In chapter 12, it looks like the main subject is centered around technology literacy for teachers. Now because there is no slideshow for it, I am going to guess that the main theme would be that practice on new technology is not simply enough, educators must learn to absorb and master the given technology in order to be able to adapt it to their everyday activities. Little did I know, but apparently there are certain technological standards that all educators must conform to. I didn't know that there were standards with fancy abbreviations that teachers are expected to adhere to. NCLB legislation makes sure that teachers can keep up with the technology that is growing at an exponential rate so that they don't fall behind other educators and their students. If this were to happen students could miss out on a good quality education with massive technological potentials. As a future educator I can see the importance of keeping up with modern technology not only for the sake of the students but for our own as well. In fact the other day I was talking to an educator which I am close to and she said that she had just returned from a technology seminar in California. While she was there they gave every teacher an iPod touch and instituted a faculty centered school wide blog. The iPod touch was really only a result of a grant from the state of Ohio, but now every teacher at the school has a professional blog and this makes it easier for all of the teachers to keep in touch and exchange ideas even when not in school. I have enjoyed making this blog even though it was a bit confusing at the begining. There were also many things I will take away from EDTL 2300 and use in my future classroom. Because I am a history/geography education major and one of my main passions in life is to travel, I think I will leave everyone with a short clip. I discovered this video by accident one day and found it most inspiring. Oh to have an adventure like this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Chapter 11 ?
Well, I have run into some confusion about the last two chapters, chapter 11 and chapter 12. Chapter 11 on the syllabus says it's about issues in implementing technology in schools, but this subject is clearly the focus of chapter 12....then there really is no info for chapter 11 except for an outline that says chapter 12 but looks like info for chapter 11 which has no slideshow to go with it. So, I will go by the syllabus and talk about chapter 12 in chapter 11.
Chapter 11/12 is about issues in implementing technology in the classroom. The majority of this information seemed like common sense to me. The various student privacy, copyright and academic dishonesty issues. When I read the section about copyright issues it made me think of all the times throughout school when we would watch a movie or something in class and the teacher would make reference to the fact that they didn't have copyright permission to show the movie so don't tell anyone. I didn't know if anyone else ran into that kind of thing in school...maybe it was just a small town thing.
When I first saw the term " Digital Divide" I thought the lesson was refering to the generation/technology gap that can sometimes form between students and teachers. I thought it would refer to the need for teachers to stay on top of the latest technology so that they can give their students an education of the highest quality. But I found out that it refered to the gap that can sometimes form between students who come from different socio-economic backgrounds that may have more access to technology than others. To be honest, I never really thought of that growing up. I have always been fortunate enough to have 24/7 access to a computer and technology and while I was going through school I guess I just always assumed that everyone had access to technology.
In my future classroom I will keep in mind that not everyone has access to current technology and that I may have to adjust my lesson plans and activities accordingly. I will also have to keep in mind that students have rights and there are strict privacy guidelines that need to be followed.
Chapter 11/12 is about issues in implementing technology in the classroom. The majority of this information seemed like common sense to me. The various student privacy, copyright and academic dishonesty issues. When I read the section about copyright issues it made me think of all the times throughout school when we would watch a movie or something in class and the teacher would make reference to the fact that they didn't have copyright permission to show the movie so don't tell anyone. I didn't know if anyone else ran into that kind of thing in school...maybe it was just a small town thing.
When I first saw the term " Digital Divide" I thought the lesson was refering to the generation/technology gap that can sometimes form between students and teachers. I thought it would refer to the need for teachers to stay on top of the latest technology so that they can give their students an education of the highest quality. But I found out that it refered to the gap that can sometimes form between students who come from different socio-economic backgrounds that may have more access to technology than others. To be honest, I never really thought of that growing up. I have always been fortunate enough to have 24/7 access to a computer and technology and while I was going through school I guess I just always assumed that everyone had access to technology.
In my future classroom I will keep in mind that not everyone has access to current technology and that I may have to adjust my lesson plans and activities accordingly. I will also have to keep in mind that students have rights and there are strict privacy guidelines that need to be followed.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Chapter 10
In chapter 10 we talked about distance education and its role in the classroom. We talked about different technology used like computers and speakers, etc that are used to enable distance education. I already knew about a lot of the technology used in distance education but I didn't know that distance education was used in a very primitive form back as far as the 1800s. I thought distance education was a relatively new idea within the past 20 years or so. We also looked at video conferencing and its capabilities. When I was in high school I was fortunate enough to attend a brand new school with teleconferencing capabilities. We used this technology every once in a while to communicate live with other schools in the area. I hope one day when I am a teacher that I will work in a school district that has tele-conferencing capabilities.
In this chapter we also watched some short videos on the new twitter phase that seems to be sweeping the nation. The first video covered twittering and how someone would do it, the second video was mocking the whole idea of twitter. Personally, I can't stand twitter, I know this might sound mean but I really don't care about every single thing that happens in someones day and I wouldn't expect someone else to care about all the small details that happen in my day. Speaking of technology I am still trying to figure out how to add links and a survey to my blog, I've never blogged before but now I am a bit envious of those who have because they probably have more experience at this.
In this chapter we also watched some short videos on the new twitter phase that seems to be sweeping the nation. The first video covered twittering and how someone would do it, the second video was mocking the whole idea of twitter. Personally, I can't stand twitter, I know this might sound mean but I really don't care about every single thing that happens in someones day and I wouldn't expect someone else to care about all the small details that happen in my day. Speaking of technology I am still trying to figure out how to add links and a survey to my blog, I've never blogged before but now I am a bit envious of those who have because they probably have more experience at this.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Chapter 9
In Chapter 9 we were exposed to the different kinds of audio and visual media used in the classroom. Some of the material I am very familiar with such as CDs/DVDs, audio cassettes ( although extremely outdated) and even traditional visual media used in the classroom. Some of this stuff I have worked with and others I have only been exposed to as a student myself.
Much of this technology is very useful in the classroom especially transparencies for day to day lessons and educational DVDs for special classroom viewing. I have a feeling that due to the depressed economy, finding a school district that has the capabilities for teleconferencing systems and other communication methods that requite strong connections and a certain amount of monetary input are hard to find right now. In this chapter we also established our own blogs which is actually what I am writing in right now. I have never had my own blog before and I find that kind of surprising now that I think about it because I have myspace and facebook and all of those popular, personalized Internet sites. It was a bit confusing at first, trying to figure out how to set it up and post pictures, etc. I still haven't figured out how to post links and stuff like that but I'm working on it!!
I know in my future classroom I will definitely be using DVDs and CDs for educational purposes. It would also be great to have access to live teleconferencing materials so that myself and the students can have one on one real time interactions with other students, etc. I was lucky enough to attend a brand new high school with teleconferencing materials so I hope I will one day be lucky enough to teach in one.
Much of this technology is very useful in the classroom especially transparencies for day to day lessons and educational DVDs for special classroom viewing. I have a feeling that due to the depressed economy, finding a school district that has the capabilities for teleconferencing systems and other communication methods that requite strong connections and a certain amount of monetary input are hard to find right now. In this chapter we also established our own blogs which is actually what I am writing in right now. I have never had my own blog before and I find that kind of surprising now that I think about it because I have myspace and facebook and all of those popular, personalized Internet sites. It was a bit confusing at first, trying to figure out how to set it up and post pictures, etc. I still haven't figured out how to post links and stuff like that but I'm working on it!!
I know in my future classroom I will definitely be using DVDs and CDs for educational purposes. It would also be great to have access to live teleconferencing materials so that myself and the students can have one on one real time interactions with other students, etc. I was lucky enough to attend a brand new high school with teleconferencing materials so I hope I will one day be lucky enough to teach in one.
Chapter 8
In chapter 8 we were introduced to certain aspects of the internet in the classroom such as websites and creating a class website that students can access from home. We were also introduced to online classroom management tools like practice test generators and electronic grade books. While describing out to design a class website, we also read about acceptable uses for class websites as well as privacy issues and filtering options. In chapters 7 and 8 we were also supposed to be working the digital images project. I found this project a little frustrating at first because I had trouble finding a central theme for my pictures. But then I remembered the trip I took to New York City with my high school marching band when I was a senior.
I found the section about creating class websites and the proper uses of them most interesting. I also enjoyed playing around with my pictures in Photoshop and fine tuning my skills. I haven't used Photoshop in quite some time and it was nice to get some practice and yet still have freedom to make it my own project. When I have my own classroom in the future I will definitely utilize the website creation section of chapter 8. I may also have students do their own creative digital images project.
I found the section about creating class websites and the proper uses of them most interesting. I also enjoyed playing around with my pictures in Photoshop and fine tuning my skills. I haven't used Photoshop in quite some time and it was nice to get some practice and yet still have freedom to make it my own project. When I have my own classroom in the future I will definitely utilize the website creation section of chapter 8. I may also have students do their own creative digital images project.
Chapter 7
In Chapter 7 we were introduced to the internet and the world wide web both inside and outside of the classroom. The chapter began with an introduction on how the internet works and the different pieces of technology one would need if they wished to connect to the internet. Most of this material about connecting to the internet I already knew because I have a computer and have been using it for a very long time. Chapter seven also talked about the different kinds of activities you can do on the internet such as emailing, researching, video conferencing and instant messaging.
Although I already know a lot of the material in this chapter just from years of practice, it was nice to get a refresher on how a lot of this technology actually works. If my internet access ever goes down, ( which is does frequently) perhaps the material learned in this chapter will help me mend the problem. The information I found in this chapter to be most interesting and helpful for my future classroom was the part about virtual reality. Virtual Reality probably is hard to come by in regular classrooms because of its high price, but if I am ever fortunate enough to teach in a district that can afford that kind of virtual reality technology then I will utilize it to its full advantage. This kind of technology is especially valuable for students with disabilities who may not be able to participate fully in classroom activities. They could use this technology to keep pace with the other students and get a better quality education.
Although I already know a lot of the material in this chapter just from years of practice, it was nice to get a refresher on how a lot of this technology actually works. If my internet access ever goes down, ( which is does frequently) perhaps the material learned in this chapter will help me mend the problem. The information I found in this chapter to be most interesting and helpful for my future classroom was the part about virtual reality. Virtual Reality probably is hard to come by in regular classrooms because of its high price, but if I am ever fortunate enough to teach in a district that can afford that kind of virtual reality technology then I will utilize it to its full advantage. This kind of technology is especially valuable for students with disabilities who may not be able to participate fully in classroom activities. They could use this technology to keep pace with the other students and get a better quality education.
Chapter 6
In chapter 6 we were introduced to the different kinds of academic software used in the classroom. Some of this software included hypermedia authoring systems, desktop publishing, graphics software, paint programs and imaging software. Many of these programs are useful for students to perform activities on that are both educational and fun.
Two different software programs I found most interesting was the imaging software and virtual reality simulations. I have used imaging software before and such a program would be useful for a project where students would describe themselves to the class in picture format. A virtual reality simulation program would also be neat to have in the classroom, but highly un likely considering the cost to purchase it would be more than what a typical school district could afford. I also thought that the special needs software would be invaluable to have especially if you have students with some kind of disability. Not knowing how much this kind of software would cost, the chances of attaining it in a future classroom are hard to tell.
When I have my own classroom I will definitely have my students utilize the reference software for research on reports and other projects. I could also have my students use imaging software or graphics software to create a project describing who they are to the rest of the class. This kind of project would be a great ice breaker for the beginning of the year. Not only would it allow the students to become more familiar with each other, but it would also help me identity the students and their interests.
Two different software programs I found most interesting was the imaging software and virtual reality simulations. I have used imaging software before and such a program would be useful for a project where students would describe themselves to the class in picture format. A virtual reality simulation program would also be neat to have in the classroom, but highly un likely considering the cost to purchase it would be more than what a typical school district could afford. I also thought that the special needs software would be invaluable to have especially if you have students with some kind of disability. Not knowing how much this kind of software would cost, the chances of attaining it in a future classroom are hard to tell.
When I have my own classroom I will definitely have my students utilize the reference software for research on reports and other projects. I could also have my students use imaging software or graphics software to create a project describing who they are to the rest of the class. This kind of project would be a great ice breaker for the beginning of the year. Not only would it allow the students to become more familiar with each other, but it would also help me identity the students and their interests.
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