Blog Journal 10

I think surveys are a great way for a class to interact and see what their peers have to say. I think if I am teaching a subject that has to do a lot with opinions it could be interesting for the class to take a survey regarding the subject and then showing the class the results. For example, I when teaching high school philosophy I could have the students take a survey about one of our reading because a lot of philosophy has to do with opinions. I also think it can be used to see what the students think about the class or lessons. They might not be comfortable talking directly to me or another teacher so I think making the survey anonymous would get them to show their true opinions. It can also be used for parents to see how they are feeling about the homework they are seeing or different projects. I think when it comes to reporting tools it could be used for grading, to see which assignments were difficult or easy for the class as a whole. I think it would be beneficial to track grade trends so you can look back and know what assignments might need to be changed. 

When looking through my classmate's blogs I always found it very interesting to see screenshots of projects we had done. I especially liked seeing what people did with the Webpage Design assignment. It was fun to see how my classmates made their website unique to them and how creative each one was. I also enjoyed seeing everyone's newsletters and how they made it to fit what they were talking about. I also found it interesting to see whenever we made a VoiceThread. It was more interesting to see not only what they made on VoiceThread but also to hear what they had to say about the subject. Overall, I found it most interesting whenever a blog post had to do with something that the person had made and when they talk about how they came about making it. 

The next technology-related skill I would like to learn next is how to effectively use a SmartBoard. I only know the basics of how it works and I want to learn more about what I can use it for in the classroom. I want to learn this because I think SmartBoards are a great tool in the classroom and want to be more proficient in using it before going into a career in teaching. I will probably go to the TechSandBox and talk to the people there about all the things I could use the SmartBoard for. I think I could also find a lot of information about how to use SmartBoards and then go to the TechSandBox to try the new skills I find.

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ILP #2: Design

For this ILP project, I chose to make a Prezi presentation. The presentation is a timeline of the past century. When you click on the bubbly you can learn more about healthcare in that decade. I had no issues using Prezi and found it easy to create the presentation. I also made a VoiceThread explaining Prezi and my experience using it!

Voice Thread!

Prezi Presentation!

Blog Journal 7

So far my experience using Twitter throughout the course of the class has been positive. I have enjoyed seeing what my peers post and how they feel about what is going on in the class. I have learned that Twitter can be used in a professional manner rather than in just a social manner. I have also learned that there are many accounts that I can follow about education and educational technology. I have also learned how to be more interactive on Twitter through replying to people and commenting my thoughts about a tweet. I think it can benefit in helping you keep up to date in your field and what new things are happening. I also think it benefits in making sure you are interacting with other people in your field to get more information.

I learned a lot through the Web Design assignment. I learned how to make a website which I had never done before. I also learned how to make it creative and use different effects to make it more appealing. I also learned what is important to put into a website and what is not important. I think I could improve next time by making it more cohesive throughout the different pages. I realized that I used different color schemes and layouts throughout which I think made it a bit confusing. Next time I would try to use the same theme throughout and the same colors. 

My Website!

I know someone who is a special education teacher who uses adaptive and assistive technology often in her classroom so I already knew a bit about it. These technologies are used to help special learners whether it be to make something more accessible for their needs or formatted to help them in the future. I think these technologies are definitely necessary not only for special learners to learn subjects but to also teach them to be independent in the future. I think if you know how to deal with the technology and take the time to understand it before introducing it to a student the challenges will be less restricting. 

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ILP “Participation” – Lynda.com

For the 1st ILP, I decided to participate in a class on Lynda.com. The course was called Educational Technology for Success. I decided to take this course because I thought it would help me learn about more technologies and how to apply them in the classroom. I also took it in hopes of helping me understand why technology is such an important for students. The course was very thorough and I feel like I learned a great deal throughout. Check out my Voice Thread below to find out more about what the class entailed and how it helped in my professional development.

Voice Thread ILP #1

Blog Journal 6

I chose to look at the teacher pages for Jackson Elementary School in El Dorado Hills, California. Each page was very similar in how they were set up. Each page had the same header with the teachers name on it. None of the pages had any pictures of the teachers or their classrooms. Most had links to important documents. They also all had reminders set up for things coming up in the class. It also seemed as though a lot of the information had not been updated since the start of the year. It says that they send home newsletters and use the RemindMe app to relay information to the parents. Here is an example from a teacher named Ms. Hadden.

Link to Ms. Hadden's page: http://www.myjacksonelementary.com/subsites/Hadden/

Link to main teachers page: http://www.myjacksonelementary.com/Teacher-Pages/

I plan to use as much technology as I can in my future career. I think it can be used to make things more easy and efficient in an classroom. I really like SmartBoards and the fact that students can use them with the touch screen. I think it would be a fun way to play interactive educational games in the classroom. I also think I will use Twitter to help the parents stay updated. As I want to teach elementary level students they will most likely not have access to a Twitter account but if I could make one for the parents I think it would be great. They could also you it to ask questions so that everyone can see the answer!

I really enjoyed going to the Tech Sandbox this week. I got to learn about a bunch of new technology that I knew little about. It also got me to think about how I would use certain things in my classroom. I really enjoyed learning about and getting to use the 3D pens. I think they could be fun to use with the students once or twice a week so that they can be creative while also learning. I could try to incorporate them into a lesson for example having the students try to draw something we are learning about with the 3D pens. They could also all display what they made afterwards. 

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Blog Journal 5

My initial experiences using Diigo have been positive thus far. I think it is a good way to interact with the class through annotations and comments. I also think it's interesting to see people's opinions on certain topics when they annotate. I think it could be used in a classroom setting to annotate readings. I think it would be more beneficial instead of using books or papers because other students could see their peers thoughts. Overall, there has not been anything I disliked about Diigo.

I have come to enjoy blogging since starting this class. I think its a great way to post about what we are learning about and how we feel about things. I also like reading other people's posts and seeing their thoughts on the different topics. I think I would obviously like blogging more if I had a choice on what to write about but overall it has been a positive experience. I think it has made me think more about the topics throughout the semester as well. I also think it allows the class to be creative in how our blogs are set up. 

I think a Web 2.0 tool that I would potentially use in my classroom is Skype. Skype is a software through Google that allows people to video chat online. I think using it to have experts in a certain field talk to the students about what they are learning would be beneficial. I think it opens up possibilities because you can talk to anyone even if they are not local to you. I think it would also benefit in group projects to allow the students to collaborate outside of class. I think it would help to make the classroom more collaborative and innovative. 

https://www.skype.com/en/

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Blog Journal 4

Voice Thread Link!

https://voicethread.com/share/12131787/