Technology Class Insights and Experiencs

Experiencing the variety of technology available to aid in engaging students in learning has been invaluable. It has been invaluable not only to me as a future teacher, but also to my future students. The more engaged in learning the students are, the more successful they will be in their individual pursuits as adults. This class opened my eyes up to a host of technological tools and their applications that I had never had to use and therefore did not know they existed. I feel it is very important to present information to students using different tools and methodologies. The class assigned readings also helped show where and how these tools can be used to be most effective. These tools incorporated along with traditional methods of teaching will help make my lessons more captivating, thoughtful, and realistic. The class had me worried in the beginning, but now I feel like I can figure anything out. I just have to be patient.

Google Docs is a fantastic tool for teachers. It enables them to communicate to their students as they work on an assignment. The teacher can assign projects using Google document, spreadsheet or presentation and make correction or suggestions to the student easily via email. This tool extends the classroom! I think it also helps in organizing the students work and keeping it all in one central location.

I will definitely have a blog for each of my classes and will have it as an option for students to make one for individual projects. This tool enables the student to work independently, take ownership of their education, and feel a sense of accomplishment when the project is done. They are the creator. I may also use this as a reporting system for group projects,. There are many ways to incorporate blogs in the classroom. The students take what you taught them and extend their learning by creating a blog and at the same time entrench the material that they learned in class.

Video games are something I want to pursue. More and more studies are showing them to be a viable and successful learning tool. Even though the studies look promising, parents, teachers and school administrators still have a lot of negative feelings about them. Elite colleges are working together and researching "effective learning" from video games and tabulating the results.

The Smartboard has turned out to be my favorite tool. I can't say enough about it. It incorporates the abilities of a chalkboard, video player, computer, TV, and the Internet. It would take me years to find out all the ways I can employ it in my lessons. Changing, updating, and researching new ways to present information to my students is very important to me. Making the video was completely new to me, but I know my son (16) makes them for fun. This tells me that this would be a great tool to use because it incorporates their tech world with learning. When a student is interested and enjoying school; learning is taking place. Polling by cell phone is another tool I want to use in the classroom. It is a great way to assess student content knowledge.

Yes, I will be using these tools and hopefully keep up with the new technology as it becomes available. I learned a great deal in this class and thank you for all your help along the way.