Reflective Post

Photo Credit to @Doug88888

Throughout this course I have created and engaged in activities I did not understand or didn’t know existed, such as, creating a blog, assist in creating a wiki, making a lesson plan, as well as creating a digital story. I feel better equipped for other classes now in regards to using technology, and of course better equipped as a future educator. The syllabus states students would develop an internet based project that uses technology, the WebQuest and the teacher website were two projects I completed that fall under that category. I had never heard of a WebQuest before and was concerned about being able to complete it, of course it wasn’t as tricky as I initially thought and I know now that is something I can recreate in the future.

One of my favorite projects this semester was the Pecha Kucha project. I had never heard of that type of Power Point project, I like that it gets to the point and cuts out the wordiness. I also love baking, and consequently eating so that was great for me choosing the topic of How to Make a Strawberry Pizza. I also liked that in most nights of class in the second half there was an interactive activity, I learn best when I actually do something and I liked being able to take back a new ability I did not have before, for example, learning to read and create QR codes. The day of class I was needing to read a QR code and had no idea how to do that, and appropriately enough I was able to learn how to read QR codes that night. As soon as I got home after class I began scanning every QR code I could find in my apartment, from the one on my Sonic cup, to the one on the box of Cheerios in my pantry.

An activity I enjoyed was learning about educational gaming websites. I really enjoyed learning about freerice.com and geoguessr.com, I shared both with my husband and we spent more time than we probably should have playing them. It’s a good thing you use your brain playing them. I found every project to be thoroughly explained and any questions that I had, in or out of class to be answered in a timely manner and I was brought to understand exactly what was expected of me. I can’t really think of any constructive criticism for this course, the course and how the information was presented worked for me and I feel like I have learned a lot that I will take away with me after this class ends.

Resources:

Coleman, Marie. "Syllabus." EME2040: Intro to Tech for Educators. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. <https://edison.instructure.com/courses/795192/assignments/3484436>.

Chapter 11: Engaging Teachers and Students in Learning and Self-Reflection

Photo Credit Chaim Zvi via Flickr

 

 

Focus Question 1: What is performance based assessment for teachers and students?

Students are evaluated on their performance based on many different factors including individual group projects, homework, and teacher observations of the student’s attitudes and behaviors. Performance evaluations of teachers are based on different factors, some of which are participation at teacher education courses, new teacher writing assignments as well as cooperating teacher observations of new teacher attitudes and behaviors.

 

Tech Tool 11.2: Online Survey Building Resources

Online surveys are a great tool for the classroom, they give students a voice they may not have, or give them an outlet to share their thoughts on what they may be uncomfortable sharing or too embarrassed to ask in front of the class. Zoomerang provides prompts and templates by broad themes including business and educational. Zoomerang actually keeps an archive of your past surveys for you to use at a later date. SurveyMonkey after going onto its site is now owned by Zoomerang and the same thing now. Poll Builder is based out of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. This site allows both students and teachers to create and use simple polls free of charge. This site doesn’t offer the different prompts and templates that the previous two do but it offers research tools in order to make the polls you make more sound.

 

Summary/Important Points:

There were a few items I didn’t know a lot about until I read through this new, the first being a digital portfolio is a collection of educational materials stored electronically. These portfolios contain what a traditional portfolio would, teaching materials, and etc. but in a digital format.

Democratic schools and classrooms are places where students and teachers are able to make decisions about important educational operations together from the academic curriculum to school climate and rules. I think this is an interesting take on wanting students to be involved in the learning process and having a voice. The definite con in this type of learning environment, which in mentioned in this chapter, is how students can make selfish, uninformed decisions that themselves at the time, including no homework and more social time.

Clicker devices really take learning and classroom interaction to a whole new level. Students use these devices to answer questions instantly. Depending on the model students can answer multiple choice, yes or no, true or false, ranking, numeric and short answer questions. Once everyone in the class has answered a question the responses are immediately posted for everyone to see. This a great way to keep students involved in a lesson and to know for sure that everyone is involved based on how many answers are being submitted.

 

 

Resources:

 

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2007). Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools. Transforming Learning with New Technologies (pp. 174-205). Boston: Pearson

Chaim Zvi via Flickr

"About Poll Builder." ww.gmu.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://chnm.gmu.edu/research-and-tools/...>.

"Information." www.zoomerang.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://info.zoomerang.com>.

 

 

 

 

Journal Post #10

 

Chapter 10: Promoting Success for All Students through Technology

 

Photo Credit to Bart Everson via Flickr

 

Focus Question 3: How does assistive technology support efforts by teachers to reach all learners?

Assistive technology makes learning material more accessible to students by minimizing barriers such as learning disabilities, there are so many technologies available now to students that need a little extra help in order to communicate effectively. A perfect example are hearing aids, hearing aids can help a deaf student be able to hear teachers and themselves giving them the ability to speak and communicate effectively, this technology and other assistive technologies assists teachers in being able to reach all of their students, ones who do have obstacles that could hinder their learning ability and ones that do not.

 Tech Tool 10.1: Extra-Large and Online Calculators

The CC16 Extra-Large calculator by Kikkerland is designed for elementary school students. It does everything a regular sized calculator does; adding, subtracting multiplying, dividing, but its large size makes it easier for young students to use with its easy to read display and larger keys. For it being so large, 7” by 11”, it only weighs a few ounces. There is a website by Jim Martindale that is a calculator online center. There are links on the site to more than 22,000 calculation programs many with teaching modules and online simulations. While visiting the site I found that it is not the easiest to navigate. When you do find the correct website there are many subjects listed, I chose mathematics, then many sub-categories emerge, such as Computer Algorithms, Interval Analysis, Scientific Computing, etc, Computer Engineering/Sci. I then chose computer algorithms and was then brought to several options of computer algorithm calculators. This can be a useful tool for someone that knows exactly what they are looking for, since I did not I found it to be slightly confusing and the bright blue wallpaper made my head hurt.

 Summary/Important Points:

 

I did not know that classroom technology tools are classified by Low Tech, Mid Tech and High Tech. Low tech for a reading note taking assignment would be highlighters and post its. Mid Tech would be recorded books and interactive dictionaries. High tech tools for the assignment would be talking books that are made from the classroom books, interactive books, word by word highlighting software, as well as text to speech software. I was not aware some of these technologies existed, these tools would be a great help in the classroom to help students retain learned information.

There is a tool called an electronic speller that would be great for young readers, students can use the speller to find spellings for the words they speak aloud and check the accuracy if their own spelling without the help of an adult. I really like the idea of these since this can promote confidence and also teach the student to figure things out on their own.

 

Digital tools can greatly assist teachers with trying to teach students or with at home assistance with homework, these digital tools, when used correctly can enrich learning for students.

 

 

Resources:

Bart Everson via Flickr

Martindale, J. (n.d.). Martindale's Calculators On-Line Center. Martindale's Calculators On-Line Center. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators.

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2007). Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools. Transforming Learning with New Technologies (pp. 174-205). Boston: Pearson

Journal #9

Chapter Nine: Creating and Sharing Information with Multimedia Technologies

   

Courtesy of FPC FPC FPC via Flickr

Focus Question 3: How can teachers use video resources in their teaching?

Teachers can use video resources in their teaching through instructional videos on how to perform a specific task, or educational videos, such as a Bill Nye the Science Guy video in a science classroom to introduce or explain a new topic a little bit better. YouTube videos can be found on a myriad of topics that can be used to accompany a lesson. Videos can show the students new material visually as some people learn better through visuals.

Tech Tool 9.3: Digital Storytelling and Digital Art Making:

Digital Storytelling’s slogan is “Listen Deeply/Tell Stories”. Digital storytelling refers to ways written text, audio and video imagery can be combined to make story presentations.

Digital Art Making is expressed in a website by the National Gallery of Art. NGAkids Art Zone interactives offer an entertaining and informative introduction to art and art history for children. There are a number of interactive activities in which students of all ages can engage in. one imparticular is creating your own jungle with animals and landscapes of your choice.

 Summary/Important Points:

The multimedia technologies that I found to be most interesting were multimodal learning which happens when teachers combine spoken words with visuals or written text with audio or to utilize simulations and models. An example of this can be using a PowerPoint to assist a lesson.

Graphic design is the process of arranging type and images to visually communicate information. This to me reminds me of a Pecha Kucha presentation that relies more on visuals than text.

Alphabet books are made by students to teach spelling patterns, letter sounds, vocabulary words, and reading skills. With the use of a digital camera alphabet books can be illustrated with photos. These can be used for children learning to read and write. By creating their own alphabet books they are forced to think of a word that starts with a specific letter and associate the letter with the item.

Technology is a definite asset in the classroom and can assist teachers in their lessons through audio and imagery.

 Resources:

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2007). Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools. Transforming Learning with New Technologies (pp. 174-205). Boston: Pearson

FPC FPC FPC via Flickr

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/education/kids.html

Journal Post #8

Chapter Eight: Communicating and Networking with Websites, Blogs, Wikis, and More

 

 

 

 

Dan Zen via Flickr

 

 

 

                                           

Focus Question 2: How can teachers use email or instant messaging to foster information exchanges with and among students?

Email and instant messaging can be a great tool both teachers and students. Email is great for when students have homework or projects they are completing out of class and realize they don’t understand something. They can simply email the teacher their specific question and the teacher can respond back. Instant messaging among students can be great for the same reason, students can give their feedback to each other as well as answer questions before asking a teacher.

 

Tech Tool 8.2: Posting and Publishing with Digital Image Scanners

Scanners are pretty amazing and I have personally used them many times to make my life a lot easier. Whenever you need a copy of something, like a driver license, or birth certificate for official reasons, you can just scan the copy and not have to have the original with you. Digital scanners are even more amazing and can be brought into the classroom. Anything you have that was written down manually can be scanned and uploaded to a computer so you can share with the class a list of books, titles, questions for a test, an itinerary, or even a hand drawing. So you can upload printed or drawn information to a teacher website or a blog. Teachers can also use digital scanners to add visual images, like a hand drawing, to handouts, notes or learning resources for students.

 

Summary/Important Points

As someone that doesn’t know a lot about wikis, I’m interested in learning about them. A wiki is defined as a website or blogspace that is collaboratively edited and maintained by a group of people. The first wiki that I frequently use is Wikipedia. If you want to know the gist about something, you go there. The information is normally pretty accurate but you have to be careful though because anyone can submit the information that it added. The website is maintained, it might just take a little while for the inaccurate information to be caught and removed, which would be terrible if you used the false information for a homework purpose. I of course also use the class eme2040 wiki, it’s convenient since all of the info is added by the teacher, and so if I’m ever unsure of an assignment, I can almost always answer my own question by reading something on there.

Teacher blogs, I think are a great idea. Three ways teachers use blogs are for student learning, specific information about an assignment topic can be posted for students to read. Student/Family communication, parents can access this and see what their child is learning in their class. Professional networking is another way teachers’ use blogs, they can see what other teachers are doing and showing their students and can spread ideas amongst each other.

Blogs, wikis and websites are all great assets to teachers by giving students places to find information on their own.

Resources

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2007). Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools. Transforming Learning with New Technologies (pp. 174-205). Boston: Pearson.

Dan Zen via Flickr

 

Journal Post #7

Chapter Seven: Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools

 

                                  Wayan Vota via Flickr

Focus Question 6: What are intelligent tutoring systems and how can students and teachers use them successfully?

Intelligent tutoring systems are an instructional tool, they present topics and track a student’s performance and correct answers and the teaching approach can be adjusted by the teacher, based on the student’s needs.

Tech Tool 7.2: A Math Learning Game-Zoombinis Logical Journey

The Zoombinis’ series was designed to teach critical thinking, problem solving and mathematical learning to elementary school aged students. Zoombinis are thumb-sized creatures with different types of hairstyles, eyewear, and footwear. There are 625 different possible combinations. The Zoombinis have embarked on a long journey to reclaim their ancestral island home. Using trial and error learning, data analysis, logical reasoning and theory building, the children playing the games guide the Zoombinis through a series of obstacles and puzzles that block their journey. While exploring the Zoombini Logical Journey game I think they are a great tool since it is a game that keeps children interested with a plot, of getting the Zoombinis back to their homeland, while the students have to use critical thinking and problem solving, amongst other skills while playing the game.

Summary/ Interesting Points:

I was not aware of the two different main types of software. They are system software, which is responsible for overall functioning and control of a computer. It includes the operating system, network operating system, database managers, and a TP monitor. Application software performs specific functions in specialized ways to produce a variety of services including word processing, databases, spreadsheets, slides and presentations.

Bloom’s taxonomy is associated with the terms higher and lower orders of thinking. This is an educational tool that was first presented in 1956. Bloom and his collaborators were interested in distinguishing a difference between different forms of thinking, from the basic recalling facts (lower order) to comparison and evaluating theories (higher order).

Games make learning more fun. Children are more apt to learn when a game is involved. Skill-learning games use elements of game play to involve students in learning academic material. I liked reading about the Zoombinis math game. I had never heard of it and after some googling I figured out it is quite a popular learning game for students.

 

Sources:

Zoombinis Logical Journey. (n.d.). Children's Educational Software and Computer Games for School Districts, Schools, Teachers, Parents and Students. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from http://www.smartkidssoftware.com/ndlec138.htm

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2007). Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools. Transforming Learning with New Technologies (pp. 174-205). Boston: Pearson.

Wayon Vota via Flickr

 

 

 

Journal Post #6

Chapter Six: Teaching with Educational Websites and Other Online Resources

Photo credit to Michael Coghlan via Flickr

Focus Question 4: What are WebQuests and virtual field trips?

A WebQuest is an online inquiry by students and is designed and created by teachers. In a WebQuest students follow an electronic map while moving from various web resources to gather information and learn about a particular topic.

A virtual field trip takes students all over the world, using video and or pictures, without ever leaving the classroom.

Tech Tool 6.3: An Interactive Online Field Trip: The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc

The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc is a cave in France that shows some of the earliest cave paintings ever found. When I visited the website I immediately saw tabs detailing when the cave was discovered, how it was authenticated as truly having the oldest cave paintings ever discovered and how those paintings are being preserved today. If someone is just looking to read the facts about the cave then have questions about how it is today, these are great informative tools that can be easily accessed. There is then an area dedicated to research of the cave, it tells you about the research team, their methods, partners and the results they have achieved. What I found interesting was the geographic context tab concerning time and space, which describes what the cave looked like 100 million years ago and there is even a picture you can scroll over to view the image. There are of course different images of the cave all over the site. It seems to me to be very informative and it set up in a way to make finding specific information very easy.

Summary/Points:

Some terms I was not familiar with and found to be interesting were real-time and recorded data websites, they are like virtual field trips in the way that the data sites provide opportunities for students to enter a setting as an observer.

Teachers can organize electronic resources to address the curriculum by building a standards connector web can be a way to help teacher’s access academic material that can be used to teach about topics that are required by the curriculum.

One of my favorite parts of this chapter that I learned about were the virtual field trips. I had never heard of this before, it is a great concept and there are so many resources online that cater to the concept. A perfect example is the one the book provided about the cave in France, Chateau-Pont-d’Arc. It is perfectly labeled with informative information that makes it extremely easy to navigate and learn.

Resources:

Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2011). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN:10 0-13-159611-X, ISBN:13 978-0-13-159611-5    

The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc. (n.d.). Accueil / www.culturecommunication.gouv.fr / Ministère - Ministère de la culture. Retrieved October 2, 2013, from http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet

Michael Coghlan via Flickr