EDU 610 Class Reflections

Technology.

Technology has evolved so much in even the last few months, that it's hard to keep up with it. However, as educators, it is a necessity to stay current with these technologies, as they impact our students immensely.

Even the most simple of technological advancements can be a huge improvement in students' lives. Students today do learn differently then we did, and there's nothing we can do to change that. We as teachers either need to accept the changes and constantly be updating our approach, or remain stagnant and have our students flounder.

One way to keep up-to-date, is by reading current journals and blogs, and reflecting both on what others have written, as well as your own use of technology. Reflection leads to growth.

EDU 610 gave me a new appreciation for technology. As I had considered myself to be fairly tech-savy, I found that I thought wrong as the course began. There were many terms that I had heard of, but could not define, and there were technologies that I had not heard of. While I still wouldn't consider myself to be technologically advanced, I would say that I have a better understanding for the technology available to me today.

While I had used PowerPoints in lessons before, I hadn't used them to their full potential. While I had heard of SMART Boards and tried it once, I hadn't given the technology a real try by creating interactive lessons.

I think that incorporating technology into my everyday lessons and into my professional experiences, I will have a better chance at a good job, because it shows that I am willing to change with the times and accomodate to the net-generation I am teaching.

SmartBoard Lessons & EXPO

I enjoyed seeing the other gadgets that people found in the SmartBoard software, and how they would use them in the classroom. In learning the Spanish colors and some Math facts, I learned how to use the software to make things seem to be invisible and appear by grouping them together. I hadn't figured it out on my own, so it was great to hear it from someone else.
Other gadgets I liked, were the grouping activities. They give you immediate responses to whether you were correct or not. I think that it's great for students, and teachers who like quick responses.

I attended the PaTTAN Assistive technology expo this Friday and saw a lot of different tools that can be used and or purchased to help a student in need. While the focus of the attending companies is special need students, I can see numerous ways in which any student could benefit from the tools.
For example, Bookshare.org allows digital access of thousands of books. Students can read their required, as well as pleasure books without having to worry about the physical mechanics of page-turning, or font size on the page. However, in order to be a member of Bookshare, teachers must sign that they are using Bookshare for special need students only. I believe that any student could have great benefits from using this digital text. With students very comfortable looking at computer screens and reading text on-line, I think that there may be regular education students who would find reading a book on the computer instead of in it's physical form.
Along the lines of reading text on the computer, Kurzweill technology is also a great tool that would be utilized for teaching all students. Simply the note-taking, outlining, and organizing capabilities of the software would help teachers differentiate for their students. It would assist students as they begin to learn these skills, and allow them to focus on the actual task, rather than "How do I spell a word?" or "Do I indent now or later for this outline?" or "Where did I find this quote again?"
The EXPO had a lot of companies with Document cameras. These are great way for teachers to avoid making overhead sheets. You don't have to worry about cleaning off the sheet time after time, as the students can write on the board where the sheet is projected. Also, when students have a good example, the teacher can easily and quickly share it with the class, without taking extra time to walk around with the students' paper, or taking the time to write it on the board.
While there were a lot of special need specific technologies at the EXPO, the fact that they can very easily be used to help any child learn remains a strong thought in my head. I would love to see these companies extend their technologies to any child in the classroom, rather than just those with IEPs.

SMARTBoards

My favorite part of these readings was the chatty class that suddenly stops talking when a simple SMART Board function is performed. It's easy to see why the class would be so intrigued, but you wouldn't think it would have such an impact. For a class that has behavior problems, a teacher introducing SMART technologies could make all the difference in the world. Students that want to participate in class will accomplish and learn more in the long run.
I didn't realize that there were separate clickers-type devices that go with interactive boards. I think it's great to be able to combine the board and clickers to keep students as engaged as possible!
While the applications included with the SMART Board are simple and easy to use, I found myself having trouble trying to decide which individual applications or tools to utilize. There were many tools that I liked, and could use as is, without much extra addition on my part, but that wasn't the point of our assignment.
The slides that I did end up with are simple and basically self-explanatory. As I take more time to get acquainted with the technology, I would definitely like to become fluent with it and be able to carry it into any classroom.

Clickers!

Clickers are great! Students love them, because they actually have a say in the discussion and can answer anonymously.



I hadn't realized that Clickers have been used in college courses. It's cool to think that colleges and universities are giving them a try, and allowing more students to give their input. It's smart for these institutions to have the same system through out their campus so that students only need to purchase one Clicker for their time in school. The only problem would be if the school decided to change systems and make students purchase new Clickers.



As with the iLife Suites, having programs work together seamlessly is good. I like the idea - as a teacher - for having the Clickers' recorded data work with the Blackboard system that schools use. This makes life ten times easier for the teacher to keep track of student grades and understanding. I think the best part about using Clickers for assessment is its' hands-off approach. The teacher doesn't have to take home piles of papers to grade each night, and countless trees are saved!

Even though the study about using Clickers or not in the classroom setting didn't reveal an outstanding difference in actual learning, I think that simply having the extra interaction during class time would help students' in understanding.

With so many assessment types available (multiple choice, true/false, survey, opinion, fill-in the blank), Clickers have an easy-to-see advantage for the classroom teacher. Assessment is taken without losing time, and students have become actively engaged. For students, they don't have to worry about the embarrassment of giving an incorrect answer, and they get their 'score' back instantaneously.

Mac's aren't so bad

Many people think that Mac computers are this scary machine that's hard to navigate, hard to use, and hard to learn how to use. However, would those people actually sit down and try, they'd see that it's not so bad after all.

I enjoyed getting back on a Mac computer last week. It had been two years since I had the opportunity, and I enjoyed it. I really like how all of the applications work together and easily share their information. This makes it so much easier for the user to access their information. This is useful in a classroom. For example, if students are supposed to take pictures of a scientific process they are studying and make a video with them, they can easily access their downloaded pictures in the iMovie application.

My friend has a Mac computer from her school to use, and I'm definitely going to share the ideas we came up with for using the iLife Suites in and with the students. Such ideas as using an altered picture from Photobooth to write a story about, creating a picture slideshow for conference or Back to School Night, or as Mrs. Mislevy shared about taking four snapshots in Photobooth to show a process are easy enough for teachers to implement in the classroom with their students.

I mentioned how much I liked using the Mac's to my husband, and how it would be nice to get one for our next computer, and he made a face at me. It just goes to show, that those who don't or haven't had the opportunity to try, think they're too difficult. But, I think, Mac's just aren't so bad.

Video-Making Reflection

An experience it was.

Starting last Wednesday night, Emily and I had a good time figuring out what our video focus was going to be, then breaking down each scene. It was fun determining the different shots we wanted to get our point across.

When Wednesday rolled around, and it was time to shot our video, I think we did well getting the shots we wanted. It took us practically no time at all to shoot. However, had we started shooting even 30 to 45 minutes earlier, we would have had more time to work on putting the actual video together. Because we took extra footage, we had plenty to pick from in order to get the perfect clip for our video. This will be something that I emphasize to my classes when I create videos - "Get more footage than you think you need, just to make sure you get the exact shot you want."

Emily and I ran across a problem when creating our second slide. The text wasn't showing up the way we wanted it to, even set as a basic appearance. We decided that we had more important clips to work on, and so continued with our project. In the end, the text showed up the way we didn't want it to, however, the voice-over that read the actual text made it work well enough. Had we had more time, we probably would have figured it out.

Something else that I will stress to my class, is to pick transitions between clips as you go; don't wait until the end to pick them. Emily and I thought we would get the meat (video clips, audio clips, text) of our video together first, before we worried about which transition we wanted to use in the whole video. Bad idea. Because we waited until the end, the timing of all of our video got off. Making sure to add transitions as you go is the way to go! Again, had we had more time, we would have been able to readjust all of our clips, audio, and text to work best with our newly added transitions.

When creating videos with my own class, I would make sure that students know they can only have one string of audio in addition to the video audio. Emily and I decided to have each video participant speak over their actual video. This allowed for the action to take place without it being heard. However, this created a problem, because we couldn't add background music throughout the video itself. The only other audio we had space to add was the participants voices explaining what they were doing at the time the video was taken. With more time, we probably could have added music clips between each video shot after the audio was finished; however, this may have made the videos' audio seem too full and not flow.

The biggest thing I brought away from this project, was the timing. As a teacher, I will need to give my students plenty of time for planning, plenty of time for shooting, and plenty of time for putting the video together. Emily and I had lots of questions, and I know that students -most of whom have probably never had video-making experience- will have lots of questions themselves.

Overall, making the video was a fun experience, and I would definitely like to do it with my own class!

Video in the Classroom

I think any teacher who is willing to take the extra time to learn how to use a few simple and FREE programs, could greatly benefit from incorporating video in their classroom. Their students would be the ultimate benefactors.

Having used some of these applications before, it wasn't hard to get back into it, which is good for teachers who may not use the applications more than a few times a year, depending upon the class. I can see how much students would enjoy making videos, as we, much older, enjoy 'playing' with the different technologies ourselves, pretending we were mixing songs, putting our own transitions into the videos and immediately seeing the results. Then, moving into the planning process, there were so many ideas that came, it was hard to focus in on one topic.This is a problem many students have- it's good to experience it first hand, so we can help our own students be able to get throug it also.

Podcasting and more...

I think using video clips in the classroom is great! It gets the students excited, gives them another way to understand a concept, and is a great resource for teachers. It’s great to know that there are so many online resources for those teachers brave enough, in some cases, to use them.

The Water Buffalo Video was intriguing. The fact that blog readers took action due to reading each other’s blogs is an interesting and exciting thought. It’s a good example to show that blogging does in fact create community, action, and connectivity. It’s also a good example to show students how blogging can have a bigger purpose. I read some of the comments about the video as far as the other immediate affects this buffalo would have on the family, how the video made someone’s day, etc. It was neat to see how the blogging, then video, led to even further discussion and investigation by readers.

Podcasting…
~With all the ‘things’ teachers need in the classroom that come out of their own pocket money, I think it’s great that podcasting is a free resource available to all, especially one so easy to utilize.
~I love how podcasting can be incorporated into the Reading curriculum, because of its fluency, expression, and delivery assessment uses. It would be great for a student to be able to hear themselves, be able to make changes in their speaking and communicating, and see their progress through the year. (Podcasting is physical proof too for those teachers who need work samples!)
~Another use is its copyright lesson. Along with learning about copyrighting, students can learn about plagiarism in a new sense.
~I love that podcasts can help students be interactive with their peers, their community, and possibly the world. As mentioned in an earlier blog and earlier readings, when students are responsible to a larger audience, they will more-than-likely take more time and care in and have more pride in their work.
~Finally, who wouldn’t want to podcast?! It’s a way to incorporate technology in the classroom, it gets students working collaboratively with their peers, puts them on the Internet as published writers, and they can share it with whomever they choose.

Final Thoughts: Smartboards- could be used to introduce the applications used for creating podcast, along with their other teaching applications!

RSS Perks / Bookmarking

I think RSS is great! No one wants to have wait time anymore, it's a need for instant satisfaction, and with RSS, we don't have to worry about going and get, because 'things' are brought to us. There is a "middle man/computer" in charge of getting us the information that we really want. For example, I love having the Daily Astronomy Picture at the bottom of my Blog, because I love space, and with this RSS feed, I don't have to worry about going and finding cool pictures, because they are brought to me, and are available when I am ready for them.

As much as I like these videos, I don't think this was one of his better shows. He seemed not to be as organized as the others. This shows me that when we want media, we want media at it's perfection, so we aren't distracted.

I tried several Bookmarking sites. I liked mockatoo at first, but once you tagged your sites, there wasn't much more to do with them. stumbleupon wasn't bad, because I liked how it gave you a small picture of the website as a reminder of what it was. However, there were parts of the site that didn't work right, and there was no other way to organize your bookmarks. jumptags and diigo are very similar, since you could organize at a higher level, but jumptags has more advertising on their site that clutters and hides important buttons.
So, I think I'm going with diigo: http://www.diigo.com/list/kgilrocks

Social Bookmarking as a resource

Social Bookmarking

I wish I knew about social bookmarking during college and student teaching so I would still have all of those sites I’ve lost! It would have made my first year teaching a bit easier, instead of having to find all new helpful sites. Personally, I can’t wait to get my del.icio.us site going, so that I can help my friends in the classroom this year, as well as get myself more prepared for next year when I’m back in the classroom. I’m going to introduce it to my Dad, who is a contractor. I think it will help him keep all of his websites organized, instead of the regular bookmarking.

I can really see the uses of social bookmarking in the classroom, because students wouldn’t have to waste time typing a long web address. They would be able to get right into the activity or reading. I’ve had first-hand experience where my students were trying to type in a long address, and some were getting frustrated. This could have been easily avoided, had I had my own del.icio.us site.

Podcasting

Including music in podcasts really livens it up, especially for kids, and especially when it is placed well, i.e. sound effects. In this podcast, the presenter tried incorporating music in the beginning and end of his program, but could have added more as a background in the middle.

Podcasting can be a good way to get listeners to visit your website. At the end of the podcast, the presenter gave his web address. If listeners really liked what they heard, they will more than likely visit your website if you share it.

I found myself multitasking as I listened to the podcast. I was talking to my friend who just got married this weekend, while still listening to the podcast. I think this is something that would/does really appeal to the Net Geners, because they could be listening to a professor’s lecture, while making plans with friends for later. As long as they are really listening of course.

Tech Tools

Tools for TEKS:

• I think it’s a great idea to have student work (projects) published to the web, because it makes them more responsible, and gives them that greater sense of ‘this is important to get right.’ I know that if someone I didn’t know was going to see and possibly critique my work, I would want it to be flawless. This, I believe, would hopefully "raise the bar” of students’ personal expectations for themselves, and in turn teacher expectations.
• Unless a teacher can be physically present when group members meet to work on a project, they will never really know who does what for the final project. By incorporating a wiki into the project, a teacher would be able to better see what contributions each member is giving, by seeing which member added what information to the wiki.
• Using one of the many online photo galleries and editors, people can see their pictures much more quickly. The biggest draw of digital cameras to me, was the fact that I got to see the pictures I took instantaneously. In a classroom, a teacher could easily have a different gallery for her class each year, share that link with parents, and not just be ‘taking pictures for themselves.’ (Of course, the teacher would also have to make a separate permission slip at the beginning of the year, letting parents decide if they want their child’s pictures up or not.)

Tech Tools for Learning:

Streaming video is amazing! When you don’t have the opportunity to see an actual tornado or hurricane, a lightning bolt in slow-motion, or a reenactment of the American Revolution, streaming video is the best! Students in my classroom got to experience Unitedstreaming for the past two years, and they loved it. Every time I said we were going to watch a video, they were excited-they only thought they were getting out of work. One video about the Florida Everglades, I was able to reference several times, along with personal digital images, during a project on endangered animals in the region. Students think they’re just watching a video; teachers know they’re really learning something. You have to be careful, though, when picking videos that are not too advanced or too juvenile for your students, or they will lose interest quickly.

With this project, I think it would have been great to have student teams create podcasts for their endangered animal. Instead of a poster or simple PowerPoint project, students would have had so much more hands-on technology use, and been able to actually use that technology later in their education, whether in high school or college.

Library 2.0 Theory: by Jack Maness

I hadn’t thought about the implications of the web and it’s resources on the Library until I read this article. I worked in our town Library for two years putting books away, and at times, it became very tedious. I can see how using IM-like response technologies would have made it more interactive, not only for me as a worker, but for those patrons who regularly required assistance. It’s strange to think of the huge change that would be made to the traditional idea of Libraries as they incorporate and change with their community. I can also see that there will be many librarians who may be resistant to the changes, as they are used to and like the ‘old’ way of doing things.

My Net Gen - Week 1

Reading through the articles this week, I realized how much technology is really out there, and how much I didn't know about at this point.

Each article drew on the point that our Net Generation likes working in teams, doing community service, prefers images and graphics to text, prefer Internet to phone conversations, like technology use in classrooms but not overly and still crave face-to-face interaction, and has a need for sending and receiving information instantaneously.

I totally agree.

As I continued reading the articles, I noticed the little 'Net Gen things' I was doing:

• talking on the phone while writing an e-mail
• writing an e-mail while reading an article
• watching a video while waiting for an e-mail response
• reading while chatting on IM to a friend teaching an online Biology class having an IM discussion of their own
• realizing that even though I've been on the computer most of the day, I still want to talk with my husband when he gets home, as he jumps on the computer himself...

Even with all that we may do technology-wise, I can see how those born after us have a greater aptitude for technology. My brother, a sophomore in college and 4 years younger than me, is way more technology oriented than I. Educating the Net Gen says, even a few years make a big difference in the way we see technology and the ways we see fit to use it daily. He has two monitors in his dorm room, set upon his tiny tower and an 'old-time' radio, has built his own computer, can text more quickly than I, and so forth. His speed is amazing.

When Diana and James Oblinger refer to immediacy in receiving information in Educating the Net Gen, the following comment is made. “…More value may be placed on speed than accuracy.” When referring to receiving and sending information - I agree and disagree with this comment, because there are many people and children who use abbreviations for phrases while chatting on IM. However, I know that when I chat, that I like to spell things correctly, and often send a separate IM message to correct my misspellings. I like people to think that I’m still educated, even though we are not face-to-face. This brings us back to the point about the Net Gen “believing it’s cool to be smart”.

Educating the Net Gen also mentions "…the rapid pace with which [we] like to receive information means they often choose not to pay attention if a class is not interactive, unengaging, or simply too slow. The Net Gen may need to be encouraged to stop experiencing and spend time reflecting.”

I saw this need for reflection when my Science students used hands-on exploration to discovered different properties about land and water. They would complete an experiment with their group, and more often than not, would rather talk about it than actually write in their Science journals. Forcing this reflections really helped to show who had learned what, and what concepts still needed further discussion; so I think the reflection time is pertinent.

Similarly, Miguel Guhlin mentions in Blogs: Webs of Connected Learning that “It’s not enough to read, it’s also important to write.” This is with anything in the classroom. If a student just reads text and doesn’t apply it to their own life, personal experiences, or circumstances, they are not stretching their minds and adding the information that they just read about.

So many changes need to take place in the classroom, it's difficult to see where to begin as educators. Marc Prensky put it well in Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, "Just do it!" Those of us who call ourselves Digital Natives need to first understand how we learn best, and then apply it to our classrooms and our students.

Test

This is my first entry! TECH IN THE CLASSROOM!