Final: Reflective Post

I thought I knew all about technology but I didn't... 

Photo Credits to: Peter Ras on Flickr.

 Let me start of by saying how glad I am that I took EME2040. I remember before this class even started how scared I was. Being enrolled in four other classes and after looking at the learning outcomes on our course syllabus I did not expect to have accomplished it all as well as I did. I have to admit I did put a lot of effort and time into this class than most of my other courses, therefor I think I do deserve the grade I received.
Thinking I had knew all about technology until the first week of class went by and I noticed I really did not. This class has taught me so much, from building my own collaborative lesson plan to creating my own teacher portfolio online that I will definitely use when I have my own classroom. We also created our own WebQuest which I found to be such a fascinating way to teach our students and involve them in something fun as they explore online and learn at the same time. Creating my own WebQuest was challenging as it was with other assignments for this course, but it sure was a great tool to learn how to create for my future references. 

     I have had other classes where we had to participate in online class discussions. This one has been the first where I actually looked forward to them. We had great topics to write about and everyone in my class did a fantastic job at writing about what they chose, making easy to comment back and keep a conversation going. I enjoyed every single discussion we had as I also learned a lot through them. My favorite part of the whole semester in this class was our weekly blogs. I had heard of people writing blogs but I never Knew the purpose of having one or even knew how to make one. Now that the semester is over, I am glad I have my blogs to go back and look upon and see how much more I have advanced, hopefully in technology too. The main source that helped me write all of my blogs was the textbook. I received so much information out of it that I had enough to write about. The book for this class is by far one of the best books made. It was so easy to follow through and it did not bored me as most school textbooks do. 

     If I can change anything in this class it would be the amount of time given on due assignments. This is one thing that stressed me out for the most part. Having five classes this semester was a big challenge for me and the work load was insane especially for this course, which is not such a big deal because school is meant for work. Maybe if assignments were able to be due by midnight of the day it is due would be a little better . Than again I understand rules are rules and every teacher has their preferences. Another thing I would change is the assignments we are to do in groups. Unfortunately not everyone goes to school and works hard at what they are to do. When you are a good student and your trying to get a good grade in something, situations like this are not so helpful when you are put together with someone that is lazy or someone that expects everyone else to do the work. Luckily I was put in groups with great hard working people but I know a few people in my class that did not get so lucky and it sucked seeing this happened.

     Overall this class was a complete success and my learning towards technology in a classroom has expanded so much. I am glad I was able to be a part of EME2040 fall semester. If I can't remember anything that this class has taught me which will be impossible, I will always remember to go back to my blog posts which could bring back all the cool topics I wrote about, reminding me how I can bring technology upon my classroom to engage and teach my students. 

    

Photo Credits to : MikeArnzen on Flickr. 

Thank you Professor Coleman for such a great and enjoyable learning experience this semester. I appreciate all the knowledge you 
shared with us and for all the help you gave when it was needed !

Credits to : jrhode on flickr. 


Resources: Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #L-Chapter 6

Designing Successful WebQuests- Reading about this topic in this chapter was actually really interesting. I feel as if we covered all of it in class. The book gives a great explanation of the purpose of a WebQuest and what questions everyone doing a WebQuest should be thinking about while doing theirs. I never had a clue what a WebQuest was but had heard of it before. Being able to create one in this class I think will be challenging, especially not having a good amount of time to do everything it should include. On the other hand, I think making one of these on my own will definitely be a great advantage for myself and good learning experience I can keep forever. This will help me in my teaching career as well as current student. 

Interactive Videoconferencing- Videoconferencing can be such a great learning experience and very helpful as well. It allows anyone to be in places where they can't be or visit. This is so helpful for our students or teachers. For example the day one of the girls from our class who could not be present because of a family emergency, videoconferencing made it possible to still attend our class. Not physically but it was as if she was there being a part of the class, which is cool too because she was able to finish working on a class project with her group due to this awesome invention. Videoconferencing is not only helpful in schools but it also allows people who are in the military to see their loved ones who they have not seen in a while for whatever circumstances. I find this so amazing because I have gone through this with my Fiancé, and thanks to the opportunity of being able to do a videoconference I was able to see him and communicate while he was deployed in Afghanistan, rather than just talking on the phone and listen to his voice which was not possible anyways because he was out of the country and could not use his phone. I have also been able to see family members from a different country who I have not seen in a while and have been able to participate in conversations with my cousins like the good old days when we were all together.

Photo Credited to: bhagavanpabbu on Flickr.com

Debates over Virtual Schools- This topic is well described in the chapter. I am more than positive it can be discussed in more than half a page. Personally I stand in the middle, I don't think virtual schools is either good or bad. If I had a child and I had to pick between sending them to school or allowing them to do virtual school I would choose going to school. Not that I think allowing my kid to do virtual schools is bad, but to allow them to experience the real world first and if an issue occurs later on, than I would consider my second option. The book did a great job at giving many positives for virtual schools which I agree with them all, but it also gave some negatives which I also agree on. I think with all the crazy situations that have been going on in schools like the shootings virtual schools gives parents the great opportunity for their children to keep learning but most importantly keeping them safe from all the danger. I would say the statistics of students attending virtual schools now to back then are a lot higher than it has ever been. Once again, I love this opportunity for students and myself, and everyone is welcomed to pick their side. All I know is that it has been a great invention for anyone in need of this great experience. Like I have said before, we could not have done this without technology, this is why it is so important !

Resources: Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #K-Chapter 11

Digital Portfolios for Students: Building a digital or e-portfolio to begin with is so much easier than  creating in a paper-bound portfolio. I think this would be so beneficial for students trying to become a teacher, or that would like to be a teacher in the future because it shows a process. You would be able to be as creative as you are while putting all that you have learned about that would benefit you later. Not only would one person could see but the whole world. Although a little disadvantage I find in this is that there could be people that could copy or steal your same ideas but that could happen in paper-bound portfolio period. The accessibility and portability you have creating an e-portfolio is the best advantage because your able to access it whenever you want no matter where you are. How about the fact that you are less likely to loose it? Thats just awesome !

Online Surveys for Preassessment: I think this is a great strategy for teachers to use to identify skills and knowledge their students have as well as the knowledge they need about a lesson or topic they are about to teach. This online survey allows teachers to see where students stand while allowing them to see what student they have to work with a little bit more. This class has actually been the first class where I have experienced this. From experience I could say it has a great advantage. Not only was it fun for all of us in the class to participate in but it was also good for the teacher to see who knew more, which then she could group us in the right groups. I really think every teacher should do this, it shows students teacher care a little bit more while it is also so easy for students because they could log in from their devices or computers in class. There are many ways you could use online surveys, point is that they are very useful.

Changing the Classroom Experience: Using clickers in class can change the classroom experience. Teachers are able to ask inquiry and opinion questions while students participate as a whole to answer them. I have never experienced this as a student in any of my classes in the past or now, but the way the book described how a teacher could use them in a classroom, sounds really interesting and active. Classroom participation allows us as students to have the opportunity to experience a different type of classroom discussion. If students are  graded also by their participation in class, this will allow them to join the rest of their classmates while making the class enjoyable and not boring. I would have loved to use clickers in my class, especially in math class where I would always raised my hand, instead I would use a device that could get my answer to the board faster. Another class that would be interesting to use clickers in would be psychology, a lot of hands go up in that one. Instead we could have clickers in use, this would be wonderful when we do quizzes as a class or in groups.

Photo Credits to: g3ict.org on Google

Resources: Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge # J-Chapter 4

Teaching Goals, Methods, and Procedures (How to Teach)- While reading this section of the chapter, I thought how hard it must be when you first become a teacher. To know the right procedures in order for your students to learn things successfully must be hard to do at the beginning. I have had the experience of having a first year teacher as my teacher my freshman year in high school. He did seem a little confused at what exactly we were suppose to do, then at almost the end of the school year I did notice how much he grew as a teacher and his experienced. Then I have had teachers who have taught for over 20 years which "what to teach" was easy for them, or well it seemed like it. I guess as time passes by things get a lot easier and that is when you start including more technology as part as your lesson of the day. Good thing is that I have learned of quite a few in this class, which will be beneficial for me in the future. 

Learning Assessments (Knowing What Students Have Learned)- In my opinion, I really do think this is so important. It is important to get your students feedback because that is when you find out how good they retained what you just taught. Most of the time online surveys, digital portfolios, or student response systems are the best way to get feedback. Some students are bad at taking tests and quizzes period. So why affect their grade while their is other ways of testing their learning. For example in this class we do so many assignments that includes us reading the book, when we do our blogs our professor is able to see our understanding. Other things such as in class discussions and online discussions, are able to be used. I am not against tests and quizzes at all, but there are definitely variety of ways, also fun ways to know what students have learned. Once again this class has done a pretty good job at showing us a lot. Thank You !

Using technology in Lesson Planning- This has actually been the purpose of this whole class. We have learned about all the technology and softwares we are able to use and include in our lesson plans. There are so many out there for us, and when I become a teacher I am sure that there will be a lot more. Technology allows us to be creative while we also allow our students to be creative and learn in a fun interacting method. Technology allows us to do many different things and using it in lesson plans is what every teacher should be doing especially teaching the 21st century students which are more likely to learn faster using it. There are so many engaging free educational websites, also apps that support lesson planning. Overall technology does a pretty good job at supporting lesson development. 

Resources: Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge#I-Chapter 12

Photo Credits To: Jean Carla Limpias on Word Cloud Generator

The opening story of this chapter is a great example of two teachers using technology integration and educational change. Both Tim and Heather used all the technology tools they had in their classroom and included them in their lesson plan. What good can technology be if you do not make any use of it? I understand sometimes teachers do not know how to use them but that is why we should be ready for change and learning. We can not move on from old ways until we make an effort to learn new ways. What these two teachers are doing is great and it should be exactly what every teacher should do. Starting with a tool a week is a good step. When I become a teacher I will definitely be like both Tim and Heather. 

  Stages of Technology Integration- This section of the book is basically the steps you need to take to integrate technology into your classroom or in which stages some teachers are currently in their classroom. Like the book says as moving from "dabbling" to "doing old things in old ways" to :doing old things in new ways" to "doing new things in new ways". I though it was pretty neat how these stages are all labeled right. How every teacher can be at different stages teaching the same grade or class. If I were to be a teacher now I would definitely like to be in the last stage which is Invention. This stage is where teachers basically start to experiment many instructional patterns and ways of relating to students. I think this is the stage where all teachers should be at this point especially teaching the 21st century. When teachers do this, it enables the students to understand things a lot better and participate more because technology is their "thing" . I think just like the book says "when teachers make technology a regular resource for learning, students benefit."

Technology Integration Issues- All of the six issues that occur for classroom teachers that directly affect their efforts to ingrate technology into teaching, the one I would agree with the most and put as the number one would be "Unwillingness to change favorite lesson plans". This includes those teachers that have been teaching for ever who are so used to doing their lesson plans a certain way and now they think is too late or too lazy to change their ways. The answer to that is stop being so negative about technology and change your ways a little. You never know how good things can turn out to be until you try them. Most of these teachers that are stuck on their old ways, do not know what they are missing on. technology can make these lesson plans they have been doing for years a lot more interesting and fun to do in class. 

Overall, this chapter talked about a lot of what i already know and common sense concepts. I did learn some cool statistics presented and was not surprised at all from what I saw. One thing I did not mention that I loved the thought of was the One-to-one laptop computing. Great chapter, good concepts to know about that would help my in my career !

Here are a few clips that I found on youtube that were pretty interesting, that had to do with this chapter. 

Resources: Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge H-Chapter 9

     

All of the tools presented in chapter 9 are creative digital tools that can be used  in all different grade levels. These digital tools can be used with all types of learning styles while expressing their creativity and learning new and cool ways to show their understanding.

Podcasts as a Learning Technology- I never really thought of podcasts being used in a classroom. I think it would be a pretty cool tool to use with students though. They are able to learn to be creative and the teacher is able as well to see each and everyones skills and understanding. Podcasts can allow teachers to assign a student for a summary of what they have learned each day, or to create videos to discuss with other students in their classroom or even students from a different class but the same grade level. Teachers are able to evaluate these kids understanding while also being able to see how they are able to improve their teaching skills themselves. Using podcasts to create a portfolio for each student can be something useful to see their progress throughout the school year. Thinking about the advantages of creating podcasts in a classroom, I am more convinced that this is something I would like to incorporate in my class in the future. 

Digital Storytelling- I have decided that if I become a teacher, I would either like to teach Language Arts or ELL students. Using digital storytelling with these students would be fun for them but also challenging. They will have to create summaries on books they are assigned to read or books they have read for fun. This can help other students choosing the right book to read next. Digital storytelling can also be used to have kids do presentations on other things related to the class. I have never had this experience as a student before, but this seems so interesting to me. I think it would also be very good to use in my future classroom.

Next-generation presentation tools- I have heard of prezi before but I have never really used it and figured it out until I took this class. I have always seen people use prezi for a class project or class presentations but it never occurred to me of making one. Last week, it was my first time trying it out. It was not as hard as I thought it would be to create one. I had fun while I was doing it, I think I did a good job for my first one. I will continue to create prezis whenever I have presentations due because I like the whole set up and cool backgrounds you could use. Animoto was another tool I have just discoverd in this class and I want to mention how disappointed I am that I now just did. I think animo to is a cool tool to create video clips and although it could be used in classrooms you can use it for personal use as well. I think I will create one of these with all the pictures of my future wedding. I did see a clip made by someone else and the idea of it and creativity made want to do one as well. Glogster is another tool, but I find  this one a little hard to create. I have not really gave it a chance, but I think on my next blog I will see what I can create.

Resources: 

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #G- Chapter 10

   

 Creating Culturally Relevant Curriculum and Instruction-  I have to agree a lot with this concept. It is true that every student is more interested in learning about something they can relate their own life experiences to. When you could relate your school work to your life it is much easier to understand or remember. I feel like throughout all the years I've attended school, when I relate things to my life I find it easier to understand the subject. The book gave the example of the math problem, my example would be anatomy class. In order to remember certain definitions I would think of my body and how it functions, it would help a lot more to make sense of it. Another example would be when writing essays, I get a better grade on one that I can relate most to it instead of something I can't or don't know anything about. The fact that techonology  can place curriculum topics within the context of known situations its wonderful and very helpful. 

Expanding Teaching Methods and Approaches- The more ways we can have students communicating with each other the better. When students are able to communicate with each other they create better bonds. They are able to get to know other people outside your regular circle with different backgrounds or beliefs .This gives them the opportunity to learn new things. Having blogs for students or working in groups helps a lot for all of this to happen. In some way or another students eventually have to say something. The fact that they will know their classmates a little more than, this will help them feel more part of their classroom and more confident in sharing new ideas .Whereas students that are in a class with no form of communicating, thats when they start to feel left out and they are divided into groups where they think they fit in. 

Assistive Technology To Reach Diverse Learners- I think this is very important to include in a classroom for individual with disabilities to do things they might otherwise not be able to do. I had the chance to experience this first hand my senior year in high school. I took the teaching assisting class we would facilitate another teacher for a whole period. Of course I chose the kids with disabilities. Being in their classroom with kids with all types of disabilities where the teacher had everything she needed to help these students succeed as if they had no problem. I did see there was one of the keyboards with the large keyboard lettering for one of the students. Another one would use a program on the computer that would read her the story she chose to read for the day.

In conclusion, I learned a lot after reading this chapter. All the concepts brought upon the chapter were really interesting to read and relate to it. This is a great example why I enjoy doing blogs for this class, because are assignments let me relate to my own personal beliefs and life experiences, therefor is a lot easier for me to write about. 

Photo Credits to : Ingoism on Flickr 

References:

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #F- Chapter 8

Photo Credits to: infocux Technologies on Flickr

It was hard writing about this chapter because I just wanted to write about everything. I feel like I knew it all and it felt awesome. But here are a few concepts that I thought it would be cool for me to mention on my blog of this week:

Electronic Communication Between Teachers and Students- This section talks about multiple social media technologies that we are able to use in teaching. Out of the five that were included I have used experienced using all of them. I can say using every single one of these social media such as Email, Teacher or classroom websites,Blogs,Online discussions, or wikis have been either helpful as a student to communicate with my teachers or fun to use to communicate with both teachers and my fellow classmates. I have recently started using blogs even though I have heard of blogs before. Another one I am starting to get familiar with is the wiki. I think writing blogs are so much fun to create. We are able to write just as if we were writing and creating a journal. Thanks to this class and my last two years attending FSW I have learned of all of these social media technologies I will be able to use later on as well.

Hold Online Office Hours- I have only experienced this one semester my first year of college. My professor for biology had online office hours before an exam. We were able to ask her questions regarding anything we were still confused about the chapter . Through this we were all able to see each others questions and her responses, so if we had the same question we didn't have to ask again, it was already there. I do not think why this would be a problem for any teachers, it is actually very helpful for your students and by doing this your setting them up for success as well. At least an hour would be great, that is what my biology teacher did with our class and I found it to be very helpful. Although not all students will take advantage of this great opportunity, other students will appreciate it.

Communicating with Skype- I had never used Skype for anything else other than to speak to my family in Bolivia. I thought it was pretty neat when it first came out, then I started using Oovoo, another form of video chatting. I would of never thought you could use this in a classroom. Reading this made me think of how cool it would actually be talking to other students in class from a different country. Being able to communicate with students from your same grade about a certain subject and sharing ideas. I wonder if any teachers have actually done this and if so how did it turn out and if students enjoyed it. I would do it with my students if I had the chance to do so, what a cool experience. 

Picture

References:

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #E- Chapter 7

     Chapter 7 reminds me of the evaluation of a children educational website we did for our class project. This chapter provides an overview of how educational software and apps can help problem solving and learning for k-12.

Photo Credits to: Wayan Vota on Flickr

     Reading the story of Rosie Rediscovers Math gave me the goosebumps. I have been a little disappointed lately about not knowing what type of technology and educational websites I will be using with my elementary kids in the future. After reading this story I felt a little relieved because now I know that there are actually games for math that would work to make students eager about learning that certain subject. Most of the websites and and tools we have been learning about for the past weeks are more likely to be used with older crowd of kids than elementary. This story made me realize that if we see kids not being interested about a certain subject in class, maybe we should ask for help from another co-worker what we can do to change that.Sometimes teachers, like the one Rosie had do not know how to approach the situation or are satisfied by most kids understanding what they are teaching. But in this story, Rosie was definitely lucky for the people who visited her class and gave her the opportunity of trying something new that she ended up using to enjoy and learn something she once was disinterested in.

    Kid Pix- This was my first time hearing about Kid Pix. I think this sounds like a great program I can use with my future students. I will be able to engage them by doing something out of the ordinary plus making it fun for them, I mean who doesn't like fun ! It also grabbed my attention because not only can you draw, but you can also do many different things with it like solve math problems or even create your own slide shows to present or show other classmates. The different things this program has to offer seems like it is worth having. This is a must have when I become a teacher since I will be working with a younger crowd. I won't know how fascinating something is until I try it.

      Evaluation Criteria- This part of the book relates a lot to what we did about a week ago in class. Evaluating a website is really important before using it with your students. An evaluation criteria  is needed so that you know exactly what the software or app your using has to offer. Although its a bit challenging its important to understand what happens when your students use the program. The good thing is that there is an iPad educational technology magazine, that offers evaluation rubrics. Therefor if you do not know what a fair website or app is this magazine gives you good examples. How good of a website or app your using with your students matters.

Here is a quiz I created with questions regarding my blog & what you have also read  in chapter 7. Try it, you'll do great !
Kahoot 

References:
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #D-Chapter 4

     Chapter 5 reminds me of what we went over in class on Thursday. A lot of good and helpful information as well as statistics that did not surprise me what so ever ! I enjoyed reading this chapter as I learned a few extra things I was not aware of before.
                                                       




     Information Literacy As a Learning Goal : Looking at the chart 5.1 I was not surprised by the percentage increase throughout the years. I remember when I was in middle school I would always get home straight to the computer but not for school work. I would instead use it for entertainment. Never had I imagined that I would become so adapted to the internet now. I use the internet for everything, including homework, projects of school, and also to communicate with my family out of the country, which is pretty cool. Throughout my high school years I remember being taught how to  asses online information and learned tricks to look for the right information. Everything I learned from the libarians and teachers have helped me out a lot in college, since now is when I use it the most.  I think as a college student is important to begin developing literacy skills in early grades because it will be so useful for the rest of your life .

     e-Books and e-Readers : Having the ability to have access to a book online is marvelous. When I first started college and I first found out about e-Books being available i thought to myself how awesome ! Not only are the a-Books in school are cheaper than a regular hard cover textbook, but its a lot of weight lifted off your shoulders, Literally. But another side of me agrees with with Historian David McCullough. Although we all learn differently, I feel like when I have the textbook right in front of me, and I can highlight information that I think is the most important, I learn so much better. I tried using an e-book the first year of college, it did not go well for me. I thought it was because in high school all we use are textbooks than maybe it was a little odd change for me, but ever since then I continued to get my books as textbooks. Don't get me wrong I love the idea of how easy an e-book can make things for you, but again, my learning preferances are different than others. On the other hand, reading the news online rather than listen to it on television is so fun, I can just keep scrolling down and read for days.

Photo Credits to: Gene Wilbum on Flickr

      Electronic Note-Taking : Taking notes is something I have been doing forever. As I grew older the amount of notes I took in class increased. Electronic note-taking has made it a lot easier for me now that I am in college. Since I started college it was always so frustrating for me to sit in class and not being able to write everything down that was up on the board.  Some of my teachers gave us enough time to be able to copy all of it down or at least be able to summarize what we read, but others I didn't even have time to think about what I had just read. I always though that by writing something down made me remember things a lot better. But ever since I started having professors that did not give me enough time to write things down I started bringing in my Mac to school because i can type faster than I can write.  I currently use Pages to write down my notes, but after reading this section of the book I learned of a new app I just downloaded, OneNote which is a lot like Microsoft and its free !




References:
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #C-Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is all about transforming learning with unique. powerful technology !

     A Parent-Teacher Conference : the conversation that happened between these two, I would most likely be the parent. But after finishing reading this chapter I changed my side to the teachers. I did this so because at first, I also agreed with the question this parent asked but little did I know that after reading I learned so much new information that changed the way I thought. Some parens still do not understand why most teachers use technology teach, my mother is one of them. Even though she uses her iPad everyday for everything, including paying bills, watching soap operas, or looking for new houses that are on sale around our neighborhood. She still thinks that we would learn so much better without technology, because she says that we trust the internet so much and so we do not bother to check our books for the right answer. She just doesn't understand that the computer or iPad can also be used to make teaching more exciting and interactive than just reading our books, and taking notes in class.

     The Role of Feedback : we use that a lot in college. Not so much in middle school did I see feedback from my teachers, but now is when I've noticed it the most and I love it. I think giving your students feedback for things they have done and turned in for a grade is awesome. You have not just showed that you have taken your time to read something and replied to, but it also helps students see where they can improve and what they are doing good on. Students giving their teacher feedback is also very important. It allows the teachers to concentrate more on whats not being understood, and who in the class needs more help on certain things. That to me is a huge advantage because you can choose the ones that understand faster to help you help the others student too. Out of all the choices they described that teachers can also use technology for feedback, I currently have used 7 out of 9, throughout  these 3 years in college, and it has been a great advantage as a student .

     Groupwork and Collaboration: To begging talking about this topic I'd like to start of with, in order for group work to be successful , it needs to be taught from the start. Group work has been used since I was in first grade until now. It doesn't only let us share our thoughts and special skills with other students but one thing it wasn't mentioned in the book is that it also lets students to know each other a little more. Working in groups where students with different skills and knowledge gives them the availability of sharing that with each other. Although that is least used in College because the amount of time we have in classes, group presentations lets us work together and gives us the opportunity to get to know different kinds of people we may see later on the year in a different class. Technology comes in handy for students to be able to exchange their ideas they came up with independently while   working together to come up with something better.

Photo credits to UBC Learning Commons on Flickr

References:
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. 

Digital Badge #B-Chapter 2

After reading chapter two of our book, I learned a lot  interesting things but especially how technology changes teaching and learning in enriching and productive ways.

     The first thing I would like to discuss that grabbed my attention while reading the book was the statement that said : because of years of experience as students, beginning educators often teach as they were taught. I would like to say I do agree with this statement but I'd also like to share what I think of it. It is okay to begin teaching that way, especially for beginning educators. They are nervous, and think that if they do what their teachers did in the past they will be successful. Yes, they can have a successful career but whats better than that is knowing that you made your students reach their goal of that year. By that I mean that you have taught your students something they will never forget. Your class was for the most part interesting, and your class was one that they enjoyed the most. To achieve this, teaching your students how you were taught will not quite get you there. Now a days there is so much being invented, so much new technology, that can help us achieve a fun learning environment and so we have to be opened to new things. We can't get enclosed, even if we don't know of how to work these new inventions. We need to care to learn, it will only benefit both the educators and students  as well !

     The second concept Developing Lessons and Engaging Students : wow ! for many students the main reason of dropping out was that classes were simply not engaging or stimulating enough to stay.  This relates to the first thing I discussed. If the teachers aren't making it fun for the students than who will. Students find that going to class gets repetitive and teachers are failing at connecting their academic material to real world issues in the lives of these students. When this happens students tend to get frustrated and start to miss school because they stop caring and when they start seeing bad grades they decide the school role is not for them anymore. This is why it is so important for beginning educators as well as old to change things up ones in a while. Do activities in class that everyone's different learning types can be used. Technology can help so much achieving this goal as well.  From past experience, I have had a class that I did not enjoy because the teacher would do the same thing everyday, and only spoke about the subject without no visuals or anything. Than, I've had those classes where I really enjoyed going to because I felt like the teacher just had every quality of a good teacher and everything she used in her classroom to teach helped her get her point across.

    Lastly, the critics of technology in schools : There will always be critics against technology and I do agree with some but I also do relate to both sides. Like using technology all the time with students is not always a good idea. Students need to do work for themselves and can't depend on technology to do all the work and thinking. Also when you give the freedom of using technology such as computers or cell phones in classrooms some students take advantage of that and do not end up doing what they are assigned that day. But on the other hand technology can be used to make learning enjoyable for students. Like if your planning to do a puzzle that day, why not do it on the computer. If your are planning to talk about a new book, why not show a short introduction of the book on youtube, as we know youtube has tons of cool videos. With that being said, is the teachers decision when and how to use of technology in the classroom, but we need to think how can we relate it to that days topic. I know that when i become a teacher I will certainly use technology in my curriculum but I will also make the students think for themselves to challenge their knowledge as well.

 

References : Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital Badge #A - Chapter 1

     After reading chapter one, I thought to myself wow ! what a great time to start my teaching career. So many new things to learn to add to what I already know. Not only does it make it fun for my future students while learning but it also makes it fun for me as the teacher. The first concept I came upon that I found interesting was the statistics given when talking about the iGeneration. "Computer use begins with the youngest learners and continues from there. Nationally over 90% of all nursery school to grade 12 use computers. " (Book page 4)  I think by the time I start teaching this percentage will increase. With that being said if computers are being used so much in school it means that I need to gain as much knowledge as I possibly can in order to be on my future students level. Knowing that there is so much out there that can enhance my teaching skills to better the understanding of our future needs to be used in a proper manner. I did not find rare at the fact that students low-income youngsters are less likely to have access to the latest high-speed, highly technologies. That is when the teacher should pay close attention of those kids so alternatives can be worked out with the parents to make these kids successful as well.

     The second concept, Technology-Based Teaching Tool. Basically talks about how technology has extended the time that teachers spend with students. Technology has made it possible for teachers to interact more with kids that need the extra help rather than going at the same pace with everyone. They do this by dividing the class to have some students working individually while others work as a group. I think this is a great tool, being able to assist the kids that need more help and at the same time spend equal time with both groups being divided. Doing this also lets the teacher see who needs more assistance and who learns better at what. As a matter a fact today when I went to do observational hours I saw the teacher do this. I did not think it would work because I thought half of the group would be distracted, but I was wrong. Every kid in the class was well focused, asked questions when they needed help, and finished their assigned work of the period on time. I could tell that the kids using the technology where the ones that Knew exactly what they were doing rather than the kids in the discussion group did not have much experience with technology. 

     The last concept, Your Must have Technologies for teaching : Computer educator Mark Prensky has a list of 132 tools that can be used for students to learn. I think that is a pretty big list of must haves but than again we all have a type of list of the things we must have to succeed in school. I can think of my 3 already but I'm pretty sure the list can keep going. thinking about this, and knowing that someone else can make such a big list makes me wonder what else can I use in the future to instruct, and activate students engagement with learning. 

       As a 21st Century teacher we need to look for new ways to use technology to assist students and help them learn. Showing new ways to help them be successful at the same time having a joyful, interesting, hands on education. I believe that I have a lot to learn still, but because I am taking this course I am confident that I will end up having some cool and interesting ideas for my future teaching career coming up ! 

Photo Credit to abdullah.khan2012 on Flickr 

References :

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2011).Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.