Communication

          Communication has been a main issue that we have discussed in class the past few weeks. Technology in the classroom as a whole is there for the main reason of getting learning materials to stick with students. It is simply another way of getting students engaged, working, and learning with what they are learning about. Technology should be consistently contributing to communication and never taking away from it. Unfortunately, in many current classrooms, technology does in fact take away from the learning experience.
           Texting for example, is a huge issue in many classrooms that takes away from the communication between teacher and student and the student's ability to learn. As a teacher, my goal would be to turn the students view of texting around and find a way to use it efficiently in the classroom. One way of this would be to have groups form for a game dealing with questions and let one student from each group text answers to me as the group comes up with them. This would turn texting from a bad thing in the classroom into something that promotes communication and helps everyone stay engaged and learning.
          Without finding ways to make technology promote communication instead of shutting it down, technology is useless in the classroom. As teachers, we must use technology, and use it properly, so that the students are constantly in communication with each other and us in order for them to learn the best they can.

Utilizing (not resisting) technology in the Classroom :) By: Jannessa Hilliard

Entry written by: Topic:

           This class has really opened up a world of possibilities for me when it comes to technology in the classroom.  Before now  I probably would have considered myself "old school", not jumping at the oppurtunity to embrace and master technology.  However, what I know now is that technology is a great and amazing asset to us as educators.  We have truly unlimited oppurtunities to enhance our learning and open our student's eyes to the world.  We need to embrace our ability to use technology to enhance and deepen the learning in our classes, not to take place of or make learning easier.  Technology is our friend in the classroom especially when we are preparing to teach such a technologically savvy generation. 
          Here are some really fun examples of ways to enhance learning using technology.   For example, when learning about the planets and everything around them you can let your students explore on Google Earth (http://www.google.com/earth/explore/products/).  Google Earth can be used for other units too such as oceans, mountains, finding locations, ect...  Another example would be using the tool ToonDoo (http://www.toondoo.com/) for an English class at any age.  ToonDoo allows students to create books or cartoons and present them to the class.  Having students create an online book instead of traditionally writing one would be inspiring for students.  A third example would be Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/).  Khan Academy provides online videos and tutorials for virtually any subject.  This way if a student is behind or struggling to understand a subject, we can refer him to Khan Academy. Student's are able to watch videos from anywhere and can seek help when trying to complete assignments on their own. 
        This is just three examples; imagine what it would like in your own classroom if you used one webtool a week.  Learning how to use webtools and internet resources is not difficult and look at the benefits and oppurtunities it provides.  Learning in this class about different tools and websites out there really opened my eyes to all the different ways I could use technology in the classroom.  Our future students are growing up on technology and we must incorporate it into our classes if we want to keep up with and engage such "techy" kids. 

Blog #2

      This class has really helped me to learn all the different ways in which technology can be used in a positive way in education. I think that being a student in the transitional period between completely print and completely digital can be a positive and a negative thing. Obviously at my age I would have more technological experience than someone older than me, like my mom, but I also am so stuck in the way that I remember being taught that it is sometimes hard to imagine how to break free from doing things in that way. Just from being introduced to certain tools and ideas presented in class and through our online sessions I believe there are several ways that I can improvise my thinking and use technology more in order to become a better and evolving teacher.

      In my last blog post, I talked about how the line between what we should keep traditional in classrooms and what should be changed confused me. Now that I have been able to look at more of the chapter and been introduced to new ideas and uses for technology and I have realized that it is about integrating these things into the classroom. The handwriting skills that we will need to teach will still be relevant, but typing and using the same grammar, punctuation, and capitalization skills in both will be important. It isn't about converting from one thing to another, but bringing the two together to find the happy medium. It is kind of scary to think that this is just the beginning and there will continue to be changes in the future, but that is what also makes education kind of fun. It will never be the same, and there will always be new challenges. 

      Just from my own understanding of technology and its uses, I have already started to develop ideas in which I could use tools in my classroom. Since I am getting a special education K-12 degree and an elementary education degree, I am unsure of what material I will be teaching and to what age and ability groups. I think the organizational tools will really help me as an educator, and the idea of a class website is a great way to keep parents involved. These are just two ideas I have already been brainstorming about but the ideas are endless when it comes to using new tools daily. Even the possibility of homework being online excites me in knowing we can still have a community feel at home for every student. I can't wait to see what is next in technology and use what we have learned to create more educational technology in my classrooms to come. 

Social Websites in Class

Entry written by: Seth Taylor  Topic: Social Websites in Class

Social websites have dominated our culture in every way. They have kept friends in touch and have helped countries during times of crisis. Social websites have many advantages to them. However, social websites, such as twitter, Facebook, etc., should be kept outside of the classroom. Students are used to using these sites for the original purpose of their creation: socially. They aren’t looking for ways that they can improve their knowledge on these sites; they are looking at their best friend’s post.

Social websites shouldn’t be used for that reason. Students will have a hard time differentiating between academic and the social side of the sites. This should be an after class type of site. In the classroom, they will not focus on the task that is given to them. They don’t usually focus all of their attention on a task to start out with. How much harder will it be to get them to focus if they are trying to multitask by going on Facebook and twitter? Sure, for some classes, this might work. However, the vast majority of classes would find this more of a hindrance than a blessing.

Social websites is a luxury that students will abuse. They will use it for social means rather than academic means when given the opportunity. Their work will have half the amount of focus that it usually has. Social websites are social; they are far from being academic. School is for academic, not the social. The social can happen after hours. If the social side of these sites were removed, then they would be appropriate for a classroom setting. However, they are not, and they need to stay out of school. 

Using Texting as a Tool

Entry written by: Julia Coad Topic: Texting for classroom use

I was really intrigued by the topic of texting for classroom use when we discussed it online a couple weeks ago. I think that because of how our own teachers treated texting in class, immediately we think of it as a negative thing. We say, "Well my teachers never let me text in class, so there's no way that I'll let my own students text!" However, education is constantly reforming and molding with our society. Thus, I truly believe that things are changing in such a way that texting could really be used as a tool to assist in furthering our students' education. We just need to eliminate our initial negative perspective.

Outside of the classroom, texting can be used to communicate quick and efficiently with students. Where e-mails do not always reach the younger generations, texts are becoming one of the only ways we can effectively communicate with them. It's true that there is the issue of whether or not all the students have a cell phone, but that is becoming less of a factor. Obviously, texting could not be incorporated in this way until the later grades (high school). As texting is becoming more prominent in our society, education is certainly adapting to it.

One may also think that safety is an issue, because cell phones and texting are tools that are more personal and teachers could be surpassing their boundaries. However, I agree with Professor Kipp. It can't be an issue if teachers use one account (like Google) to specifically communicate with only their students. As teachers we separate our personal lives with our working environment and students. If used in this way, texting students is no less safe than e-mailing students.

Honestly, my argument is more for using cell phones and texting as a tool outside of the classroom. I think that texting in class could risk pushing more boundaries. I think its uses are also far more limited in the classroom for now, but teachers are really getting creative with it. For example, the website polleverywhere.com is a fun and helpful site to use in the classroom. It really helps give teachers quick feedback from all the students without having to spend a lot of time discussing or collecting data. This site can also be utilized as a quick check for students' learning.

 Education Technology
       Within the classroom it is often a struggle to keep the students interested in what is being taught as well as getting them involved. Smart boards are being used in order to get the students to come up and learn instead of just watching the teacher lecture. Also their are many tools and learning games that get the whole class involved and learning. Another example is a way for the students to complete projects through online communication and file sharing. Projects allow for students to all work together and get a hands on experience from learning. The technology part that comes in is they do not have to be physically together in order to complete thee assignments. This is how technology allows for the students to be more involved in the class and have fun as well.
       Technology has increased the functionality by leaps and bounds in the classroom. It has done this by giving teachers many different tools in which to learn various teaching methods that they would not have had an opportunity to learn without it. Also technology has provided many organization improvements which is limiting the use of paper that's needed as a teacher because they could just file it online. This includes Google reader which allows the teacher to add it to a favorites page and even share wit with their faculty and staff.     
       Before taking this class I was not aware on how much technology could actually improve the conditions of the classroom. Technology not only increases the functionality of the classroom but allows for the students to have more fun in their learning instead  of the traditional way of learning. This way was just paper, pencil, books, and lectures. This still has a vital part in teaching but can be altered in many different ways. This class also taught me many different ways to enhance how I gather my information as well as giving thoughts and ideas to other teachers.

Technology for Professional Development

Entry written by: Brianna Hayne

Topic: Technology for Professional Development

Learning to use technology for professional development is something that is very important for a teacher. We learn how to use technology to benefit ourselves as teachers. Through technology we can collaborate with other teachers and learn from others who are incorporating technology in their classrooms. In class, we used different methods to collaborate and learn from other teachers.

            One tool that can be used is Google Reader. This tool allows a user to search for different blogs and websites. This tool is useful because it allows a user to search a broad range of topics and find sources that they otherwise would not have found.

            Twitter is another tool that can be used. Twitter is a very popular social networking site that allows people to share their thoughts and ideas with each other. This tool can be interesting to see how people’s views vary about education. Another tool that can be used for collaboration between teachers is “Diigo”. This is a website bookmarking tool. This site allows a user to follow other users, search for useful websites, save those websites, and share them.

            All of these tools are very useful for collaboration between teachers and other professionals. Out of these three tools, the one that I found the most useful was “Diigo”. I enjoyed using this tool the most because it had multiple uses; bookmarking websites and collaboration between users. Becoming familiar with tools like these can help us prepare to be better teachers so that we can teach our future students to the best of our ability.