Reflective Post

(Made by Amanda Sweeney via StopMotion app for iPhone) 

Going into this class my level of comfort with technology was poor. Ten years ago, in my high school days, I was above most everyone else- I was able to blend HTML codes together to create off line websites and was keen to the most recent technology software’s and online content. This knowledge had faded over time as my use with computers (real computers- not just my iPhone) became less and less. At the beginning of this semester if I were to be asked what online website I could create content with- I wouldn’t know the answer. I would probably guess Facebook, and even Facebook I am not 100% comfortable with anymore because they keep changing the darn thing. With this EME-2040 class, I feel my general knowledge of technology as well as ability to create original online content has flipped entirely.

(Made by Amanda Sweeney via StopMotion app for iPhone) 

So many of the learning outcomes in our syllabus have left a lasting impact on me as a future educator. Using technology to promote success in the classroom was one of my favorite modules this semester. It opened my eyes to the vast ability that technology has for incorporating all types of students into the curriculum, and also reminded me that I will likely be faced with such challenges. The exercise where we had to create a fictional student with some kind of prevention of typical learning, such as blindness, deafness or a non-English speaking individual, and provide various ways to reach them in the classroom, was a lot of fun and very informative. Another one of my favorite learning outcome was our final: creating a portfolio. It opened up so many ideas for me in the future to best connect with parents and students outside of the classroom. All of the larger projects that went into the portfolio, such as the web quest, inquiry-based lesson plan and the wiki page were also some of my personal favorites.

(Made by Amanda Sweeney via StopMotion app for iPhone) 

My absolute favorite outcome of this class has been that I, as a person, am far more comfortable with experimenting with the technology that exists on our wide world web than I was at the start of this semester. I credit this fact to Professor Coleman- who not only introduced us to a massive amount of valuable online technology to use in our careers, but also require that we “played” with it. From our discussion posts to our blogs, our website portfolio and our wiki project- we were required to incorporate some form of technology into what we were doing. This forced me to use it, figure it out and finally master it for a final product. For this confidence to get back into the technology pool, I am deeply grateful. Professor Coleman clearly took time to not only put together the modules that were available to us, but all of the little details in the modules should not go without mention- all of the additional explanations in parentheses, highlights to draw attention to important information within the module/assignment and finally the several date reminders and encouraging announcements that made Professor Coleman feel ever present in the online classroom- all of these (and many more!) made for an excellent learning atmosphere. The singular thing that I would suggest changing is the modules being locked until a certain date. This only became an issue for me when I was anticipating being on a vacation and not wanting to complete assignments away from home. I worked through it fine enough, but that would be the singular thing I would change about this class. 

I think it has been clear in this post that I loved this class. There is something for every educator (whether current or future educator) in the EME 2040 class, and I am so thankful to have taken it! 

(Made by Amanda Sweeney via Canva) 

Resources: 

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, May 2). Heart [Love for Web 2.0 tools]. Retrieved May 3, 2016. 

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, May 2). Introduction [Intro]. Retrieved May 3, 2016. 

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, May 3). Marzano Quote [Quote from Robert Marzano]. Retrieved May 3, 2016, from https://www.canva.com/design/DAByNKqqJ5Y/dv9Ee-0z0aybBCwSi1hrTA/view?utm_content=DAByNKqqJ5Y&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, May 2). Overhead Bubble [Thoughts of digital media before EME2040 class]. Retrieved May 3, 2016. 

Blog Post # F

(Created via Canva by Amanda Sweeney)

Being in a classroom certainly has its challenges. One of the biggest, and most widely known, is the fact that funding for education isn’t as high as it ought to be, which begs each teacher to be creative with his or her curriculum and use their resources wisely. I found three concepts in our text this week that relate to being resourceful by using technology both in the classroom and behind the scenes for the instructor.

The first concept that struck my attention is virtual field trips. I must admit that I have a bad experience with something similar to this when I was in elementary school: One day my third grade teacher informed the class that we would be going on a field trip the following Monday. She reminded the class every day that we were going to go on an exciting adventure come Monday morning. The classroom was a buzz talking about this surprise trip, how we should dress, what we would have for lunch- everything was speculated. I remember telling my mom about it and she was confused- she worked at the school and didn’t recall my teacher mentioning that there was a class trip. This was my first indication that something different was happening with this trip. Come Monday morning the class was surprised- our teacher was in a dress, like she normally was, and heels, also like she normally was. Wouldn’t she have dressed more comfortable? Finally she told us all to close our eyes because we were getting ready to go on our trip! Confused, we did just that. It was then that she described to us our “transport back in time to the DINOSAUR ERA!”…uh…what? This was our big trip? We read from a book about dinosaurs for another hour or so and then moved on to other material. To say that the class was disappointed is an understatement.  With that being said, I feel like the teacher’s approach was all wrong in my personal experience. With the possibility of virtual field trips now easily accessed online, students can again get excited about going on a trip and not actually leaving the classroom. They can fully submerse themselves in the new location with great visualization and in many cases, the ability to “explore” a city, museum or Wonder of the World through the advanced technology of 360 cameras and live feeds. In fact, as our text points out, many options are available for virtual field trips. You can involve the whole class, or portions of a class while the other portion works on material they need extra help with. Here is an example of an Amazon Rainforest virtual field trip through YouTube:

(via YouTube.com)

With the example of virtual field trips also comes my next focus for this week- Technology Integration Issues. Not all schools have abilities to display online content on a large SmartBoard, for instance, or have the ability to assign each student to a computer as they navigate new material by their own exploration on the internet. In my personal experience, the school district that I will be teaching in does not have issues with technology integration. Lee County School District has seen the immense value that having technology in the classroom has and therefore has equipped majority of classrooms with more than enough technology options for the instructor to use with the students. Other Districts have not yet incorporated this important advancement yet, however. And, even if every district were able to afford technology integration, other barriers stand in the way of teachers using technology.

For instance, as our text points out, teachers may have an unwillingness to change their lesson plans to incorporate technology (Maloy,2013 pg. 303), and teachers may also be unconstructive with the technology they do have in their classrooms- possibly by using it as a reward or punishment which isn’t an optimal way of using technology for an educational venture.

(via Pixabay)

The final, and I feel most important, technological aspect of our reading this week is websites for educational use and networking. In my experience in a similar field, networking is a huge component of not only developing strong connections with others in the same career. Here is a Prezi presentation that I made showing some of these valuable resources:
Resources:

A. S. (2016, April 24). Dinosaur trip [Digital title for blog]. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from https://www.canva.com/design/DABxapD2bxQ/wX2815aTvpTxP0B72h6wKA/view?utm_content=DABxapD2bxQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton  

Pixabay. (2016, April 1). [Commuications, internet, icons]. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/communication-icons-internet-media-1296385/

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc

Digital Blog Post #E

Video in the Classroom

Online content continues to grow and grow- social media has exploded and just when you think the programs that are popular right this minute will forever be the king of online space, another social media trend sweeps audiences to their feet.

A newer social media trend that has continued to grow is YouTube. YouTube initially began as an idea between three friends to better share video content online with acquaintances (YouTube, n.d.), and has turned into an explosive blogging, advertising, and informational staple of the internet.

Teachers began catching on to this trend and used it to their advantage. By incorporating videos that instructors can “hook” students with, and have the ability to pause and rewind as much as desired, instructors valued these new video options as unique learning experiences and their popularity grew (Maloy, 2013).

As online videos progressed and YouTube has become so easy that anyone can do it, teachers have begun to create their own videos tailored to their classroom of students and the subjects that the instructor is providing.

Here is a demonstration of how easy it is to create and upload a YouTube video:

(S, 2016)

 

PowerPoint in the Classroom

Our text this week points out some very interesting, thoughtful information about PowerPoint presentations. PowerPoint presentations are something that college students are very familiar with. PowerPoints can be very informative and easy to interpret, but I bet every college student remembers one particular, prominent thing about any PowerPoint they have seen in a classroom: they can be undeniably boring.

Even if a speaker is riveting, usually the PowerPoint presentation that is running in their background is less than interesting. Many people use a “less is more” tactic to creating a PowerPoint which sometimes begs the question: why even have a PowerPoint?

Adult minds generally have an element of automatic respect to them. Adults in a classroom or business meeting where a PowerPoint presentation is being used make it a point to stay engaged out of respect and self-discipline. I think that PowerPoint presentations in a classroom should be avoided primarily because students don’t yet have the maturity to lock themselves into a series of minimalistic screens and give them any value.  I think these students will tune out very quickly to a PowerPoint series of slides.  If some educators insist on using PowerPoint as a tool in the classroom, I think they should liven up their PowerPoint presentations with GIFs, discussion questions and bold, attention-grabbing arrangements on the slides.

Lesson Plan Development and Integration of Technologies

I had never worked on a lesson plan prior to our previous group assignment to create an inquiry based lesson plan. I honestly could not believe the amount of time spent on putting together a thorough lesson plan could take. I certainly have value in the organizational tool of a lesson plan, but I really did not think they were that in-depth.

Our text this week outlines not only how lesson plan development flows, but also how to incorporate technology into the year’s plans. One of the biggest components to incorporating technology into the lesson plans is the internet. The internet has such a wide range of options available, a lot of which can be flexible enough to fit into majority of the lessons that may be planned for that year.
Many lesson plans have the ability to easily be enhanced by adding a technology component to them. Programs through the internet are one of the easiest things to incorporate, and offer thousands upon thousands of opportunities for students to interact with them material they are learning.

Resources: 

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc

S. (2016). EME blog. Retrieved April 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgvy0_PZSkI

YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube 

Digital Blog Post #D

Promoting success through technology is as important in today’s classroom as the instructor is. Technology is everywhere,  and it is important that students learn how to use technology tools, not just for leisure interaction, but with the ability to learn how to apply technology used in the classroom on their future projects or even further into their future: in their career.

Because of this, it is important for the instructor to use available resources available wisely. This means that all classrooms should not be without at least a couple, if not several, technology tools. These are three of the many I value from Chapter 10…

The first valuable tool from this reading is Online Translation Services. This can come in many forms, but the most popular is Google Translate. As of March 2016, Google Translate supports 103 languages at various levels and serves over 200 million people daily (Google Translate, n.d). Not only does Google Translate reach millions, but is considered to be “more fluid and natural” sounding than competitive online translators (Maloy, 2013).

The application for Google Translate in the classroom is extremely valuable. If there is a student that is learning English as a second language, he or she may struggle with new words that are being introduced through classroom instruction or fellow classmate interaction. Instead of the student not being able to learn the new word, Google Translate allows for immediate familiarity. The teacher would pull up the Google Translate interface (that is available on all wireless or connected devices in some form) and type in the word. The student can then hear it in his language and repeat the word. For an added familiarity, I would request the student use the word again sometime that day in conversation.

Google Translate is extremely effective- and can also translate written words in real time. The technology growth in this program alone is magnificent. Here is a YouTube video that shows real-time translation of the Spanish song, “La Bamba”. This will demonstrate how successful and flawlessly this technology can be used in the classroom:

The second technology concept that I favored from our reading was the use of online surveys in the classroom. This has been a tool online for many years. I, personally, remember doing online surveys ten years ago along the lines of “What personality are you?!” or “Which Twilight character are you supposed to marry?!??!”, which would then be posted to an online social media dinosaur, MySpace. Our text pointed out that this online survey concept has come a long way, and it is now a great tool to use in the classroom.

The text focused on using online surveys as pre-assessments for prior knowledge. Although this is one great application, I think online surveys could also be an excellent tool for engaging some students. Not all students have interpersonal skills and enjoy vocalizing in front of others. An online assessment tool will give those shy students a bigger opportunity to provide feedback or engage in answering when they otherwise would have remained silent.

Click here for a brief survey created by Kahoot that displays an interactive technology assessment tool that could easily be integrated into the classroom:

(Kahoot screen shot by Amanda Sweeney) 

Finally, I was very much impressed by the Interactive whiteboards shown both in our text and in our module this week. I have seen them in classrooms a couple of times but have never interacted with them. I couldn’t believe how versatile they were! Not only can they mirror a computer screen for step by step instructions, they can also be considered a projector as they have a camera mounted to the top of a podium, and they are also so interactive that children can walk up to a display of text and highlight, erase or modify what is on the screen! I am so amazed not only at this technology but also the value that the School Board of Lee County has put in them. The school that I recently shadowed in had one in each classroom, fully equipped to do all of what I have listed and more. This tool is definitely a must in today’s classroom. Here is a digital tool called Padlet that is an interactive online board that I created about interactive whiteboards. Enjoy!

<iframe src='//padlet.com/embed/3smh86ai087g' frameborder='0' width='100%' height='480px' style='padding:0;margin:0;border:none'></iframe><div style='border-top:2px solid #a7d23a;padding:8px;margin:0;font-size:12px;text-align:right'><a href='http://padlet.com' style='color:#41555f;text-decoration:none'>Created with Padlet<img valign='middle' style='margin:0 0 0 10px;padding:0;border:none;width:16px;height:16px' src='http://padlet.com/favicon.ico'></a></div>

Interactive Whiteboard Padlet


Resources:

Google Translate. (n.d.). Retrieved March 06, 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Translate

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, March 06). Are you enjoying this blog? Retrieved March 06, 2016, from https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/1ae39ed0-6b93-4346-8be4-3a0d8aeebd63 

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, March 06). Interactive Whiteboards. Retrieved March 06, 2016, from http://padlet.com/wall/3smh86ai087g 

Digital Blog Post #C

This week in “Technology for Educators” we were asked to review Chapters 5 and 7 in our textbook and share three concepts that we could elaborate on. 

Electronic note taking seems to be the future of the ole’ pen and paper, our text seems to think. Several applications and software programs have electronic note taking built in, or it is just as simple to add a note taking option to any device these days. Some of the most popular note taking applications are EverNote, One Note and Google’s note taking app, GoogleKeep. They are all variations of the same concept: jot your notes down on whichever device you have handy and have access to your content on any device you own. The more sophisticated versions also have a collaboration option to them which make group projects a snap. I, however, am not a fan of electronic note taking. My note taking process is more of a mind mapping jumble of organized mess, and I love it that way. Throughout the years I have developed my own code and system of arrows and boxes that makes perfect sense to me. The thought of being semi confined to text on an electronic device that could die or fail at any moment (we have ALL been there) doesn’t sit with me well, which is why I have not made the switch. I made this comic using BitStrips.com to light heartedly illustrate how technology could fail, but the teacher will always swoop in and save the day!

Credit to Amanda Sweeney 

The second concept that I focused on for this post is broadening the typical web search methods of my students. Too often “Google” is the quick solution for everything online. As our text points out, “Google is now one of the most visited Internet sites worldwide, and the company is continually expanding…” (Maloy 2013, p. 108).To “Google” is now considered a verb and I have many times referred to “consulting Dr. Google” when trying to self diagnose when something in my body goes awry. There are many other search engines out there on the vast World Wide Web as well as different types of searches, as we learned in Chapter 5. Some tips to get a better search is to add Boolean terms that are more restrictive, less restrictive or excluding (OR, AND, and NOT, respectively) to narrow what you are looking for.

Photo Credit to Zuyd, International

The third concept that I focused on in our reading was digital games for online learning. Teaching is a new learning path for me and online gaming wasn’t “a thing” when I was in school so this concept continues to fascinate me. Initially I was pretty against gaming, but now I am reconsidering. Our text points out many different types of online gaming- from virtual worlds, simulation games, browser based games and finally, apps. I typically think that there aren’t vast quantities of fans for something unless it is well liked and proven to have positive outcomes. This must be true for gamed-learning. Our text has approximately 10 pages of various gaming options, suggestions and research dedicated to this concept, so I believe there must be a lot of good coming from it. Sure enough, I recently did observation hours in a 1^st grade classroom. When the children were broken down into stations for the day, a desktop based game was one of the stations. I asked the teacher what she thought of it and she was very pleased with the quality and knowledge that the kids got from the online program. Sure enough, while doing research for the previous rubric assignment I searched for almost an hour before coming across an informational website geared towards kids. All of the others I found through web searches of “kids websites” were ALL some kind of game! The games seem to grab the engagement of children (and young adults!) and use their time with the child in the best possible way. I suppose if my children will be participating in online gaming, I would prefer that it is educational as it seems many other parents do.

Gif credit to Wikipedia Commons 

Resources: 

Dratini0. (2012, May 2). File:PascalTriangleAnimated2.gif. Retrieved February 21, 2016, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PascalTriangleAnimated2.gif 

Effective searching. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2016, from http://bibliotheek.zuyd.nl/en/information-literacy/finding-information/effective-searching 

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, February 16). Technology Strikes Again! Retrieved February 21, 2016, from https://bitstrips.com/user/NR3VNS/read.php?comic_id=CX7CK 

Digital Blog Post #B

This is my first semester at FSW with the intention of obtaining an Elementary Education degree. I am enrolled in two “teaching” courses and in one of them I was asked, “What is your teaching philosophy?” I didn’t know. Right off the bat even a simple Google of teaching philosophies didn’t point me in the right direction of what I thought embodied me as a future teacher. In Chapters 2 and 3 of our text, however, two opposing teaching philosophies were reviewed: student centered teaching and teacher-centered teaching. After review of these I would say that I will undoubtedly be more towards the student-centered teaching viewpoint.

Student-centered teaching, according to our text, is about “orchestrating different experiences for students” and that “the role of the teacher is to create puzzles, ask questions, and engage in conversation with students” and guide them on their own path of study (Maloy 2013, p. 36). This is right up my alley and exactly what I hope to embody as a teacher one day. This style of learning was always my favorite and it felt like a real world experience than another day of being talked at for hours.

By being a teacher that will focus on a learner centered structure, I hope to incorporate as much technology into my classroom as I can. With that being said, I will also have to teach the students how important it is to research credible sources, and to use critical thinking to determine what is credible and what is not.  Our textbook calls this “Internet literacy”, and featured an experiment on a fictional “Tree Octopus” that had middle school students tricked into thinking a forest octopus actually existed. This example would be perfect to re-simulate in a classroom to prove the importance of doing more than just reading online content, but also to deconstruct it and question its validity. Here are a couple of prime examples by using the fantastic tools at piktochart.com:

The third concept that struck my attention was expressing online creativity. Our text refers to creativity as being too wide spread, and true creativity only existing in genius form (such as Mozart and Einstein) (Maloy 2013, p. 63). While I understand that perspective and can respect that the great innovative thinkers were definitely creative, I think creativity can be present in smaller forms and still be considered “creativity”. Students will find that expressing, thinking or acting creatively in a typical classroom setting can be difficult, so I suspect that by adding another dimension to that will create a bigger divide between the creative students and the non. I could be wrong, however. Constructing online content could be easier for those students that don’t express easily otherwise. There are many forms of expression available to students these days online through Social Media and applications. The largest and fastest growing online photography app, Instagram, sold for a cool 1 billion dollars shortly after its inception and continues to be a huge company to this day (Swisher, 2013).  Instagram is the front runner in expressive art applications that are used by today’s youth.

Resources:

Baby-foot-womb [Photograph]. (n.d.).

http://jmsmith.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/baby-foot-womb.jpg

Lichtenstein castle [Photograph]. (n.d.). Khao Phing Kan.

This fake photograph is difficult to trace back to it's origin. What is known is that it is a combination of photos from a German castle, Lichtenstein castle, and Khao Phing Kan in Thailand. The creator submitted this product for a photo altering contest on www.worth1000.com.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Misener, J. (2013, July 26). 15 Viral Pinterest Photos That Are Actually Fake. Retrieved February 03, 2016, from http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/15-viral-pinterest-photos-that-are-actually-fake#.hxZ3LM23K

Schroder, A., & E. P. (2013, August 30). Taylor Swift Pinterest page is actually a bunch of Hitler quotes. Retrieved February 03, 2016, from http://www.dailydot.com/lol/real-taylor-swift-pinterest-quotes-hitler/

Sweeney, A. M. (2016, February 3). Internet Literacy with a Modern Disguise. Retrieved February 03, 2016, from https://magic.piktochart.com/editor/piktochart/10989734#

Swisher, K. (2013, June). Mark Zuckerberg and Kevin Systrom on What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram. Retrieved February 03, 2016, from http://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2013/06/kara-swisher-instagram

Digital Blog Post #A

Welcome to my first ever blog! I have always wanted to start a blog and I have admired those that not only start them but personalize them and use them frequently. I have often visited blogs that are connected to pins that I pin on Pinterest, but as I am typing this is has occurred to me that there are probably hundreds, maybe thousands of teacher blogs out there as well. Hmmm. Researching K-12 teacher blogs will keep me very busy for the next couple of hours, I’m certain!

In reference to our first chapter work, the first concept that struck me was probably the simplest and most common: social media. I am a social media bug and use it frequently, but it never crossed my mind that social media would be a good way to connect with my students. In fact during the many hours of day dreaming of my future teacher-self I have thought that social media would mean the opposite to me: off limits. I figured that I would have to keep a hard line between my online personal presence and any career affiliated presence I had, but I didn’t realize the opportunities of communication that would present themselves by intentionally using social media to reach out to my students. A website, THE Journal: Transforming Education through Technology, offers insight on many ways to integrate technology into the classroom, including this article on social media use in the classroom.

The second concept that I would like to discuss is the variety of computer technologies that are available to teachers and students. With online text books, interactive white boards and availability to ipads and other tablets in the classroom, the opportunities seem endless. When I was in school we had white boards and an overhead projector. That was about it. Technology was considered “too expensive” or “just for fun” and was never looked at as a learning tool. We have clearly come very far in the past two decades. With student’s availability to the internet and such expensive equipment I am interested to know how the internet is regulated and who is responsible if a piece of equipment breaks when being used by a student. I am sure these things have all kinds of policies and procedures in place and I am eager to know all about them.

The third concept introduced to me in the first chapter was that “infants, toddlers and preschoolers experience what sociologists call a digital childhood” (Maloy, 2013). I didn’t realize that infants are learning to use interactive technology. I didn’t realize they could. This speaks volumes to me and proves to never underestimate anyone who has a desire to learn about technologies.

Here is a video I found on YouTube of a 1 year old playing Angry Birds on an iPad:

Resources:

Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Website- Research: 9 in 10 Teachers Don't Use Social Media in the Classroom -- THE Journal. (n.d.). Retrieved January 13, 2016, from https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/09/02/research-9-in-10-teachers-dont-use-social-media-in-the-classroom.aspx

Website- My 1 year-old baby plays Angry Birds. (n.d.). Retrieved January 13, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqbcGgf90o