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.

Digital Blog Post F

   This chapter caught my attention in a few ways, I was intrigued when the talked about the integration of social media into the school system, Basically what we're doing right now in this class in integration of social media into ways to teaching a class and putting it into a lesson plan. We use so many social media tools, like bit strips, pictochart, and prezi. All things we use on an everyday basis with our friends and family on our social media websites. I think this is a fun and interactive way of learning and expressing yourself through your work, other than the same old, response papers.  I think this way of teaching will be a big hit with high school students, If you are able to be a successful gatekeeper as a teacher and let the students know that this isn't for anything other than completing your homework in a new fashion, while expressing your thoughts and ideas though different social media outlets. Then it should be a new way for kids to get excited about doing their assignments and allow them to also show off their creative side.

           

I also enjoyed reading about how online discussions are becoming very popular in the teacher curriculum. It’s important for teachers to communicate with their students, especially in online classes, which are become more and more present in our day and age. The good qualities that come with online discussion are that students begin to express themselves more in their discussions because all of their peers read it, other than just the teacher. They also  learn to appreciate the views and opinions of others because in classroom discussion, sometimes people don’t speak their minds. Well, with online discussions everyone shares and gets to see what they have in common with each other on topics.

The third thing I enjoyed reading in this chapter was the birth of electronic communication. It amazes me that even after the school day has ended, students can now set up times or go to a blog for the class or just one that their teacher created, and ask questions or continue to study or get help on certain subjects that maybe they didn’t get to understand during the time in the class. That’s a huge advantage to have for our students now. With all these new ways of communication without teachers and professors, there should be no student left behind to not understand assignments. There are so many ways to learn and get help now outside the classroom!

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) Social Media created with Piktochart

Digital Blog Post E

            I really enjoyed reading Chapter 7, it had a lot of information that was interesting to learn more about and reflect on.

            To me the most interesting thing I read about in Chapter 7 had to be the uses of software applications. We use software applications every single day in a school environment now.  I find it very hard to believe a teacher in this era can teach their students without using some form of it. Like right now, I am using Microsoft work to type this out. These software applications are so helpful in the classroom when it comes to proper grammar and setting up a properly formatted paper to be turned it. They are definitely one of the cornerstones in the educational industry in our day and age. Making them, in my opinion the most important learning tool to try an master as a student.

            Another thing I found very interesting in the chapter was the use of video games that are designed strictly for learning purposes. I think that introducing video games to children seems like a very smart learning tactic. I just put myself in a child’s shoes and I know that learning math wasn’t very interactive or fun, but if I had a video game that assisted me in learning how to understand the basis, I think it would be far more enjoyable and make me engage a lot more, especially in subjects that aren’t my favorite. Even if you didn’t make the video games an everyday activity; using it as a reward system would probably give the students extra incentive to get their work done correctly, that way they can be rewarded and continue to learn. It seems like a great thing to continue to introduce to classrooms.

            The last thing I read in this chapter that I enjoyed learning about was the information on building and creating software. The book mentioned software such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, and I’m glad I was able to learn most of the basis of that software’s because they have become so prominent in the way we learn today. Then we have the bigger apps that we’re designed using software such as Google and Google Earth; Apps like those that will continue to become more advanced, and also give us an educational advantage while we use them.

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 4th, 2015) Brain Gaming created with Piktochart

Digital Blog D Chapter 5

After reading Chapter 5 in our text I noticed how much online technology there is out there to assist us and our generations in the future. I especially liked how they talked about search engines and how many there are now out on the internet. I personally think the search engines are one of the best things created for students and everyone else. I just think about what it would have been like to not have things such as Google, Ask.Com, or even Siri on our own phones now! Those things have become such a cornerstone in our society, I couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve gone without searching something on one of those.

Another thing that I enjoyed learning about was proper website evaluation, and how much evaluation actually goes on by the majority of people who use them for resources. I’m guilty of using a few websites that probably weren’t the most reliable in my day, but when I got to college and was taught the correct way to use, cite, and determine if the website I was on was creditable and valid. I realized that just because it says www.facts.com, doesn’t mean there’s going to be nothing but facts on there. This chapter touched on finding out who published the information, if the source is legitimate, the date the information was published, and if the information was backed up by citations. Needless to say, I feel I’ve gotten a lot better at choosing valid websites in my college career.      

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 (September 24th, 2015) Nothing But Facts created with Piktochart

Digital Blog Post C

     After reading Chapter 3 I noticed that this chapter spoke a lot about the science that goes into learning and how there are four different learning theories that teaching is built around, and how technology is now a big factor in helping students with problem solving.

                 One concept I liked a lot in this chapter was teachers learning to teach in new ways using technology, I thought this was really unique because growing up we just had the standard learning methods. Now that technology has advanced so much are teachers have the opportunity to build their lesson plans to fit their student’s generation. They can go outside the “teaching norm” and integrate new methods with computer software, new tech-boards, and tablets. This can result in better test results and grades because it appeals to this generation’s modes of learning and understanding.

     Another concept I found interesting while reading was how this generation of students need to be more “internet literate”, without having the knowledge to decipher what is factual and what could be nonfactual, students could make the mistake of using information that isn’t valid; even worse would be if they started to believe the facts they read that aren’t true. I can’t tell you how many times I see kids on Facebook that will share an article that’s just outrageous and not true, but believe it and post it for all to see.

      The last concept I enjoyed was the student centered learning concept, I thought to myself how cool that would have been if all my friends and I got to pick a lesson for the year and do together. I think that would have given us a little power in the classroom and allowed for more interest to be expressed, other than the daily routine and lesson plan you go through. It seems exciting to go outside the box and try something a little strange. I think it would also help with creative purposes for the students, to have to create a valid lesson plan for them to learn and study for.

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.

Verdun, K. (2015, January 2). Technological Advances in Today's Classrooms. Retrieved September 21, 2015.

https://magic.piktochart.com/editor/piktochart/7996533#