Week 7 Assignment #2

Second life can be incorporated in ELA instruction to enhance the curriculum by identifying and describing the new literacy skills that players of virtual worlds engage in during their interactions.  New literacies skills such as collaborating, problem solving, creating information, reading multimodal texts etc., are all implemented in new digital media.  Every child is unique, and every student does not learn the same way, therefore there should be more than one modality for kids to learn in a lesson.  SL brings the lesson alive; students talk about their learning (think, pair, share), they can create visual representations and make use of new media.

Week 7 Assignment #1

Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education

Multimodal learning is teaching concepts using multiple channels of information that communicates in some type of way to learners.  Some examples are pictures, audio, music, colors etc. The article “Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms” focus on how teachers can utilize multimodal texts to create new roles for the student as well as the teacher.  Multimodal learning in early childhood education, can help support early learning experiences and create opportunities for real expression and in the quality of education programs.  Students can engage themselves and take control of their own learning journey by the different modes of expression.  By integrating multimodal practices in early childhood years creates an approach in different learning styles. Interests, and abilities of each child.

Second Life

Second Life is an internet based virtual world where people interact through avatars and engage in a variety of activities.  In the article “Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners” emphasis on how educators can use instructional design standards to strengthen second life learning.  The article also emphasis on the use of ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) to help the instructor create learning tasks and to make sure that second life operates as a method in teaching and learning.  Instructors should study how second life activities connects to the course and what a second life user can do in the virtual world.