End of Term Reflection

1. Have you opinions about technology integration in education changed since the beginning of the term? Why or why not?
          I don't think my opinions regarding technology integration in education have necessarily changed over the course of the term. I have always believed that it's important to integrate technology into all aspects of education (rather than just during designated "technology time"). Throughout this term my belief in the importance of technology integration has been strengthened and I have learned how to use many more interfaces that can be used in the classroom that allow for an easy integration of technology into all types of lessons.

2. Identify one or more programs/web apps introduced this term you believe you'll use in your future classroom. Why will you use these programs/apps?
          Examples of programs/web apps that I can imagine using in my future classroom include voki, bubbl, storyjumper, wordle, animoto, glog. I would use voki and animoto because it's an interesting way to grab the student’s attention for simple tasks like introducing myself or giving directions. I would use bubbl, storyjumper, wordle and glog because they are unique interfaces that break up the monotony of the average school day and have the ability to catch and maintain the students attention throughout a lesson.

Students Using Technology

Integrating Websites into the Classroom

The website I explored was called "Scholarpedia" (URL: http://www.scholarpedia.org/).

          Scholarpedia is designed for anyone who researches information on the internet and would like to know that the information they are reading is factual. This website is different from sites like wikipedia that can be edited by anyone, the information presented on this website is written by experts and it is then peer-reviewed, only the author has the ability to make changes to the website. This website offers information on a variety of topics, users simply need to search for their desired topic. A cool feature of the website is that you can do searches within certain encyclopedias such as physics and astrophysics.

          This website can be used in the classroom as a resource that is guaranteed to provide factual information. If a student asks a question that the teacher does not have the answer to then they could turn to Scholarpedia to find the answer. This website could also be used in a lesson to have students compare the accuracy of websites like Wikipedia to Scholarpedia. This could be done by having students research a topic on Wikipedia and then researching that same topic on Scholarpedia and then comparing the information. This would give students a first-hand look at how important it is to use reliable sources and to know that just because something is on the internet doesn't mean it's always 100% correct.

          This website could be used to extend learning opportunities outside of the classroom by being a key tool that students could have in their repertoire as a factual source of information.

Wordle

Exploring Project-Based Learning

          My favorite PBL website was the 1st grade PBL called "My Healthy Self" (URL: http://www.dukeschool.org/files/My%20Healthy%20Self%20Project.pdf). I chose this project as my favorite because it was an important topic that often gets left out of the curriculum in schools (especially with the lack of funding to pay for health/PE teachers). I also really liked how students were able to pursue a direction that they were interested in (i.e. if a student wanted to test how many sit-ups they could do then they could run an experiment, while another student may be taking samples of the average temperatures of their classmates). The final aspect of this project that I liked was that the students got to experience many different aspects of healthy living in this unit. They were able to pursue areas that they had an interest in and they also participated in activities as a class (i.e. using the computer to learn about nutrition, learning yoga from an instructor and visiting a grocery store). It seems as though the broad range of activities that were included into this unit helped the students to retain the information long after the unit ended.

          In this unit students are being exposed to higher levels of thinking such as analysis and evaluation. Students are able to analyze their findings from different experiments (i.e. number of sit-ups a group of students could complete) and figure out how this may be reflective of the number of sit-ups that the whole class may be able to complete. Students are also able to evaluate and make judgements based on their findings. For example, when students visited the grocery store they are able to make judgements on the packaging of healthy food versus non-healthy foods and analyze why there may be differences.

          I would not change anything about this PBL unit.

Reading Response #2

          Telecollaborative assignments help students of any age to engage the highest levels thinking (according to Bloom's taxonomy). The highest levels of thinking are synthesis and evaluation. The ability to synthesize means that students have the ability to originate, integrate and combine ideas into a product, plan or proposal that is new to them ("Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain"). Students working on telecollaborative assignments are able to tap into this skill because they are able to work with other students and exchange ideas. In doing so, each student is being forced to interpret the idea's of others against their own which in turn will help students to learn how to have a discussion in a non-judgemental manner and explore others ideas which can establish ownership of the material ("Commonly Asked Questions about Teaching Collaborative Activities").

          The highest level of thinking is the ability to evaluate. Evaluation is when a student appraises, assesses or critiques on a basis of specific standards and criteria ("Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Development"). Telecollaborative assignments are extremely valuable in helping students to tap into this highest level of thinking because at the conclusion of their experience working with the group the students are able to look back and evaluate themselves and the overall group. Students are able to evaluate if they as well as their group members were successful at fulfilling their role (an important part of collaborative activities is when the teacher assigns individual students roles to fulfill within the group). However, evaluation goes beyond simply stating whether or not someone fulfilled their role, it expands to questioning and judging what it was that someone did or didn't do to fulfill their duties. Peer assessment forms can be a very valuable tool that teachers use in order to help the students evaluate their experience in a group.

Reading Response #1

Tech Past:
          Looking back over my own K-12 education I realized just how little exposure to technology I really had. My elementary school had a computer lab that was visited as a class fairly infrequently and it was often simply to play the "Oregon Trail" game. In middle school I have almost no recollection of using any type of technology (including computers). Progressing onto high-school, I used a computer lab on a fairly inconsistent basis. I was however, enrolled in a marketing class in which the use of computers was necessary and available on a daily basis. 


Tech Present:
          Looking back over my own exposure to technology (or lack there of) I realize just how lucky I was to be exposed to technology in my home because I was receiving little to no technological instruction in school. This makes me wonder how my classmates who didn't have access to technology outside of school fared when it came to their own knowledge of technology. For this reason I think it's extremely important to integrate technology into the classroom at an early age (ex: 1st grade) because our society is so technologically driven and it is important to help students get started on the right foot. Introducing students to technology in elementary school enables them to become familiar with it and prevents them from seeing technological equipment as "scary" and something they don't have the skills to use. I also think it's important to integrate technology into all aspects of the classroom rather than designating for example "time for computers". This helps students to connect the use of technology into everything they are learning. Students can use technology to play math "games" that test their addition and subtraction knowledge, they can use a smart-board to practice writing letters and words and they can even use secure, age-appropriate websites to research information regarding a subject they are studying. 


Tech Future:
          A factor that I see as posing a threat to the use of technology in my future classroom is inadequate funding. It is no secret that funding for education is low and I see this as a problem in being able to provide students with enough materials so teachers aren't having to fight over their use and also in providing students and teachers with technological equipment that is up-to-date and applicable to the students lives. 

Avatars in Education

          Avatars can be used in the classroom as an alternative way to provide instruction to students while the teacher can be completing other tasks. An example of this may be for a teacher to provide instructions for an assignment via the avatar and while the students are listening to the instructions the teacher could be gathering materials. Using avatars in the classroom can help make effective use of the short time that students are in the classroom each day.