Independent Learning Project #2

For this ILP, I attended the technology convention Digitech at FSU. Digitech was very interesting seeing what amazing technological and educational ideas that my fellow students and peers had. There were so many different aspects of technology being used; I saw biological advancements, wooden sculptures, food apps for your phone, and different types of art work. As I was looking at the 3D printed art I actually saw one of my friends pieces! It made me feel connected to the convention, like I could relate and if I wanted to, precipitate next year!



The convention was very eye opening and I am very glad that I went! I got a few souvenirs such as a small notebook, class ideas, technological ideas, and a cool new app for my phone! My favorite part was the creativity, I couldn't believe the things people were coming up with! I actually saw some of the technology we used in the Tech Sandbox, they were a big educational technology hit!

Blog #10

I believe that as a teacher I will use Data Collection mostly for tests, quizzes, assignments, and anything else that has a mass amount of grades for my class. As a teacher you have a lot of students, especially if you teacher in middle, high, or college level having 6 plus classes, it is easy to lose papers and to get grades messed up if keeping tracking of them manually. Having everything recorded on your computer not only is a back up for lost papers but makes it easy to calculate averages and overall grades for your class(es).

From reviewing my peers blogs I have found the different perspectives of people most interesting. It is crazy how when I look at a subject or comment I have can my point of view and then go and read one of my other classmates and they have a totally opposite or different perspective on the subject. It really interests me to see what everyone else has to say and think about the same thing that I go through or went through!

The technological skill I would like to learn would have to be how to speed up my computer if it starts slowing down. I know as a child, if my computer started slowing down, either my dad or his tech guys at work would take it in for a day or two and it magically became faster! I know this will happen to me in my future for my family and I or for my career, so knowing this magical skill would truly come in handy whether it is at work or at home.

In the future I believe that I will be able to reach my educational-technology goal if the school I will be teaching at has the resources and tools for my students and I to use. Once given these opportunities I know my class and I will have a fun learning with technology and have a more functioning classroom the more opportunities we have! I will be working at Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, this is one of the best schools in the country for the deaf and blind. Therefore, there will be a lot of technological opportunities for me there and my goals will be reached. I hope to use such tools as Smartboards, 3D printing, iPads, laptops, etc. in my classroom.

Blog #1 (make-up)

Technology in the classroom has become a necessity in the 21st century, I guarantee you cannot walk into a classroom in America and cannot find one technological device. 99% of teachers say they have or have the ability to use computers in the classroom everyday. Computers have become so important in the classroom because of the amount of opportunity presented on them. There are endless assignments, educational games, tests, quizzes, endless information, etc. that could be used on a day-to-day basis. I know that I would not be able to have the same education I have today without the help of computers. The only problem with computers is how easy it has become to get side tracked/distracted. In school this is not an issue thanks to blocked websites and restricted internet, but at home assignments could be easily put off, unfinished, or not done at all. Thus, depending on the student.

Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity: This is something that could be very exciting yet terrifying at the same time. Creativity is a major part of teaching and for learning as well. Although I believe I have some creativity in me, students may not have this ability. I know as a child I had a hard time being creative and coming up with ideas for projects or making my projects look "pretty" so I had my mom help me, for she was the most creative person I knew! I think because of her I have become the creative individual I am today. What makes me excited about this is that I can try to pass on this creativity to my students! I can only hope.

To me a Digital Native is someone who has used technology their whole life, been surrounded by it their whole life, and never not had technology in their life. I am a digital native, I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't have a phone, computer, pager, etc in my household. The difference between how I, a digital native, and my teachers and parents, digital immigrants, use technology is what we use it for. We natives usually use it for social media, homework, research, and mostly school related topics. Whereas immigrants use theirs for emailing, work, work, and occasionally some social media. The immigrants, my parents, taught me the basics of technology but I taught myself the tricks of the trade and has become very tech savvy over the years. I don't think there will be a big difference between me and my future students, for I will keep up with the technological times through work and school, being able to help and teach my students on how to become tech savvy themselves.

Blog #9

A flipped classroom can be very efficient or it could have the opposite effect in my opinion. In a flipped classroom students watch the lectures outside of the classroom online then use in class time to work on activities and work with their peers on the focused subject. A flipped classroom really depends on the students and how the students work, I can tell you from experience that there are a lot of lazy students, especially in high school and college who are focused on other things and will not take the time to sit down at home and watch these online lectures. Supporters believe that using this type of classroom learning will be more beneficial to the students, but I believe it depends on the student. Here is an example of a flipped classroom and what it should look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_p63W_2F_4

Professional development in an education environment happens with time and experience just like most other jobs. New teachers have trouble managing time, lessons, and other small details that go into being an efficient teacher. Though as time goes on and the years pass with new students and new parents you develop professionally by figuring out how you will manage your classroom and how it runs. Here is a link to an informational website/blog that talks about professional development and also has other teachers talking about it as well: http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-development

New skills I learned during the interactive powerpoint was how to manipulate different compents of the slides, hyperlinks, and order of the slides and where they go as you click on them. I liked how creative you can be with the buttons and options you have to choose from as you create the game. I also like how you can manipulate the games to age, grade, gender, subject etc, creativity is endless. I did not like how much time it took to create this game, I would create more for my classes if it took less time. I will probably use these games for test and quiz reviews, it is also very good for vocabulary practice!

Blog #8

The future of education with technology is very essential to my future as an educator and my students futures, eventually the future of this country. What seems to be becoming more popular in newer and more advanced, "green" schools is online textbooks and/or ebooks. Saving paper and natural resources by not having to print out hundreds of thousands or even millions of textbooks and classroom books could save millions or billions of trees around the country and the world. Our future is focused on becoming environmentally friendly and therefore why these online textbooks have become so important to new and upcoming schools. Although I personally would rather have a paper book in my hands over one online because of how I was raised, the students starting with these books in elementary school won't know the difference. I believe these new textbooks ARE our future, and if it helps our depleting planet, I am more than happy to oblige.

The digital divide is the difference between students or people who do have internet access and technological devices and those who do not. I am on the side who does have technology, I personally have a laptop, an iPhone, a kindle fire, and other smaller devices between my parents and I. In the podcast it talks about the difference between the two students, most people forget about the difference between the two students because most students are like Student A. Even educators like me forget about Student B, this will effect my classroom and my assignments greatly depending on the area I teach in and how many Student A's and B's I have in the current class. If I have more students on the less fortunate side of the divide I will assign all online assignments in class and only paper assignments for home.

The new skills I learned during the powerpoint assignment was how to record my voice on each slide. Before this assignment I had no idea you could actually record your own voice and put it on the slides, I did know audio options were available. What I did not like about the assignment was hearing my own voice on the slides, it was weird hearing myself teach! But what I did like was the opportunity to be creative, choosing whatever I wanted to go on each slide and whatever information I'd like as well. Next time I will improve by providing more information and maybe practicing what I wanted to say more before I recorded myself!

Blog #7

 Bloom’s Taxonomy is a concept commonly used among educators in lessons such as Science, Chemistry to be specific. For balancing equations, this concept can be kind of difficult to explain to students and even harder for them to grasp. Through a powerpoint presentation you can show them how to go about solving these issues. 
1. Create- create a new equation that the students have not seen before so they all have a fresh start to this new concept on the first slide
2. Evaluate- make a decision with your class how you will go about this problem and how it needs to be solved on the second slide
3. Analyze- on the third slide decide what connections should be made, what chemicals need to be combined or what chemicals will be lost
4. Apply- use what information you found out on the second and third slide to decide what is left to be done in the equation on the next slide, discuss with the class
5. Understand- Make sure that once the problem has been solved on the powerpoint and you have gone through all the steps that the class understands what happened in the equation
6. Remember- Use the last slide to recall what you went through and to retrace the steps, laying them out for the class to see, then you have your lesson

Adaptive technology is probably the best thing that has ever happened to education in my opinion. It has given a huge opportunity to children who have disabilities to learn and interact more easily with their peers and educators. Without such technologies, these children would not be where they are today and still be struggling with their disabilities rather than living with what they have and be able to move on. I personally do not know anyone who has used such tools but I hope to be able to help students who need them. My future career in deaf education will use educational adaptive technologies for both deaf and hard of hearing students so these products will be used everyday for me, as to why I am so appreciative of them. Challenges I expect to come across in the classroom is if the students cannot hear something correctly, either one student can hear something when another student cannot or vice versa. It is hard to determine how much a child can hear especially at young ages, not knowing how much they're truly struggling. 

The web page design was very interesting to me, the advancement of technology is coming very fast and one way to stay up to date with that as a teacher is not create a website. Students are on the internet a good majority of the time so having such website will keep them connected to you, your class, your lessons, and their assignments. I like how the teachers can be as creative or as simple as they want to be, as long as they get the information out to the students it is very helpful. How I would improve my website would be to add more information about me, my class, the assignments, and upcoming events. I'd also decorate more to spice it up!

http://fsusgreen.weebly.com/

COE Tech Sandbox

I have decided to do my Independent Learning Project on the COE Tech Sandbox that we attended back in February. The Tech Sandbox had a plethora of different technologies that can be used in the everyday technically advanced classroom. The product that stood out most to me was the 3D printer, although this is not a product that could be used everyday in the classroom, I believe it could open up children's minds to the future and what it holds for them. What I would probably use most in my classroom would be the Smartboard. This product has a variety of different uses not only for me as a teacher through teaching lessons and presentations, but also for students to get involved in the classroom and actually wanting to precipitate in lessons. Although Google Glass is not used everyday and was actually taken off the selves, this technology could be used to show children the different technologies available to them. There was also technology like a digital keyboard and Oculus that were presented that opened my eyes as well to the different options for me personally in my educatio and for my future students. I am very excited to see what technology will be available to me in my time as an educator.

This is the 3D printer that was presented during our tour