Reflection

Reflection

(from  http://www.clipartbest.com/students-in-classroom)

This semester has had a very influential impact because of the Introduction to Technology class. There has been a lot of information that I have learned in this class that I will use in my classroom, as a teacher, in years to come. Each chapter of the textbook had information that was useful to me. With this generation being so much more developed with the use of technology in social aspects, the informative, beneficial aspects would be easy to come by. I believe that if we use technology in the day to day lives or weekly lives of our students it will stimulate their learning. 

I used to think that I knew everything I needed to know about technology, but I was wrong. The semester started off with creating a blog. That in itself posed a problem when I was unable to gain access to my previous blog in the second week of trying to use it. It was a problem that I had to figure out and overcome all on my own, which I did. That stimulated my critical thinking skills. 

(from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oiov0L4blIw)

Continuing, another important aspect we learned about in this class was the creating a Website Evaluation Rubric, and evaluating an educational website for children. I believe that this was a great help for anyone who is determined to continue their education or career in the education field. As teachers, we are going to have to create rubrics on our own on a day to day basis. Not only would this help in further rubrics to come, but also, when looking over websites that we would want students to use we can use that rubric that was created as a determination on the important features it should have, or what we think it should have, because it's what we created. 

In addition to that, the WebQuest was a quest in itself for me. It was a tougher aspect to this course than I thought, but I was able to push through. Reading the comments on it from Mrs. Coleman, I was able to determine where I went wrong and how I am able to fix it. I believe that WebQuests are very educational resources that would benefit those who are using them. It would also get students to think outside of the box during their learning. 

Furthermore, one aspect that I did not quite understand was the collaboration aspect to this course. I, as well as many others, chose this online version of the course because of it's convenience factor. Yes, I do believe that in the future to come that a necessary part of the teaching field is to collaborate with other teachers in the same sector as you, but I don't believe in the ways the collaborations were assessed throughout this online course was the right way to go about it. I believe a collaborative lesson plan should be done on our own because if we choose to become teachers, most days the lesson plans will be focused on our ideas with no help from anyone else, unless it is something such as multiple classes getting together, that would be different.

To add on, I believe that all of the learning outcomes were met. The communication aspect was met because of all the blog posts. I believe that because of all the writing we had to endure during the semester, that it enhanced my writing to become better, which would help in my other courses as well. The critical thinking aspect was definitely met during the first couple weeks of the semester. This started with the Website Evaluation Rubric. It was one of the first assignments that I actually had to think long and hard about the way i worded things and had to explain my choices. The technology and informative management aspect was also completed. With all the different sources of information we had to include in our blog posts, and new technological features we had to include, I believe that my use of technology is now enhanced for the better in interesting additions I can add to make lessons, PowerPoints, Word Documents, and videos more interesting and effective. Adding on, the global socio-cultural responsibility was also met. I believe in the discussions we've done about students coming from different backgrounds would be a part of this aspect. Lastly, I do not see how the scientific and quantitative reasoning was met. This class did offer technology as an aspect but none of that had the inclusion of sciences.

This course was a very informative course and helpful class that I will continue to use in my life from here on out. Although I didn't always agree with the assignments that we had to do, overall it was a beneficial course that I would advise people to take, even if their intentions are not to teach. It would help everyone get a better grasp of technology and features that could be added to assignments to come.

Digital Blog Post #L

Chapter 12: Integrating Technology and Creating Change as Teacher Leaders

There were many points of interest in this chapter, but only a few I am able to discuss. The first point was very basic, I just wanted to know the difference between these two things. The section is called Inclusion and Infusion of Technology. Both sounded very similar to me. In the text, it was stated that inclusion means that computers and other information technologies are used primarily for the transfer of information and the practicing of different skills. This is the information that is included in the lessons for students but they are not used daily. Infusion means that computers and other information technologies are connected in the daily lives of the students. The use of these features are used every day in all of the subjects at each grade level. Whether or not to include or infuse the computers and information technologies into a students lesson plan is based on whether the students will get motivated to learn and how it will help them in the long run.

The next section of interest I would like to discuss is Technology Integration Issues. I wouldn't think there would be many issues if teachers would decide to include technology in the teaching of their curriculum, besides the fact that not all students may have access to technology outside of school to do their assignments, but I was wrong. There are six main issues with the integration of technology. 

1. Administrative support and teaching style:
1. The help and support from the administration is very useful when it comes to the integration of technology, but one thing that can be lost in all the mess with this is the teachers approach to teacher. An example would be teachers losing their teacher-centered approach to lesson plans because the students have become more involved and the focus is not mainly on the teacher. 
2. Unwillingness to change favorite lesson plans:
1. Favorite lesson plans that do not include the integration of technology will want to be repeated from years to come. As technology keeps expanding, some teachers are reluctant to add technology pieces into these lessons for the students because they have worked so well in the past. 
3. Reluctance to use technology in new lesson plans:
1. Teachers may not be comfortable with teaching things they have never taught before. If he or she has not been able to master the material, they feel better to leave out things such as technology until they have the ability to master a lesson plan without it. 
4. Use of technology as a reward or punishment:
1. Teachers often use technology as a reward or punishment because they can see that students often like using electronic devices such as computers. The use of technology in these purposes are for competition, not to improve their academics. 
5. Use of technology as an add-on to other activities:
1. Technology used as an add-on to other activities may enhance or even detract from the student learning. Just because technology is added on does not always mean it is the best instructional tool for a particular lesson. 
6. Use of technology to separate students by ability or groups:
1. The division of students by ability or groups with lesson plans including technology make it so that not everyone will receive the same lesson or attention for a particular assignment. 

The last section of the book I would like to discuss is Involving Students in Technology and Change. Involving students in the improvement of school has good outcomes. Students will be able to be given a voice towards the change, meaning they will most likely support it in the end. Teachers are also able to gain more views about students such as their motivation and behavior to different things. Teachers are often unlikely to succeed if they become the dictator of the classroom, so having the students voices heard will leave a positive impact on their confidence levels. In addition to that, often times students know more able the technology than the teachers and administrators. It would be smart to get their perspectives on things.

Digital Blog Post #K

Chapter 6: Fostering Online Learning with Educational Websites and Apps

There was many points of interest in this chapter for me as I was reading it. To begin with, the first part that grabbed my attention was Using Social Bookmarking. The reason this grabbed my attention is because I didn't know what social bookmarking was or is. Social bookmarking is a way to manage information throughout groups of people with their web links in an open public Web space. This is a good tool of information if you want students to collaborate on assignments together. Students the ability to add information on this type of website. That's if it's public, if it's private you can say who can view what. If you are social bookmarking, you have the ability to add a tag to resources that are similar of interest. Tagging helps sort the information that is being used. 

Another thing that interested me was the section Webquests, Virtual Field Trips, and Videoconferencing. The reason this caught my attention was because we have a project on a webquest. Webquests are "online inquiries that are designed and guided by teachers." Students are able to follow electronic maps of resources to find information that is needed for a particular assignment. Some use it as resources for a paper that may be due. All the information the student needs is digital. Since the websites are preselected by the teacher, the teacher will know that the resources the student is using are credible. 

Lastly, I wanted to bring attention to videoconferencing. Videoconferencing gives students the ability to gain access to people and different places that they would not normally have access to. Sometimes students are able to speak with scientists, historians, writers, and other experts that live in different parts of the nation. I  think that is the coolest thing because I never had access to those types of things when I was a student! Being involved in a video conference helps to make both participants feel very confident, involved, and invested. Students will often want to learn more about each topic. 

More on videoconferencing here!

Digital Blog Post #J

Chapter 11: Engaging Students in Performance Assessment and Reflective Learning

There was many points of interest in this chapter. The first I would like to discuss is The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning. In the teacher environment, there is three forms of assessment (which I did not know), they are: New Teacher Assessment, Student Assessment, and Student Self Assessment. 

• New Teacher Assessment: I knew that this was something that teachers had to go through. Throughout teaching careers, teachers have to be assessed by their supervisors. They have to make sure that the way they are teaching is professional, effective, and covering the course material. To become a teacher, you have to take a test mandated by the state to get your license. It is just followed up by being observed from teachers who will mentor you and supervise you. Finally, you'll have to complete summaries about what you have learned about a variety of things that you will use while teaching.
• Student Assessment: You will have to find ways to assess the students' learning. This could be in t

est forms or others forms as well. This also has to deal with looking back on yourself and how effective your teaching methods are. You will collect the student assessments in data forms so that you can show their progress (or decrease) as the school year goes on. This is usually done in the form of a report card and grades throughout the year. Also, you can look back at yourself if everyone doesn't do well on something to go switch up the ways you're teaching the subject. 

• Student Self Assessment: This type of assessment is how the students engage in the assessment process. The involvement of students in the assessment process will give them a chance to voice their own opinions for how the school year is going. They can be anonymous, so that the students' feel more comfortable and will be more willing to be honest. 

To continue, the next point of interest was the Technology for Civic Engagement and Service Learning section. Civic engagement is experiences that students develop outside of the classroom atmosphere working to improve the community from their engagement. Service learning develops outside of the classroom as experiences that help improve the community while learning academic concepts and skills. Both of this skills impact the K-12 grades in many ways such as:

• Learning of academics
• Learn how to deal with real-world problems
• Students are able to connect their classwork with outside work
• Understand the importance of different things such as politics

Civic Engagement and Service Learning includes 5 steps:

1. Personal Reflection: with the reflection, students can make sense of how they can connect their involvement in the community to the classroom
2. Project Documentation: Different technologies can be ways to document the project such as video cameras, smartphones, and photos.
3. Service Projects: The integration of technology in communities and classrooms will help individuals to learn the use of these technologies.
4. Social Media Projects: With the contribution of media projects such as blogs, wikis, digital magazines, and other electronic presentations students can bring to light new ideas or things they have learned developing these projects.
5. Apps for Social Change: apps can focus on students and communities can contribute to social improvement. 

Lastly, I liked the section Reasons for teaching with Clickers. This sections was comprised in four areas.

• Active learning:
• Teaching with a clicker helps the students express their opinions with the use of technology. They are more easily able to answer something with the use of something, from their seat, with the use of technology. 
• Student involvement:
• The use of things such as clickers will involve the whole student body, especially the younger kids. They will think the item is cool and want to participate, especially if they see others doing it. Everyone gets involved and has a chance to participate in the lesson. 
• Real-time feedback:
• The teachers are able to analyze the knowledge of the students for the particular subject they are working on because of the amount of student involvement, therefore if something in the teacher's teaching method needs to be changed, it can before a test.
• Question-centered instruction:
• This type of discussion is when the students are by themselves, put in pairs, or groups to answer a question and they do so with the clicker. This will see where the majority of the class is at. Students are able to ask questions before they respond, that way they can think and develop an answer. 

 Choose Clickers, here's why!