios and a variety of strategies to complete the levels. This can create alternative ways of thinking and problem solving skills. Though there are technical kinks that still need to be worked out (as is with everything), introducing mobile gaming into the classroom will provide students with learning experiences that they were not able to receive otherwise. I’m excited to see what mobile gaming and augmented reality can bring to my future 21st century classroom.

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Visit Original Link

Samantha Horowitz and Erika Reisman's Week 6 Podcast.....Augmented Mobile Gaming: It's Potentials and Challenges. Enjoy!

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My Mobile Interview: Effects of Mobile Computing on Society

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Week Five

I gained a large perspective of “cyberutopia”, the Internet and politics through the (very well drawn) RSA Animate video. Morozov discusses ways that the Internet plays a role in politics all around the world. We are living in a democratic society where our technology and cyber world is even more democratic. Social media gives people a public platform to express themselves and their freedom of speech. Morozov says, “if you have enough connectivity and enough devices, democracy is inevitable.” Our society has created these devices and contains enough connectivity to connect everyone around the world. People have the world at their fingertips and can create any type of message or opinion they want. Unfortunately, throughout our society, children, teens and adults take social media to an extreme and creative negative attention towards themselves or others through the websites. Their actions are visible to everyone and most of the time, it gives them or another person a negative image. People create pessimistic, harmful, and persuasive videos or posts for the Internet that can impact a person’s life dramatically.  Morozov states, “if that particular video accumulates a critical mass then You Tube will have to consider deleting it because so many people have complained.” Though people have freedom of speech, or maybe we should now call it ‘Freedom of Internet’, and have the right to post or write anything they’d like on social media platforms, they don’t always create a positive look or outcome. This is unfortunate, because there are so many ways that the Internet and social media can be used for good but many people choose to take it the opposite way.

When researching Occupy Wall Street on Mother Jones, I learned of the income disparity and economic inequality that is behind the protestors and the movement. While watching the NYPD Police Pepper Spray Occupy Wall Street Protesters and Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis videos, I was saddened to see these protestor’s rights being taken away from them…specifically, their freedom of speech. The Occupy Wall Street movement has democracy as its main idea; people have the right to speak their mind about inequalities in the world. The Occupy Wall Street media could be an example of Castells discussion of ‘the space where power is decided’. Castells article discusses ways that power, communication and technology are all part of creating a network society. He says “the media are not the holders of power, but they constitute by and large the space where power is decided (242)”. The space where power is decided is the social media platforms that are part of our current viral world. Equality and an open forum create a type of democracy where comments, opinions and discussions are held at large. In fact, it has become a very (very) large part of our world and choices that we make. The videos of police officers spraying pepper spray at groups of protestors shows the power that social media can have on the world and the messages that are sent through it. These videos only show a portion of what happened at these Occupy Wall Street protests. The media has the power to edit, change or leave out certain aspects to create an image or video that will make a group of people look bad or harmful. The power of communication is important. The power of communicating the correct and whole scenario to show the truth is even more important. Without knowing the whole story, people becoming biased and unclear of what they are being exposed to. People have the right to have a democratic say in their views and how they interpret content delivered by the media.

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Week Four

Learning ways to incorporate engaging technologies into the classroom is interesting to me because I am always looking for ways to improve and enhance my teaching practices. In our 21st century technological world, teachers must find ways to integrate the most up-to-date technologies with the school curriculum for 'digital native' students to learn. 'Digital natives' is a term coined by Mark Prensky in his article titled 'Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants' discussing children born into the technology age who feel at ease dealing with and exploring a variety of technologies.

Positive aspects of iPods in education discussed in Pasnick’s article are:

portability

anytime, anywhere learning opportunities

fostering information, visual and media literacies through iLife

promotion of collaborative, independent and differentiated learning

inexpensive in comparison to laptop and desktop computers

In addition to the idea’s described by Pasnick, I believe iPods are useful in the classroom for many reasons; iPods engage students in learning, enhances instruction, increases motivation, individualizes instruction and accommodates multiple styles of learning. Students learn in a variety of ways. Auditory, visual and tactile learners can all benefit from learning with an iPod. Pasnick explains that teaching with an “iPod allows teachers to promote media literacy” (4). I was able to create a connection with the ‘Media Literacy’ section of the text and the ideas in a textbook I am using for a class titled ‘Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom’ by Frank W. Baker. Baker and Pasnick both explain that media literacy encompasses a variety of media’s and ways we must understanding, comprehending and analyzing the messages. Incorporating media literacies into today’s classroom is vital based on the number of hours students are spending immersed in media whether it be social, local or mobile. Teachers must provide students with questions to pose about the influential media they are viewing on a daily basis. Without posing questions, students will be subject to the subliminal and misguided media messages they view.

Another section of the “iPod in Education: The Potential for Teaching and Learning” article I related to was ‘Storage Capactiy + Authoring Tools = Personalized Learning’. Freedom, creativity and personalization are some words that come to mind when thinking about iPod capabilities. Pasnick describes how iPod, iTunes and Life can develop students self-expression and creativity, support portfolio content creation and promote communication with students’ peers and family (4). When I know that I have the ability to personalize my learning platforms, I am more likely to engage myself in the learning. When students (just like myself) are in control of their learning, they create a better connection and have a greater chance of success in that field.

Wishart’s article titled 'Use of Mobile Technology for Teacher Training' describes a small UK project where teachers were given Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for the year to develop their training. After given a plethora of uses and support for the PDA, half of the teachers did not use the PDA. Throughout my time in schools, I’ve learned that no matter how many professional developments or professional trainings are offered, many teachers (mostly seasoned, tenure teachers) do not feel it is necessary to develop their teaching practices. In addition to not feeling it is necessary to develop their practices, they are also feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable with these innovative and technological advancements. PDAs and professional development trainings will benefit teachers and teacher trainees if we put time, interest and engagement into them. Personally, I attend as many professional development workshops as possible to enhance and strengthen my teaching practices. As we all know, curriculum, teaching practices and strategies are constantly changing with the times. It is our duty as educators to stay up-to-date with developing our skills along with the time to provide the best education for our students.

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Mobile Media

Mobile Media By Samantha Horowitz & Erika Reisman

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References for Mobile Media Slidecast Presentation

Samantha Horowitz & Erika Reisman's Slidecast References:

Fidler, R. (2012, June 4). Who uses mobile media devices?. Retrieved from http://rjionline.org/news/2012-rji-mobile-media-news-consumption-survey-executive-summary‬

Williams, T. (2011, December 1st). Why schools need to get social, local and mobile. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/12/01/education-social-mobile/‬

(2012). Marketing Profs, Retrieved from http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/8818/mobile-web-users-media-consumption-mobile-activities-ad-tolerance-demographic-profiles

Ekudden, E., Horn, U., Melander, M., & Olin, J. (2001). On-demand mobile media-a rick service experience for mobile users. Ericsson Review, 4, 168-177. Retrieved from http://www.ericsson.com/lk/res/thecompany/docs/publications/ericsson_review/2001/2001042.pdf‬

Syed Noman , A. (2013, October 13th). 6 important mobile app features for your business. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/syed-noman-ali/1822036/6-important-mobile-app-features-your-business‬

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report.
Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

(2013). https://guardianproject.info/apps/informacam/

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hahahah #21stCentury #mlearning

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I am from a land of candy Chutes and ladders galore Board game pieces scattered through the house Friendship bracelets, string, lanyard and more

I am from sisters and cousins I am from family gatherings Loud, eventful and entertaining memories

I am from a quality group of friends Whom I’ve learned to grow and learn with Car rides, late nights, playing in the park Cherishing the memories

I am from matzo ball soup Chocolate babka Challah French roast Sweet traditional Jewish treats

I’m from a plethora of places Shaping my future In this crazy thing called life

(All photos were taken on my iPhone. Poem and photos were posted from my iPhone 😁)

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Week Three

Throughout this week’s readings, I found it incredible to see the levels and limits that technology in education is reaching. Teachers and professionals are giving students the ability and tools to ‘learn by themselves’ (Negroponte) and ‘learn by constructing’ (Papert).

In Papert’s ‘Situating Constructionism’ article, I discovered that constructionism refers to everything being understood by being constructed (hands-on and/or physically created). His ‘soap-sculpture math’ example gave me a platform to think about educational concepts being created, formed and sculpted in student’s minds. Each student is able (or attempts) to sculpt learning in his or her own way; Papert describes this as ‘learning-by-making’. Being a hands-on learner myself, I believe that constructionism is a valid theory that will guide teachers to produce radical changes in how children learn (Papert). Ultimately, it will guide teachers in restructuring the way they present and deliver material to students. Papert’s idea of “constructionism vs. instructionism” comes into play when discussing how teachers will present and deliver material to students. Instead of providing direct instruction, teachers will be giving students ways to construct their own learning.  This is similar to the idea behind the new Common Core Standards; students work in groups to dialogue and create their own learning rather than teachers standing in front of the room providing direct instruction (student-centered learning rather than teacher-centered learning).

One-to-one computing initiatives are drastically changing the face of today’s education. I gained a plethora of knowledge about OLPC and how wireless one-to-one computing initiatives can positively impact student learning. In Negroponte’s video, he discusses the multitude of children who do not have the opportunity to attend primary school. Being an elementary school teacher, this deeply saddened me but did not surprise me knowing the dynamics of third-world countries. “Primary education is different than middle school, high school and university. It’s not what you learn. its not the subjects and the facts you learn. What you have to learn in primary education is learning its self” (Negroponte). These on-to-one computing initiatives give children who are unable to attend school a foundation of learning. Whether they are learning letters, numbers, adding, subtraction or reading words, they have the tools to learn. They are learning how to learn.  Throughout the research in Penuel’s article, he discovers the potential these initiatives have on improving student learning outcomes. A statement that Penuel poses intrigued me: “What is less clear from these studies is what the potential is for one-to-one initiatives to improve student achievement in core subjects.” Are these computers and laptops providing software and programs that are geared towards reading, mathematics, science and social studies? I wonder if studies would show that these programs enhance students’ performances on state tests. Unfortunately, I don’t think they would. What is even more unfortunate is that we have to think about student’s education in relation to their state test scores (but that’s a whole other topic to discuss). Another important aspect of these one-to-one computing initiatives is technical support. What support would be provided for children if a problem on their computer arises? Who would be there to assist them? I undoubtedly believe that these computing initiatives and programs are beneficial to students learning whether they are in America or in a third-world country. However, I do believe that there are still minor issues that still need to be discussed and worked on before these initiatives can truly make a difference for students and their education.

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Erika and I would like to research mobile media for our Tech Report #mlearningtech

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Great way to visualize and think about a Community of Practice 

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Week Two

Throughout this weeks readings, I’ve discovered how the culture of learning has changed and evolved over time. The Smith and Billings articles discussing iPads and museums have opened my eyes to the limits that technology can reach and exceed. Engaging visitors in a technological AND physical journey through a museum can only provide rich and expansive information. Bringing tablets and iPads into the museum setting and will immerse students and adults in the exhibits. This will provide people with a visitor driven experience, where they are in control of their learning and viewing. Billings poses the question “do mobile guides generate revenues?” After pondering the question, I tried to think of how mobile guides would generate revenues and could not come up with many ways. How DO mobile guides make money for the museums if the apps are free? I assume that popularity on the App Store would provide the museum with more business, which would generate revenue. Other than that, I’m unsure of any other ways. Thoughts?

iPad and tablet apps focusing on museums exhibits take learning to a whole other level. These apps allow museum visitors to dig deeper into the exhibits. This idea of ‘digging deeper’ can be related to our current K-12 education system. Many states have adopted the new Common Core State Standards, which allows all students across the country to learn the same material the same way. Teachers are told to guide students to find and create their own learning rather than directly teach them. Students are now engaging and finding meaning, context clues and text-based evidence in non-fiction texts dealing with science and social studies topics. They are guided to read, re-read and ‘dig deeper’ to find underlying meanings of a variety of texts. Students and museum visitors are encouraged to utilize the apps to their greatest potential by “focusing on telling a story that answers questions creates emotions and inspires a response” (Billings). These stories, questions, emotions and responses from museum apps are similar to the discussions and questions being brought about in today’s schools based on the non-fiction texts.  

The practice of integrating iPads and tablets into museums reminds me of a specific part of my trip to Israel a few years ago. I was with my tour group exploring Israel’s National Holocaust Museum (Yad Vashem). As I’m sure you all know, the Holocaust Museum is an extremely affecting and solemn place to be. Because of the emotion associated with it, the museum gives visitors the opportunity to wear a headset to listen to their tour guide while leisurely walking around. This gives visitors an opportunity to hear the history from the tour guide, while being able to stray from the group, watching and exploring exhibits on your own. The headset aspect of my visit to Israel’s Holocaust Museum was positive because I was able to have moments with myself remembering the tragedies while still being a part of my tour group. I feel this correlates to iPads and tablets in museums today because visitors are free to explore and create their own learning experiences, just as I was able to.

I enjoyed reading Wenger’s article “Communities of Practice” for a few reasons. The definition of ‘communities of practice’ is clearly stated: “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger). I believe that every cooperative group of individuals working together towards a common goal can be considered a community of practice. The examples of activities and ways to pose questions gave me an interesting way of thinking how groups have to work together to accomplish a goal. As an educator, we are encouraging our students to work together in cooperative groups to reach their learning goals and expectations. I agree with Wenger when he says that communities of practice are in constant play without us even realizing it. These communities of practice help us see past formal organizations and education and focus on informal learning, understanding our goals as a team and achieving them. I believe I work in a community of practice at my elementary school. With my colleagues, we work together to plan and provide a warm and caring environment for our students. We work together, brainstorm and strive to reach our goals. Before reading this article, I was unaware of the concept of ‘communities of practice.’ Reflecting on my 24-year old life, I now realize how many communities of practice I have been involved in!