Reflective Paper

What I learned about Education Technology:

I learned that there are countless educational technologies out there and that number just keeps growing. The is  if you can utilize these technologies. This is a hard question to answer without any doubt. It requires the teacher to have an intimate understanding of how the technology works and how their students will respond to it. The most important thing is to not fake knowledge of a technology or integrate it into the classroom just to have it. This will feel forced the students wont respond to it, or in the worst case students will abuse it creating chaos in the classroom.

What are some issues Teachers face when implementing Technology:

As mentioned maintaining the integrity of the technology and the management of the class is the main one. Gathering support from parents and fellow teachers is another big one. Both of those groups are going to have strong opinions of how a classroom should run that often differ with each other. As Teddy Roosevelt once said though, "You never gain anything without entering the arena." So, if you are passionate about a technology play with it and be respectful of others concerns while expressing the potential benefits of that technology.

What have I learned most and what do I have the most to work on?

I think I learned most about web development and TMS. I feel pretty confident with both Canvas and Edmodo. I can maneuver around Weebly, which I feel is as good as it gets because that sight is just bad. I feel I could grow more in learning how to annotate lectures and podcast. I complete the assignments in class with relative easy however, those are such deep areas of knowledge and I've only really just cracked the surface.

How could this class be improved?

My only real complaints against the course is that it was in the minimester so that caused things like having to turn in tutorials at the same time as projects. Which kind of made the tutorials redundant. Also, the blog became more of a burden because everything was squished together. All of this are more complaints against minimesters (which I loath). Overall I thought you did an excellent job teaching. I learned a lot, I especially loved how open you were with your real world expertise. i look forward to seeing you around!

June 28th

In class discussion:

Today we learned about quizlet and google drive. Quizlet is a fun way for the teacher or the students to make online flashcards to quiz themselves with. It also includes several other game times. Google drive allows you to upload or create documents in Google drive, there they can be easily modified and sent to pupils.

How I would utilize these technologies:

I would encourage students to set up quizlets for themselves or if I'm working with Jr. High students I might set some up for them. Google drives looks like an easy way to upload docs and have others change them if they need to. This would be essential for running a club or team.

June 23rd

In class discussion:

In class classmates presented Plickers and science gags. Plickers is a inexpensive way to get the clicker experience, the teacher prints of individual bar codes for each student. They rotate them and show the answer to the teacher who scans them with his or her cell phone. The science gages were interesting and it is really cool UAH helps trains teachers and sends representatives to help teachers with them.

Daily Genius:

It is interesting how they use cast technology in the classroom. Apple TV looks like a real replacement for ELMO and other products however, it appears you have to be within the Apple ecosystem to benefit from it and sadly I am not. It would have been interestingto see if you could do something similar with Google chromecast and docs.

Apple TV Wikipidea:

It is interesting to see that Apple TV has been around since the iphone. I thought it as a much more recent development. It is also interesting to see the different ways it has evolved since then.

Instructional Tech Talk:

As the author mentioned ipad mirroring looks like a great way to cheaply make due without an interactive smartboard. It does mean you need to be in apples ecosystem which can be a pretty large barrier to entry. The author ignores this point.

Utilizing the technologies:

I think Plickers would be a great way to get more quiet students involved with the class. Unlike some of the other online quiz systems, Plickers gives the teacher control over students names and what they see. Apple TV would be useful if I was an apple person.

June 21st

In Class Discussion:

Today we learned about how to make a movie. It seems very much like working with Audacity, but it would be far more useful for narrating over PowerPoints for students that missed class or to help them aid in there finals. In addition, classmates presented online forms of quizzes and interactive timelines.

 SmartBoard resources:

This is a list of different things you can do on a SmartBoard. The Jeopardy quiz/lesson seemed pretty interesting. Sadly, there are no real history things to choose from. If teaching geography one could use the 50 states game, and have students have to place the 50 states.

Copy Right Laws:

In is interesting that they seem to want you to send links instead of printing out material. It seems the best practice is to check with your library first before you make a move.  To be honest the difference between a lot of these seem extraordinarily tedious. Also, this pamphlet assumes most articles are easily to find in library databases, in my experience that is not the case.

Using Skype in the Classroom:

This article had some really cool ideas. Being able to have a guest speaker or lecturer come to your classroom when you are learning about their book would be really fun and insightful. I don't know if I would use Skype to hold make up classes, I guess it would depend upon the class.

More Copyright Law:

Why even mention that music that is 300 years old is in the public domain, but the performance is not. I guess this is applicable for a music class only dealing in notes. These "fair use" laws seem extremely ticky-tack I'd be amused to see whose job it is to enforce them and how they go about it.

Applying technologies to the classroom:

As mentioned videos would be a great way to help students prepare for tests or help students who missed class. Active timelines would be really cool to build for the class then have individual students or groups fill in the events on the timeline.

June 16th

In Class Discussion:

Today we mostly discussed Weebly and building a portfolio. This is more relevant with the personal development side of teaching as opposed to educating. Every student will need a portfolio to get their degree after they student teach. Also, you will need to build one if you are looking to be national board certified.

Applications for teaching:

These portfolios serve as a measuring stick and barrier to entry for those looking to get classification. So, they show that you have the knowledge to teach before you enter the classroom. Once in the classroom, one could help students build portfolios of themselves or historical actors to help train them on how to build a website. This would also allow them to better sell themselves or understand the subject matter.

June 14th

In Class Discussion:

Today we looked at Canvas and Weebly. Both are website building sites in a way, although Canvas is more a mix of website building and social media all bent toward teaching. Canvas seemed the most straightforward. I like how easy it was to make tests in Canvas. Weebly allowed you to be more artistic, but that freedom made it more complex to loose and without a guide I would have found myself easily lost in it.

What are Plickers?:

Plickers are a way to take in class quizzes and surveys sort of like clickers. With plickers you just have to give a student an individual bar code instead of them purchasing a clicker. This makes it more cost effective. They hold up the code and you scan the answer with your iOS or Android device. At least in the making of the tutorial video this seems a little too tedious, but it is an interesting idea.

What is Stoodle?:

Stoodle is a peer help website. It is awesome that it was developed by students for students to use. You set up a classroom and then within that online classroom students can interact with each other in real time asking for advise and helping each other out. The only real danger I foresee is one sharing something inappropriate, but it would seem obvious for them to share that stuff outside of a teaching website that would be monitored. 

How I would implement this technology:

If Canvas was what my school was using, I would use it as my classroom manager. If it was my choice I think I would stick with Edmondo. I might set up some quizzes to test out how easy and accurate Plickers was and if it delivered I would use it for most class room quizzes and surveys. I would set up a Stoodle for my class especially around test or paper time so that they can easily share and aid each others work. 

June 9th

In Class Discussion:

               Prezi was really interesting. In a lot of ways, I like it more than PowerPoint. PowerPoint is such a standard that everyone uses it can feel stale as a student, so if a teacher is able to spice things up with Prezi that can be a welcome relief. The Elmo also looked really cool. It’s a great tool for using student example to direct other students instead of the tired top down approach.

Smartboard uses in an Elementary classroom:

It’s really cool to see kids interacting with technology at a young age. All of this were physical props when I was in elementary school. The more these kids interact with technology now the more efficient they will be with it in the future. These teachers are doing a great job at using it in different ways, all in all it seems very useful to break up the day and keep kids attention.

Interactive Uses of the Smartboard:

I see the Smartboard as a really cool technology if used right. Unfortunately, his New York example seems really forced. I don’t see this as being any better than asking the question and getting a verbal response, and it does not have enough student involvement with the technology to even say they are gaining any technical skill from it. The math problems felt the same way, kyou could have a student do this on a dry erase board.

Creating a lesion with Smartboard Notebook software:

I can see the value of the fill in the blank type uses now I see it in use in an elementary setting. It is really good for capturing younger student’s attention, but I fear secondary students may feel in patronizing and tedious. As far as the building of it goes it feels very similar to paint or PowerPoint so it seems like it would feel very familiar to work with. 

How I would implement these technologies:

For Prezi I would use it as a way to mix things up from PowerPoint, especially if its a shorter lesson that will be followed up with discussion. I found the map templates really useful for showing things that require a good geographic knowledge to understand, so I would utilize it for those lessons as well. I would use the smart board  for having the students show off their paper or having a student led discussion; apart from using it to write extra notes on my PowerPoint or Prezi. 

June 7th

In Class Discussion:

Audacity is interesting, but I don't foresee using it in the classroom. I might use it to add a more professional voice over to a power point which I then put on Edmondo. It is really cool and seems really intuitive to use, but with that being said even if I did use it for class it is doubtful that I would add intro or background music to my lectures outside of this class I'm not that dashing.

Introduction to Podcasting:

My first thought was wow they went into some serious detail into this article, I don't know if as a teacher I'd be hardcore enough to make my own artwork for a podcast. Also I did not know it was so simple to upload a podcast to the iTunes store back in the day, I would have thought that would have been way more difficult. Makes me a little sad that I didn't get further into podcasts back in there hay day when I was in iTunes.

Sound Resources for Podcasting:

This was a lot of fun to search and find generic sounds for things. It was interesting how many tiny little sounds you could add to things or stack one onto the other to make your podcast more interesting. I found a lot of generic piano riffs I might use for the podcast assignment and a terrifying maniacal laugh that I definitely never want to hear again.

Uses of Edmondo:

It was cool to see all the defferent things you could do in Edmondo. I was aware of the sharing links and social networking side of it from class as well as the app. We even learned about quizzes, but we hadn't learned about Edmondo play which looks like it could have alot of interesting uses especially with elementary students.

What is Schoology?:

This seems very similar to Edmondo. Although it's superficial I like that Edmondo's updates are "notes" it just fits with the school theme more and separates it from other social media. I wonder what apps you can add to schoology and wither they would be of any use. Overall this just seems to be a less polished version of edmondo, but it is cool you can post your grade book on there, I'd imagine you can on edmondo as well, but I haven't seen it yet.

How I would Implement these technologies in class:

To be honest unlike the previous two classes I don't foresee using these technologies that often. If I was hired by a school that preferred to use schoology, of course I would use that instead of edmondo, but if it was up to me I would choose edmondo. I just looks more polished and more intuitive. Although it is really awesome that you can alter all that you can on audacity the only thing I can foresee myself doing with that technology is editing the voice on recorded lectures to take out the errs and umms and maybe add some fun noises if I'm feeling bold.

June 2nd

In Class Discussion:

It was interesting to hear all of the different age groups experience in their classroom growing up. Although all were different for the most part the root of education hasn't changed since the beginning of public school; if not then then certainly not the projector. Where my older class mates experienced most of there technology with projectors those around my age and myself experienced mostly power point based lectures. This appears to be where the vast majority of education still is although supplemented with smart board technology. It was also interesting to see that most people's experience in the class with flipped classrooms had been negative. It's good to see Crash Course get the credit it deserves as well.

How I would implement these technologies:

It's amazing how much easier it is to embed video within power point and I would certainly take advantage of that to say insert clips from the Great Dictator to spice up a build up to WWII power point. I would definitely utilize crash course but I think I would combine it with Edmondo for the most part to provide students with an alternative voice for the history in case that helps them. I could also send them a short lesson of mine with a crash course clip on a subject which could then discuss/debate in class or break into group questions.

May 31st

In Class Discussion:
Coming from being disconnected from the education system since I was in high school I was amazed at how much more technology can be utilized in schools since even I graduated high school in 2010. From Google Docs, to personal websites, to canvas and other LMS which I assumed were kind of exclusive to the college sphere. Probably the coolest idea mentioned was the reverse classroom or watching lectures online as homework then traditional homework is done in class with teacher assistance. This would have been hugely beneficial to my abysmal math scores in High School if it was implemented by a teacher who cared. Of course maybe I’m too cynical, but I could see disillusioned teachers using this as a way to do all the lectures at one time then waste class time away while they hand out worksheets. A potential problem on the other end is one of my supply chain classes was taught like this and I definitely did not watch all the lectures as a student, but to be fair the professor’s videos were hilariously dull and he wore the same Hawaiian shirt in all of them.

Teaching with Technology:

My first reaction to this article was, wow this came out in 1995 that was before I entered the public school system how can what they say about technology in the classroom be relevant today? The article surprised me with its pragmatic break down of the differences between “product technologies” and “idea technologies” and in short you can have all the most current software piled up, but if like Henry Ford you have no way of efficiently using that technology to where it is easily accepted by consumers (students in this case) then they can be useless. One of the main themes of their breakdowns of different “contemporary technologies” is that students learn in different ways so some times some students learn better with traditional lectures, but switching up with groups and having some cooperative learning can help that student more or other students. Above all I found it interesting that teaching should ground students with real world examples; it’s much more interesting for students or anyone for that matter to think of economics in terms of Apple v Samsung instead of Product A v Product B.  

What is Edmundo??:

Social osmosis seems really interesting, the “membrane” seems the most critical element from keeping this from being a colossal failure. If used correctly this could be a really interesting modern way to connect with students. I am glad that modern teaching is trying to embrace technologies like smartphones which are an essential part of lives and aren’t going away and using them to enhance the learning experience outside of class as well. This site looks and feels a lot like what was said in class, facebook for education.

Edmondo Co founders Nic Borg and Jeff O'hera:

It is really cool that Edmondo was founded by teachers, and I have no doubt they had to block lots of different websites before it. It shows a great deal of entrepreneurial spirit as well, that they meet in a basement over and over again when they had time after teaching to get it off the ground.  Because of their background I really feel like they are trying to make a system that teachers want to use instead of have to use.

What flipping the Classroom looks like:

I found Clintondale High’s story really interesting especially the principal’s “idea technology” to take the model the rest of us have used to learn a whole bunch of things from coding to working on or cars outside of school, which is watching videos and then applying that to life. It is amazing that the commitment to this idea has had such a tremendous turn around for that school. I wonder if this would work better or worse for a more well off school district..

Flipping the Classroom Simply speaking:
This looks like a really cool way to engage with kids currently. I know I learn this way by watching related videos and then thinking about them, and connecting them to other things. In fact, when I have dreamed about what I would do in a classroom setting I find myself thinking less about the lectures I know I can give, but more about the discussions I can allow the students to engage in or the group work they could do on a subject. Like the Harvard guy said though kind of what you put into it is what you get out of it.

How I would implement these technologies in my class:

As mentioned I would use flipping the classroom to prepare kids for a discussion or group activity to help them think outside of the box, so if I’m in a government class I can send them lectures and videos about federalism and anti-federalism and have them group up or split them into two different groups to debate the merits of the two. Coming from a history background, if I ever had a history class I know I want to do a class discussion on how do we judge people from the past like Jefferson or Teddy Roosevelt who did great things, but also allowed for terrible things to happen. Are they terrible people or just victims of the time they lived in. These kind of discussions I think are great because there are no real right answers and they are questions every student has to find their own answers for.