The part of this course that made the biggest impact on me
was the technology projects. With each project I completed I acquired a new
skill. I did not only learn about different technologies available to me, I
also learned how to use them in my classroom with my students. As a result I
will continue to use these technologies with my students, and I will explore
these technologies further to learn even more ways to incorporate them into my
lessons. Also, I will research other technologies that are available so I can
introduce my students to even more resources.
Aha:
Some “aha” moments I have had this semester have resulted
from the creation of my blog, the articles I have read, and the revision of my
educational technology philosophy. My blog for this course provided me with
several “aha” moments because it helped me to think about the benefits of the
assignments I have completed. I had to really, truly reflect on what I learned
and the purpose for learning it. The articles I read for this course also
resulted in several “aha” moments. The first article I read made me realize
that not all technologies are right for classroom instruction. The technologies
need to be assessed for how they can benefit the students and improve their
learning before they are chosen for a lesson. The second article I read made me
think about how web 2.0 tools could be used for an assessment for learning. It
is important for students to be capable of self-reflection and self-monitoring,
and there are several web 2.0 tools out there that enable students to do this.
The third article I read taught me how web 2.0 tools can improve student
collaboration and promote their critical thinking skills. I also had an “aha” moment as I revised my
educational technology philosophy because I realized how little of an emphasis
I put on technology. I had to go back and add several points to emphasize how
crucial technology now is to my teaching. I now realize the importance of
technology to benefit my students learning and achievement.
Blog:
I will continue to utilize my blog as a means to reflect on
my learning. As I continue to pursue my master’s degree I can go back to my
blog and read the reflections I wrote for this course. It will be a reminder to
me of how important it is step back and reflect on what I learn.
I decided to create a lesson plan for students that involved
“The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. When I searched through
the Google apps I found Google Books. This is a really neat app because
students can read eBooks online for free. My students could easily find these two short
stories using the Google Books app. I also decided the students should use
Google Docs for their assignment. When I conducted a search on Google Docs I
found a variety of templates for graphic organizers that would be useful to my
students. I decided to make it a requirement for my students to use Google Docs
twice, once to find a plot line template and once to create their Venn diagram
to compare and contrast their two assigned readings. I chose these two tools
specifically, but I also explored other neat tools that were available. I will
definitely be exploring the other apps further.
Video Response:
As I watched the videos I could not help but think about how
important technology is to engage learners. Our students are very technology
minded, and we as educators need to keep this in mind as we create our lesson
plans. The one thing that stood out to me most in the video was that students “learn
by doing” and yet our students are “just sitting” there. We can improve student
learning by making our lessons even more hands-on. The students need to be able
“to do” to learn. This requires us to let the students be the teachers more
often than not. We need to find creative ways to use more and more technology
within our classes each and every day. We also need to let the students be in charge
of that technology. We can improve student learning vastly just by integrating
technology as best as we can. The learning needs to be relevant to our students
and technology is one of the most relevant things within their lives.
The purpose of my podcast was to demonstrate how to use Google
documents to create a survey. I can definitely see how a podcast would enhance
learning especially for auditory learners. I could use a podcast in my classroom in a variety of ways. I could create a podcast that
explains the directions to homework assignments for my students. The students
would be able to listen to the podcast at home if they do not recall what I
explained to them in class. I could also use a podcast when I have a
substitute. When I am going to miss my class I can record a podcast for my
students to listen to, and they will hear my expectations for the day and directions
to the assignments they must complete. I can also use it during my lesson for
my students to listen to when I give directions or explain a rubric for the
assignment or project assigned that day. I repeat myself every class period
when I explain assignments, just like every teacher that has multiple classes
must do, and if I record my directions and play them for my students it will
ensure that each class is given the exact same information. I could even record
myself reading aloud different text selections, and my students could listen to
the recording of me reading as I walk around the room and monitor. There are so
many different ways I can use a podcast to enhance my instruction it will be
fun to explore the possibilities.
Technologies:
When I created my podcast I used Jing. I found Jing to be
simple to use for the most part, but the 5 minute time limit was difficult for
me to meet. I had to start over because my podcast ran too long, but this was a
problem I could easily fix. I enjoyed Jing because you could capture the images
right off the screen which is useful to visual learners, and you could add
sound to help the auditory learners. I will use the podcast tool in the future, and I
will try the different podcast resources to find my favorite.
To complete the MAPping activity I chose to dissect the structure of the URL
http://www.allaboutexplorers.com.
Based on the domain name allaboutexplorers.com I could tell that the site was
about explorers, but it did not provide me with much to go on for the
credibility of the website. The extension of the website, .com for company,
however led me to infer that the credibility of the website is not very high
for academic information because this domain can be purchased by anybody. I
then used the link command to find the external links pointing to the website,
and I only found one website pointing to this site and it was on the homework
page of a classroom blog. This did not increase the credibility of the website
as it was just linked by one person, and it was for students to complete the
webquest on the site. I then conducted a search for the main topic of this website
on altavista.com, google.com, and infoseek.com. I found Alta vista and info seek to be set up
the same with the way the information is sorted and both had advertisements.
When I searched on Google there were more academic sites that came up with the
extensions .k12 or .edu and there were no advertisements. After reading search
engine watch I found out that Google was the number one site, Alta vista has
fallen on the list, and info seek did not even make the cut. After doing this
part of the activity I believe that Google is the best search engine for
conducting a search. Then I did the easywhois activity to find that the author
of the site is a man named Gerald August from Pennsylvania. This did not
increase the credibility of the website because it is a personal page. Finally,
I viewed the website’s history to find that the website was created in 2004,
and the purpose of the website was to teach students about internet searches
and how all information they find on the internet is not reliable. The site was
designed to look like a great source to find information on the various
explorers, but all information posted about each explorer was fictionalized deliberately.
This is just fascinating because if I were still in elementary or middle school
and I had to do research on an explorer and came across this website I would
have just used the information I found. I would not have even realized that the
information was unreliable and basically useless.
After MAPping:
Once I completed the MAPping information activity I was
intrigued by what I learned. I am most definitely guilty of taking the first
website that comes up when I do a Google search, but now I will dissect the
structure of the URL before I select a website. I will also look into the
history of and the purpose of the website. Now that I have gone this in-depth to
determine the credibility of just one website about explorers, and I found with
each step that I took the credibility of the site just depreciated it makes me
less confident in information I have used in the past. I know when I conducted
research project for schools or various assignments I would conduct a Google
search for my information. I would typically select from the first three links
operating under the assumption they were the best sites because they were the
top 3 on the list. I will now be more cautious about selecting websites to view
for information thanks to this activity.
Future
Implications:
The implications of us not teaching the students the skills
they need to search for information will be that the students will use information
from the first site they find when conducting a search. They will also have a difficult
time finding information if they do not know the appropriate terms to type in
when conducting a search. This will lead to the students having a difficult
time finding information as well as finding unreliable information. The
students will learn the information they find, and they will learn incorrect information
if they choose the wrong source. They will do this in our work we assign them
now, and their college work in the future if they are not taught the correct
way. This will be counterproductive to our teaching and goals for your
students, so it would be advantageous of us to take the time to teach the
students how to correctly conduct internet searches.
Advantages
of Delicious:
I have begun organizing my favorite and most
utilized sites onto delicious at https://delicious.com/aspencer05. I see
advantages to using this site and Google Reader as well because I can access my
saved links from any computer. All my information can be easily organized in
one place, and I do not have to be on my own personal computer to access it. I
think I can use these tools with my colleagues at work. We can all save links
to useful resources we can utilize in our classroom, and we can share them with
one another through this tool. I can also use this with my students. My
students can access links to information and activities that I save on my
account for them to view. They can also share links with one another to useful
websites or sites they enjoy through my discretion of course. This is a really
neat tool, and I am definitely going to continue to use my delicious account
and share it with my coworkers.
After
reading, Electronic Portfolio as Digital
Stories of Deep Learning, the tenet I most relate to is AFL develops
learners’ capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and
self-managing. One of the goals I have for my students is for them to become
lifelong learners. If they are to become lifelong learners they have to have the
capability of being self-managing. They need to know how to assess their
learning to determine how they learn, what they have learned, and what they
want to learn or need assistance with. This enables them to reflect on their
learning daily, and this helps them to create their own educational goals. This
skill will be helpful to them throughout their lifetime to continuously monitor
their own learning.
Portfolio Assessment:
I see portfolio assessment as
having the potential to build students’ ability to evaluate their learning.
Portfolio assessment has the ability to enable students to take charge of their
own learning. Instead of having to take a multiple choice test students get to
display their work through a variety of activities they create. They also get
to use critical thinking skills when creating their work and they can display
it all in one portfolio. Displaying their work through this portfolio has the
potential of enabling students to go back and look through their portfolio to
reflect on their own learning. I think
the development of my own portfolio will help me to do the same. I can
constantly go back and view the artifacts I have created within this course. I
can also add artifacts I have created in other courses. I can go back and
reflect on what I have learned, and I can decide what activities I have done
that I can use with my own students in my class. I can also go back and improve
what I have done when I learn something new. I can constantly go back and
reflect on what I have learned because all of my work will be in one place with
the creation of this portfolio. I can also create my own learning goals by
reflecting on what I learned, how I learned it, and what I still want to learn.
When creating my wiki I wanted it to
be beneficial to my students. I wanted my students to be able to utilize the
wiki outside of my classroom. I decided to turn it into a virtual classroom
word wall. My students can get online at home and go to this word wall to get
their weekly vocabulary list. The definitions for the words are posted on the
wiki, so the students can study their words right off of the page. This is
definitely helpful to the students who “misplace” their written vocabulary words.
I have started to implement my idea because I have managed to post all the
vocabulary words the students have learned this semester so far and the words
they will be learning next week.
Advantages vs. Disadvantages of Wikis:
I believe the advantages to
utilizing wikis are that they are user-friendly and can be used for a variety
of different tasks. The students can create wikis during a class period because
they are so easy to make. The information that is added to a wiki is published
instantly and there is no wait or time issue. They can also be used for
different assignments from projects to vocabulary lists and even their own
personal wiki to organize assignment due dates and tasks they need to complete.
The disadvantages are that they can be easily edited and disorganized. The
information that students access on a wiki is not always reliable or credible
due to the fact that anyone can come on and easily edit a wiki. They can also
become disorganized if too much information is added to them. It is easy for
the site to get bogged down with a ton of information, and if it is not well
organized it would be hard to navigate and this can discourage the students.
The wikis have the potential for
engaging the digital natives because they can use them for a variety of
different tasks. The wikis are easy to use, so digital natives would have no
issue coming up with ways to utilize the wikis for their own personal
needs.
Web 2.0 Technologies:
In my exploration of the eLearning
Tools Wiki I discovered two web 2.0 tools I would like to explore further
NoteMesh and Flashcard Exchange. I decided to make my wiki into a classroom
word wall for students to utilize it as a study tool. NoteMesh would also
benefit the students as a note taking tool. This tool can be accessed at http://notemesh.com/?a=home and it is a way for college students that are taking the
same course to share their lecture notes. I think it could be tweaked to work
for Middle and High School students as well. The students can post their own
notes and combine their notes with other students’ notes. The other tool
Flashcard Exchange can be accessed at http://www.flashcardexchange.com/ and the students can create their own flashcards online.
The flashcards can be printed or shared and the students can access them from
an iPhone or android phone if they would like. This looks like a really neat
tool for my students.
