Final Reflective Blog

Final Reflective Blog

            My journey in ‘Intro to Technology for Educators’ was really fun. I really enjoyed all the lessons we covered this semester; learning more about technology and especially learning how to create blogs, wiki’s, Web Pages, and new ways to cite resources. I have always used technology since I’ve been growing up along with it, but actually learning how to create different types of web items was completely new to me. Since I’ve only created things like Face book or Twitter; which were already created and I was just joining. I realized how fun and important it is to create my own websites and blogs from scratch. I also see how important it is to give credit to others work that I use and cite it on my pages and I will continue to do so in my future. I know there is still so much to learn with technology and I’m excited to continue my learning and my future as a tech-savvy educator.

            I really liked reading the chapters in the textbook and learning all that each chapter had to talk about and learning the correct terms to all the technology items we discussed and learned about; what they’re used for and what they bring to the classroom. The discussions in our course were a little bit different in this course than in other courses I’ve taken. I usually just talk about a certain topic and then receive a grade on if I understood the content. This course was way more interactive and enjoyable then past online courses I’ve taken. In the past I’ve taken courses where it’s just a discussion topic and exam. In this course we got to take a stance on the discussions and back them up with facts we found and then discuss our opinions with our classmates’ opinions to receive full credit, it definitely made it more interactive.

            The only problem I found myself in with this course was the last assignment and it was mostly due to time I got to spend on the assignment itself, due to other circumstances. If I had applied more time to the assignment I would have had done a better job, I think.

            My favorite assignment we did in this course was the group lesson plan, I found that to be the best group experience I have ever done in college. My classmates completed their parts of the lesson timely and efficiently and helped each other out throughout the duration of the assignment.

            I would for sure tell people to take this course if they’re interested in teaching as a profession. It seems like a difficult class when you first begin, but the second week in I realized that if I just read the instructed chapters in the textbook and participated in all the discussions, group work, and creating the websites and blogs, I can come out more knowledgeable and satisfied with what I learned in this course. I liked the way this course was set up; it was way more involved than most of the other online courses I’ve been a part of; from the discussions to the website creations. I will take a lot of what I’ve learned in this class with me throughout my educational career into my profession.

 

References 

Hurley, B (December 9th, 2015) Technology Has Inspired created with Piktochart

 

www.YouTube.com; 'The Advantages of Online Education', 2011; https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=advantages+of+online+education

 

Digital Blog Post L

Chapter 12 Digital Blog Post L

            After finally being able to read over this chapter I found out some really interesting things about technology in the classroom and creating change as teachers once I get to that point.

            The section I was most intrigued by in this chapter spoke about a title I’ve never heard of before; it was ‘Inclusion and Infusion of Technology’. This section spoke about inclusion being computers and other information that technology is used for to help practice and develop educational skills. Infusion means the computers and other information technologies are connected into the daily lives of the student. This was really interesting to me because it shows how much technology has adapted into our classrooms and into the students daily life. This should provide more opportunities for the students to have every possible advantage to learn and control his or hers schoolwork throughout the year.

            The second concept I enjoyed from this chapter was about technology being inter-graded into the classroom in all types of ways. My favorite idea would be to use digital textbooks in the classroom. Though, this type of learning may be expensive because the type of equipment isn’t cheap. I think it would provide the students with an excellent visual aid while they are reading; allowing them to stop and just tap a video to explain what they read more personally at the tap of a button just makes the learning process so much more groundbreaking. They would also be able to share what they read with their peers and interact in conversation easier. Along with being able to do fun interactive games to help them understand what they’re learning, I just wish I had that kind of technology growing up.

            The last concept I enjoyed was about laptop computing in our school system. What I understood from this was that every student would be given a school issued laptop or tablet to allow them to complete their homework, daily assignments, and communicate with teachers and their peers for discussions and projects. This sounded so cool to me, as a student I would have dreamed for it. To have all your needs at the grasp of your hands, you could have all your work easily accessible and all done in a timely manner, there wouldn’t be any excuse for it. Drawbacks would obviously be breaking them or having them be stolen or lost, it seems like a great idea, but maybe a little ways down the road.

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

www.YouTube.com//SmartClass.Interactive.Classroom.Managment/MichaelShowham.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZ9hMm_5-0

Digital Blog K

Chapter Six had some very new and useful information that talks about technology being used in an everyday classroom, a few concepts in this chapter really intrigued me and I will discuss them with you now.

            The first concept that I found the most interesting in this chapter was the introduction of all these new and improved interaction based educational websites. This is where we are heading in our education system and I find it groundbreaking. Our society is so involved in technology, that being able to teach them using this new websites should have a more profound effect on their learning. I think it’s still important to have interaction with teachers and students, but this form of teaching through technology is where we are heading as a society and it’s a better way to get these younger generations to focus and enjoy reading.

            The second concept I liked reading about in this chapter was a convenient tool for teachers called ‘Information alert’, this tool alerts teachers electronically about a topic that has just become available on an online publication format. This allows teachers to continually be updated on topics that are important to them and what they are teaching their students. This saves teachers tons of time from having to try and find new material on what they’re teaching and allows them to prepare more for future assignments.

            The last concept I will talk about is the introduction of virtual and online schools that are changing the way we learn. Online and virtual schools allows students to obtain education through the internet. This is a big help for students who need excess help catching up if they have fallen behind, or students who are looking to excel further ahead in their studies. Online schooling has become so prominent that it is being used constantly in colleges all over the world for students who have a full time schedule. From personal experience, I enjoy online schooling a lot more due to the schedule I’m faced with. It allows me to complete my daily job and priorities and I can still gain an education.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

www.YouTube.com; 'The Advantages of Online Education', 2011; https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=advantages+of+online+education

Digital Blog Post J

            Reading over this chapter “Engaging students in Performance Assessment and Reflective Learning”,  I found some pretty interesting ideas and concepts that will further the world of teaching and how technology is incorporated into it.

            The first concept I enjoyed reading about was the use of a democratic classroom. The democratic classroom can be a place where students and teachers now make important decisions together based on how the classroom operates educationally; from an academic standpoint to the rules of the room. I think this idea gives students a chance to become more engaged in what they’re learning. Instead of a strict agenda from the beginning of school until the end of the year, the students may feel like they were a part of what they’re going to learn and it should make them feel more incorporated into the lesson plan.

https://tackk.com/yj9wdl

Created by: Brandon Hurley

            A second concept I thought was a pretty good idea was the creation of the digital teaching portfolio. The portfolio would contain all the teacher’s important collections of his or her educational material virtually. This is a pretty big change that teachers will be getting used to because everything we know is turning digital, especially in the education field. Take this class for example, we are learning about variety of ways to create educational things using web tools. With this portfolio; it’s only making the teacher’s job, less cluttered and more efficient.  

            The last concept I like while reading this chapter was the section where it spoke about the use of online surveys. I think the use of online surveys is a great way to gauge a student and see where they are at from an educational stand point, that way you know what you really want to incorporate into their lesson. Using these surveys will make great use of the time you have with your students, instead of wasting time on things they might have a good grasp on; you can now find out exactly what they need help in or what they don’t have interest in and get working on it.

References:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hurley, B (November 9th, 2015) The New Digital and Democratic created with Tackk

Digital Blog Post I

Chapter Four was a very interesting chapter to read over, I found some pretty intriguing concepts that should be very helpful for future teachers like me.

            The first concept I read about was in the section titled, “Web Sources and Apps for Lesson Planning”. This section talked about a lot of what we do in this class. I showed that there are multiple websites on the internet for interactive learning and creating useful lesson plans.  There are interactive lessons for any grade level and almost any area of schooling. I think teachers have been using these more and more, simply because they offer so many different ways to help students understand concepts; from using videos to step-by-step problem solving.

            The second thing I found interesting in this chapter was the rise of the electronic grading system. This system was just picking up steam when I was leaving high school and it’s only gotten more popular throughout schools. With this ability, teachers can input the students graded homework, quizzes, or test and receive an exact grade within seconds. This allows for students to see where they stand immediately so they can begin to improve without having to wait for a progress report. With this improvement, I think it will give students an extra boost to stay on target with their studies, especially if it can be viewed by parents.

            The last concept I enjoyed reading about in this chapter was about designing individual lesson plans for students. I think this has become a major part for the teachers. Having so much useful and interactive information can make life so easy and fun for the teachers now. They can incorporate things that will keep the students attention throughout the entire class instead of keeping their eyes in the textbook like the old days. As long as they follow their required state laws they are free to create fun interactive lesson plans.

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hurley, B (October 11th, 2015) New Lesson Plans created with Piktochart

Digital Blog Post H

Digital Blog H

            This chapter of the book I found pretty interesting. It spoke a lot about how technology is becoming so prominent in our classrooms now and they discussed a few ways people use technology that I found will be so groundbreaking and helpful to our students.

            The first concept I enjoyed reading in this chapter was the introduction and use of smart boards. I think smart boards are revolutionizing the way teachers can teach and how students can learn. With these interactive smart boards, they can allow the teacher to save and email or print out any notes they present to their class. This is so helpful for the students who struggle while taking notes. I can remember never fully understand lecture just because I couldn’t pay enough attention while I was jotting down notes. This smart board feature will really help those type of students.    

            We recently learned about ELL students and this chapter spoke on audio books and how effective they can be. Young students will be able to read along with books that their teachers require them to read for test. This is very helpful for standard students, and extremely helpful to ELL students who are also learning that second language. Being able to constantly hear someone else reading will help them practice and excel faster. The more students like that hear it as well as visualize it, the more it will become second nature to them.

            The last thing I think is really helpful with students is the gift of video attachments. Websites like YouTube has some very relative informational videos that may relate to what the teacher is discussing and can allow for the students that need to see things to fully understand them to see it. Videos are also a good way to break up the typical reading and discussion. With the birth of videos, it allows teachers to make lesson plans more interactive and a fun to discuss, a good joke always lightens up any situation

Resources

Hurley, B (October 25th, 2015) Technology: Making Learning Excitingcreated with Piktochart

(2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post G

Digital Blog G

            I really enjoyed reading over this chapter in our textbook. This chapter Promoting Success for All Students, There are some new and exciting ways to get more and more students interested using technology in the teachers everyday classrooms.

            For the younger generation of students that have a tough time fully grasping things because they are more visual learners, I think using interactive electronic storybooks to help students become more into reading by providing visuals on the computer that go with what they are reading in their books. I can relate to this a lot because this wasn’t the most interesting to me because I could never fully engulf myself into any book, and I think it was because I wasn’t gaining the full story by just reading, I always liked seeing things unfold before my eyes. I think this will really help the students that are like me and keep them interested throughout the whole book.

            The second thing that was interesting in this chapter was the concept, differentiated instruction. This concept focuses on the instructor creating lesson plans that will meet the individual needs of each student. I thought to myself that, while this concept could take some time to figure things like how all my students like to learn, it could pay off in the end because they will hopefully have all been as interested as possible since I taught to all their specifics of how they like to learn.

            The last thing I liked in this chapter was the international newspapers and interactive maps part. I enjoyed this because I had a teacher always using his map whenever he describe current events. It gave us not on the information we were being taught, but it also showed us first hand again with visuals. He also incorporated lessons where we had to do a story every week on one informative article in the news paper. It gave me a good grasp on current events and geographical areas also.

Resources:

Hurley, B (October 17th, 2015) Technology to The Rescue created with Piktochart

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.