Reflection Post

I enrolled in this class thinking it was going to be an easy "A." I thought I already knew everything there was to know about technology, but I was surprisingly taken back. This class showed me everything that I did not know about technology, and taught me that there is still so much more to learn. I learned many new things about technology in this class. Creative commons and embedding are just a few things that caught me off guard. I really had no idea those things existed before this class.

This class has helped me learn a great deal about creating images, videos, or other cool applications, but also about the legalities of what you can and cannot use, and how to give proper credit to someone. The Blogger posts were definitely challenging when asked to always use a new tool, but I really believe that it pushed me to create things I would have never thought about creating. The prezi above has a compilation of a few things I created throughout the semester. Those are all pictures that I created using technology tools that I did not even know existed before this class.

I especially enjoyed the group projects. I thought it would be difficult to do since there is no face-to face interaction, but it went very smoothly and we were able to create some interesting Wikispaces and Lesson Plans. I feel that those projects have successfully met the learning outcomes outlined in the syllabus stating that students will create a portfolio with samples reflecting ways technology can support classroom management, administration, and teaching in a K-12 classroom. I thoroughly enjoyed this class, and cannot think of anything to change. I would definitely recommend to other students.

References:

Friedline, C. (2016, April 28). EME 2040. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from https://prezi.com/bxivbvaq-qvh/eme-2040/

 

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #F

Tagul Word Cloud Credit to Catherine Friedline

Inclusion and Infusion of Technology

Although both terms refer to technology in the classroom, there is a difference between inclusion of technology in the classroom and infusion of technology in the classroom. Inclusion of technology in the classroom can be described as using technology in the classroom to transfer information and practice skills. Infusion of technology in the classroom is when computers and technology are seamlessly featured in all academic grade levels and subjects ("Technology..."). Of the two types, I would say that infusion of technology is much more beneficial to student development and learning. Technology is overwhelmingly important to the way society runs now, and with inclusion students have very limited access and experience using technology. Infusion allows students to practice and explore technology in every aspect of their learning. 

Technology Integration Issues

There are many issues that can hinder or even halt the use of technology in classrooms. One of the most obvious issues is finances. It is very costly to purchase all of the new technologies, and it continues to add up with the cost to run the technology and provide IT support (Mathis). Another issue that is not as talked about is the support the teachers receive from the school. If a teacher is pushing for technology in the classroom, but there is no support from any other school faculty members it could be very difficult to have the issue addressed. Also, there is the issue of adapting to the technology. It could be very difficult for the teachers to learn all of the ins and outs of the new technology. I believe that is necessary to provide in depth training for all technology the teacher is to use in the classroom. If a teacher is not efficient with the technology, it could a lot of time away from the class. With all of this being said, I also believe that regardless of all of the complications, schools should really work on infusing technology in to the classrooms because of the amazing benefits.

Interactive Digital Textbooks

A digital textbook is a digital book or e-book that is designed to serve as a text for a class. However, technology has come a step further to make these e-books interactive. Interactive digital textbooks have a multitude of benefits.This is a great way for students and teachers to review and learn new material. The interactive part of the textbook allows students to watch videos, examine graphical designs, and easily take notes (Louie).Another great benefit is that since the textbooks are digital and not set in stone in a regular textbook, it can be easily updated and changed without needing to create an entirely new book. In other words, the digital textbooks save a lot of paper from going to waste when the textbooks become outdated.These interactive digital textbooks therefore prove to be very cost-efficient, and more importantly environmentally efficient. 

Resources:

Friedline, C. (2016, April 21). Tagul - Word Cloud Art. Retrieved April 23, 2016, from https://tagul.com/ 

 

Louie, K. (2013, October 15). Awesome Free Ed Tech Resources eBook! Retrieved April 23, 2016, from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2013/10/interactive-textbooks-revolutionizing-the-classroom-text/

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Mathis, L. (2015, June 18). Technology Integration Issues in K-12. Retrieved April 23, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/discussion/technology-integration-issues-k-12

Technology Inclusion vs. Technology Infusion. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2016, from http://online.tarleton.edu/Home_files/EDTC_538/Week_5/Week_53.html

 

Digital Blog Post #E

Digital Blog Post #E

Digital Portfolios

Take this quiz before and after reading this blog to see how much you learn!

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/a74deef2-aa4f-4df5-bc1f-cbc8d1712c39

Elements of Teacher Portfolios

A teacher's portfolio can include many things, but most will have these elements: Resume, Philosophy of Education and References, Lesson or Unit Plans and Reflections, Academic Courses and Research Experiences, Teaching Experience. In years past, teacher portfolios were documented on paper in a folder. Now, teachers can create digital portfolios, which open up new opportunities. Standards-based digital portfolios connect teaching skills to standards as a way of showing competency and qualifications of teachers. This is also a helpful way to organize portfolio material. What I think is great about digital portfolios for teachers is that it creates a way for teachers to reflect on their growth as an educator. I can imagine that in the past it would be much more difficult to do this with paper records. With digital portfolios, teachers can review, edit, and reflect on their teaching as they progress to become better educators in a more organized fashion than paper portfolios. Also, since the portfolio will be digitalized, there is no need to carry around a paper version. Anytime the teacher wants access to it, he or she just needs the internet access.

Digital Portfolios for Students

A digital portfolio is not just for teachers, but it can also be for students. This is a great way for students to look back and see their improvement in their learning. This can become both a personal and public form of writing. Students used to only be able to share their information with small amounts of people, but with the digital portfolios they are much more accessible to larger crowds. This is a great way for students to find their voice, and to receive feedback for their writing. This is a way for students to find enjoyment in writing. This connects something they enjoy (technology) to learning. Not only does it benefit the students, but parents and teachers can track a students progress.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Portfolios 

While their are many advantages to digital portfolios, such as accessibility, portability, creativity, community, and technological self-confidence, there are also some disadvantages that need to be acknowledged. For students to be able to create their own portfolios they will need extensive knowledge on modern day technology, which can take up great amounts of class time. Some students may spend more time making it look pretty than on the actually learning part of it. Also, some students may be disappointed when they do receive feedback from readers. These are all some negatives of digital portfolios, but nothing is perfect in education, and in this case I believe the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. I think that this is a great tool that both students and educators can use to track progress and organize ideas, and most of the disadvantages are manageable or preventable. 

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #D

Strategies for using Wikis with Students

Of course, there are many ways you can use technology, and Wikis are just the same. As a teacher, there are some decisions to be made about how to use the Wiki in your classroom. Chances are it is a decision you will have to make each year with every new group of students because each class will have different needs. This is my approach. I believe that the Wikis should be used in context with how the class runs most efficiently. If as a teacher you know that you have a good number of students that will not do their part in group work, maybe it would be better to have each person do their work, and then have students review other wikis as a way to learn information. However, groups work is very important. It helps to teach students the idea of teamwork which is valued in most careers. Therefore, another option that would allow group work would be to put the group of students who do not typically do group work in the same group. This will force students to take charge and hopefully collaborate. There is a downside to both options, but I think the group work would be ideal in many situations. Another huge thing teachers need to keep in mind is that students could plagiarize information, or even post inappropriate information. I know I have had a teacher that would very lightly skim through an assignment, and miss inappropriate information that students would try to sneak in there just to see if he would catch it. As much as we would like to, we cannot always trust that a student will do what we ask. Another thing to keep in mind is that if a student is plagiarizing information, he or she might not even realize it. By catching those mistakes, teachers can help students realize the importance of citing and paraphrasing information properly.

Text Reading Software

Text reading software is one of the best applications that technology can offer us. I recently went to a convention in Orlando that displayed new technology advances in the education field, and there were so many amazing applications regarding text to speech. Each application basically had the same screen reading software, optical character recognition, and word prediction software, but then had its own little twist. One actually tracked eye movement on the screen, so students who can not physically touch the screen can look at words to create sentences or learn new words. This opens up so many doors for students with disabilities, or even typical students. These applications allow every student to access and learn the words they need. The word prediction software is very helpful for students who are just learning how to put sentences together because as a student builds a sentence, it will only give words that would make sense in that context. For example, if a student already put together "I am...", then the software would give words such as "going" rather than "go." 

Process Approaches to Writing

There are five steps to writing:

-Brainstorming: generating ideas for the topic

-Drafting: beginning the writing process

-Revising: changing the writing to make ideas more clear

-Editing: reviewing possible gramatical and punctuation errors

-Publishing: sharing the complete work with others

These steps are all very important in the writing process. By skipping over just one step, the students paper could be less than what is expected from him or her. The good news is that students can feel connected to these steps by incorporating technology. It used to be that when you wanted information you had to go to the library. This is even before my time. I have always had access to technology in school. Technology can greatly help the brainstorming process. If a student has no idea what he or she wants to write about, the student can look to google for inspiration. If a student has a good idea, but does not know where to go from there, he or she can look to google for more information. Now, it is always important for the teacher to make sure that the students know how to look for relevant information. The revising and editing stages can both be helped by a computer thanks to spell check. In many instances, the computer will be able to tell you if you spelled a word wrong. When the writing is complete, technology gives the opportunity to share it with people all over the world, or just the teacher if need be.

Resources:

Friedline, C. (2016, March 5). EME 2040 [Prezi]. Retrieved March 05, 2016, from https://prezi.com/y2qbg2_zjfpi/strategies-for-using-wikis-with-students/

J. (2014, July 17). IVONA Text-To-Speech - Accessibility. Retrieved March 05, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtnYBKVSXf0

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #C

Electronic Note-Taking

Handwriting notes have been the status quo for thousands of years, but not so much anymore. Technology is taking the world by storm in many ways, and note-taking is just another skill technology is advancing. Why is electric note taking better? It provides ample opportunities for students to keep important information. Notecards and papers can get lost or ruined, but electronic note-taking is more permanent. There are so many note-taking applications and programs on computers and tablets. The great thing about technology is that you can save whatever notes you have to online database, so if you lose your laptop those documents are not completely gone. Another great enhancement that technology brings to note-taking is that you can easily manipulate information even after you write it. With the press of a button you can change, add, move, organize, and expedite your notes. On paper, you can either scribble it out or erase it, but there is still going to be a messy mark on your paper. 

Strategies for Preventing Plagiarism and Cheating

The best strategy for dealing with plagiarism and cheating is a proactive approach. Some students may not know all of the in's and out's of citing their work and paraphrasing correctly, and unintentionally plagiarize. Teachers cannot expect their students to come in knowing all of these technicalities. It is a teachers responsibility to provide students ample information on obtaining, using, and citing research. According to Transforming Learning with New Technologies, there are seven still relevant ways to combat plagiarism:

• Distinguish levels or types of research
• Discourage "trivial pursuits"
• Emphasize essential questions
• Require and enable students to construct answers
• Focus on information storage systems
• Stress citation ethics
• Assess students progress throughout the entire research process

These are all great recommendations, but I want to stress the importance of assessing students progress throughout the entire research process. This is a superior way to combat plagiarism because the teacher can check in on the students and provide feedback on anything the student is having issues with. 

Teaching Problem Solving with Computers

Problem Solving is a life long skill that is used daily. It is one of the most important skills you can teach a child because they not only use it in their academic life, but also in their personal life. All students in school now have never lived in a life without technology, so it is important that teachers give students these life skills in a way that they can enjoy and relate to. There is obvious help that technology can bring to the classroom when it comes to problem solving, such as learning games and intelligent tutoring programs. Using such programs can help students come up with many solutions to a problem, and help them to think outside of the box.

Check out this Prezi that talks about this process.

Resources: 

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #B

Digital Blog Post #B

Overcoming a Digital Disconnect: 

In the world of technological advances, we are still finding that many students at all grade levels believe they are not allowed to use enough technology in school classes. One contributing factor to this problem is known as the digital disconnect, or the differences that (tech-savvy) students perceive between themselves and their (not so tech-savvy) teachers (Maloy et al. 2013). It was not until my high school years that I began to feel this way. Before that it was only flip phones and laptops, and we were all able to use computers through out the day. In high school, all of the students were so tech-savvy and we were supplied with ample new technologies that the school barely used, or did not even know how to use. Now that I have learned of digital disconnect, I can definitely see how it effected my school, and I am sure effects many other schools, as well. Students are way more comfortable finding information online than in a book. However, there are some downsides to allowing certain technology in classrooms. When I was in high school, many students took to social media on their cellphones during classroom hours and actually began bullying other students, even teachers were getting harassed on social media. The teacher was in tears in class, and I believe that this caused much more harm than good. From personal experiences, I can say I found my phone to be distracting to what I was learning in class. Allowing smartphones in the classroom is also allowing social media, online shopping, and text messaging to interfere with learning.

Learning Theories and Tech:

When using technology in the classroom, teachers are able to incorporate 1-4 learning theories in the classroom. These learning theories are behaviorism, cognitivism,  constructivism, and constructionism. Many teachers will choose one or a combination of these learning theories when it comes to integrating technology (Maloy et al. 2013). The method that I think I prefer out of all is constructivism, which basically claims that every person interprets and constructs their own reality, and the implications for teaching focuses on computer activities that incorporates learning. This really stresses the actions and responses of learners rather than teachers. I believe this is so important because truthfully every student has their own version of the world. If we give students what they need to be successful with technology, they will be able to explore and learn about the world in their own way. Each new thing they learn fits into the puzzle pieces they are constructing in their mind. There is a big difference between memorizing and learning, and I believe with constructivism we can encourage actual learning.

The Role of Feedback:

Feedback is another great tool educators need to use in the classroom, especially when it comes to technology. As you can see from the diagram I created above, feedback is the communication between a learner and an instructor, and it has so many benefits to the students and the teachers (Maloy et al. 2013). This is a list the textbook provided of ways that teachers can use technology for feedback:

• Tutoring systems and software
• Text messaging and real-time chats
• Email, online discussion groups, and blogs
• Student participation systems
• Tablet computers for note-taking, writing, and editing
• Handheld calculators
• Global positioning systems 
• Interactive educational websites
• Interactive maps and galleries

Feedback is one thing I know I would ask for from my teachers. If I am writing an essay or doing a homework I will email my teachers if there is something I do not understand or if I want to make sure I am on the right track. However, I know that some students, especially at the lower levels, do not know to ask or are too shy to ask for feedback, so as a teacher it is something I should automatically give. When incorporating technology, I will use some application that allows communication between students and myself as a way to communicate even after school hours if there is confusion.

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #A - Chapter 1

Technology has done great things in every career field, and education is no different. I am apart of the iGeneration, meaning I grew up with technology and never knew of anything different. I have used technology in so many ways that have benefitted my education. As an aspiring teacher, I will go in to this field knowing of all the great benefits technology has to offer education. The link below is actually a list of fifty technology tools that every teacher should keep in their tool box.

50 Educational Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Know About

Students in the 21st Century

What some may not know is that even in this day and age, there are still a lot of children who are not exposed to the various technological experiences. The use of technology differs by race and economic status. White students use computers and the internet more that African-American, Hispanic, and low income students. What could cause a divide like this? Could it be that the parents of those students have lower education levels and therefore do not value the impact technology has on education? Personally, I believe that every student should be given the same opportunity. If a parent cannot expose the students to this technology, students should be given extra opportunities and resources to do so through the school.

Teaching in the 21st Century

To be an effective teacher in the 21st century, you need way more than just chalk and a chalkboard. There is actually a new term for this: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

• Technology Knowledge- Teachers must not only know how technology works, but incorporate into there classroom.
• Pedagogical Knowledge- Teachers must know how to actually teach.
• Content Knowledge-Teachers must know the essential academic subject matter.

This is really so important for the teachers of the iGeneration to understand. I have had teachers who have had all of these areas, but also some that have only had one or two. I know from experience that I learned most and enjoyed learning the most from the teachers that would incorporate all three of these areas. I love finding new ways to connect things I learn in the classroom with the new technologies coming out. I am sure that most students feel this way because it is something they are familiar with, as well. As a teacher, I will help students find this connection.

Creating a Digital Identity

What is a digital identity? Just another thing I am so excited to create as a teacher. It is a teachers technology talents and competencies.  What should your digital identity accomplish? Well, it is not like your Facebook and Instagram accounts; it is way more focused on the classroom. Luckily for all those who are completely lost when it comes to technology, there are steps

• Build a Multimedia Resume- Know your technology, and stay up to date!
• Learning Resources and Teaching Tools- Apply your technological skills to your teaching. Create engaging lessons that incorporate technology.
• Modeling Technology for Students- Continuously demonstrate your awesome technological skills to your students.

I remember growing up in the generation of technology and watching its affects on education. At first, there was a lot of debate on whether it would hurt or help the classroom, but now we see so many benefits. Technology is vital in a classroom. It is important for teachers to stay up to date on technology because it is evolving rapidly. Thankfully, this is why there is continuos training to keep teachers up to date.

Watch the video below to see why it is so important for technology to be involved in classrooms.

Resources:
Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.