Archive for category: English

Instructions

Read the two texts and answer the following questions.

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Submitted Oct 4 at 9:42pm

Read the two texts and answer the following questions.

Text A: adapted from “Schools Use Immersive Technology for Assistive Learning” By Eli Zimmerman (2019), EdTe

A1.	Technology helps educators give each student the attention he or she needs, through tools such as online learning modules, personal tablets and, now, virtual reality. Experts have found virtual environments can give students who require extra assistance the opportunities to build the skills they need to be as successful in the classroom as their peers.
A2.	One of the major benefits of virtual reality in the classroom is that they can block out other classroom distractions. Attention deficit disorder is a rising issue among schools. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent findings, 5.7 million children are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder or attention deficit disorder, and the rate of diagnoses has continued to rise over the past decade.
A3.	“Additionally, attention spans of children born in the age of digital technology are decreasing rapidly. The brains of young children are constantly exposed to stimulation due to smartphones, social media, and the internet,” notes Naveen Joshi, founder and CEO of software company Allerin. “The introduction of virtual reality in education can prove to be a feasible solution for all these problems. VR technology can make lectures and books more immersive and interactive, which can reduce distraction.”
A4.	A special needs educator Megan Rierdon could not take her students on field trips with the rest of the school. However, using VR headsets, she was able to give her students the same experiences their peers were having. “The kids sat down in a chair, put on a virtual reality headpiece and saw a tour walking around an entire greenhouse. “Virtual reality is a really great opportunity for kids to travel and experience things that they otherwise wouldn’t have.”

 

Text B: adapted from “Virtual Reality in K-12 Education: How Helpful Is It?” By Jennifer Snelling (2016), Government Technology

B1.	Right now, anyone with a smartphone and a cardboard headset can experience free VR programs produced with 360-degree cameras. In using a format that children are familiar with through games, teachers can present content more effectively. In 2014, Mads Bonde and his team of researchers published a scientific study in Nature Biotechnology. Their results showed “a 76 percent increase in learning outcomes when students used a gamified lab simulation and a 101 percent increase when they used it in combination with traditional teaching methods.”
B2.	The virtual reality tools allow teachers to show, rather than tell, their students about places or times that they wouldn’t be able to visit otherwise. Jaime Donally, instructional technology coordinator in Texas, said virtual reality helped her kids to be open to experiences that may scare them. “Students who may be afraid to go underwater or can’t swim can go to the Great Barrier Reef. It gives them that experience, a toe dipped into the water, to see what it’s about,” Donally said. “It may inspire them to be explorers and take risks in the class.”
B3.	There are some physical challenges to using VR in the classroom. Sometimes students can experience motion sickness or bump into objects as they wander around the room. Plus, it can get noisy because the kids are excited. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, according to Barbara Mikojak, a marketing manager at Immersive Education. “Teachers have to learn to embrace the challenges,” she said. “You don’t see kids getting this excited to learn in a normal classroom. VR has the power to excite kids in a way that textbooks and worksheets don’t.”

 

Question 1

Task 1 (about 30 minutes): Synthesis paragraph writing

Read Text A and Text B carefully. Both texts are about the use of virtual reality technology in education, but they focus on different things and provide different pieces of information. Write one well-developed paragraph in which you combine and connect the main points about the topic from the two texts. There is no word limit, but typically, an effective paragraph contains at least 200 words (about 8-10 sentences). *It’s optional to include your own opinion/response after you have synthesized information in two texts. Topic: Virtual Reality (VR) Technology Use in Education

In your writing:

• use your own words to explain the main points about the topic from the two texts
• organize these points clearly and coherently

include appropriate citations for the information you take from the two texts

Your Answer:

The use of technology in education has given students the opportunities to have attention they need which they would have not gotten from a normal learning environment. This system has been effective in the classroom than ever before since today world is technology oriented hence, students do not feel bored. Use of the virtual reality has helped in reducing attention deficit disorder, an issue that has diagnosed learners in the past phases of education. Also, virtual reality in education has solved the problem of the short attention span that has dominated children born in the age of digitality (Lilleholt,2018). Virtual reality has enabled students to have experienced of places they would have not had the chance to explore; may be because the places are scared to them or they cannot afford due to distance. The combination of the traditional teaching methods and digital teaching method has increased the effectiveness of the teachers thereby, excellent results are obtained from the learners. Since, learners growing in digitalized environment, teachers can present the content more effectively through games in gamified laboratory simulation (Lilleholt,2018). However, the use of VR technology causes the student to make noise and undergo motion sickness within the classroom. But, it does not matter has is upon the teachers to cope with the challenges because after all, learning is the greatest target.

Question 2

Task 2 (about 10 minutes): Topic development

Text A and Text B both discuss the virtual reality (VR) technology use in education, but there are many other aspects of VR that are worth researching. Based on your personal interests and background knowledge, write down a question related to the virtual reality technology that you think is worth exploring through research. Then explain in 2-3 sentences why you think your question is meaningful to explore.

Your Answer:

How can psychologists use virtual reality to study social interactions/humans?

I find it necessary to explore this question because once this question is answered, many psychologists will have an advantage in the validity of ecology, experimental control, and reproducibility using virtual reality. This will help building an interactive human who is virtual and can pass a VR Turing test. Also, when this area is explored, more scientist will have an opportunity of to understand better body images and diagnosing and treating medical conditions such as, social anxiety, chronic pain, among others.

 

Question 3

Which citation style(s) are you familiar with?  (Write all the apply)

1. APA
2. MLA
3. Chicago
4. IEEE
5. Other (if so, please specify)
6. I’m not familiar with any of these.

 

Your Answer:

2. MLA

 

Question 4

Which citation style do you plan OR wish to use in 20C?  

1. APA
2. MLA
3. Chicago
4. IEEE
5. Other (If so, please specify)
6. I’m not sure which style to use.

Your Answer:

2. MLA

 

Question 5

How confident are you with using the citation style you’ve selected above?

1. I don’t know.
2. Not very confident.
3. Somewhat confident.
4. Very confident

 

Your Answer:

3. Somewhat confident.