In the course of this semester we learned about several exciting technology tools to use in the classroom. There were quite a few, but I would like to highlight my favorite and the ones that I can see an application for.
1. Animoto (Videos)
I liked the concept of this tool that students can use as a presentation maker. I used this tool in my Webquest assignment as I thought this is a new and unique way to synthesize information. Since Animotos are short in length, it challenges the student to really portray what the important concepts are. In addition, it is a new way of presenting information that can be visually stimulating versus poster boards or powerpoints.
2. Smartboards
I thought the concept of these was amazing. A great tool to put to use in a classroom to get students involvement. I do think that there is still some room for growth with these, but they are a great tool addition to any teacher's toolbox. Used correctly, this technology can really engage students and give them ownership of their learning process.
3. Blogger/Wikispaces
I do like the concepts of these tools even though I am still new to the process. I like to concept of being able to keep journals, project updates, or whatever else your students need to keep track of. it also allows for collaboration and sharing of ideas, but engages the students in a new technological format. There is a world of possibilities with these two tools.
4. Google Suite
This is my all time favorite tool that we learned about. The idea of sharing and editing in real time and online is a great attribute to this suite. Having students use these tools allows them to use technology at the same time learning foundation skills that will help them in future. The use of this suite of tools is endless, from peer editing work to creating presentations, students can run the gambit of options and products to enhance and engage their learning process.
We learned about many tools in this class, some I truly enjoyed, others I had a hard time make real world connections. With enough practice and development, I could incorporate almost any tool into a classroom, that is if the school budget and rules allow! Through this whole process, I learned that technology is not the answer to education, but a very integral tool in achieving maximum learning possibilities. With new technologies being created and adapted everyday for teachers, the possibilities of these tools are endless and the integration into a classroom will become more and more seamless as the technology advances.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
ITSE Goals
IB. Technology Concepts and Operations
This is a teacher-centered goal. For this goal, I would continue to explore new and interesting technologies and determine how they can relate to classroom application. Through teacher blogs, technology websites and teacher communities, I would explore new technologies. In some cases, I may take additional coursework at a community college to increase my knowledge.
IIB. Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences
For this goal, I would create a science lesson that would incorporate both hands-on (tactile) and technology-driven lab stations. With the diverse amount of online resources, I could successfully plan both a technology and hands-on driven lab environment that would give students multiple ways of solving problems. This could include hands-on experiments with rocks combined with a online lab that shows plate movements and volcanic activity in which they could control or change to see results.
IIIC. Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum
For this goal, I could have children create a wiki space that children would update regularly. This space would be centered in the Language Arts environment and encourage children to reflect and persuade other students to read the books that they are reading. They can design their own space, enhancing creativity. In addition, instead of summarizing the book, they would give persuasive arguments on why other student's should read the book, taking them from just regurgitating information to 'selling' the book. Other student's would post to the wiki space after reading the book confirming the persuasiveness of the argument.
IVA. Assessment and Evaluation
For this goal, I envision a school where cell phones can be used in class to enhance the learning experience. In this case, after presenting a lesson or discussion, I would use the immediate feedback poll sites to ask children question and have them text their responses to the poll site. This will give real time data of understanding and confusion, in an anonymous way. Even though the evaluation is not personalized, it will give me, the teacher, data to review, enhance or modify the lesson for maximum understanding.
VD. Productivity and Professional Practice
For this goal, I envision a class website that gives access to both students and parents. This website allows me to post pictures from class, projects and solicit feedback from parents. This can be a facebook group page in which parents can talk with me, review class assignments/projects or just feel connected to the class and the teacher. I believe this real time connection will enhance the parents engagement and get children excited about showing their parents what they do in class, increasing child productivity.
VIA Social, Ethical, Legal and Human Issues
This goal could be difficult to apply to different grades, but I can envision the use of society to enhance this goal. By discussing and reviewing how social media, twitter, facebook, etc. is used in society, I can teach the students the right and wrong way to use technology. Relating positive uses or negative uses to current news stories would allow me to tie in how technology affects individuals and society as a whole. Positive uses such as texting to donate money to the Japan earthquake relief allow students to see how quickly the world can come together to support a cause. Negative uses such as the comments made by Gilbert Godfrey show how words used by an individual can quickly become seen by world and affect that individual personally and professionally.
This is a teacher-centered goal. For this goal, I would continue to explore new and interesting technologies and determine how they can relate to classroom application. Through teacher blogs, technology websites and teacher communities, I would explore new technologies. In some cases, I may take additional coursework at a community college to increase my knowledge.
IIB. Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences
For this goal, I would create a science lesson that would incorporate both hands-on (tactile) and technology-driven lab stations. With the diverse amount of online resources, I could successfully plan both a technology and hands-on driven lab environment that would give students multiple ways of solving problems. This could include hands-on experiments with rocks combined with a online lab that shows plate movements and volcanic activity in which they could control or change to see results.
IIIC. Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum
For this goal, I could have children create a wiki space that children would update regularly. This space would be centered in the Language Arts environment and encourage children to reflect and persuade other students to read the books that they are reading. They can design their own space, enhancing creativity. In addition, instead of summarizing the book, they would give persuasive arguments on why other student's should read the book, taking them from just regurgitating information to 'selling' the book. Other student's would post to the wiki space after reading the book confirming the persuasiveness of the argument.
IVA. Assessment and Evaluation
For this goal, I envision a school where cell phones can be used in class to enhance the learning experience. In this case, after presenting a lesson or discussion, I would use the immediate feedback poll sites to ask children question and have them text their responses to the poll site. This will give real time data of understanding and confusion, in an anonymous way. Even though the evaluation is not personalized, it will give me, the teacher, data to review, enhance or modify the lesson for maximum understanding.
VD. Productivity and Professional Practice
For this goal, I envision a class website that gives access to both students and parents. This website allows me to post pictures from class, projects and solicit feedback from parents. This can be a facebook group page in which parents can talk with me, review class assignments/projects or just feel connected to the class and the teacher. I believe this real time connection will enhance the parents engagement and get children excited about showing their parents what they do in class, increasing child productivity.
VIA Social, Ethical, Legal and Human Issues
This goal could be difficult to apply to different grades, but I can envision the use of society to enhance this goal. By discussing and reviewing how social media, twitter, facebook, etc. is used in society, I can teach the students the right and wrong way to use technology. Relating positive uses or negative uses to current news stories would allow me to tie in how technology affects individuals and society as a whole. Positive uses such as texting to donate money to the Japan earthquake relief allow students to see how quickly the world can come together to support a cause. Negative uses such as the comments made by Gilbert Godfrey show how words used by an individual can quickly become seen by world and affect that individual personally and professionally.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Chapter 1 Side Trip
I reviewed the blog sites:
weblogg-ed.com
thethinkingstick.com
speedofcreativity.org
These sites had some interesting information. It was interesting to see how the sites took everyday issues and transformed them into lessons for students or teachers. On the site speedocreativity.org, they talk about the Gilbert Godfrey and Aflac issue around the freedom of speech on social media. The site took the issue and translated it into a sort of lesson on how much freedom of speech one has when they represent an entity, such as a teacher working for a school and the teacher's unofficial representation. It was like a warning for teacher's. On the other side, it talked about how to teach children that rash words can have detrimental consequences and talked about building a lesson around social media and freedom of speech for students. The other sites dealt with real teacher issues, such as technology in the classroom and how teacher's can and should adapt.
I can see these sites as references for teacher's as they provide valuable information to teacher's, both concerning the social aspect of the teacher and lesson planning. Every teacher should have some sort of teacher community reference that goes behind the school that they work in; a more global community.
I am still somewhat concerned on the use of blogs for children in school, but I am sure that more research using teacher blogs could lead me to very secure sites that school-age children could use. However, for teacher's, becoming a member of one of these global blogs would be a huge benefit to their art of teaching and give them a sounding board when they run into difficult situations.
weblogg-ed.com
thethinkingstick.com
speedofcreativity.org
These sites had some interesting information. It was interesting to see how the sites took everyday issues and transformed them into lessons for students or teachers. On the site speedocreativity.org, they talk about the Gilbert Godfrey and Aflac issue around the freedom of speech on social media. The site took the issue and translated it into a sort of lesson on how much freedom of speech one has when they represent an entity, such as a teacher working for a school and the teacher's unofficial representation. It was like a warning for teacher's. On the other side, it talked about how to teach children that rash words can have detrimental consequences and talked about building a lesson around social media and freedom of speech for students. The other sites dealt with real teacher issues, such as technology in the classroom and how teacher's can and should adapt.
I can see these sites as references for teacher's as they provide valuable information to teacher's, both concerning the social aspect of the teacher and lesson planning. Every teacher should have some sort of teacher community reference that goes behind the school that they work in; a more global community.
I am still somewhat concerned on the use of blogs for children in school, but I am sure that more research using teacher blogs could lead me to very secure sites that school-age children could use. However, for teacher's, becoming a member of one of these global blogs would be a huge benefit to their art of teaching and give them a sounding board when they run into difficult situations.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Social Media
Social media is interesting. I am not quite sure that I am on board with social media. I understand that it is the way of the future, but what is so wrong with the past? To me, social media means no more privacy. Social media almost insists that we need to be social creatures 100% of the time. We are social creatures, but are we THAT social? I'm not, nor do I ever want to be. What ever happened to being anonymous, to have your OWN life that you do not post about 24/7. There are social media outlets that are great for certain things; Facebook is great for keeping touch with friends and family around the country, to see pictures of loved ones and get periodic updates of what is happening without making a phone call. Blogger is great if you have something to say and people who want to read it. Picasa is great for storing and sharing pictures. But Twitter? I really have no need to know what street you are driving on, what you are eating for dinner, or anything else in your daily routine life. Not interested. Personally, social media is another task that consumes what little time I have to spend on myself for myself. I have no need to share my daily routine with anyone so I don't need to hear about yours. I only have Facebook because of my family, I will probably never blog in an open Internet forum after this class, and I have no need to store my pictures online. I will NEVER have a Twitter account.
In an educational setting, social media can be a great way to enhance the learning experience. However, social media today is mostly for personal use and the practical educational application of it pales in comparison. You can get students to use for class for about 20% of the time, the rest becomes personal and no longer classroom related. Students do not connect social media with education, they equate it to updating their friends about their status, making plans for after their class or whatever else they might think of. Rarely do any of them say, "I am learning about animal cells today, that's cool!" It reads, " OMG, I am so bored, can't wait to get out of this class." Social media has a time and a place. If a teacher can control it in a classroom setting, that's fantastic. Realistically, that's a pipe dream. Children today are much more savvy than their teachers when it comes to technology. They will always win.
In an educational setting, social media can be a great way to enhance the learning experience. However, social media today is mostly for personal use and the practical educational application of it pales in comparison. You can get students to use for class for about 20% of the time, the rest becomes personal and no longer classroom related. Students do not connect social media with education, they equate it to updating their friends about their status, making plans for after their class or whatever else they might think of. Rarely do any of them say, "I am learning about animal cells today, that's cool!" It reads, " OMG, I am so bored, can't wait to get out of this class." Social media has a time and a place. If a teacher can control it in a classroom setting, that's fantastic. Realistically, that's a pipe dream. Children today are much more savvy than their teachers when it comes to technology. They will always win.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Reflecting on Digital Media
This week in class, we used different digital media's to enhance the learning process. First we watched videos and took graphic notes and then posted our thoughts in a group wiki.
As a student, watching the video gave a different perspective. It was refreshing to see other opinions and speakers provide information in digital media besides the teacher. It reinforces the concepts learned in class. As a teacher, I could use this media to enhance the learning of my class. By providing videos to have the students watch will give the students different perspectives, both for and against the topic that I may be teaching. It allows the student to see all sides of an argument and use facts to form opinions based upon the information that they are being exposed to. I think that this type of teaching/learning allows students think and process information instead of memorizing information. It opens up the mind to different opinions and facilitates conversations. The difficulties may be having the student look at it objectively and allow themselves to see other standpoints and views besides their own. In addition, the students age would come into play. Younger students may not understand the benefit of this process as older students could.
The graphic organizer was a great idea. It allowed the student to know what the focus of the video was by directing their attention to certain topics. The graphic notes required the student to listen carefully and be aware of what was being said. This can be a great tool in the classroom for a teacher but should be used with caution. The upside is that the teacher would know the student is paying attention so that they can get the information for the notes. However, the downside is that the student's focus is in the notes and not entirely on what is being said. Some students would use the graphic notes as an assignment, trying to get the information that they think the teacher wants instead of listening for what may be interesting to them or makes them think.
The wiki process is very new to me, however, the concept is very interesting and could be used in many subjects. As a student, it was fascinating to place my assignment in a place that other students in my class could see it. As a teacher, this would facilitate conversation between students if the students actually read each other's wiki's. Instead of students preparing an assignment for the teacher, it is prepared essentially for the whole class. This broadens the students audience and would facilitate more expressive or creative writing in order for the student to present his/her position on the topic. As a teacher, this could be a great tool to use in a Social Studies or Science lesson, creating entries and allowing students to make updates as they learn in grow in the subject. The advantage is giving the students tools to think and create critically, instead of regurgitating information they are creating information that would be beneficial to them. The disadvantage would be students seeing this as a way to slack, especially if group work was required, since someone in the group would always want to do the best job and the other's in the group may slack in their effort.
These media's were interesting and thought-provoking, giving me ideas on how to incorporate these into my classroom. Trial and error would have to be used so that I could make the most efficient use of these tools, but these tools would be a great advantage in the learning process, for both me and my students.
As a student, watching the video gave a different perspective. It was refreshing to see other opinions and speakers provide information in digital media besides the teacher. It reinforces the concepts learned in class. As a teacher, I could use this media to enhance the learning of my class. By providing videos to have the students watch will give the students different perspectives, both for and against the topic that I may be teaching. It allows the student to see all sides of an argument and use facts to form opinions based upon the information that they are being exposed to. I think that this type of teaching/learning allows students think and process information instead of memorizing information. It opens up the mind to different opinions and facilitates conversations. The difficulties may be having the student look at it objectively and allow themselves to see other standpoints and views besides their own. In addition, the students age would come into play. Younger students may not understand the benefit of this process as older students could.
The graphic organizer was a great idea. It allowed the student to know what the focus of the video was by directing their attention to certain topics. The graphic notes required the student to listen carefully and be aware of what was being said. This can be a great tool in the classroom for a teacher but should be used with caution. The upside is that the teacher would know the student is paying attention so that they can get the information for the notes. However, the downside is that the student's focus is in the notes and not entirely on what is being said. Some students would use the graphic notes as an assignment, trying to get the information that they think the teacher wants instead of listening for what may be interesting to them or makes them think.
The wiki process is very new to me, however, the concept is very interesting and could be used in many subjects. As a student, it was fascinating to place my assignment in a place that other students in my class could see it. As a teacher, this would facilitate conversation between students if the students actually read each other's wiki's. Instead of students preparing an assignment for the teacher, it is prepared essentially for the whole class. This broadens the students audience and would facilitate more expressive or creative writing in order for the student to present his/her position on the topic. As a teacher, this could be a great tool to use in a Social Studies or Science lesson, creating entries and allowing students to make updates as they learn in grow in the subject. The advantage is giving the students tools to think and create critically, instead of regurgitating information they are creating information that would be beneficial to them. The disadvantage would be students seeing this as a way to slack, especially if group work was required, since someone in the group would always want to do the best job and the other's in the group may slack in their effort.
These media's were interesting and thought-provoking, giving me ideas on how to incorporate these into my classroom. Trial and error would have to be used so that I could make the most efficient use of these tools, but these tools would be a great advantage in the learning process, for both me and my students.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Shift Happens......
Wow. Shift Happens. I watched all 4 videos posted on the Shift Happens wiki. The videos gave me goose bumps. The numbers and figures that were showed were mind-blowing. Even though it had terrible music, the original video was my favorite (posted below). What a great delivery system to get people thinking. Take the largest video website and post a video that makes you think instead of the millions of other videos that just make you laugh or shake your head in disbelief. This is a person who understand the power of the internet and the tool it can play in expanding our thinking.
Several numbers really made me think. Most would be blown away by the technology numbers of texts, online media, advertisements, etc (they were very interesting, but expected). I was not. What blew me away were the educational numbers:
I can ask questions all day and voice my opinion and nothing will matter. What matters is now that I know, I can make changes. As a future teacher, I understand the pace in which world is evolving and I need to be prepared to evolve with it or I will become outdated and antiquated. As a teacher, I will intergrate education and technology and do my best to educate children for the 21st century. I remember from my childhood days G.I. Joe would always say, "And knowing is half the battle." Well, now I know.
Original "Shift Happens" video:
Several numbers really made me think. Most would be blown away by the technology numbers of texts, online media, advertisements, etc (they were very interesting, but expected). I was not. What blew me away were the educational numbers:
- The number of honor students in India outnumbers the number of total students in the US.
- Nintendo spent $140 million on research and development in 2006; the US government spent less than half that on education
- What we are teaching students today in college will be outdated by their third year in college
- The largest English speaking country by 2016 will be China
I can ask questions all day and voice my opinion and nothing will matter. What matters is now that I know, I can make changes. As a future teacher, I understand the pace in which world is evolving and I need to be prepared to evolve with it or I will become outdated and antiquated. As a teacher, I will intergrate education and technology and do my best to educate children for the 21st century. I remember from my childhood days G.I. Joe would always say, "And knowing is half the battle." Well, now I know.
Original "Shift Happens" video:
Thursday, February 3, 2011
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