Week 12 - VoiceThread

I found Voicethreads a very interesting concept that has entered the technology realm. I feel that Voicethreads give a more personal feel to comments that are posted on the web about various topics, and they supply the user with a face and voice also. I will not use Voicethreads as part of my lesson plan, but in future teaching assignments and lesson plans I find that the Voicethread technology could become very useful.

Week 10 - Teacher's Brochure

Everything went very well and I was very pleased with the activities. The teaching brochure helped me come to an understanding about myself and my goals as a teacher and how I will achieve those goals. The brochure was very easy to create in Publisher and I find the design of Publisher to be very easy and helpful in making resumes and brochures. There are no "muddy" points I believe I need to review. You could create many things with Publisher, whether it be a brochure, a resume, a card, informational tracts, etc. If I had to create anything in Publisher for my classroom it would be either brochures or flyers because the way in which Publisher sets it up makes it very easy and quick to make a nice, published, piece of work.

Week 8 - Interactive PPT Presentation

My group's PowerPoint presentation is going extremely well and we have already made a lot of progress. Our group has decided on talking about Technology in the Classroom and the ways in which this technology has been introduced and what is being used currently. I feel that my partner is a very good choice for this assignment because she is hard working and is willing to put an effort into the presentation. Although I do enjoy having the partner, I believe I could work a lot faster by working alone, but I do not believe I would be as confident as I am now in actually giving the presentation without a partner.

Week 7 - Gaming Technology and Academic Development

Educators should do their best in matching the technology their students use to what will be used in the classroom. This is not ever easy and usually can't be done due to school resources, but the school and teachers should try their best. In my opinion, online chats and instant messaging provide very little value when in the classroom setting. While in a computer lab though, chat rooms could be useful by allowing students to still communicate with each other, without having to get out of their chairs and move around the room, while maintaining the noise level in the computer lab so that they do not distract themselves or others. In certain situations, instant messaging can be distracting because the teacher will not always be able to see what they students are writing and some students would get off track. Also, they distract from real instruction because face-to-face communication is vital for understanding some subjects. Text-based communication can benefit students because it gives them a tool with which they can communicate with each other very easily such as when they are at home working on their homework and need help from the teacher or one of their peers. Face-to-face communication is vital though, because technology cannot replace the role of a teacher when giving instruction in a class. Using podcasts can enhance learning in a very positive way, even though it is just a newer version of passively delivering information. Podcasts can be accessed by everyone and are useful for short explanations of material which the student can watch quickly and visually pick up information. In my experience, videogames can be a very powerful tool for learning, but in most cases videogames can be destructive. Academic videogames can be a great tool for studying, because it makes it fun for the student to learn, but sometimes this is counter-productive because the student should also be studying using the book and other materials the teacher provides. Thanks to videogames, my reading and writing skills have sky-rocketed through the roof and has allowed to understand concepts I originally had no idea of. While I do agree with some parts of the article, overall I would have to say that using videogames for a learning tool can be very destructive. I would let my kids play videogames as long as they are keeping up with their studies, but I will also encourage them to go outside and explore life because while you may be experiencing something through a videogame, the great thing about life is that you can go outside and actually experience "reality" for yourself.

Week 6 - Del.icio.us

I feel the Delicious site could be useful to people who spend most of their time away from their home computer and need to have bookmarks readily available to them on computers other than their own. This would probably best apply to business people or teachers that spend much of their time at school on a computer other than their own. I do not see any future use of the Delicious site for anything I will need, but I do believe it is a good tool for other people. I have no use for the site because I very rarely use bookmarks and the bookmarks I use are only for personal use on my own computer. Also, if a website address is important enough to me to remember, I will write it down and look it up on my computer later.

Week 5 - Wiki and Personality Types

I think very highly of Wikis and approve their use both in and out of the classroom. While wikis can be altered and the information in them wrong, wiki does an excellent job of spotting these mistakes and correcting them in a timely manner. Wikis are a good source of information and provide students a valuable resource for student research and the search for knowledge. I believe I would be able to use wikis in my classroom, but only for informational purposes because they do a great job of giving out complicated information in a format that a student can understand.

For learning approaches both a learning community and traditional instruction go hand in hand. Often times in traditional instruction, a student maybe struggling with a concept they can't understand and often times gets left behind. In a learning community, a student can hear listen to their peers and learn from them by looking at different perspectives and often times a peer can explain a concept better than the teacher. Not to say that traditional instruction is bad because teachers are an important part of the process. Teachers have been taught for many years in their field so their knowledge of the subject is invaluable and provides a basis of learning concepts for a student when they are taking that particular class. My belief is confirmed in the fact that when I go to class, my professors provide a basic concept for me to understand and I internalize and apply my views and experience to that concept. Once I step outside the classroom and begin talking with my peers, I better refine that concept because I receive input and ideas from my peers that might change the way I think about that particular concept.

Yes, personality types have a great affect onl learning styles for a student. For someone like me, I am a very hands on person, but I must have all the information on something before I jump right into it so that requires a teacher to thoroughly teach me something before I begin a project or homework. After I understand everything about that particular problem, I can see it from all different angles and figure it out. Other students may require more hands off projects or a different type of teaching style for them to learn the concept the teacher is trying to get across to them. Knowing a student's personality is key in getting them to understand, internalize, and adapt the information you are teaching them. I believe by having my students take a personality test it will help me better understand the student and how to deal with them when they don't understand something or teaching them the subject matter another way. By having them take a personality test I can understand the ways in which I need to teach the subject material so they will understand and be a succesful student.

Week 4 - Using Excel in the Classroom

Microsoft Excel is a great program that can be used in many different ways for the classroom.Using spreadsheets in the classroom can be very useful for keeping grades, attendance, or listing activities and work that you do over the year. You could also use a spreadsheet to develop a homework assignment for the students, or as a list of activities your class will be participating throughout the year. I would use a spreadsheet as a gradebook or to keep track of work we have done over the year, such as papers, essays, or journals.

As teachers, we use spreadsheets as a tool to enhance the learning experience and to help teachers keep track of information on their students. Spreadsheets have the advantage over calculators because it allows you to quickly find averages for all your students. Most teachers have around a 100 students they need to have grades for, so by using a spreadsheet we can efficiently and effectively get their grades tallyed up and report it back to them. The three primary functions of a spreadsheet include storing, calculating, and presenting information. I think these three primary functions are the most effective functions for a spreadsheet and using these in the right way will provide a tool for teachers in the classroom. I cannot think of any other functions for a spreadsheet other than what I have above.