My Philosophy of Technology in Education

• how you believe technology can be used most effectively to support and assess learning (you may wish to consult the links above for theory or research to support your points; if you do so, provide either in-text citations or directly link to the online source),
This past quarter, I learned that the definition of technology in a classroom is beyond obvious items such as computers and projectors. Technology is limitless and can be a wide variety of items that supports and assess student’s learning. I believe technology can be used most effectively to support and assess learning because it provides the opportunity for students to be interactive in their learning. Through my technology class I introduced to a variety to academic technology websites and physical items. Among all the academic technology, one commonality is giving the students the control over their learning. By being interactive with a strong base of hands on, it gives students the chance to direct their own learning. Today, teachers are constantly altering their lesson plans to create lessons that involve the students. Technology is a great way to help teachers create interactive lessons plans and gives students an opportunity to do so. Through interactive lessons and students taking control over their learning, students will be more motivated to do their work. I believe that technology has a great role in providing the tools to promote a better learning experience for students and providing teachers the tools to create creative learning experience.

• the advantages and disadvantages of various technologies for particular types of learning,
As stated above, I believe the biggest advantage of various technology is giving students opportunity to take control in their learning and provide interactive learning. Interactive lessons are an advantage to all students who can’t learn to their full potential from a lecture. I believe it is impossible for students to learn when a teacher stands up in front of a classroom, spilling information for hours, and expect student to learn and apply their learning. With technology websites of today, it helps students get their attention and stay engaged. There are websites such as blogger and Google docs, that lets students and teachers be able to create work together as a class. As you know, schools are facing many financial draws backs, which limits activities such as field trips. Now with technology like Skype, students can take a virtual field trips to further their understanding of the curriculum and enhance their experience. Technology even helps teachers save time with programs like Easy Grade Pro. When teachers save time on paper work and grading, it is direct translation to spending more time with the students.

Although technology provides many great advantages, there are also disadvantages for learners. Technology can be a huge distraction for many students. If students are put to a computer to research, they are able to surf any website when there is no constant supervision. Another disadvantage is the amount of time it takes to teach students how to use the technology. Technology websites like Google docs can take hours out of classroom time. There is also a big risk of the technology failing. Many websites which are free, are hard to depend on because there are many glitches and flaws that can occur. Students can be working on a website for hours and suddenly crash. For teachers, it might work perfectly at home but fail in the classroom.

• some specifics for how you will use technology in your own classroom, including technologies to support diverse learners.
After exploring technology this past quarter, I was able to find some specifics for how I will use technology in my own classroom. Since I plan to teach primary grades, I want to create videos through Animoto to grab my student’s attention when I am introducing a whole new subject. For example, I can create a video about the water cycle to help students remember the cycle. If budget cuts continue, I plan to use Skype to bring in guest speakers and go on virtual field trips to help my lesson come to life. Easy Grade Pro is something I would definitely use in my classroom to make grading faster and takes the time left over to spend with my students. Electronic dictionaries can be helpful for my students to take control of their learning and find for themselves. More specifically, students who are second English language learners can benefit from electronic dictionaries that translate from their language to English. This can be very helpful to further their vocabulary, reading, and writing skills. One easy simple technology tool I would provide is pencil grips. Since I am planning to teach primary ages, many students will be developing their fine motor skills. Technology like pencil grip can help students develop their fine motor skills and provide students the tools to write.

Peer's Self-Chosen Projects

1. Which technology do you think you would be most likely to use in your future classroom and why?
Easy Grade Pro
-Fast way to document student’s grades
-Fast way to set up seating chart
-Fast way to take attendance
-Does the math work (weight of grades)
-Offers tons of options for each grade sheet

2. Which technology do you think you would be least likely to use and why?
Toon Doo
-inappropriate images on this online service
-can’t teach full lessons
-text box is limited
-easy way to get kids distracted
-focuses on playing around rather than the content

3. What did you learn about instructional strategies from your peers that you might put into effect in your future classroom?
-The importance of interaction in any service you use

5. What was the most fascinating thin you learned from your peers today?
-Virtual field trips through skype
-Online quiz testing for practice
-Creative ways to present lesson material

Franklin Talking Spanish-English Student Dictionary

Name of the technology:
→Franklin Talking Spanish-English Student Dictionary

Category of AT:
→Reading: Reading comprehension & vocabulary
→Writing: Productivity through text & auditory feedback
→Writing: Spelling, conventions & word choice

Description of how the technology works:
→After flipping open the red cover and turning this technology on, students are able to use the keyboard to type in a word in Spanish. After clicking enter, this tool will translate the word in English, give the definition of the word, and produce the sound of the word.

Which of the Universal Design for Learning principles listed below might be facilitated by this technology? Explain how.
→Representation of information - make content available and comprehensible to students using a variety of modes.
→Through this technology, students can achieve this universal design for learning principles. Since this technology is a digital dictionary, it will guide students to comprehend vocabulary when learning. The variety of modes can be seeing the word in Spanish and English, reading the definition, hearing the pronunciation of the word, and using their new vocabulary through games programmed in this AT.
What types or groups of students might benefit from the use of this technology? For what learning goals might it be most effective?
→Types or groups of students that would benefit most from this technology are ELL students who speak Spanish as their first language. Learning goal for this group of students can be extending their vocabulary, spelling and grammar, and application of their learning of English in the classroom.

Do you have any concerns or reservations about this technology?
Some concerns regarding this AT are:
→students playing the games programmed on this AT during lessons
→the speaking function on this AT may be distracting to other students
→depending on school districts, this AT can be too expensive to purchase, along with maintaining 4 batteries per one dictionary

Any other comments, suggestions, or recommendations you might make to a teacher contemplating the use of this assistive technology?
→From experience, I believe this tool is amazing for students speaking Spanish as their first language and learning English. When students first start learning English, it’s hard to find words in the dictionary. However, this technology piece helps the student to find the letters easily and find the definition. It encourages the student to independently learn and gives teachers the time to work with other students.

Technology in Second Grade Classrooms

1. First, explain how (or whether) you think technology might contribute to teaching and learning at a particular grade/age level. If you have any concerns about the use of technology, discuss those issues also.
In my experience as a student and a teacher, I have found technology as an advantage and a disadvantage in classrooms. When I graduate from Western Washington University with an Elementary Teaching Certificate, I hope to teach students in second grade. Last quarter, I was placed in a first and second grade class for my practicum. In this class, I observed how my Coordinating Teacher incorporated technology into her classroom and lessons. For example, the students in her class were learning to write down observations. The students were to observe solid items and write down what happened to the items after they were placed under water. Since the items placed under the water were very small for entire class to see, my CT used the overhead to magnify the science experiment, and then used the projector so that all the students may observe at the same time. The overhead and projector were an advantage because my CT was able to show all the students what was happening to the science experiment and worked together to write down observations. If my CT hadn’t used the technology, she might have had to have students come forward in groups, which could have made the lesson much longer.
However, I have also experience technology as a disadvantage for students and teachers. During high school, I found computers as a disadvantage in many of my classroom. Teachers would allow students to go on computer for research, assignments, and writing papers. Instead, students would open a word document and immediately go on MySpace or another inappropriate website.
How can we, as future educators, use technology to solely benefit our students learning?

2. Now consider what technology skills and knowledge the National Educational Technology Standards say your students will need to have. Besides looking carefully at the overall standards, please also examine the Student Profiles for a grade you hope to teach to see what students are expected to be able to do at that level. Do you consider these targeted outcomes to be appropriate and achievable?
After reading the National Educational Technology Standards and Student Profiles, I feel few of the targeted outcomes are achievable and some outcomes are difficult to achieve for second graders. I believe students in the second grade are capable to meet standard 5, which is, demonstrate safe and cooperative use of technology. In my practicum class, students knew how to carefully treat technology products; such as computers, smart board, projector, overhead, and printers. However, I feel second grade students are not able to achieve standard 5, which states, find and evaluate information related to a current or historical person or event using digital resources. Last quarter, the second graders in my practicum class really struggled to find information through the web about their pets for their pet posters. Without the individual attention from the teacher, intern student, library teacher, and three practicum students, the second graders would have never found information about animals.

3. What kinds of learning activities might you plan for your classroom to help your students achieve the kinds of competencies identified in the NETS for students?
I think there are multiple learning activities that teachers can plan for classrooms to help students achieve competencies identified in the NETS for students. According to NETS, one specific competency is Communication and Collaboration. When I was elementary school, my teachers always used overheads to communicate to our classroom. Over the past few years, technology as rapidly advanced and smart boards and projectors have replaced overheads. In my future classroom, I would use the smart board to communicate to my students. Through the smart board I am able to give visual instructions and show examples of the work I expect.

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my IT442 Blog (:
Through this Blogger, I hope our class is able to share ideas and thoughts about how technology can help create a better environment for our future students!