Take Away Message

When working on my webquest project and with the class discussion on the group video presentation I was refelecting on my own experiences in school and I wish my teachers would of provided me with this experience. Also with watching the videos of other students, I learned various things that I wish I edited when I made my individual project. It was very useful to see the videos and I hope my group video will be just as great!

Chapter 7

    Chapter 7 discusses a lot about how educational software supports and promotes problem solving and inquiry learning. The whole time when I was reading the chapter, I was thinking about the class discussion we had on Mine craft. Last week was the scholastic book fair at the school where I student teach, and all the boys in my class were buying this book called "Minecraft The Official Beginners Handbook" and I just though it was so ironic. The chapter mentioned that a computer  software that allows students to use high order thinking skills is a indication of it being a good software to use, which had me thinking if playing "Mine craft" had an educational value. I can see how some would argue that it promotes problem solving. I personally love the idea of using computer games in the classroom. Students, like the little girl Rosie mentioned in the beginning of the chapter are fascinated by computer games. Using computer games can be seen as a motivation in any lesson, which will capture their attention. Like the chapter mentioned there isn't a profession that doesn't use computers or some type of informational technology. Using educational software will prepare students for when they get into the real world. I think it is very important for teachers to make sure that the video games or computer games they choose to use has educational value. I think it is also important for them to let parents know as well about which educational software's are beneficial or not.




Focus Question

Teachers usually are not allowed to add their own software to the school system network. Do you agree or disagree with this practice?

Do any of you use educational software in your classroom like kidpix? Is it beneficial?

3/24 Take Away Message

One thing that I found interesting about todays class was the use of minecraft in the classroom. I personally believe that the school featured in the class had good intentions of incorporating technology but they choose the wrong type of software. Sites like lexipedia, and visual theasures are great sites that can be incorporated into the classroom. Also from playing around with google maps i have learned that when wanting to incorporate technology teachers have to get creative because sometimes the best tools to use in a classroom maynot even be educational resources.

Chapter 4 and 6

    Chapter 4 focused on how teachers can create change by integrating technology in various ways. One statement made in this chapter that stood out to me was “technology integration is more about how technology is used by teachers than about the amount of technology a teacher has to use” I think this statement should be an eye-opener for teachers because it doesn’t matter how much technology one uses if the students aren’t gaining anything valuable from it. Like the chapter mentioned technology in schools is being used in two ways.  One is inclusion, which means technology is used to transfer information and practicing skills. The other way is infusion which means that computers and other online information are ongoing-features in the classroom. I think every teacher should use technology as an infusion rather than inclusion because technology should be ongoing. Teachers should use to for professional usage as well as for academic usage to get the maximum effect out of them.

     Chapter 6 focused on the use of teaching with educational websites and other online resources like virtual field trips and web quests.  The chapter made a good point on information management when it comes to teaching. Teaching requires sharing information between the teacher and student.  A lot of times this sharing is done through an outdated textbook with complex language that students cannot even understand.  Reading this chapter made me think of the TED conference video I mentioned in my storyboard reflection paper.  This science teacher stated making YouTube videos to teach his students because the textbook method was just not working for his students. http://www.ted.com/talks/tyler_dewitt_hey_science_teachers_make_it_fun

  As I was looking through the top 50 free education apps, the one that I thought was very interesting was the Quizlet. This app allows you to insert information that you need to study for and then you can quiz yourself with your phone. I would use this for not only my personal use but this sounds like a great tool to recommend parents to use with their children. You can be studying anywhere!

     

 Focus Question

Do you think children who have iPads and laptops at home, should be allowed to bring these devices to school for note taking or for class work?

For many research projects teachers require students to have at least one of their sources to be a printed book. Do you think this is necessary when there are numerous educational websites and other online resources that can provide the same information?

Take Away Message. 3/12

Todays class was a eye-opener for the responsibilities of a digital citizen. The three broad areas of internet are very important aspects to teach young students. The internet provided students with great oppertunities but they need to understand these three areas in order for these oppetunities to be safe and used to the maximum potential. The Austrialian website we viewed in class today is such a great way for students to learn these areas. It has games and interactive actitvities that make these topics more real and fun. Also in the terms of the digital divide it is interesting to see how much has changed over the years. Now that more students have internet acess, studying these three areas are especially important.

Take Away Message 3/10

I was very skeptical about using websites like wikipedia because it was always frowned upon using by most educators. But after todays class discussion I now understand the foudation of what wikipedia is and their purpose. I never really looked into evaluating the content on websites like this. As we looked at diffrent features of the website I realized this site is not as bad as I thought, It actually has alot of postives such as being very up to date and there are people in authority who limit what goes on the site. I think as a teacher, this is a great topic to teach students which is what contents to look for that makes a website accurate and apporiate to use. This is a important skill for both teachers and students to have.

Chapter 5

In this chapter the authors compare the internet to the library of congress, which is considered the world’s largest library. But one difference is that the internet contains a lot of materials of “questionable quality.” Many students in the current system lack the knowledge to differentiate between quality information and questionable information.  There is a big difference between knowing how to access information and how to assess information, and I personally think this is where problems occur. Students know how to access information but they don’t know how to proceed after that. According to the text 94% of high school students use the internet for research for school assignments, which means having information literacy is important more than ever before.

    Information Literacy should be a part of the curriculum because the modern students rely on internet sites for everything, from using WebMD for self-diagnosis to googling answers to homework assignments.  Having this immediate access to online information is great, but students need to learn how to use this information accurately and appropriately to function in our society.  The ETS pilot study found that only a few college and high school students demonstrated strong information and media skills. This proves that our schools need to come up with better ways to educate our students in terms of informational literacy. As university of Wisconsin professor James Paul Gee stated “in the modern world, print literacy is not enough” which is the scary truth that many students and teachers are currently facing.

     In David H. Jonassen’s theory of constructivism he believes in the use of “mindtools” to help engage students in activities that support critical thinking and problem solving.  When referring to mindtools he believes that using different computer software programs as cognitive tools can support critical thinking and problem solving. I definitely agree with his idea of using these different soft wares.  If students can be better at critical thinking and problem solving this might help them have more informational literacy skills to use and understand information on the internet accurately. 

Focus Questions 

1. Do you think websites like Wikipedia should be banned and restricted from school computers?

2. Does the same form of intellectual and personal growth be developed when reading online compared to reading printed books?