Category: Uncategorized

Technology Review & Redesign - Phoebe Shang; WeVideo (www.wevideo.com), an online video creation tool, is accessible to children at various grades and levels.

WeVideo (www.wevideo.com) is a collaborative online video creation tool that allows users to upload their own media clips or use stock media clips to produce their own video. It has a video editor that provides tools for editing the video easily. WeVideo offers its users several options to share their work with others like through… Read more Technology Review & Redesign - Phoebe Shang; WeVideo (www.wevideo.com), an online video creation tool, is accessible to children at various grades and levels.

Scaffolded Fantasy Play

An area that interests me from this weeks reading is the intersection of children’s fantasy play and social robots or “smart” toys. Pellegrini makes a strong argument for the importance of interactive fantasy play in the development of children’s ability to communicate abstract, non-obvious concepts. Does a “smart” toy detract from that value? It could… Read more Scaffolded Fantasy Play

Week 4 Readings - Thu

I always heard how play time is important for children but never thought to ask myself why. From the readings the reasons why have become a little more clear, which has led me to see how what children play with is really important. You can’t just tell a kid to go play and expect it… Read more Week 4 Readings - Thu

Week 4 Readings - Robots and Empathy

I was really interested in the Kahn Jr., Gary, & Shen reading about children’s social relationships with robots. The report expressed a concern over children’s conceptions of robots as social entities, arguing that children might dominate the robots in ways that are detrimental to their development. What I didn’t understand about this argument was that… Read more Week 4 Readings - Robots and Empathy

Betsy's Review and Redesign

Website Name: Raz-Kids URL: https://www.raz-kids.com/ Focus: Literacy Grade Range: K – 5 Description: Raz-Kids is a subscription based e-book library with a wide selection of leveled books and reading comprehension quizzes for elementary aged students. On the website both family and classroom subscriptions are available. Elizabeth Anderson – Assignment 1

Week 3

In Putting Education in “Educational Apps: Lessons From the Science of Learning,” I was intrigued by the tension arising from the affordances of educational technology (in this case tablets and mobile devices). That is, when technology is being used in an educational context, there is a fine line between engaging technologies that enhance learning and technologies with too… Read more Week 3

Week 3 Readings - Thu

The Takeuchi reading was a big wake up call for me. Growing up I’d look at kids who were using Ipads and Iphones and shake my head. I’d think things like they’re wasting their time and aren’t socializing. Yet I’d look right at my smartphone afterwards. The Takeuchi reading made me realize that I should… Read more Week 3 Readings - Thu

Week 3 Response—Shelley

In “Putting Education in “Educational” Apps,” Hirsch-Pasek et al. state, “when we process information that is more meaningful, we often (though not always) are more mentally active, making more connections across brain areas.” This statement is followed by a series of questions for designers to consider when building educational apps: “Does the app experience tap into… Read more Week 3 Response—Shelley

Week 3

I found the Hirsh-Pasek article incredibly compelling due to its potential real world applications. Particularly, I came away wondering how we could assure that parents and app developers had access to/considered this information when making choices about apps for children. As the article mentioned, the potential effects on the achievement gap that could be achieved by… Read more Week 3

Week 3

I found the readings for this week really interesting. I felt that the rubric for measuring an app presented in the Hirsch-Patek et al. paper was particularly interesting. I thought that the pillars of science of learning and the way they could translate to apps were particularly interesting and helped provide some insight into how… Read more Week 3