Virtual Reality is a very new technology that is still becoming more advance as time moves on. Virtual Reality is the idea of a simulated experience that replicates a realistic experience or even a very impossible experience. This new technology almost always requires a set of goggles with either a computer connection or even a smartphone device.

Virtual Reality allows people to be immersed in a simulated experience. You can play virtual reality video games or you can visit places in the world such as Paris, Tokyo, London and many many more. You can even watch live sports events in virtual reality. With these amazing advancements the schools in the United States are adopting virtual reality into the curriculum.

One very neat place to find educational or just entertaining virtual reality videos would be on YouTube 360. Students have access to such fascinated scenes with applications like YouTube 360.

Now when you watch this video you will see it in two dimensions. However, if you have a headset and watch this video you will be able to turn around and look all 360 degrees.

Out of Africa

The first “walk” I took was in Africa. I thought it would be interesting to view this part of the world because like many other places in the world, I don’t know much about it. In this tour I learned more about the culture of the area. I learned many things about the clothing, lifestyle, the animals and much more. There is one section of the tour that I found upsetting. One section was children walking with a tourist in Ethiopia. Some of the children which could not have been older than 13 were walking around with weapons. The caption stated that this is due to the fact that many areas are in danger from others. I also learned that having weapons is normal for the people in Ethiopia for survival. I find this to be sad because many of these traveling groups may harm others for no specific reason. Stepping away from the disturbing images I found other aspects of Africa to be very interesting. Towards the end of the milestones there were images of the boats traveling the Red Sea with one boat carrying 8,000 sheep, 855 camels and 24 humans. This was a very interesting trip to me because I learned the hardships of the people in Africa’s lifestyle along with the geography and wildlife that inhabits it.

The Middle Kingdom

Next I chose to explore the Middle Kingdom. This chapter is still in progress however, it seemed really interesting to visit. This walk takes place in China and one area I really enjoyed was the Gaoligong Mountains in Yunnan, China. This was a really beautiful place to visit as this area is home to a variety of wildlife. This region contains almost 700 species of animals and 1700 different insects. It is even said that scientists find new species of plant life every year in this location. This was very fascinating to me because I always thought China was too overpopulated and had no room for forests to exists. This was likely due to the fact that I have only seen large cities in China with efficiency housing.

The Holy Lands

The last place I decided to tour was the Holy Lands. The Holy Lands refer to the area in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River. These lands are home to many religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam. I assumed I would see lots of fighting over the region and one article taught me something about all the chaos. There is a wall built Bethlehem often called the “Separation Barrier”. This wall is to keep the violence to a minimum and stands at a tall 26 feet. Apparently it is large enough to be seen from a satellite. I also viewed a section named “Aftertaste” that was about the culture of the women in Nablus. Bait al Karama is where dozens of women gather in a certain structure and participate in activities. These activities include cooking and teaching others how to cook. I thought this was a very neat change of pace and taught me something new about an unfamiliar group of people.

After reviewing the WE teachers modules I found that the modules contain many important bits of information. There were nine modules that were created for all grade levels and mention important aspects of students like mental health, bullying, diversity, poverty, youth violence, pandemic information, anti- racism, trauma, and social/emotional learning. These modules even offered courses to create a better understanding of the issues.

I believe it is incredibly important to create a safe learning environment where students feel comfortable to learn. My definition of a safe learning environment is an environment where everyone gets along and are safe from the many issues that will make them feel uncomfortable, unwanted or afraid to be themselves. These modules offer an opportunity for educators to learn how to approach these issues and be sure that they do not become problems in the future. The module that I dove deepest into was the mental well-being module because I believe it has one of the greatest impacts on students learning. I personally understand the impact of mental health because my grades have suffered in the past due to issues outside of the classroom and I would like the opportunity to identify the students struggling so that I may make adjustments to their learning. The module was a fifty-two page pdf which covered a variety of issues concerning what to do for specific disorders, statistics about the disorders, and how the disorders affect the students.

I highly recommend that the readers of this blog give these modules a look because they contain lots of information that may be helpful in understanding and interacting with others. If you are interested you can view these modules herehttps://weschools.we.org/we-teachers. You will have to login with an email account to access the modules but it is completely free.

A hyperdoc is essentially a digital document where all of the resources for a lesson are placed together in one area. The hyperdocs have hyperlinks within them that will bring you to other sites or activities that provide information. An example of a hyperdoc would be a google document. There are many hyperdoc options on the internet which obtain great benefits for the users. If we use our example google documents, we will find that this application yields many awesome benefits. Google Docs allows for students to be present on the hyperdoc at the same time to collaborate and also give the students more freedom than traditional worksheets. In addition to those benefits hyperdocs are very efficient, saving resources and grouping information all in one area. On top of all of these great benefits it’s also a great way to diversify the assignments and keep students interested.

Watch this video created by Rachel Bennett to learn more about hyperdocs.

As you can see in the video hyperdocs are very neat assignments that give students the ability to interact with the information themselves in a very neat fashion. Students will develop technological skills while learning in a new way that will grab their attention. Another example of a hyperdoc could be Google Slides. Google Slides is a slideshow that much like google docs can be accessed by the entire classroom and can obtain embedded hyperlinks, images, and many other great tools.

For my virtual field trip I chose to view the National Museum of Natural History exhibits. These exhibits were based on animals and it contained many cool facts and the history of species. The first exhibit I viewed was about Henry a large African Elephant. Henry weighed in at somewhere around elevon tons and stood thirteen foot tall.

The live tour link is here: Tour

Along with this amazing elephant they were lots of cool other exhibits like insects including live tarantulas, butterfly’s, dinosaur bone structures and plenty more. I love reptiles because they are the closest thing to dinosaurs and seeing these massive creatures stand tall is interesting and it would be so amazing to see them when they were alive. The two creatures that really caught my attention were the Brontosaurus and the predator x. The Brontosaurus was the herbivore dinosaur that was extremely large and had very long necks in which they used to eat the leaves off of tall trees. Predator x is my favorite dinosaur ever. This creature was fifty feet long and kind of looks like the lochness monster. They have very long necks and were the kings of the ocean along with the Megalodons.

This tour was amazing to see and after virtually walking through the museum I can say that I would really like to see it one day. The one floor alone has different sections in which were the fossils/dinosaurs, mammals from around the world, human origins, a fossils lab, and an amazing section on ocean creatures.

During the Perusall reading this week I learned that Minecraft can be used as a way to educate children on social skills. I love playing video games and I always believed they can educate in amazing ways. Video games are extremely stimulating and often involve the use of reading, mathematics, collaboration, and objectives. Minecraft has launched an education edition which is now widely used by schools everywhere. Minecraft is great for children because it is very appropriate for young ages and involves critical thinking. Students can have fun all while collaborating with others to create structures or even explore. This new education edition also teaches manty subjects such as architecture, math, chemistry, agriculture and even computer programming. Watch the video below to learn about Minecraft Education Edition.

I believe this is a big step in changing the way teachers educate. Education is rapidly evolving with technology and teachers everywhere are using new tools to offer the best education to their students possible. My local school district now has a STEAM class. It stands for science, technology, education, arts and mathematics. Students now have access to virtual reality headsets and more. Exposing young learners to such amazing technology may produce great innovators in the future. It makes me wonder what games or new tools will be introduced in the coming years.

1. The show I decided to watch for this assignment was called “Undercover” and the setting is in the Netherlands. The language the show was created in is known as Flemish.

I was unable to find any videos to share but the show can be found on Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/title/80225312

2. The setting doesn’t seem to be too different than what I’ve seen. Lots of rural areas and a few bars that don’t seem too different then what we have in the United States. The characters seem to dress quite similar and didn’t seem very different at all. I did notice that the majority of characters depicted had darker hair and there were no blonde haired people. Many of the men in the show often had beards.

3. I noticed a few differences early within the culture. In this country like many others with the exception of the united states uses the metric system. I also noticed that some of the subtitles were different much like the word “mate”. Obviously the language was foreign to me like nothing I’ve ever heard. They use cars as a main mode of transportation. These cars were often range rovers. The buildings were structured slightly differently, often colorful and made of bricks. The music also sounded different like they were using different instruments. Apart from a few aspects I would say it was surprisingly similar to my culture.

4. The physical surroundings in this show are also similar to me. I live next to a state forest and in the episode I watched they were camping in a very wooded area. Within the two episodes I watched there were no political or economic situations presented but, they do have a sophisticated police department much like the United States.

The goal that I chose to write about was quality education for all. More specifically to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. Education is all around us. Education is not just a key to a better life but with education comes life long lessons that can have generational impacts. There is a great correlation between poverty and education. Graduation rates are often lower in areas of poverty. People stop attending schools to began working early which results in not having the proper skills to obtain better careers. Then people do not believe school is valuable resulting in their children repeating the same path and raising their children without the care for education. These people never receive the vast opportunities that come with education. There are many important targets that focus on many important areas of education. The global pandemic is also affecting children’s ability to get an education. With schools closing, the motivation to complete school is depleting and children in certain areas are at risk of being forced into child labor and possibly even child marriage. Not having access to remote learning can affect children long term, like being in poverty and not having necessary skills for life. One way this goal is being met is through remote learning, if accessible. With the pandemic, most children are able to continue their education online. Although this is not ideal, it is better than nothing. More recently, schools have began to reopen, implementing new regulations, like masks and social distancing. This allows students to attend school in person and regain some motivation. Learning in person is significantly more sufficient and effective for majority of children. In conclusion, education is a very important tool that will affect a child the entirety of their lifetime. Without a good education, children can grow up and live in poverty, or go down horrific paths.

What is it and how to get on ?

Belouga is a very interesting educational website geared towards children under the age of eighteen. Although most of the site is designed for students, teachers can also perfect their crafts with the professional development tools. In order to get on the site you must either purchase a teacher account or join a classroom for free however, you will need to know the name of the instructor or you cannot get on.

Tools of the website

There are three tabs that reside on the top of the website next to the logo which are my belouga, deep-dive series and professional development. The Deep-Dive tab contains “series” which are essentially collections of information on a certain topic. These series can be on any topic in education and can have videos or text inside them. Students can watch the video or read the text and collaborate with others. The professional development tab is for teachers. This tab has the same series like component instead it’s about helping other teachers. The my belouga tab contains three sub-tabs which are shared with my classes, my created series, and bookmarked. As the instructor you can view what you shared with your students, series you created yourself and series that you have bookmarked for the future. Along with all of these cool features are badges students can earn, a messaging system, and a suggested connections link that will pair you with another teacher around the world. In my future career as an educator I will certainly use this site because it seems like a fun way to learn information on all types of subjects. In my future classroom I would assign short videos as homework just so students can have a stress free homework assignment which is visually simulating. Visit Belouga here

Belouga tutorial video

There are many collaborative tools on the internet that all prove useful for various reasons. Some offer more tools than others however, some applications have difficult user-interfaces. Many college professors and individuals of other professions seem to prefer Zoom. Although Zoom is an amazing app I find that it can be some-what annoying to navigate. Discord is another collaborative tool much like zoom and skype. What sets discord apart from the other tools listed is that it is incredibly easy to use and offers all of the same neat commands. Below is a guide to discord.

As you can see in the video, Discord is primarily used by gamers. With that being said Discord could actually be used as a collaborative tool for anything. Much like other apps discord has permissions, video conferencing, share screen options, limitless voice and chat channels per server, mute, deafen, individual lobbies, and more. Everyone has there preferences, some people will like apps over others, however Discord is definitely worth a try. I have countless hours using this application and it has been my preference since it came out. If you ever have the chance to download it try it out.