11/18 Discussion Refelection & Exit Slip

My group and I did our discussion today in class about chapter 10 in Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology.

We gave directions first and then split them up into groups, but in the first round we should have been more precise in explaining what they are expected to be talking about.  We separated into groups and did a jigsaw discussion, but forgot to call it that. This would have given the students more of an idea of what was happening, rather than explaining it all.  In the Jigsaw we did use many dicuts and colors, to try to get students into even amount of groups, and discussing with different students. I feel that this would also work extremely well with elementary students. We used the ELMO, to visualize the answers that the students gave in 20 words or less about their vision of technology in the future in education. We should have been more prepared, and explained that students did need to bring a piece of paper to write on. Otherwise we could have supplied it to the students.

It would have been interesting if we used the 20 word summary from each group, and summarized into one idea within the class. This would have been extremely effective and gave a complete closure to the chapter.

Those of us who care about education should do whatever we can to see that our children are educated the best they can to live in a technology-rich society.(145)

It's an interesting thought that we are teaching students for their future, which will inevitably involve way more technology that is used now.

Dr. Boyer came up with an extremely interesting though, when we all were thinking that interactive white boards is great NEW technology, really it is not. There are MANY more things that can be implemented into the classroom, and is only reinforcing poor teaching habits teachers make. It is simply a touch power point. Students should be interactive.

Technology Podcast

Today I finished creating my podcast about a contemporary issue with technology. I chose an article from The Arizona Republic website entitled “Schools starting to allow use of Digital Devices” by Amy Wang.

This article talked about different schools in Arizona that are beginning to use technology in their classroom, like Ipads and cellphones. It discussed their methods, along with different professional opinions on the effectiveness of this technology and its potential problems.

I spent a lot of time revising my script to make it clear and concise. I felt that summing the article along with providing an intro and reaction was very difficult to do in less than 3 minutes so it took a lot of movement and wise word choices.  I also felt it was difficult to find a suitable introduction tune for the beginning and ending of the podcast.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/10/24/20101024cellphones-school-classroom.html

I used the tune Radio Martini from Royalty Free Music for my introduction: Music: Kevin MacLeod

My phone ring for the sound effect was done by my very own Samsung cell phone.

11/4 Exit Slip

During our 331 class today we touched on the division of classes during presentations. We talked about how much more organized it becomes when we present the expectations first, and then have the class break up into groups.  discussion. The group today used a venn ddiagram for discussion and I felt it was really interesting to use and helped with clarifying the area we were suppose to discuss.

We talked about using Scratch and tips to making it reusable and good.
- Randomizing math problems
- Make sure the "start" of the project looks like a start of a project
- make words appear for the time it takes you to read it 2x
- make sure the projects developmentally appropriate
- maybe add a different scene
- have characters with movement
- make sure directions are clear
- you are able to unlock the 'sprite' to allow it to move in presentation mode

Again, we talked about creating our wiki page and the componets that must be in it to make it a well working wiki.

11/11 Exit Slip

Today in class we discussed on Chapter 9 from our book.

It was great that they tried to use scribble-nuts for the discussion, but the site did not work on many of ours.
They worked great and instead of panicking, they had us work into groups and discuss.
we liked how the group made us explain our thoughts in five words or less, to be concise.

Yay its a workday!

So Much to do... So little time.

How Schools can Cope with the New Technology c.8

In chapter 8 of Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology it discussed many ways that schools can cope with new technology. Because of how much time students are spending on video games and watching T.V. , school activities need to be much more engaging. An interesting idea that they touched on is having narrow focused certifications that are general to all schooling and by completing them they would respect specific skills.  This would have all classes and schools maintain ‘certificates’ of specific studies, and receiving a credential would be similar to receiving a diploma, but in smaller steps.  This could benefit students because they would all have the same guidelines to follow and would have the same starting point and opportunities.  Although it does bring up many questions and makes me wonder how different this really is from the typical school system we need now, it sounds like the certificates are the same as grades and completions of classes. This is also a huge disadvantage to students who are unsure of what they want to do as they grow up.  The only difference in this case would be that students would determine when they feel prepared to take the course exam.

The book talked about a tool many universities use today, Desire2Learn, aka D2L for online access to discussion boards, collaborative project development spaces and online textbooks and readings. These tools similar to D2L give teachers the availability to use the discussion boards as well and help explore and engage in students work. Another benefit to these types of programs is in most cases it can give nearly immediate responses and the ability to work with classmates.

Go! Animate Screencast

To view my fantastic Go!Animate Screencast click this link below


http://www.screencast.com/users/ktesch782

I put a lot of time learning the Go!Animate program so I could make a successful screencast. Doing so I spent a lot time going over the many different features and making my own projects. I put in a lot of effort in order to summarize the complex Go!Animate program.

I was worried in the beginning about creating a screencast, and have to say the worst thing about it was to hear my own voice played back. Creating a screencast is very easy to do when you get the hang of it and I feel I will use this as often as I can in my future classrooms, because I feel it could be very beneficial to my students in understanding a program.

C. 8 Podcasting, video and screencasting and live streaming

From YouTube, to Podcasts to Google there are many great forms of media on the internet.  It is weird to remember back to the days where your internet connection was so loud when you logged on you needed ear plugs, and when it took hours to download your favorite song. Now nearly anything is able to download in seconds or stream right though your TV, like Netflix and blockbuster are doing now.

Podcasts are a fantastic invention, Many people who we normally wouldn’t hear from, have voices than can be heard by millions. This is such a fantastic way to implement in a classroom.  My favorite podcast is CNN’s AC360,because on an everyday basics I don’t have 2 hour time slot to watch my favorite newscasters news, so its great I can watch it on the go on my iPod for a mere 20 minutes, and watch it anywhere I please.

For schools to contain radio stations at school for students to listen to would cost hundreds of dollars,  but now because of Podcasts that is no longer an issue, students can form their own “talk radio” on a podcast it, upload it and hundreds of students can listen to it in minutes.

Podcasts would be an excellent tool to incorporate into a classroom, and liven up an activity, rather than have students write paper after paper or give a speech orally, students now can do an audio podcast. 

YouTube has created a huge phenomenon with video publishing.  Its mind boggling that over 20 hours of video are being loaded to YouTube every minute.  Although the content  may or may not be appropriate, the sharing of videos is a huge advantage to the education system, because more sources are available.

Screencasting has been a new term I learned recently, I always knew what it was but never the word for it.  It’s great to be able to watch a tutorial and see the step by step process.  Creating screencasts could be great in a classroom to be able to teach younger students the tools they are using.  Although I don’t know how many things you could really screencast and what elementary students could do with it, which means there may have to be more research done on this form of media.

Live Streaming is an absolute excellent idea for classrooms, because the possibilities, like most of these tools, are endless.  I feel that using this would be great for students who are home sick, and can watch at home.