Blog Post 10

If I ever decide to become an educator in the future, I feel that I would use data collection and reporting (Excel) tools for grading. Our last skill check along with examples we completed in class the past couple weeks has shown me that Excel can be used in order for teachers to complete grade books. Especially since we learned how to come up with the averages, medians, modes, maximums, and minimums in Excel. This would make it easier for educators to come up with grades and the class averages for tests. I have never used Excel prior to this course and learning the functions was very interesting and fun! I think that surveys would also be helpful in order for teachers to note which subject areas the students might be struggling in through anonymous survey responses and this can help them know what material to review.

I found powerpoint presentations along with the website design to be interesting. It was fun to go over our classmates projects and gain ideas from them. I also thought that the newsletters were fun as well and seeing everyone else's designs on their blog posts was neat. Overall, developing these assignments/projects was difficult and draining but seeing the results was worth it and I realized we all learned many things from this course that we can apply to our future careers.

I feel that throughout this course we spent time going over so many different technological skills. I personally would like to learn more about citations and different formats regarding papers just because I have never fully learned how to properly cite or format papers on Word. I think this is something I need to use often as well so learning more about this would be very helpful throughout college and my future career. This is a topic we spent maybe one class discussing but would be nice to learn more about. I plan on doing further research to teach myself.

Participation: ILP 2

Teacher Interview

Voice Thread would not allow me to create any new threads unless I payed to upgrade. So I completed my presentation with a voice over and linked it above.

I interviewed my aunt who is a teacher. She finds technology very helpful in the learning process especially with her students who have special needs. She mentioned devices I had not ever used before or heard of, which help her in her classroom depending on the disability that each student has.

Blog Post 8

While using Diigo, I have learned how easy it is to connect it to the internet. Practicing this in class has helped me understand the purpose of this software more. It is also very easy to annotate articles or any websites with. I feel that when we use Diigo, it helps us recognize our peers point of view when interpreting an article and then gives us the opportunity to share our ideas with one another. This is how it can be useful in a future classroom setting, is how easy it is to use for communication purposes and also for educators to recognize their students thoughts while reading certain things.

In regards to Bloom's Taxonomy, there are six levels: create, evaluate, analyze, apply, understand, and remember. When I made my powerpoint presentation for assignment 4, I created original content. I also evaluated other resources such as videos and websites that I used to gain information on the brain. I analyzed the pons and medulla on one slide by comparing and differentiating the two. As for application, powerpoint can be used as a tool for students to study for tests. I incorporated a video in my powerpoint about the brain to better student's understanding of the material. Students can refer back to powerpoints to remember information.

Teacher professional development is specialized training that aids in an educators skillset and competence. With technology continuously advancing in today's society, teachers need professional development in order to understand new technology and how they can implement it into their classrooms. A website I found was TechCrunch, which gives information about specific technology. It also provides apps and ideas for people to use certain types of technology that they might not have discovered prior to using this website.
Tech Crunch Article

Blog Post 7

So far, I have found Twitter useful in order to interact with others. I feel that it isn’t something I necessarily enjoy using for educational purposes, however I do understand the purpose behind using it. I realize that it is a platform to allow students to have open discussions about the learning material in their classes and I feel that it is also a way for students to learn about current events. I know that Titter has a lot of advantages, however I feel that if students are not interested in using it then it might not provide as many benefits as it would for other students.

Previous to this class, I had never created my own website. I used Weebly in order to create my website and I found this extremely user-friendly for beginners. It was pretty easy to use and I actually enjoyed putting together certain aspects of my website. I learned how to create a calendar and insert it on a page of my website which I imagined would be much more difficult than it turned out to be.

Website Design Link: http://assignment3eme2040.weebly.com/

 

Assistive technologies are any devices that are created in order to improve functional capabilities of children or adults with disabilities. Adaptive technologies are a form of assistive technology and they are those that are specifically created for individuals with a certain disability in order to help them live as conveniently and normally as possible. I personally have never used a form of assistive technology because I didn’t have any type of learning or other disability. I currently volunteer at Springwood for a service learning project, and I help pre-k students who have cognitive disabilities. They do not use any specific assistive technology, however they do have therapists come daily and work one on one with each student. I also noticed they use Smart Boards and computers in order to keep the children engaged in learning and they keep the children on a strict daily schedule so that they know what to expect when waling into the classroom.

ILP "Design" - Infographic

Voice Thread: https://voicethread.com/share/12204926/ 

 Infographic: https://create.piktochart.com/output/37105027-untitled-infographic 

I designed an infographic for my Independent Learning Project. I decided to design a thread of infographics to create a study guide for my 8th grade anatomy class specifically discussing the brain. I was sure to include images of the brain on each infographic so that the terms discussed were being visually represented. This gives students a better understanding of the brain and it's functions. I feel that infographics especially help students who are visual learners. I also included vocabulary that would be essential to know for their upcoming exam along with learning objectives. I believe that this can definitely be used creatively as an educational tool because it allows for students to gain an understanding of certain topics through visual representations.

Here is the website that I used to find information regarding the brain: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/waymaker-psychology/chapter/reading-parts-of-the-brain/

 Blog Post 6

I decided to look at the FSUS website because I have done service learning there before and was curious as to what the teacher’s websites looked like. I found a second grade teacher’s website since that is the grade I would want to teach if I were to become an educator. She included different tabs on her website such as a welcome tab, a tab that led to a paragraph about her and her educational background along with her experience. There were also tabs for her weekly newsletters, resource links, and other general information such as daily schedules and other important dates. I can view all of these things publically which I find interesting because anyone is able to see what she has planned with her class along with what she teaches them on a weekly basis.

https://www.fsus.school/Page/376

 

I do not plan on becoming a teacher, but even as a child life specialist, technology plays an important role in children’s lives. “Tech time” is something that child life incorporates so that children get the opportunity to use technological devices for educational purposes. For example, they use specific websites and online games in order to engage children and teach them. They also use ipads and other devices to teach children and provide therapeutic play to these kids so that a bit of normalcy is brought into their lives even though they don’t get to live like most children, due to illness. I feel that technology can also be important in keeping in contact with my patients and their families so that I can more effectively treat them and help them.

Regarding the tech sandbox, I found it interesting how many different types of technology they had to offer. The virtual reality that they had was extremely interesting and might be useful in the classroom because it can be engaging and a fun way to learn. It can also aid in learning and engagement of students who have disabilities or special needs. I also thought the apps on the ipad were a fun way for younger children to learn how to count money and practice other subjects. I was familiar with Smart Boards from my own experience in high school and continue to find those useful, however one downside of technology as mentioned during the tour is that it can occasionally act up and not work the way it is supposed to. Overall I find technology very fun and helpful for educational purposes.

Blog Post 5

My initial feelings towards using Diigo were pretty negative. I have no prior experience using Diigo and learning new types of technology and software can be overwhelming and I tend to get lost easily. I felt that it got much easier as I worked on the website evaluation and I learned how to use it, therefore it was not as intimidating as it originally was. I really enjoyed this group assignment and thought it was a good experience. I now realize why teachers might choose to use Diigo to connect to other teachers and collaborate with them.

So far, I really enjoy blogging. I feel like it is a way for me to express my feelings regarding the things we do and learn in this course and it also provides us with a way to reflect on what we have completed so far this semester. I like that we have a class blog and can connect with one another through blog posts and responses. I also enjoy that we are given the freedom to write as much as we want for each blog post. I have learned that blogs are a good source to put out information or connect to other individuals.

An interesting Web 2.0 tool that I recently have discovered is Storybird. It is an easy-to-use tool that allows students to be creative and make their own stories. It also allows comments to be made which encourages student collaboration. I feel that this tool might be helpful when studetns are learning to read at a young age and can even be used as they get older in order to keep them engaged and interested in reading which would make them excited to learn.

https://storybird.com/

Blog 4

I began using Twitter in high school as a form of social entertainment. As I got into college I realized it could be used for educational purposes through discussion with other classmates. I definitely feel like Twitter can be used for much more than just educational or entertainment purposes. For example, many people interact and connect through Twitter who live across the world from one another. Many high school athletes display their talent on Twitter in order to interact with universities, and there are many accounts that are dedicated to a specific subject that might give knowledge to people regarding news. Twitter has so many uses and usually it allows for individuals who have similarities to connect. I feel that this can be helpful in my future field of work as a child life specialist. It can allow me to access information regarding child life specialists and also I can share my experiences once I become one and my knowledge in order to help others or influence others to gain interest in this field of work.

Digital Divide is the gulf between individuals who have access to technology and those who do not. I feel that this can cause other students to fall behind if they are not receiving the same opportunities as their peers. They therefore are losing out on experiences. I feel that a major cause of this is lack of funding to schools. Also if educators are absent due to required courses they must take to learn how to use these new devices, it can take away from student learning.

Academic software is important in today's society where technology is being used on a daily basis because for one it helps students learn in new creative ways. It also helps them learn how to use these devices and adapt to technology. This is important because their future careers will most likely incorporate technology into their work. I feel that I will use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel the most in my future career as a child life specialist because I need to remain organized while working with different children in a hospital and take notes because I will be providing therapy to them and their families and need to remember their issues and interests to help them. I also think that chrome and firefox are important because I need to access the internet to learn new things for this field of work.

VoiceThread: https://voicethread.com/share/12120703/

 Blog 3

I chose to look into the kindergarten standards for reading: foundational skills. I do not plan on becoming an educator, however I find it interesting to look at where children begin once they start participating in public education compared to where I personally am at now as a junior in college. I also plan to work with young children and find it important to understand the differences in intellectual development between infants all the way up to teenagers. These standards were made to suit different ages and if I were to become a teacher I would feel most comfortable teaching reading standards over writing or math standards. This is because I am better at reading than both writing and math and I find reading very important for communication skills to develop. I feel that helping students learn to read and implementing standards such as phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency would be fun to teach using engaging activities and images that will interest the children. Although kindergarten does not require teaching children to cite sources, I feel that one weak area of mine is citing my sources and understanding different formats for writing.

I found a lesson plan that incorporates a lesson into a game format. This is something I would use if I were to teach kindergarten because it is interactive and engaging for five year olds. This activity teaches students about English such as verbs and nouns. I feel that these types of lesson plans are helpful for teachers because they give them ideas to draw off of and alter in their own classroom and can be super effective.

Regarding the newsletter design assignment, I liked that it helped me understand Word more because I had to explore Word in order to understand how to complete certain skills within the assignment. However, it was extremely time consuming for me because I lacked any prior knowledge on how to use Word in order to create a newsletter. We hardly went over these things in class so I was confused as to how I was expected to know how to complete the assignment on my own. I also did not enjoy how the assignment was graded. I spent time on it and tried to complete every single skill required but still did not get full credit because of harsh grading. Even missing one skill caused my grade to go down to a 3.5 which doesn’t seem very fair. I don’t plan on being a teacher so I don’t know that I will need to use newsletters in my future career. 

Newsletter Assignment:

Blog 2

I have used Microsoft Word often throughout high school and college. However, I have not used it in order to be creative before taking this course. For example, the newsletter assignment was very difficult for me because I have no prior experience or knowledge on how to go about making a newsletter. It took me hours to explore Microsoft Word and figure out how to work it because I have only ever used it in order to write papers and cite sources. After completing the newsletter assignment, I now realize that my teachers in the past used Microsoft Word to create different assignments, tests, or letters home to my parents.

In my own educational experience, plagiarism is something that has always been stressed about. Copyright and fair use of materials is always discussed while in college. We hear about it from each of our professors at least once a semester. They list the consequences of cheating or plagiarizing other’s work and remind us how serious this issue is. Recognizing the seriousness of this issue allows us to be creative and develop our own work which will affect us in our future careers.

Academic honesty is any form of cheating that occurs in relation to an assignment or academic exercise. Academic honesty within a classroom should be discussed at the beginning of the school year and mentioned throughout the remainder of the year. Plagiarism can be avoided by using turnitin.com which checks the percentage of plagiarism regarding a paper, but it can also be avoided by teaching students how to properly cite their sources. Cheating can be avoided by creating different forms of tests. Cyberbullying is something that is relatively new because of our advances in technology over recent years. This should never be acceptable and can be acknowledged by teaching students about the consequences of hurting others online. I do not believe that cyberbullying is something that teachers can provide a solution to because it is strictly through social media and can be done outside of the classroom, but it is something that they can try to help students avoid. Digital divide is caused by lack of money or resources. This is the space between those who have access to computers and the internet and those who do not. Educationally, it can be avoided by giving free access to computers for the students who might otherwise not own a computer. So computer labs or access to ipads would help those students remain connected to the internet like their classmates.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Blog 1
Teachers and students use technology regularly these days for educational purposes. I feel that our generation influences this use of technology because it is almost expected of us to utilize it as a tool in creative ways. Technology allows for material to be more accessible which then makes the process of learning easier for students. For example, we no longer need to go to libraries to find out information. We have google, which allows us to look up almost anything we need to know. Although some sources are not quite as reliable, it still gives us a more convenient way of receiving information. Technology allows teachers and students to be more creative while learning while providing different modes of education to any type of learner. For example, power point slides can be used for visual learners, while videos or audio files might work best for those who learn best through hearing information. These positive aspects might influence whether technology is used within the classroom.

The ISTE standards are meant to create innovative learning environments in our digital age. It includes standards for students, teachers, educational leaders, technology coaches, and computer science educators. One standard that I find important is for an educator to also be a designer for his/her students. This allows the teacher to creatively form lesson plans that fit the specific needs of their students. I feel that this is important because some students have differing needs that need to be met for them to thrive within a classroom and the educators standards can assist them with helping students like that. One standard that I feel is outside my current skill set would be those for computer science educators, because I lack the advanced knowledge it takes to perform the tasks regarding technology.

Digital natives are individuals whom are born or brought up in the generation of technological advancements and therefore are familiar with technology. I believe that this term does fit youth today because we are a generation that has grown up using cell phones, computers, televisions, and so many other forms of technology and it plays a vital role in our every day lives. I feel that our parent's generation is rather familiar with certain types of technology such as computers because they need to use them for work, however our grandparents would more so be considered "digital immigrants" because they lack almost any ability to use technology. Growing up, we had projectors and televisions in our classrooms. I feel that although my teachers would be considered "digital immigrants" they knew how to use technology needed for educational purposes rather well. One important thing to mention is that, although we are a generation that has grown up using technology, I still feel that it is unfair to expect us to know how to use every form of it. A majority of students my age are familiar with only iphones, lap tops, speakers and televisions. However, this does not mean that we are familiar or comfortable using every form of software on each system.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Initial Blog Post

My name is Brittiney. I am from Tampa, Florida and I graduated from Plant High School in 2016. I currently am working on my undergraduate degree as a third year. I am majoring in Family and Child Sciences and minoring in both education and psychology. My overall goal is to become a Child Life Specialist so that I can work with children or infants who need some sort of therapy or assistance during their time in hospitals. I enjoy working with young children and have always wanted to find a career that would allow me to do so.

Prior to this course, I experienced a variety of technology within educational settings. I recall projectors being used often throughout elementary school instead of white boards. I also remember going to the computer lab once a month with my classmates in order to complete educational tasks online. In middle school, testing on computers became an option and slowly became more popular in our school system because it saved paper and made it easier for teachers to grade the exams or quizzes that way. This is also when Smart boards were up and coming, which I used in a majority of my high school classes, along with powerpoint slides and kahoot. 

I am very bad at using technology other than my cell phone, so I hope to gain knowledge on how to use different modes of technology. For example, I have never blogged prior to this course so I hope that by the end of the semester I will better understand how to do so. I also want to learn things that could potentially help me in my future career in regards to technology. Maybe this course will give me ideas that I will be able to use as a Child Life Specialist.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.