Technology Project Plan

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Blog Assignment Week Nine

I found Rob Spankle's article extremely enlightening. I think that addition of the FlipCam into the educational system would be very helpful for multiple reasons. First of all, students love being the center of attention. If each student had a handheld video camera they would be able to capture their own lives through video and also have the opportunity to share their experiences with the rest of their class. Secondly, cameras would also help teachers and other students get to know their classroom better, if each student was able to capture certain aspects of their life it would be a hands-on project in which others could gain a better understanding of their fellow classmate. Though Spankle uses the word revolution which in my opinion is very strong and somewhat loaded I know that if students/schools had access to FlipCams their educational experience would be enhanced.

Back to realism.....though Spankle highlights a number of positives about the FlipCam, the concept of money brings it back down to earth. Many schools already struggle in gaining access to up and coming technology and the addition of personal FlipCam's would be difficult to attain for certain districts or schools.

Reflection #6

Technology in the classroom is consistently evolving, even from the time I was in high school (3 years ago) to today it seems that this generation continues to exponentially learn more about the world around them through technology. When I was visiting Bothell High School, my alma mater, I was amazed at the additions of Smart Boards in every classroom, the 5 rolling carts of MacBook laptops that were available to check out and the video production announcements that were shown three times a week. I know that I was able to attend school in a middle-class suburban area that has large funding in the area of technology, therefore I know I easily took its accessibility for granted. I remember having a MacBook for a week of "researching" in class and I would get nothing done because I would be looking up the Nordstrom Half-Yearly sale. Of course I take the fall for being completely off task during these times I find that as technology increases in the school, the more the students are taking it for granted and not utilizing the potential it has to help learning.

This personal observation serves as a reminder to me to be thankful for the education I have an am receiving. I remember the teachers that used technology as a substitute for teaching and those that saw it as a privilege and an additional tool to help the educational process. It also encourages me to use the technology available by my district (as a teacher) to help keep the students focused and familiar with this new way of learning. As our world continues to introduce new tools for the advancement of education in relation to technology, again I am reminded that the attitude of the teacher that greatly affects the students attitude toward learning no matter if they are using a pen and paper or a personal laptop.

Reflection #5

For a blog post that is labeled Reflection I thought it would be clever to reflect on this last half of the semester as it has related to my increased knowledge of technology in education through this class. Honestly I have learned a lot. Though that statement is vague it is the truth. Blogging has always been something I have wanted to do and though this blog is required for the class learning how to set one up and maintain it will be extremely beneficial to me in the future. I definitely plan on having a classroom blog when I become a teacher, which was something I had never thought of before. Blogs provide a great platform to display up-to-date information in a technologically advanced world. I have also found other technology that we have utilized in class extremely helpful; learning how to use a Smart Board and discovering new websites to help our teaching to name a few. Before this class I did not realize all the resources that were available via the Internet, and I know that in the future I will use other teacher's blogs, videos and lesson ideas to enhance my own teaching. Overall, I have learned many new things about the technological aspect of teaching and look forward to this continued learning and discovering for myself and my future teaching career.

Blog Comments

http://www.beththegingergeek.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-assignment-week-3-marc-prensky.html#comment-form

http://www.jordynwilsonsblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/prensky-article.html#comment-form
http://joshuastechinedblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/reflection-6.html?showComment=1331487267894#c8614610506108877330

http://kristinestipp.blogspot.com/2012/02/blog-assignment-week-8.html?showComment=1331488631671#c872237357831672361

http://adamcannu.blogspot.com/2012/02/reflection-1-6.html?showComment=1331489210386#c5476231317270300007

http://jordynwilsonsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/reflection-1.html?showComment=1331488339655#c7823616416876409484

Reflection #4

For one of my observations I went to my mother's, Mrs. Ernster, ninth grade English classroom to watch how she integrated technology into her lessons. Mainly she used her Activboard to display her learning target for the day along with a question of the day. Honestly, that is the only technology that was used in her classroom for that lesson. After the class I asked her about the technology she utilizes in her classroom and she again highlighted that the Activboard assists in her teaching in a variety of ways. Mrs. Ernster teaches an English class so though much of her classtime consists of writing and reading she uses the board to show videos and display different methods of the writing process. "Without the Activboard the students would not be as engaged, the foundations of English writing are difficult to make interesting but with this technology the students have a little more focus," she stated and though I know that my mother is in fact a good teacher, she also appreciates the technology that is available to her to enhance the culture of her classroom.

Reflection #3

Personally, I find technology extremely intimidating, though I know it is a necessary tool for the educational process of the 2000's I still find myself lost in the multiple button pressing, screen views and key terms. In my class Instructional Design we learned how to use a Document Camera. My professor, Lucinda Garrett used someone's lack of understanding of the technology as a teaching moment and we were all able to learn how to connect the camera's view to the Smart Board. This was a very helpful teaching moment and I learned two major things. First of all, don't ever make as student feel bad for not knowing how to use technology and in turn (2) you can use the moment to teach your students something new while being a flexible teacher.

Reflection #2

Over Spring Break I had the pleasure of visiting my best friends college, Moody Bible Institute, in Chicago, Illinois. The overall experience was wonderful, but more specifically I was able to attend a couple classes with her. During these classes I compared and observed the different technologies used in the collegiate setting in comparison with an elementary, junior or high school setting. First of all, I think college is a different atmosphere entirely because the students are paying money to attend classes, they are not necessarily needing to be "entertained" or "engaged" at all times because a college education truly relies on independence and responsibility from the student. But what I did find interesting is that both professor from the classes I observed used an appealing PowerPoint to display their lectures. One professor added floating words or images and included a number of cartoon-like pictures to coincided with his lecture. Though this technology may not be "advanced" it was very helpful, to me at least, in learning the material and I am still actually able to remember the different pictures that related to Bible stories and characters. The other professor used his iPhone that was connected to his Mac Book Air to connect to his PowerPoint. He was able to use his iPhone as a remote to control his PowerPoint, which I thought was extremely cool and could be useful to me in the future. Although this observation was of two college classrooms technology was still a part of the teaching process and it assisted students in better note-taking and clearer comprehension of the material.