As technology advances, it is difficult to keep up to the advancements in both our personal and professional lives. Teachers have an especially important role to play in technological advancements, as incorporating technology in the classroom can be both a learning tool for students and a teaching tool for the teacher. Kids seem to be adapting to the advancements in technology better than many adults, and they actually embrace it. For this reason, incorporating technology in the classroom is a great way to increase a child’s interest in learning.
My experience of the Technology course have been an amazing one, I’ve learned so much. There were so many useful applications that I was introduced to and am extremely appreciative to Michelle because she actually made my life easier. I love Google Docs and will introduce this application to students as a word processing, PowerPoint or spreadsheet option regardless of the class I happen to teach. Social bookmaking is another great educational and personal tool. Social bookmarking can help students to find ways to search for information other than through Google. Students who use social bookmarking will also be less likely to lose links that they have found important. If social bookmarking is used in the classroom, students and teachers can move from one computer to another and still have full access to their bookmarks. Students and teachers would less likely forget the location of the sites they have used. Students will be able to share their bookmarks with their classmates. Both students and teachers can also share collections of bookmarks they have found to be worthwhile. Social bookmarking can also help students to quickly find links to important current events and historical events or as a matter of fact any topic of interest. I love my Diigo Page and use it both personally and academically ever since it was introduced to me. The Video project was yet another great experience for me in my technology class. I now edit all of my home videos which look professional.
The Interactive Smartboard is a one of the best technological advances that I’ve seen in a while and I do embrace the idea of having one in my classroom someday. It brings the information alive to the students, each lesson can become an interactive one and it can help students to be very motivated to learn. The smartboard is very useful to demonstrate and teach any subject. Although I was faced with a few challenges while creating my own Smartboard lesson; I was at ease because I now know that there are thousands of lesson plans online that can be downloaded if problems arise. Which brings me to another point of having technology in the classroom, there are so many free resources that teachers can use, whether it be lesson plans that they need, videos, maps, puzzles or educational games, the list goes on and on. There is a plethora of free information available in the palm of our hands that are readily available.
Incorporating that technology in the classroom and daily lesson plans can be a challenge for many teachers, as they must choose the most efficient way of delivering a lesson and the assignments that reinforce it while staying on target. However, I think that once teachers incorporate technology in the classroom, it would benefit their students by engaging them in ways the students are familiar and actually enjoy, which will as a result make teachers jobs easier.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Technology article presentation
In the past week my fellow classmates and I had to select a journal article and present it any way we chose electronically. There were so many different types of presentations that were unique and informative in their own way (YouTube Videos, Song, Gloster Posters, Prezi Poster, and PowerPoint presentation) . It was such an interesting and fun opportunity given by the professor to enable us to relate our newfound knowledge any which way we chose. After viewing / listening to class presentations, I could tell that everyone enjoyed the freedom they had to present their views- because it projected in their voices / work. The entire class did a fantastic job and I learned a lot.
I thought that Paula‘s, Ryan‘s, Mandy’s, Judy’s and Dave’s YouTube videos were great, and I could tell they put a lot of time and effort into posting a flawless final production. They were all very informative and some funny while educational. Paula’s voice blog on the article about Oral Communication course- on using voice blog as addon activity for oral practice, to improve listening and speaking skills for foreign language teachers was interesting. Mandy’s production on ESL and Technology was great and very educational. It is true that teachers who use computers to facilitate learning will become learners themselves; and technology is the key for preparing English language learns for the 21st century. Ryan did a good job for the article on the Internet opening up new opportunities for socializing. It is interesting that 30% of students reported being involved directly with bullying, 13% perpetrators, 11% victims and the rest both. I do agree that it certainly is very important to educate students and parents about cyber bullying. Judy and Dave’s videos were very funny and informative.
Sarah used Prezi and created a poster about skype and how it is an effective way for teachers to update their teaching techniques and improve their technology literacy at their own pace, building confidence and skills. I didn’t know that skype can be used to provide a variety of authentic learning experiences to students who speak a second language. I think the prezi presentation was very interesting, it is very similar to Glogster posters although it was a bit difficult to navigate.
The Glogster posters created by Mike, Sarah, and Julie G and Ashley were stimulating. Josh’s MP3 was very original and catchy yet educational.
I have a class of very talented creative individuals who I am very proud to be a part of I learned so much !
GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!
http://www.cesa8.k12.wi.us/teares/math/it/samplePort/ANN%20K/index.htm - good easy to navigate
I thought that Paula‘s, Ryan‘s, Mandy’s, Judy’s and Dave’s YouTube videos were great, and I could tell they put a lot of time and effort into posting a flawless final production. They were all very informative and some funny while educational. Paula’s voice blog on the article about Oral Communication course- on using voice blog as addon activity for oral practice, to improve listening and speaking skills for foreign language teachers was interesting. Mandy’s production on ESL and Technology was great and very educational. It is true that teachers who use computers to facilitate learning will become learners themselves; and technology is the key for preparing English language learns for the 21st century. Ryan did a good job for the article on the Internet opening up new opportunities for socializing. It is interesting that 30% of students reported being involved directly with bullying, 13% perpetrators, 11% victims and the rest both. I do agree that it certainly is very important to educate students and parents about cyber bullying. Judy and Dave’s videos were very funny and informative.
Sarah used Prezi and created a poster about skype and how it is an effective way for teachers to update their teaching techniques and improve their technology literacy at their own pace, building confidence and skills. I didn’t know that skype can be used to provide a variety of authentic learning experiences to students who speak a second language. I think the prezi presentation was very interesting, it is very similar to Glogster posters although it was a bit difficult to navigate.
The Glogster posters created by Mike, Sarah, and Julie G and Ashley were stimulating. Josh’s MP3 was very original and catchy yet educational.
I have a class of very talented creative individuals who I am very proud to be a part of I learned so much !
GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!
http://www.cesa8.k12.wi.us/teares/math/it/samplePort/ANN%20K/index.htm - good easy to navigate
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Smartboard
The Smartboard is a wonderful tool for the classroom. It is essentially a large, touch-sensitive screen. The board is connected, via a standard USB plug, to a computer and a digital projector, which displays the computer's screen image onto the whiteboard. Work done on the board can be saved on the computer and emailed later if the need be.
I like the idea of the smartboard in the classroom. It brings the information alive to the students, each lesson can become an interactive one and it can help students to be very motivated to learn. The smartboard is very useful to demonstrate and teach any subject. The teachers can go to websites that have great interactive materials, they can annotate and highlight text that students can see from the back of the room, they can shape paragraphs to show main ideas, cause-and-effect, students can see writing in bright colors, move pieces of puzzles, play Jeopardy with review questions, write with digital ink and so many other things. The interactive white board is a excellent tool to enhance teaching and can be so much more interesting and make learning cool beyond words.
Although the Smartboard is amazing, I noticed a few disadvantages while lessons were being taught. It was a bit time consuming when students went up to the board to participate; I noticed while some students were walking up to the smartboard, other students were having their own conversations which was a little distracting. While practicing my own lesson, I noticed that the interactive white board was not so easy to touch and is not as "smart" (I guess it would take a little getting used to). The smartboard is very expensive, as a result, it would be difficult to have in every classroom.
My overall impression of the Smartboard is definitely a positive one and I would embrace the idea of having one in my classroom someday.
I like the idea of the smartboard in the classroom. It brings the information alive to the students, each lesson can become an interactive one and it can help students to be very motivated to learn. The smartboard is very useful to demonstrate and teach any subject. The teachers can go to websites that have great interactive materials, they can annotate and highlight text that students can see from the back of the room, they can shape paragraphs to show main ideas, cause-and-effect, students can see writing in bright colors, move pieces of puzzles, play Jeopardy with review questions, write with digital ink and so many other things. The interactive white board is a excellent tool to enhance teaching and can be so much more interesting and make learning cool beyond words.
Although the Smartboard is amazing, I noticed a few disadvantages while lessons were being taught. It was a bit time consuming when students went up to the board to participate; I noticed while some students were walking up to the smartboard, other students were having their own conversations which was a little distracting. While practicing my own lesson, I noticed that the interactive white board was not so easy to touch and is not as "smart" (I guess it would take a little getting used to). The smartboard is very expensive, as a result, it would be difficult to have in every classroom.
My overall impression of the Smartboard is definitely a positive one and I would embrace the idea of having one in my classroom someday.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Video Project
My video project experience was unforgettable. Although there were technical difficulties before the project started, the end result was quite rewarding. I would like to thank my teammates Mike and Dave for being the best partners anyone can have; and Michele for providing us with the opportunity to work on a project like this. We had an amazing time from beginning to end. It all started in class where we had a few ideas that weren’t accepted because they were not really social issues. Then we put our heads together and came up with Anti-Smoking. Shortly thereafter we planned out the storyline, scenes and got statistics using google docs. A few days later we shot about 7 minutes of video, edited and added sound. The finished project looks and sounds so professional with a powerful message.
I enjoyed creating video in the classroom and I can see how much pride a student could feel over developing a video project. I don’t know many students who don’t enjoy seeing themselves on camera and hearing their own voices. Even students who normally don’t like to express themselves (like me) in front of other people would enjoy the projects.
I’ve seen videos that tend to be more about social issues, but I could see students in a science class for example using them to talk more about environmental issues. There could be a lesson where students learn about the environment and how changes in the environment, whether by humans or other organisms, can drastically alter the ecosystems as a whole. I can imagine students creating a video about a particular ecosystem showing the different organisms living within it and how humans have affected it, or how humans can help restore the ecosystem to its original state.
I enjoyed creating video in the classroom and I can see how much pride a student could feel over developing a video project. I don’t know many students who don’t enjoy seeing themselves on camera and hearing their own voices. Even students who normally don’t like to express themselves (like me) in front of other people would enjoy the projects.
I’ve seen videos that tend to be more about social issues, but I could see students in a science class for example using them to talk more about environmental issues. There could be a lesson where students learn about the environment and how changes in the environment, whether by humans or other organisms, can drastically alter the ecosystems as a whole. I can imagine students creating a video about a particular ecosystem showing the different organisms living within it and how humans have affected it, or how humans can help restore the ecosystem to its original state.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Week 6: Copyright
I personally feel that some of the copyright laws are a little ridiculous. For example, if I want to make a copy of a CD I bought onto a recordable CD I bought and give it to a friend, that is a violation of copyright law. If I decide to upload the contents of that CD I bought to the Internet onto a web server I paid for and make it freely available to anyone who wishes to download it, that is also in violation of copyright law. Showing a copyrighted video / movie in the classroom is also a violation of the copyright law. We all copy and distribute information that is copyrighted without permission whether it is via email or handing out relevant information in classrooms to enhance knowledge; those are copyright infringement and are technically violations unless permission was granted by the author / creator. With technology today, there are so many ways in which people actually download music, movies, software etc. for free whether they are aware of copyright infringement laws or not. I was in class the other day and when the professor distributed handouts, I chuckled and couldn’t help but think that she was stealing someone else’s information.
I know that copyright is to help promote arts and science and help people create their own ideas- but it all boils down to making the dollars and cents. There is a gray area of what is allowed and not allowed to be copied. As an educator, I don’t that I would be teach copyright laws because it is too complex and there is much information on the legal side. However, I think I would have a lawyer come in to educate my students- after all they need to know the rights of copyright.
There were some interesting statistical analysis in chapter 7 of Educause. It is no surprise that there is a trend among college students who own (93.4%) some kind of technology and have access to technology. Females tend to own cell phones (84.7%) than males (7.7%). It was fascinating that the Net Generation students actually had mixed feelings about the use of technology in teaching and learning in the classroom. I think that technology in the classroom depends on the individual’s needs and personal experience. Some students may like just taking classes online, while others prefer going to class and having face to face interaction with peers and teachers; and then there are those students would rather have both interaction and technology. I personally prefer going to class and having face to face interaction along with using technology as a tool for better understanding. Since I’ve been out of school for over 10 years, everything is new and exciting to me. I love the fact that we can incorporate technology in every facet of life including language.
If I were giving a similar survey, I would ask the following questions:
Would you like technology to be incorporated in every subject area of the classroom?
What subject would benefit you most if you were to use technology?
How do you benefit from the use of technology in the classroom?
On a scale of one to five, with one being the least important and five being the most important, how would you rate teachers who use technology in the classroom?
Teachers who use technology all the time -
Teachers who use technology periodically-
Teachers who do not use technology at all-
I know that copyright is to help promote arts and science and help people create their own ideas- but it all boils down to making the dollars and cents. There is a gray area of what is allowed and not allowed to be copied. As an educator, I don’t that I would be teach copyright laws because it is too complex and there is much information on the legal side. However, I think I would have a lawyer come in to educate my students- after all they need to know the rights of copyright.
There were some interesting statistical analysis in chapter 7 of Educause. It is no surprise that there is a trend among college students who own (93.4%) some kind of technology and have access to technology. Females tend to own cell phones (84.7%) than males (7.7%). It was fascinating that the Net Generation students actually had mixed feelings about the use of technology in teaching and learning in the classroom. I think that technology in the classroom depends on the individual’s needs and personal experience. Some students may like just taking classes online, while others prefer going to class and having face to face interaction with peers and teachers; and then there are those students would rather have both interaction and technology. I personally prefer going to class and having face to face interaction along with using technology as a tool for better understanding. Since I’ve been out of school for over 10 years, everything is new and exciting to me. I love the fact that we can incorporate technology in every facet of life including language.
If I were giving a similar survey, I would ask the following questions:
Would you like technology to be incorporated in every subject area of the classroom?
What subject would benefit you most if you were to use technology?
How do you benefit from the use of technology in the classroom?
On a scale of one to five, with one being the least important and five being the most important, how would you rate teachers who use technology in the classroom?
Teachers who use technology all the time -
Teachers who use technology periodically-
Teachers who do not use technology at all-
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Week 4: Excel in the Classroom
Excel spreadsheets have such a wide variety of uses in the classroom, from a math graph, to a science weather log, to a social studies timeline. Five ways Excel could be incorporated into that classroom are:
1: Students can use Excel to explore order of operations and the effect of parentheses. They can input a mathematical expression, and alter it with parentheses to see how many different answers can be generated. Students can begin by entering an expression into the cell. They can then copy and paste that expression into the cell below. Then they can modify the expression in the formular bar by adding or removing parentheses. Students can later see how many different results they get from the original expression.
2: Students can gather information from their homes as to the number of pieces of technology their family owns - for example telephones, televisions, computers, etc. They can then plot this information into an Excel spreadsheet.
3: Students can use collected data to distinguish what pets they have or would like to have. They can correlate findings with Excel. At the end of the lesson they can tabulate a bar chart and present their findings to the class.
4: Students, working in pairs, can gather information about the cars in their teachers' parking lot. They can determine the total number of cars and the number of each different make/model of car. The students can then use this data to create a graph on Excel.
5: Students cab create a timeline of President Obama's life on Microsoft Excel. In this history lesson, students can research President Obama's life and sequence the important events of his life on a timeline. Students can use Microsoft Excel to create a spreadsheet of information.
1: Students can use Excel to explore order of operations and the effect of parentheses. They can input a mathematical expression, and alter it with parentheses to see how many different answers can be generated. Students can begin by entering an expression into the cell. They can then copy and paste that expression into the cell below. Then they can modify the expression in the formular bar by adding or removing parentheses. Students can later see how many different results they get from the original expression.
2: Students can gather information from their homes as to the number of pieces of technology their family owns - for example telephones, televisions, computers, etc. They can then plot this information into an Excel spreadsheet.
3: Students can use collected data to distinguish what pets they have or would like to have. They can correlate findings with Excel. At the end of the lesson they can tabulate a bar chart and present their findings to the class.
4: Students, working in pairs, can gather information about the cars in their teachers' parking lot. They can determine the total number of cars and the number of each different make/model of car. The students can then use this data to create a graph on Excel.
5: Students cab create a timeline of President Obama's life on Microsoft Excel. In this history lesson, students can research President Obama's life and sequence the important events of his life on a timeline. Students can use Microsoft Excel to create a spreadsheet of information.
Week 4: Google Docs or Microsoft?
Google Docs and Microsoft Office are both great applications in their own ways. The difference is that Microsoft Office is a more sophisticated software that has many features, while Google Docs is a simpler version of Microsoft Office where the user has the capability to instantly access their documents.
I would recommend Google Docs application over Microsoft word in school for the following reasons. Google Docs is perfect for basic classroom use. It not only enables uploading and saving to desktop, but is accessible for editing anytime from anywhere, it securely store files and best of all it is FREE. If the school’s budget is low, then it would be beneficial for the school to use Google Docs. Google Docs is adequate for straightforward documents, worksheets, note-taking, collaboration and sharing.
There are three types of documents that students can create; text documents- like they would in a word processor, spreadsheets, and presentations. For the formatting options, adjustments can be made to the font and layout, students can insert images, tables, footnotes, and other elements. In addition, there are tools for looking up terms and counting the number of words in a document. One of the many other great feature of Google Docs is they way documents can be shared and exported in various ways. Export formats include Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF. Documents, and entire folders, can be made public and can even be edited by teachers / students who have access to the file, making it easy for students to work together on group projects or share their work with their instructors. Many students today have laptops and move from one computer to another, if they used a program like Google docs, it would enable them to easily access their documents from the school’s computer to their personal computer instantly if they need to make changes or just simply need to add an idea that may have just popped in their head.
Although the spreadsheet part of Google docs isn’t as sophisticated as Microsoft office, students who would use the basic functions will have no problem; on the other hand the more advanced students will find the application exasperating. Microsoft Excel has many different features and options that enables the program to have greater graphing and analyzing capabilities.
In spite of the fact that I think Google Docs should be used in the classroom, there are to some degree where it shouldn’t be used. For example, if there are more advanced students who are writing publication / research quality documents and need sophisticated spreadsheet and other software, Microsoft would be the way to go.
I would recommend Google Docs application over Microsoft word in school for the following reasons. Google Docs is perfect for basic classroom use. It not only enables uploading and saving to desktop, but is accessible for editing anytime from anywhere, it securely store files and best of all it is FREE. If the school’s budget is low, then it would be beneficial for the school to use Google Docs. Google Docs is adequate for straightforward documents, worksheets, note-taking, collaboration and sharing.
There are three types of documents that students can create; text documents- like they would in a word processor, spreadsheets, and presentations. For the formatting options, adjustments can be made to the font and layout, students can insert images, tables, footnotes, and other elements. In addition, there are tools for looking up terms and counting the number of words in a document. One of the many other great feature of Google Docs is they way documents can be shared and exported in various ways. Export formats include Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF. Documents, and entire folders, can be made public and can even be edited by teachers / students who have access to the file, making it easy for students to work together on group projects or share their work with their instructors. Many students today have laptops and move from one computer to another, if they used a program like Google docs, it would enable them to easily access their documents from the school’s computer to their personal computer instantly if they need to make changes or just simply need to add an idea that may have just popped in their head.
Although the spreadsheet part of Google docs isn’t as sophisticated as Microsoft office, students who would use the basic functions will have no problem; on the other hand the more advanced students will find the application exasperating. Microsoft Excel has many different features and options that enables the program to have greater graphing and analyzing capabilities.
In spite of the fact that I think Google Docs should be used in the classroom, there are to some degree where it shouldn’t be used. For example, if there are more advanced students who are writing publication / research quality documents and need sophisticated spreadsheet and other software, Microsoft would be the way to go.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Week 3- Social Bookmarking :-)
Why didn't I know about social bookmarking sooner? My life would have been so much easier as a student in college. I remember having to manually copy each website I visited ( some of which I couldn't read my own handwriting and had to omit or some sited were just incorrect). It was so frustrating and time consuming. I also bookmarked some sites which ended being a mess because there were too many bookmarks. Whenever I did research at home and went to school- I would sometimes leave my hard copy at home or whatever I bookmarked on my home computer was not accessible in college. So when I was introduced to Social Bookmarking, I was amazed.
What is social bookmarking you might ask? Well, social bookmarking provides a way for students or teachers to save all their links in one place on the internet. These links are saved with one or more tags to help find the site in the future. For example, M. Mslevy found some sites with valuable information about Technology in the classroom and tagged the links. Now, all the websites that she tagged is easily accessible by myself and my fellow classmates; not only can she share these bookmarks with her students but she can share her private collection with the entire community of others interested in Technology in the classroom. The advantage of using social bookmarking is the human collaboration involved in searching. If the teacher or student searches for information on a topic, a social bookmarking site like Delicious provides links to sites that other people also have found valuable. Sharing is what makes social bookmarking so effective. Because some bookmarking allows users to rank the site's usefulness; over time, the quality of a site may be more easily discovered by recommendations from individuals rather than depending on Google which measures the value of a site by the number of visits.
As an educational tool, Social bookmarking can help students to find ways to search for information other than through Google. Students who use social bookmarking will also be less likely to lose links that they have found important. If social bookmarking is used in the classroom, students and teachers can move from one computer to another and still have full access to their bookmarks. Students and teachers will be less likely to forget the location of the sites they have used. Students will be able to share their bookmarks with their classmates. Both students and teachers can also share collections of bookmarks they have found to be worthwhile. Social bookmarking can also help students to quickly find links to important current events and historical events or as a matter of fact any topic of interest.
What is social bookmarking you might ask? Well, social bookmarking provides a way for students or teachers to save all their links in one place on the internet. These links are saved with one or more tags to help find the site in the future. For example, M. Mslevy found some sites with valuable information about Technology in the classroom and tagged the links. Now, all the websites that she tagged is easily accessible by myself and my fellow classmates; not only can she share these bookmarks with her students but she can share her private collection with the entire community of others interested in Technology in the classroom. The advantage of using social bookmarking is the human collaboration involved in searching. If the teacher or student searches for information on a topic, a social bookmarking site like Delicious provides links to sites that other people also have found valuable. Sharing is what makes social bookmarking so effective. Because some bookmarking allows users to rank the site's usefulness; over time, the quality of a site may be more easily discovered by recommendations from individuals rather than depending on Google which measures the value of a site by the number of visits.
As an educational tool, Social bookmarking can help students to find ways to search for information other than through Google. Students who use social bookmarking will also be less likely to lose links that they have found important. If social bookmarking is used in the classroom, students and teachers can move from one computer to another and still have full access to their bookmarks. Students and teachers will be less likely to forget the location of the sites they have used. Students will be able to share their bookmarks with their classmates. Both students and teachers can also share collections of bookmarks they have found to be worthwhile. Social bookmarking can also help students to quickly find links to important current events and historical events or as a matter of fact any topic of interest.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Week 2 - Educause Chapters 5-6-7
Today more so than ever technology has evolved in our language. The Net Generation’s world revolves around technology, it is the world in which they live and communicate. I grew up in the Net Generation and am very familiar with the language. Technology is integrated in my personal and academic life in so many ways. I purchase almost everything online, chat with my friends online, check the news, weather, movie times and lottery ticket online, communicate with friends and family online, work online, pay bills online etc. My two children ages 1 and 3 are also members of the Net Generation. My son who is 3 years old knows how to navigate through interactive games and use the mouse. He can go on the computer and choose his favorite game to play. My daughter at 1 year knows how to play baby games on my Ipod Touch. My parents on the other hand, who can barely use the mouse on the computer or send a text message are astonished to see their grandchildren using the computer at such a young age; and how much smarter they are at ages 1 and 3 compared to kids 20 years ago. Whenever I talk about emails or Instant messaging and how I multitask between the television, importing pictures, surfing the net and listening to music, My mom and dad who are Digital Immigrants are clueless- they would rather communicate the way they are used to and do things one at a time. They have cell phones just for emergencies and their camera actually has film that they take to walmart to be developed.
Chapter 5 of Educause is about the Student’s perspective. This chapter is very interesting because it talks about the Net Geners drive to succeed with the plethora of information in the palm of their hands; they feel that they are smarter, easily adaptable, and more likely to use technology to solve problems of the past and present generations. The Net Generation according to Paul Hagner not only posses the skills necessary to use new communication forms, but there is an ever increasing expectation on their part that these new communication paths be used. I agree that the Net Generation is lazy because as stated in the article, students don’t go to the library anymore, they search online; they don’t pick up the dictionary anymore, they go to dictionary.com instead. But with access to so much information at their fingertips anytime, how can anyone not become reliable on technology? I think it is possible that Net Geners can learn about anything by means of technology if they want to learn and if that is how they learn better.
In Chapter 6 of Educause the authors discuss preparing the academy of today for the learner of tomorrow. Generations and technology was discussed for Matures, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and the Net Generation. It is interesting how technology has advanced from large vacuum tube radios to tiny MP3, cell phones and PDA’s. Computers are so different now with the advent of digital technology. The reports from the Pew internet and American Life Project show that one in five of today’s college students began using computers between the ages of 5 and 8; by the time they were 16 to 18, all of them used computers. Nationwide, nearly 90 percent of college students have gone online, compared with about 60 percent of the general population. Imagine that, 60% of the general population today use the internet… now I know why Apple, Verizon, Samsung etc. are making so much money inventing and selling new technology every couple of months. The Net Geners are up to date with all the mobile multifunctional devices. Who would have thought that cell phones today could be used for text messages, taking pictures and videos, surfing the net, calling each other and so much more. The Net Generation don’t even have to read directions to figure something that is very complicated, they just fiddle around with it and figure it out, it’s like second nature to them. Students’ behaviors, attitudes and expectations are generally shaped by their generation. Whatever the generation, Baby boomers, Gen-Xers or Net Geners the students believe that excellent instructors can help students learn even with technology; technology is just a very helpful tool in the learning process.
There were some interesting statistical analysis in chapter 7 of Educause. It is no surprise that there is a trend among college students who own (93.4%) some kind of technology and have access to technology. Females tend to own cell phones (84.7%) than males (7.7%). It was fascinating that the Net Generation students actually had mixed feelings about the use of technology in teaching and learning in the classroom. I think that technology in the classroom depends on the individual’s needs and personal experience. Some students may like just taking classes online, while others prefer going to class and having face to face interaction with peers and teachers; and then there are those students would rather have both interaction and technology. I personally prefer going to class and having face to face interaction along with using technology as a tool for better understanding. Since I’ve been out of school for over 10 years, everything is new and exciting to me. I love the fact that we can incorporate technology in every facet of life including language.
Chapter 5 of Educause is about the Student’s perspective. This chapter is very interesting because it talks about the Net Geners drive to succeed with the plethora of information in the palm of their hands; they feel that they are smarter, easily adaptable, and more likely to use technology to solve problems of the past and present generations. The Net Generation according to Paul Hagner not only posses the skills necessary to use new communication forms, but there is an ever increasing expectation on their part that these new communication paths be used. I agree that the Net Generation is lazy because as stated in the article, students don’t go to the library anymore, they search online; they don’t pick up the dictionary anymore, they go to dictionary.com instead. But with access to so much information at their fingertips anytime, how can anyone not become reliable on technology? I think it is possible that Net Geners can learn about anything by means of technology if they want to learn and if that is how they learn better.
In Chapter 6 of Educause the authors discuss preparing the academy of today for the learner of tomorrow. Generations and technology was discussed for Matures, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and the Net Generation. It is interesting how technology has advanced from large vacuum tube radios to tiny MP3, cell phones and PDA’s. Computers are so different now with the advent of digital technology. The reports from the Pew internet and American Life Project show that one in five of today’s college students began using computers between the ages of 5 and 8; by the time they were 16 to 18, all of them used computers. Nationwide, nearly 90 percent of college students have gone online, compared with about 60 percent of the general population. Imagine that, 60% of the general population today use the internet… now I know why Apple, Verizon, Samsung etc. are making so much money inventing and selling new technology every couple of months. The Net Geners are up to date with all the mobile multifunctional devices. Who would have thought that cell phones today could be used for text messages, taking pictures and videos, surfing the net, calling each other and so much more. The Net Generation don’t even have to read directions to figure something that is very complicated, they just fiddle around with it and figure it out, it’s like second nature to them. Students’ behaviors, attitudes and expectations are generally shaped by their generation. Whatever the generation, Baby boomers, Gen-Xers or Net Geners the students believe that excellent instructors can help students learn even with technology; technology is just a very helpful tool in the learning process.
There were some interesting statistical analysis in chapter 7 of Educause. It is no surprise that there is a trend among college students who own (93.4%) some kind of technology and have access to technology. Females tend to own cell phones (84.7%) than males (7.7%). It was fascinating that the Net Generation students actually had mixed feelings about the use of technology in teaching and learning in the classroom. I think that technology in the classroom depends on the individual’s needs and personal experience. Some students may like just taking classes online, while others prefer going to class and having face to face interaction with peers and teachers; and then there are those students would rather have both interaction and technology. I personally prefer going to class and having face to face interaction along with using technology as a tool for better understanding. Since I’ve been out of school for over 10 years, everything is new and exciting to me. I love the fact that we can incorporate technology in every facet of life including language.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Google Docs. Week 2
I think Google Docs is quite an amazing and productive tool that is somewhat like MS Word. There are so many things I learned in class and on my own about it that I find interesting. My computer froze after I copied and paste my lesson plans. I thought I lost everything and was a bit annoyed until I realized that there is auto save in google docs.... YAY, I retrieved everything!! I love the fact that the information saved can be remotely accessed anytime from anywhere. I don't have to attach anything in an email and send it to someone and have them send it back to me, back and forth; information can be shared and edited with feedback instantly. I can just imagine myself as a teacher using google docs and how much easier it would be not to have to fetch students assignments home. I will introduce this application to students as a word processing option regardless of the class I happen to teach. Thanks Michele:-)
Sunday, September 5, 2010
21st Century Digital Learner
In the article 21st Century Digital Learner, while I do agree and think that it is important that the voices of students should be heard because there is without a doubt a technology gap; I don’t believe that kids should have a choice about how they are educated. The student's opinion is very important and valuable but "if you give them an inch they will take a yard". Kids have too many dislikes about school, if it were up to them there would be no homework. Students are in school to be taught what to do and how to do it not the other way around (“the inmates should” not “run the asylum“). Marc stated in the article “Today’s kids hate being talked at. They hate when teaching is simply telling. They hate lectures and tune them out.” I find that amusing because if they hate so many things and think that their teacher is tough, I wonder what it would be like when they get their boss.
There are some teachers who have taught for years and have managed to capture their student's attention beyond expectations by other means other than the computer. Today, with technology in the classroom, dynamic educators can now have more ways to improve their presentation of material, engage students and provide relevant information.
Digital Natives
Our Society has changed the way we communicate and interact with each other on personal and global levels. This is because of advances in technology. Times have changed and I believe that the educational system methods should be tweaked as well. There should be some form of integration of technology. I certainly agree that this generation of new students learn differently. The new students of today as stated in the article Digital Natives are sorrounded by technology like the computer, video games, digital music players, cell phones etc; which as a result alter students thinking patterns and the way they socialize / interact. Not too long ago people actually communicated with each other face to face. Today on the other hand, business transaction can be completed between two parties without anyone ever talking or seeing each other. This is the way of the future and we have to conform to it. Although it would be tough for digital immigrants to change thier methodology to the future language of the digital natives, they (digital immigrants) ultimately have no choice. The point is for students to succeed and be productive members of society in the long run.
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