How do you feel about it?

It's almost over, this semester I'm talking about. I must admit I am thoroughly looking forward to Winter break. However, as a whole I did enjoy my first semester here at Stockton. It was a lot of work. Probably more reading, writing, projects and presentations then I was prepared for but we are in the home stretch.

This technology class was a struggle from the beginning for me, but I think I enjoy a challenge. I would recommend this course to just about everyone. There are so many things I learned about that I never knew existed or even heard of before walking into INTC 3610 with Professor Ross. 

 

• After taking this class I think my views of technology have changed as well as my opinion of technology in the classroom. 
• I think I will be much more open to learning new things in the future and finding ways to implement my new skills as an educator. 

Just to recap here’s what we did…

1.     Created a new email address in Google

2.     Made up a portfolio using Google Sites

3.     Set up a Blog

4.     Learned how to use Wimba

5.     Reflected on articles relating to our field of study and technology

6.     Learned how to use Google Docs

7.     Made quizzes and answer sheets

8.     Made a Smartboard lesson

9.     Learned about QR Codes

10. Worked with Jing

11. Learned about screen casting

12. Learned about Creative Commons

13. Made a pechakucha using PowerPoint

14. Learned how to use PhotoStory to create a digital story

15. Voice Thread

16. Prezi

17. Posterous

18. Google Earth

19. Animoto

20. Wikispaces

21. Edmodo

·        There is still more to come!

·        Unbelievable? That’s how I feel.

ü  I highly recommend if you are going into the teaching profession and you have not used any of these applications familiarize yourself now. 

ü  It is better to be confused and unsure now, before you have a bunch of students staring up at you expecting you to have all the answers.

·        Chances are you won’t have all of the answers, but hopefully you will know where to find them!

I think this is a shirt we would all be proud to wear :)

Did you ever tell a digital story?

It can be a lot of fun for you and your students to create a Digital Story using PhotoStory.

This is what it will look like when you begin.

There are a variety of videos to help you learn how to create your first story. 

Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it!

With PhotoStory you can...

• Choose the pictures for your story
• Narrate your Story (re-narrate your story if you need to)
• Add background music 
• Save and publish it
• Then show everyone!

-For younger students this can be a really entertaining and fun lesson.

Or

-Maybe you just want to be able to hold their attention for a little bit longer.

-For older students I would suggest teaching them how to make their own and keep it as something they can treasure forever. 

Are you prepared to teach the 21st Century student? 

If not, this is just one idea to make your classroom a better fit for them!

Social Media

How do we manage to keep our students focused on the material we have to cover in such a short amount of time with so many distractions around them?

One article we read, “Pros and Cons of Social Media in the Classroom” gives us some insight on both sides of the fence.

However I don’t think we have to pick a side! Why can’t we be right in the middle? Or on top of the fence?

The article discusses the Pros and Cons of Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter in the classroom. In my opinion, the majority of students are already aware of and using these sites that are so easily accessible. So I believe we should incorporate social media into our lessons to some extent. No, I am not saying our students should be online all day every day, but it’s there, so let’s use it to our advantage.

Lessons

One: use your resources!

Two: use them responsibly.

Three: show others respect.

Four: hold yourself accountable for what you write and publish online and in life.

So what do you think? Are student’s texting and tweeting too much? I believe there is a way we, as educators can take the ball back into our court and use these social media resources to reach our students on their level. 

Edmodo is a topic a group of my peers covered in their presentation. They compared it a lot to how Facebook and other networking sites operate. I think this could be a great alternative to look into for your classroom or school district. It is basically a way for students, parents and teacher to be able to communicate all in one place about things such as assignments, homework, exams, progress, missing work, extra help available or anything you, your students or their parents want to discuss. Very cool!

Thank you Kyle and Julia for giving us some insight about Edmodo and how educators may like to use it in their classes. 

Technology has really come to the rescue!

             I never thought I would hear myself saying this, "Technology has really come to the rescue!"

Lately with the problems we have had with the weather, technology has allowed us to stay connected. Whether you lost power or the roads were too unsafe to commute to school we still had email, Wimba and smart technology to keep us connected.

For example:

1. Last week we experienced a disaster, hurricane Sandy. Our school closed down for a few days while President Obama, the states, local government and the weather advisers were determining how severe the storm was going to be and how to handle the aftermath. However, our professor was able to stay in contact with us and keep us updated with the work we needed to complete for our upcoming classes.



2. This week we are experiencing our first snow fall of the season and the roads are unsafe for everyone to be driving around as per usual. Fortunately for those of us who did not lose power, suffer any major damages or losses we were able to communicate via Wimba. With our headsets we are able to hold class virtually, this means everyone can stay in their house or wherever they are safe to avoid hazardous roads. (You can read all about Wimba in my previous blog post.)



3. I have been able to stay in close contact with my classmates and partners of projects and presentations we are working on as our school has been out of commission. We have been able to use various aspects of the web to send each other our ideas and progress.