Instructional Technology Class has taught me a lot about technology that I did not already know. I had no idea that you could do some many cool things on the web like Voki, Animoto, and different visual effects like these. There are so many that can enhance learning and help make teaching about a subject fun. I also learned that imac computers are really nice and offer a lot of cool projects that can be done by students. Working with SMART boards was also fun and I cannot wait to get into the classroom and start working with one!
I hope to include a lot of the projects that I did in this class in my own classroom some day. I want to use Voki, Animoto, and all the other Web 2.0 projects in my lessons to help enhance the lesson with visuals. If I am teaching older students, I plan to use the imovie to help them with presentations. What I liked best about all the projects that we learned about is that they bring out the creative side in the students. I think learning is so much more fun when the students take ownership and get to be creative with what they are learning! I would recommend taking an instructional technology class if you are going to be a teacher! It teaches you so much more then you ever knew!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Future of Technology
The future...it seems like such a far off place yet it is right around the corner; it is even tomorrow! Technology in the future is something that scares me. I have no idea where it is going to go or even what else we can invite and come up with to make our lives even more easy then they already are. But I am not the first person to think about this and wonder what else do we possibly need.
Technology will always effect me because I will be teaching in the classroom where the last items will most like be used. The SMART boards are used mostly in the classroom. I had never seen one until coming to Grace University, but of course I did not attend public school. I do believe that technology is not something to be afraid of but it is something to understand how much power it holds. We need to analysis everything new invention and say, just because we can does not make it right. We need to start thinking about what we are doing instead of just doing just because we can. I believe that technology is a gift to mankind. We need to see it as a gift and treat it the way we should, as something prestigious that can be misused!
Technology will always effect me because I will be teaching in the classroom where the last items will most like be used. The SMART boards are used mostly in the classroom. I had never seen one until coming to Grace University, but of course I did not attend public school. I do believe that technology is not something to be afraid of but it is something to understand how much power it holds. We need to analysis everything new invention and say, just because we can does not make it right. We need to start thinking about what we are doing instead of just doing just because we can. I believe that technology is a gift to mankind. We need to see it as a gift and treat it the way we should, as something prestigious that can be misused!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Academic Honesty
Academic Honesty can be understood in terms of not cheating or copying other students' work. But it is so much more then this. It can be understood in terms of not resubmitting an assignment that was already use by your for another assignment. I have never thought about it in these terms before. I always understood it to mean that we are simply not cheating or copying. But taken in these terms, it really challenges the framework of morals that we hold students and even ourselves to.
I have struggled with knowing how to teach this to students. It is such an important topic that I cannot ignore it yet it must be taught. I believe that the best way to teach about academic honesty is to actually teach about it. Informing your students about this issue is important because it helps them to understand what it looks like. Students may think that because something is never addressed, like resubmitting an assignment, then it must be okay. As a teacher, teaching on this topic for a couple hours at the beginning of the year will inform my students of what I am looking for in their work as well as what is acceptable and what is not. They will then hopefully see the important of being honest with their school work.
I have struggled with knowing how to teach this to students. It is such an important topic that I cannot ignore it yet it must be taught. I believe that the best way to teach about academic honesty is to actually teach about it. Informing your students about this issue is important because it helps them to understand what it looks like. Students may think that because something is never addressed, like resubmitting an assignment, then it must be okay. As a teacher, teaching on this topic for a couple hours at the beginning of the year will inform my students of what I am looking for in their work as well as what is acceptable and what is not. They will then hopefully see the important of being honest with their school work.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a growing problem within our schools. Cyberbullying is a fairly recent term. When we break the word down, we see two words that we know very well, cyber and bullying. Cyber means "the culture of the computers, information technology and virtual reality". Bullying means "using superior strength of influence to intimidate". When we put those two words together we come up with the definition of cyberbullying: using superior strength of influence to intimidate by means of computers, information technology, and virtual reality.
As teachers, we need to educated our students on how they should act online. It is important for them to understand just how dangerous using the internet for bullying can be. Here are some great websites you can use within your classroom to help you talk about cuberbullying and its growing problem.
This website is really great for parents, it has articles and ideas to help their children not bully on the web.
http://www.parenting.com/article/anti-bullying-websites?page=0,0
As teachers, we need to educated our students on how they should act online. It is important for them to understand just how dangerous using the internet for bullying can be. Here are some great websites you can use within your classroom to help you talk about cuberbullying and its growing problem.
This website is really great for parents, it has articles and ideas to help their children not bully on the web.
http://www.parenting.com/article/anti-bullying-websites?page=0,0
Ages 5-7
Professor Garfield Cyberbullying: Download this Garfield app on your iPad with comics regarding to cyberbullying, it keeps kids entertained and its free! Professor Garfield Cyberbullying
Professor Garfield Cyberbullying: Download this Garfield app on your iPad with comics regarding to cyberbullying, it keeps kids entertained and its free! Professor Garfield Cyberbullying
Ages 8-12
Stop Bullying Now!: A great interactive site with videos, games and quizzes. Stopbullyingnow.gov
Stop Bullying Now!: A great interactive site with videos, games and quizzes. Stopbullyingnow.gov
Ages 13+
A Thin Line: This website is created by MTV, it has some great tips, guides on online responsibility, also has a great support for kids dealing with cyber bullying. athinline.org
A Thin Line: This website is created by MTV, it has some great tips, guides on online responsibility, also has a great support for kids dealing with cyber bullying. athinline.org
Pacer Center’s Teens Against Bullying: Packed full of useful information for teens, looks slightly edgier, also has video clips from Demi Lovato and other teen idols. pacercentersteensagainstbullying.org
Thats Not Cool: Deals with a variety of issues from cyberbullying to sexting. Funny clips, a message board to give and receive advice, and Hilarious “call out cards”. thatsnotcool.com
Monday, April 2, 2012
Digital Citizenship For Teachers
Have you ever wondered what your digital footprint would look like if you were able to go back and look at everything you have ever done on the web? Well, your IP Address tracks everything that you have ever done on the web, every picture, every statement, every websites.
So as a teacher, we need to be very careful about what we are doing on the web. Every website, word, and picture can be tracked and googled back to us. It is so important that we also, as teachers, understand internet etiquette.
Internet etiquette is very important for everyone to understand and know how to use. We should not use all capital letters when typing a word, this can be viewed as yelling and being upset. We also should be aware that communicating over email, text messages, and other forms of digital writing are hard to understand because we cannot hear the voice of the speaker. It is important to use smiley faces and expressions so the reader can understand what you are saying and how you are saying it!
Teachers need to remember to be careful about the digital footprint you are leaving and also remember to use proper internet etiquette.
So as a teacher, we need to be very careful about what we are doing on the web. Every website, word, and picture can be tracked and googled back to us. It is so important that we also, as teachers, understand internet etiquette.
Internet etiquette is very important for everyone to understand and know how to use. We should not use all capital letters when typing a word, this can be viewed as yelling and being upset. We also should be aware that communicating over email, text messages, and other forms of digital writing are hard to understand because we cannot hear the voice of the speaker. It is important to use smiley faces and expressions so the reader can understand what you are saying and how you are saying it!
Teachers need to remember to be careful about the digital footprint you are leaving and also remember to use proper internet etiquette.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Learning with Technology
Using technology to enhance students learning is not a new concept. Teachers have been capable of creating ways to use technology for a while. Technology enhances student learning through a number of ways. One advantage is that you can use technology to enrich your lessons. Teachers and student can do more research on a topic and then present the information to the class. They can share information together and gain differing ideas and opinions. Technology can also be used to improve your presentation of the material to the class. It can gain attention and hold it better then just a simple speaker sharing information. Students are more interested in bright colors, cool graphics, then just the information being present. It helps the speaker communicate information.
The disadvantages of using technology and tools within the classroom, are that students may be just interested in the actual power point and means of presenting the information then the information itself. It might take away too much from the information. Students may also abuse the technology and tools used to enhance their learning. They may see the group discussion as a time to share inappropriate information. Students also might use the computer not for homework and the project but simply for surfing the web.
As educators, we have to be careful about how we present our information to our students. We need to use the web but we also need to use it to its best abilities and not as a simple fix it for teaching. We also need to be careful that we are teaching our students how to use the information properly. There is a fine line that we need to draw clearly as teachers in order for our students to know where their boundaries are, otherwise, they will continue to push the limits because they did not know how to rightly use the tools and technology given to them.
The disadvantages of using technology and tools within the classroom, are that students may be just interested in the actual power point and means of presenting the information then the information itself. It might take away too much from the information. Students may also abuse the technology and tools used to enhance their learning. They may see the group discussion as a time to share inappropriate information. Students also might use the computer not for homework and the project but simply for surfing the web.
As educators, we have to be careful about how we present our information to our students. We need to use the web but we also need to use it to its best abilities and not as a simple fix it for teaching. We also need to be careful that we are teaching our students how to use the information properly. There is a fine line that we need to draw clearly as teachers in order for our students to know where their boundaries are, otherwise, they will continue to push the limits because they did not know how to rightly use the tools and technology given to them.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Digital Citizenship
Digital Citizenship is how someone conducts themself with technology. It means that everyone should know how to handle and act online. However, does the things online follow the laws and standars we expect from people in public? Yes it does. There are laws about how you should act online. You cannot hack into other people's information, download illegal music, plagiarize, stalk, or bully.
It is important to teach standards about how to act online becuase we all should be held to a high standard; the same standard that you would expect from someone in a face to face situation should be the same standard we are held to in the cyber world. There is no difference between the two. As teachers, we first and foremost need to hold ourselves to higher standards. We need to watch how our facebooks, and social networking sites look to our students. We need to be their role models. This can also protect us from law suits and different things that can happen due to the internet. However, we have to remember that we do have freedom of speech and press. We are able to have a voice outside of the classroom. But we must remember that we need to be careful about how we are presenting ourselves to our students.
Another big factor is that our students need to see the right way of how to conduct themselves on the web. It is very important that they learn from us what is appropiate and what is not. Students need to be edcuated about how to protect themselves online. It is so important that we teach the students how to act online. We need to take the responsiblitiy for teaching our students about how to act online.
http://myfootprintsd.com/index.html
Here is a great website to help you understand how to use the web and how to help your students understand what is appropriate and what is not.
It is important to teach standards about how to act online becuase we all should be held to a high standard; the same standard that you would expect from someone in a face to face situation should be the same standard we are held to in the cyber world. There is no difference between the two. As teachers, we first and foremost need to hold ourselves to higher standards. We need to watch how our facebooks, and social networking sites look to our students. We need to be their role models. This can also protect us from law suits and different things that can happen due to the internet. However, we have to remember that we do have freedom of speech and press. We are able to have a voice outside of the classroom. But we must remember that we need to be careful about how we are presenting ourselves to our students.
Another big factor is that our students need to see the right way of how to conduct themselves on the web. It is very important that they learn from us what is appropiate and what is not. Students need to be edcuated about how to protect themselves online. It is so important that we teach the students how to act online. We need to take the responsiblitiy for teaching our students about how to act online.
http://myfootprintsd.com/index.html
Here is a great website to help you understand how to use the web and how to help your students understand what is appropriate and what is not.
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