Reflective Post

Photo credit to James F Clay 

This course has helped me overcome my fear of technology. I was unsure of myself at first, but I quickly became used to using discussion boards, creating websites, and working in collaborative projects.  

Through the various assignments, I have mastered the use of technology as never before. I have learned to have active discussions with my classmates and professor online. I have learned how to use the Internet and to use various search engines as vehicles for research, and how to evaluate the quality of the material I had gathered. In addition, I learned to create my own Web page and post it on the Internet. The class Discussion Board was also a new learning experience for me, as was participating in the Chat Rooms in Wiki. Both of these modes of communication enabled me to see how we can really get to work together without having to actually meet in person. Something I once doubted. These different forms of technical communication 

allowed me to participate by interacting with my class.  

Assignments:

Website Evaluation/Critique/Rubric – For this assignment we had to create a rubric for the purpose of evaluation of an educational children’s website. We had to see what made a truly outstanding. We all know there are some pretty lousy sites out there on the web. I chose National Geographic. It was probably one of the best websites I found where kids could spend hours engaged in learning. It was extremely easy to maneuver around the site without getting lost and there were so many visuals that added additional engagement to the site.

Collaborative Lesson Plan- This was probably one of the more challenging projects I did. It was the first group project in class. We had to create a lesson plan and integrate technology into the learning.  Since I had no experience with lesson plans, I was really confused on what had to get done. I wish we would have done a practice lesson plan in class, that way we had background knowledge on how to do one. Overall, I was thankful I did not have to work alone!

PowerPoint- For this project we had to create a PowerPoint presentation.  We either had the option to create one on assistive technologies or make a Pecha Kucha. A Pecha Kucha is done by using 20 slides that are only shown for 20 seconds each. No words are used just pictures and headers. I wish I had the guts to do the Pecha Kucha because it seemed like a fun and challenging presentation to share with the class.

Instructional Wiki - This was the second collaborative project we did. I really enjoyed this one. We had to select and conduct research about instructional strategies and explain how these strategies could be used to improve teaching and learning.

Teacher Web Page- Saved the best for last! This had to be my absolute favorite project to do. We had to create a teacherwebpage e-portfolio comprised of all the previous assignments, lessons and other significant resources discovered in class. We had the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. Writing my biography for the “students” was really enjoyable.  This project really expanded my interest in teaching. I will definitely be using this site in the near future!

I own above photo. 

Discussions:

Legal and Ethical Issues:

o   Learning outcome: The student will evaluate and critique legal and ethical issues for using technology in the K-12 classroom.

Educational Technology Best Practices/Resources:

o   Learning outcome: The students will analyze and summarize the features of a selection of applicable websites providing test data from national, state and local education resources.

Assistive /Adaptive Technology for Students:

o   Learning outcome: The student will analyze and evaluate a selection of technological tools for assisting students with special and/ or diverse needs, and link the technology to specific outcomes for these students.

Technology Assisting ELL Students:                                   

o   Learning outcome: The students will analyze and evaluate a selection of technological tools for assisting students who are English Language Learners, and link the technology to strategies for teaching these students.

Textbook: Transforming Learning with New Technologies

This was probably the only class I actually used the book to its fullest potential.  It contained a vast amount of information that could be really useful for students and teachers. I had to use this book for my daily Journals here on my blogspot. As I discovered every chapter, I learned more and more. One the coolest features this book contained were the “Tech Tools”. Every chapter contained different websites one could discover and enhance our learning. I think every chapter had an important role in my learning this semester. Truly enjoyed it!

This course has helped me to know myself better. It has taught me skills I will take with me to my future courses. I will know how to collect research, create web pages, and how to integrate technology in a fun way when I become a teacher. I have already used my research skills to help myself with my other classes. In my future courses, if I have questions, the Web has a vast amount of resources that I can use that I have discovered, thanks to this class.  

Journal Post 11

Chapter 11

Engaging Teachers and Students in Learning and Self-Reflection

How can teachers use student participation systems as effective assessment methods?

             
                Teachers can use student participation systems as effective assessment methods in many different ways. Student participation systems are also known as classroom response or personal response that offers interactive learning options for teachers and students. An example of such is using clickers. Clickers are great active learning tools to use. The benefits of using clickers in the classroom have shown that students become more engaged and enjoy using them. Since clickers provide a mechanism for students to participate anonymously, this allows all the students to participate, even the shy, quiet ones that normally would be too embarrassed to do so. Another reason why clickers are an awesome technology tool to use in the classroom is because clickers integrate a “game approach” that engages students more than the traditional class discussions.  Teachers also benefit from using clickers. Apart from actively engaging students during the entire class period, clickers (classroom response systems) gauge their level of understanding of the material being presented and provide prompt feedback to student’s questions. In my opinion this is the best tech tool to use in the classrooms. They are fun, practical, provide feedback, and keep the students engaged at all times.  

Photo Credit to Universidad de Navarra

Zoomerang

                Zoomerang is an online survey tool that provides prompts and templates based on themes that help make the purpose of the survey clearly apparent to the students taking it. I visited the site and it was really easy to navigate and everything was understandable. The dashboard was clean and the tutorials were great. You could either design the survey from scratch or create it from the template. I loved the templates there. This was probably the easiest survey site I’ve found around there. I will definitely be adding this to my Delicious account for future reference!

Photo Credit to Craig Taylor 

Summary

Chapter eleven examines how teachers and students can be active participated in evaluating and assessing their own growth as learners using technology. Teacher, as well, as students enrolled in college and university teacher’s license programs, are engaged in dual assessments while they are evaluating the work of their students, they too, are being evaluated by college faculty or school personnel. The chapter also explores how teachers might use performance-based portfolios, presentations, and publication for personal and student assessment. The chapter concludes with ways to use democratic classrooms online survey software, like Zoomerang, and student participation systems (clickers) to promote and increase student’s involvement in their own learning.  

Journal Post 10

Chapter 10

Promoting Success for all Students through Technology

How can teachers use technology to create universally designed classrooms?

In creating a Universally Designed curriculum, technology presents benefits and challenges to student learning. Every teacher is an instructional designer deciding everything from how seating is arranged to what instructional activities will be conducted. The most insignificant change can either make it or break -- like I would say. It could either draw the student’s attention or drift them away from the focus of the class. Teachers have to be careful when redesigning their classroom. Some small changes that can done in the classroom are providing alternative seating, such as ball chairs, providing speech to text software that enables students to record their voice as text documents, and lastly, providing talking books. When I was observing at a Middle School I saw the students were using clickers during class. This is a great way to determine comprehension of key concepts among the students. Another way to use technology in the classroom is to develop short video and audio productions to explain and expand the content. It will benefit students with a variety of learning styles.

Photo Credit to Jim Frost

Calculators

We live in a society that is always changing thanks to the ever advancing technology. We are in a time where even iPads are common in every classroom in the country. Technology is huge and learning how to use such technology is also important.  This is why it’s good for students to have an understanding of how to use a calculator. As far as electronics go, it’s a fairly simple instrument to use and students will need to use such devices elsewhere throughout their lives. Just think about it calculators are something that your students are going to use to set a budget, do their taxes and complete other tasks throughout their lifetimes. Let’s say I taught Chemistry is High School. When giving out an exam, I don’t want my students to spend most of their time on the one problem that includes a bit of math. So providing my students with a calculator can ensure me that they will not spend a whopping five minutes on the problem, instead spend less than three minutes on it.

Photo Credit to Salihan Laugesen 

Summary

              
            Chapter ten examines how computer technologies expand opportunities for teachers to meet the learning needs of all students, and regular or special education classrooms. Technologies developed for special needs learners can be very useful for other students, because they make possible teaching activities that respond to a range of learning styles and preferences. It also discusses differential instruction, universal design for learning, and reviews a range of assistive digital tools that support successful learning for all students.

"Teachers should fashion teaching and learning so that all students have the chance to learn and to demonstrate what they have learned—not just those who happen to be gifted with words and numbers. " -Howard Gardner

      

Journal Post 9

Chapter 9

Creating and Sharing Information with Multimedia Technologies

How can teachers use video resources in their teaching?

Teachers, who use instructional videos in class get the students to retain more information, understand concepts more rapidly and are more enthusiastic about what they are learning. With video being part of a thoughtful lesson plan, students often make new connections between curriculum topics, and discover links between these topics and the world outside the classroom without having to step foot outside the classroom. Many equipment are available at school: television monitors, video players and educational DVDs.  But an alternative to using DVDs or videotapes in the classroom, teachers relay more on video resources that are found on the Web.  There are massive amounts of videos already available online in all sorts of subject areas. An example of one is YouTube. YouTube contains thousands of educational videos that are extremely useful. Teachers utilize these videos in their curriculum. It increases the student’s retention of the subject and encourages them to seek out educational videos as well.  

Photo Credit to jm3 on Flickr

There are many successful strategies for using videos and DVDs in interactive ways. Using the pause and rewind bottoms during segments of the video, engages students in discussions about what they are viewing, making it an interactive experience.  Another strategy that can be done in class while showing a video is having the students write responses or taking notes on what they are seeing.  Some teachers already have a worksheet made with questions on them in the order of the film so students can easily answer them while still watching the video. That way you know the students are paying attention and understanding the video.

TeacherTube

                TeacherTube has a variety of videos, documents, audio, and photos that are valuable for teachers of all subject areas. The possibilities are endless and extend much further than just showing videos to your students. Teacher Tube is designed to look like the popular website YouTube. It provides free online space for sharing instructional and educationally videos, made by teachers and students. Videos of the day are displayed on the main page and students and teachers can search up any subject or content as well.  An advantage of using Teacher Tube is that the content is safe for viewing in schools.  It’s a valuable resource to use for the classroom.

Summary

                Chapter nine focuses on presenting information using PowerPoint software, videos, DVDs, digital cameras, movie making software, and podcasts as tools for emerging students in creating and sharing information commutation through multimedia tools. In this century, cameras are nearly available anywhere from phones, iPods, and iPads. Tools for recording are more assessable and cheaper as well. Collaborative sites like TeacherTube make it easier to post and share videos with other educators and students. Finally, the Web contains a vast variety of videos, like YouTube, that can be useful to use in the classrooms. Emerging technologies in the schools offer exciting ways to share and teach ideas and concepts with others.  

Journal Post 8

Chapter 8

Communicating and Networking with Websites, Blogs, Wikis, and more.

How can teachers use email or instant messaging to foster information exchanges with and among students?
            
          We are in the 21^st century; children and adolescents are the largest users of email and instant messaging (IM) technologies. So why not use it? In my opinion, using email to communicate with your students can make you a better teacher and increase class participation. I don’t encourage using IM because the kind of informal language found there can be misunderstood or misused at times. Even though some teachers still refuse to use email as a teaching tool, it’s a quick and easy way to communicate with your students. Though, it is not a replacement for the classroom and face to face contact, it is a reinforcement, a lifeline, and an open door for students when after office hours are over.
           
            Students today keep a hectic pace. They are usually involved in extracurricular activities or jobs that clash with a teacher’s office hours. Ultimately, you can encourage students to email their papers, or ask any questions if they feel the need to. Listening and remembering seem to be a big problem for many students in today’s fast-paced world. Teachers can send out a friendly reminder either individually or as a group about papers that are due that week and give them extra tips to help them succeed. These emails are there as a record and the students will not lose them like class notes. They can refer to it at any time. These few additional hours can make all the difference.  

Photo Credit to Christopher Penn

Tech Tool: Edmodo
        
            Edmodo is a free web-based website that teachers can use to manage their class, share content, access homework and other school related items. It is also a safe social networking place for the students in the class to connect and collaborate with one another.  From the demo I saw, Edmodo has a Facebook-like appearance. Which I think students will love because it looks familiar and will not have a hard time navigating through the site. Edmodo has a collaboration feature where the teacher and students can add comments and share files such as PowerPoints, Word documents and videos. It also provides instant messaging where students can discuss assignments, ideas they have, or simply socialize. I think students will find it handy at 11pm when they are doing their homework and can contact their classmates or even teacher for instant help.

Summary

            This chapter was mostly about different ways that teachers and students could use computers and other technologies to share ideas and information online. It talks about how teachers could use technologies as a communicator for enhancing teaching and learning. Also emphasis how teachers can get a use out of emails, instant messaging, discussion boards, blogs, and even wikis as an engaging collaborative learning tool to improve teaching. Overall, it discussed technology tools that could be useful not only in the classroom, but outside as well.

               

Journal Post 7

Chapter 7

Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools

What are the standard software applications found on most computers today and what open source software alternatives are there?  

                Various types of computer software are used to simplify the operations and applications of computer programs. There are two main types of software. System software is responsible for the overall functioning and control of a computer. It includes the operating system, network operating system, database managers, and TP monitor. Application software performs specific functions in specialized ways to produce a variety of services, including word processing, databases, spreadsheets, slides and presentations, internet browsing, email management, movie making or DVD burning to name a few. You will recognize many of these programs by their commercial name: Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe, Photoshop, Internet Explorer and Norton Antivirus.

Photo credit to Ohrizon. 

Here are a couple standard software applications more in-depth that are most likely found on your computer:

-          Word processing software enables writers to enter data into a word processing document. They have long replaced typewriters and even handwritten letters. It also allows users to create digital documents that can be drafted, edited, and shared electronically.

-          Web browsing software allows computers to visit favorite website or search for new information online. Popular browsers include Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Safari.

-          Presentation software like PowerPoint gives computer users creative ways to construct digital slideshows and other displays that incorporate text, sound, voice, and pictorial images.

-          Antivirus software scans a computer for malicious programs that deliberately interfere with its operation. A virus can spread when one computer communicates with another computer, much like humans catch a cold or viral infections. Antivirus is an essential tool to protect your computer against the constant threat of these potentially dangerous programs.

Open source software is “open” for the public to use, copy, and recreate, usually at little or no cost. Profit-making companies develope much of the software for computers today because it's reliable and easy to modify.  Organizations deliberately make the source codes available free to users and software developers with the idea that new and improved applications will emerge, thereby stimulating innovations within a wider community. Some technology educators consider open source software to be safer to run on computers because it is more secure in terms of privacy.

Squeak Etoys

              Squeak Etoys is an open source with free downloadable software program that supports inquiry learning and problem solving for elementary and middle school students. It has become a colorful, kid-friendly development environment with strong multi-media capabilities. It teaches students how to model things with math, logic, and merge that skill with creativity. Etoys is great for modeling things quickly and easily!

Summary

              Chapter seven overviews how educational software supports and promotes problem solving and inquiry learning for students from kindergarten to twelfth grade. The chapter also discusses different kinds of educational software, from open source materials to commercially produced programs. The last section introduces intelligent tutoring systems as emerging instructional options for teachers, specifically math and science education.   

               

                 

Journal Post 6

Chapter 6

Teaching with Educational Websites and other Online Resources

What are WebQuests and virtual field trips?

                WebQuests enable online explorations in Mathematics, English, Science, Social Studies, or any given subject! Each WebQuest is a unique exploration designed to be fun and engaging. They make connections between any particular topic and the real-world. Students who embark on WebQuests become engaged in both finding information and learning from it. They will gain essential Internet literacy skills of information retrieval and analysis. Teachers encourage students to engage in web-based inquiry with WebQuests. They also use these WebQuests as a virtual environment to give students roles, creative activities, and unique assignments designed to stretch their thinking and enhance their understanding of the text. Students can design a Roman village for Caesar or create plots of their own St. Crispian’s Day speech for Henry V.

Photo Credit to Michael Surran

                Virtual field trips take students to places all over the world without ever leaving their school’s classroom or computer lab. One small study involving 400 students from two different middle schools, one urban and one rural, showed that middle school students had higher reading comprehension scores after participating in online field trips developed by Maryland Public Television. The students who took the field trips performed better than a control group of students who experienced only traditional teaching methods. Numerous museums, science centers, historical sites, and other educational organizations have developed online field trips programs that do not require any human to human interaction, so no reservation is needed. Which I think is incredibly awesome because many students do not have the transportation needed. Some popular destinations that offer these great experiences are the following: Lake Michigan Science Research Center, Baseball Hall of Fame, and Cleveland Museum of Art.

                Interactive videoconferencing is also a great virtual learning experience for students! It is a powerful distance learning technology that offers real-time access to people and places that students are unable to visit. It enables students to communicate with scientist, historians, writers, and other experts from all over the nation extending the classroom beyond the local community. Wow!

The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc

                TheCave of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc is a great website example that offers an online field trip. It shows some of the earliest cave painting ever found. Taking a virtual tour of this subterranean world is one the joys of this site. In my World Civilization class, the professor used this exact website when we were learning about the Babylonian era. It came in handy at all times and I honesty learned a lot because the wealth of the information given, it almost felt tangible. When you go on the site there is a map of the entire cave system with linking buttons. Clicking on a button takes you to that location in the cave with its drastic drawings. Viewing these paintings from the past may inspire students to produce their own drawings, paintings, or writings to post on the walls or blogs. The exploration of distant destinations made possible by visiting archaeology and anthropology websites may interest students finding out about the history of local areas or visiting nearby museums.  

Summary

                In this chapter, it considers information management, a necessity when teachers and students utilize learning resources provided by educational websites and other online resource. It also introduces booking making, social book making, and information alerts as ways to organize information that teachers need to prepare lessons aligned with local, state, and national curriculum frameworks. WebQuests and virtual field trips suggest ways to extend learning using the web. Finally the chapter examines six different types of educational websites that support inquiry and interactivity to fully engage students with academic content.

Journal Post 5

Chapter 5

Researching and Evaluating Internet Information

 What are search engines and how do they work?

             Do you remember life before Google? It was difficult. We had to use paper maps, learn languages and even own a dictionary. Scary, I know! Search engines have become a staple to our everyday lives because they’re practical, easy to navigate, and just overall convenient. But apart from being a touch screen away, do you ever think about the underground dynamics of a search engine; how it all comes together? Well, a search engine is a software program that uses networks of computers to access information about a topic from its database. Knowing how to locate and analyze information from the internet can get a little tricky. Sure you can just type a word or phrase and get an infinity amount of web pages pretending to the topic being searched. To limit your research, focus on a specific topic category, narrowing and simplifying the subject area. For example, when exploring the history of African Americans baseball players, you might list “baseball history”, “Jackie Robinson”, or “sports history”. Any of these terms would be a great starting point for using a search engine.

Photo Credit to Jinho Jung

            As valuable as Google and Ask can be in locating information, teachers and students benefit from search tools that focus more directly on academics topics, educational standards and learning materials. Educationally specialized search resources are often more time efficient than typing keywords onto a general search engine.  Some examples are like the Internet Public Library, Voice of Shuttle, and Artcyclopedia. Teachers and students can benefit from these specialized search engines. My school offers its own research database. It comes in handy when I have to write a research paper for my class. The best part of all, it is free! Some of these educational search engines are not available for everyone. They require a fee. So take advantage of the free ones out there. They contain a wealth of information.

Flickr
            Thanks to my awesome Professor, I discovered Flickr. Flickr is an online photo managing and sharing tool that lets you search photos, organize them, and even send them. I use Flickr to find photos that I can incorporate into my blogs I have been writing. Apart from that, you can use Flickr as a learning tech tool to your curriculum. You can divide your photos into sets based on a theme you are teaching. Discussion boards are also included for online talking as well as for picture sharing among colleagues and students.  

Summary
             Chapter five explores how teachers and students can research and evaluate the internet as a teaching and learning environment. It talks about search engines, how they work, and offer a variety of great educational sites to use. It also addresses the problem of student plagiarism and how teachers can address the issue. Teachers can reduce or even avoid situations where students plagiarize by structuring their school assignments better. Finally, teaching students how to find quality and valuable information in the web. According to the American Library Association, high quality online information meets five criteria: accuracy, authority, objectively, currency, and coverage. Paying attention to URL extensions, using a lesson plan site selectively, and giving clear web research guidelines are important strategies for teachers to use in teaching Internet information evaluation to students. Overall, the main goal of the chapter was teaching students how to access and asses information in the web.   

Journal Post 3

Chapter 3

Developing Lessons with Technology

What is meant by “lesson development using technology”?

                Lesson development is central to the work of every teacher. Lesson development refers to all the activities that teachers do as they create, teach, and evaluate lessons with students. It involves a teacher’s decisions about three elements of teaching lessons: academic content (what to teach), teaching goals, methods and procedures (how to teach), and finally learning assessments (how to know what students have learned). School system guidelines and state national curriculum framework the bases on “what to teach”. However, because no national standard spells out everything to teach about any given topic, classroom teachers must make choices about what will be explored to students each day. Technology plays an essential role on helping teachers with their lesson plans. We have access to powerful new ways to research and retrieve information like blogs, internet search engines and wikis.

Photo Credit to the tartanpodcast

                Teachers combine goals, methods and procedures into formats for daily learning. Goals are the reason why a lesson is being taught. Methods are the instructional strategies. Large or small groups, discussion, lectures, role play, case studies are just a few of the examples teachers use to convey academic content to students. Procedures are the scheduling and grouping of students by teachers during a lesson, including time management. The goals, methods, and procedure all mutually support each other in the process of lesson development, which is where technology comes as a great use. Technology does best in enhancing the understanding of goals. It gets you to that higher order of thinking; it gets you to understand that goal.

Photo Credit to woodleywonderworks 

PBS Teachers

                PBS Teachers features thousands of lesson plans, professional development opportunities, videos, and blogs. You will notice that many of these sources are based on the award winning programming that is broadcast on PBS stations. You will also see that many are tied back to state standards and there are recommendations on how to study a topic beyond what is shown at the site. It contains a sufficient amount of appropriate use of school technology, to enhance what the teacher is already teaching. The PBS Teacher makes finding online lessons and activities so much easier!

Summary

                 Chapter three discusses how teachers plan, deliver, and assess lessons that engage students and teach academic content while integrating technology into the lesson plans. Two types of lesson planning are explained. Sample lessons are developed step by step in the chapter so you can see ways to use technology throughout the development process. It also mentions how teachers should evaluate their students. Prime examples are using teaching performances assessments to measure the knowledge of students before, during, and after teaching lessons. Technology offers multiple ways to conduct test and performances such as quizzes, portfolios, and student writing. It provides tools on how to develop and evaluate learning experiences for students.

Journal Post 2

Chapter Two                                                                                                                                                 Transforming Learning with Unique, Powerful Technology

How does technology create student engagement and collaboration?

                Engagement and collaboration refer to teaching and learning situations where students work together on academic activities thoughtfully and willingly. Now a days, students outside of school are more involved with technology than ever before. They watch television, surf the net, and send emails, texts, instant messaging, just about anything! These are all forms of communication and collaboration. Teachers have it made when it comes to use students’ technology-centered behaviors to promote learning in school. Some ways to promote active engagement and collaboration include: student conducted online polls and surveys, digital storytelling, digital games for learning, online publishing, discussion boards, and Wikipedia. Engaging students is at the heart of teaching. John Dewey, a philosopher, observed teachers and found out something very interesting. Most of the educators neglected the inner attention and focused more on the outer attention. However, the inner attention is where learning happens. This is when you get students involved to think deeply and actually consume information about the topic being discussed.

Photo Credit to Scott McLeod

                In addition to promoting attentive engagement, technology creates settings where students can work productively together. One way we can make students collaborate together is by groupwork. Group work lets students work together in pairs or even in quarters. In my opinion is has been quite effective as a student. Since we are put into groups, not one student feels left out. Everyone brings their strengths to the table and we all collaborate as a team. Cooperative learning is another highly effective way to promote active learning in classrooms.  Each student has a role while working together. Some examples are like having a note taker, an artist, researcher, and even a presenter. When students work together, they acquire skills and knowledge in ways that create and sustain lasting learning.

Web Scrapbook

                Web scrapbook is one of the website resources for engagement and collaboration I explored. It allows individual students or classroom groups to place electronic information in an online folder. Think of it as a clipping file for the Internet. Into that file you can place images, excerpts, and whole web pages that you find while you surf the web or that reside on your computer. In addition, the Web Scrapbook is a collaborative environment. A class working on a project together could place all of the items they wish to discuss or annotate into one shared folder. Groups with a common interest could collaboratively build, sort, and annotate a list of relevant web pages, images, and passages. This reminds me of the discussion board I have in my Introduction to Technology class. It helps us engage with one another and include information and insights we have.

Summary

                In this chapter it talks about how technology makes unique, powerful, and transformative learning through visual learning. It also mentions ways on how to create collaborative activities for students, rapid feedback, and imaginative and creative self-expression.  It focuses on metacognitive thinking to build what has been called a student-centered or knowledge approach to teaching. It emphasizes how computers can redefine and change how teaching is conducted in schools. It offers many examples of multimedia software that can be used to teach and access much information. Using technology, teachers create opportunities for students to generate new ideas, original work, and use models to explore systems and issues.

Journal Post 4

Chapter 4

Integrating Technology and Creating Change.

How can teachers integrate technology into their work as educators?

           

            Let’s start with the definition of technology integration and educational change. Technology integration refers to ways that teachers build technology into all aspects of their professional work. Educational change refers to innovations by teachers that create new patterns of teaching and learning in school. Together they make technology a central part of education, enabling the unique, powerful, and transforming impacts of computers and other tools to be part of every student’s daily experience in schools.

           

            Technology integration doesn't mean computer technologies replace nonelectric resources in every teaching situation. You have to be creative with it! This way, together with your students, discover the power of computer technologies. The use of technology can be subsided in three primary ways. One way is inside-the-classroom teaching tools. Teachers use technology to present academic material and create interactive learning experiences for students in the classroom.  An example is like the infamous PowerPoint presentations we have all used at least once in our life. I personally love it because I've grown accustom to using it. A second way technology can be used is outside-the-classroom as a professional resource. By this I mean, using technology to manage the administrative demands they face in school. One common example is keeping their grades and attendance recorded. Technology can come in handy when trying to do recordkeeping. Teachers have slowly change their ways and have come more dependent on the programs that computer offer to make their jobs a little easier. Finally, the third primary way is inside- and outside-the-classroom learning resources for the students. In this category teachers ask students to use technology in academic learning during class time as well as outside of school. Group projects, internet research, and creative writing are some great examples of this.

Photo Credit to James F Clay

At the end of the day, the goal is to help technology become a daily part of learning. It can extend the time that teachers may spend with students, making it possible for teachers to individualize instruction for students who need the extra help. Let’s face it; we all know there will be always those students who need the extra help, who need that extra attention. In today’s time, we have the opportunity to have computers that have different learning tool programs, at different levels, for every individual student. We need to take advantage of it! It has also given teachers the chance to organize and manage their work electrically. Duties can be conducted using multiple forms of information technology—from word processing, email, record-keeping software to manage attendance, etc. Just an endless amount of opportunities are given with technology and why not use it!

Edutopia

            

            Edutopia, is one of the websites of Tech Tool links that I explored. It had a tremendous amount of information and inspiration on how to successfully integrate technology into the classroom. It offered a variety of different links to articles, blogs, guides, and even videos for insights on what you were looking for. I explored around the integration of technology because that is what I mainly focused on in this chapter. The guidelines they have are very useful and appropriate for a classroom teacher. Overall, I consumed a great amount of information that will come in handy when I become a teacher.

Summary

            

          Chapter overall focuses on technology integration and educational change to help teachers introduce technology into both classroom instruction and professional work outside the work force. Of course, issues and strategies were brought upon with ways for teachers to address the problems of the digital inequality and participation gap. Unwillingness to change a favorite lesson to include technology was probably the one I was must familiar with. After many years of being a student, I have witnessed this with my own eyes. Many of the teachers had all these new gadgets in their rooms and never once used them to their ability! They were afraid it would change the way they taught. Change is good. And if technology can be used to improve your teaching, why not use it? The chapter also introduced new concepts such as, ‘informing” and ‘automating”, and there were also strategies for using whatever technology teachers had to promote a way into teaching and learning. 

Journal Post 4

Integrating Technology and Creating Change.

How can teachers integrate technology into their work as educators? 

           

            Let’s start with the definition of technology integration and educational change. Technology integration refers to ways that teachers build technology into all aspects of their professional work. Educational change refers to innovations by teachers that create new patterns of teaching and learning in school. Together they make technology a central part of education, enabling the unique, powerful, and transforming impacts of computers and other tools to be part of every student’s daily experience in schools.

            

            Technology integration doesn’t mean computer technologies replace nonelectric resources in every teaching situation. You have to be creative with it! This way, together with your students, discover the power of computer technologies. The use of technology can be subsided in three primary ways. One way is inside-the-classroom teaching tools. Teachers use technology to present academic material and create interactive learning experiences for students in the classroom.  An example is like the infamous PowerPoint presentations we have all used at least once in our life. I personally love it because I’ve grown accustom to using it. A second way technology can be used is outside-the-classroom as a professional resource. By this I mean, using technology to manage the administrative demands they face in school. One common example is keeping their grades and attendance recorded. Technology can come in handy when trying to do recordkeeping. Teachers have slowly change their ways and have come more dependent on the programs that computer offer to make their jobs a little easier. Finally, the third primary way is inside- and outside-the-classroom learning resources for the students. In this category teachers ask students to use technology in academic learning during class time as well as outside of school. Group projects, internet research, and creative writing are some great examples of this.

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At the end of the day, the goal is to help technology become a daily part of learning. It can extend the time that teachers may spend with students, making it possible for teachers to individualize instruction for students who need the extra help. Let’s face it; we all know there will be always those students who need the extra help, who need that extra attention. In today’s time, we have the opportunity to have computers that have different learning tool programs, at different levels, for every individual student. We need to take advantage of it! It has also given teachers the chance to organize and manage their work electrically. Duties can be conducted using multiple forms of information technology—from word processing, email, recordkeeping software to manage attendance, etc. Just an endless amount of opportunities are given with technology and why not use it!

Edutopia

            

            Edutopia, is one of the websites of Tech Tool links that I explored. It had a tremendous amount of information and inspiration on how to successfully integrate technology into the classroom. It offered a variety of different links to articles, blogs, guides, and even videos for insights on what you were looking for. I explored around the integration of technology because that is what I mainly focused on in this chapter. The guidelines they have are very useful and appropriate for a classroom teacher. Overall, I consumed a great amount of information that will come in handy when I become a teacher.

Summary  

            

            Chapter four overall focuses on technology integration and educational change to help teachers introduce technology into both classroom instruction and professional work outside the work force. Of course, issues and strategies were brought upon with ways for teachers to address the problems of the digital inequality and participation gap. Unwillingness to change a favorite lesson to include technology was probably the one I was must familiar with. After many years of being a student, I have witnessed this with my own eyes. Many of the teachers had all these new gadgets in their rooms and never once used them to their ability! They were afraid it would change the way they taught. Change is good. And if technology can be used to improve your teaching, why not use it? The chapter also introduced new concepts such as, ‘informing” and ‘automating”, and there were also strategies for using whatever technology teachers had to promote a way into teaching and learning. 

Learning-Literacy

The blog I read by David Warlick called Schools that Practice Learning-Literacy, was quite intriguing. He points out a couple things that got me thinking. For instance, he states that one of the best ways that we can help our children to become skilled learners is to practice learning in front of them. It has never crossed my mind to learn along with them. I have always thought the contrary; to know the material beforehand. An example he uses is with technology. Many teachers fear technology because they’re not comfortable with them! They don’t want to adapt to new ways of teaching. Little do they know that it can be beneficial for them and their students. Change is good. Being able to figure it out as a whole can create a different atmosphere and it lets students engage with one another. It’s all about being able to adapt teaching to a new era. There will always be new discoverers as time goes on and it’s important to keep yourself up to date and look for ways to improve your teaching!

First Post!

Nancy Maldonado