ILP “Participation” – Lynda.com tutorial: Up and Running with Edmodo

My Learning Experience with Lynda.com Tutorials
I have no idea why I didn't think to complete this tutorial before creating an Edmodo for my first Independent Learning Project. However, after being somewhat familiar with Edmodo this tutorial was simple to follow while still teaching me SO MUCH. I knew the basics and this tutorial provided much further knowledge about using Edmodo and all of it's many features. Lynda.com tutorials are easy to access and contain so much useful information. I will definitely be accessing this resource more often while I am a student at Florida State.
The best part about this specific tutorial is the way I was able to see what the instructor was doing on the website. Capturing screenshots made it easy to follow and will be good resources for my future Edmodo classroom (see screenshots below). Another thing I liked was how the instructor showed me what each post looks like from a students profile. 
The coolest feature about Edmodo that I learned in this tutorial is the quiz customization. There are so many different options to choose from to make the quiz just the way it needs to be (see notes below).
  
Notes

Edmodo can teach students about digital citizenship and how to use social media in a safe and secure way.

*Join communities on Edmodo, specifically, Digital Citizenship community.

"Range" allows for selection of more than one grade.

Create groups for each class period AND small groups for projects, discussion boards, collaboration, etc.

To customize profile settings: upper right corner - enter profile information - MAKE SURE TIME ZONE IS CORRECT (tests, assignments, due dates will be affected by this).

Left side bar: add school to make connections with other teachers/co-workers; customize URL; email and text updates option.

Choose who you want to send messages/assignments/quizzes/notes to.

Group code or Join URL to invite students.

Parent code connects to students account so parents can only see things posted by their child or the teacher.

Lock the group code after all students have joined.

Teacher can delete anything students post to keep it appropriate.

The clock icon can be used to schedule posts so teacher doesn't post during school time.

Polls can provide important student feedback for the teacher.

*Post a poll the day before an in-class discussion to prompt students and get them excited about the topic.

Customization for quizzes:

1. Time limit

2. Point value for each question.

3. Types of questions (multiple choice, true false, short answer, matching, fill in blank)

4. Edmodo automatically grades everything EXCEPT short answer and fill in the blank must be EXACTLY like the teacher typed it.

5. Preview quiz to see it from students perspective.

6. Give partial credit for short answer, MUST CLICK "CORRECT" first.

Screenshots

 

Sundae Survey

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6l2VNVe9cIyw21f

10-Final EME Post

              Data Collection tools, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms, can be used in many ways as a teacher. I really liked the simplicity of both Survey Monkey and Google Forms in our classroom this semester. Voting on things such as “Best in Show” made it fun and easy to interact with other people in the classroom. I would like to implement this in my future classroom. Whenever we do science or history fair in a fourth grade class, we could use a Google Form to decide which project the students thought was best. Involving the students in picking the best project gets them excited and more motivated to do well on their project.

             The blogs this semester were so interesting to read! It is hard to pick only one favorite topic but I really loved reading about the ways in which each person plans to use certain tools in their future career. Our class is full of such a diverse population of creativity so I feel that these sections really opened my mind to new ideas that I can use in my future career. Some of the topics in this course were difficult to understand how they could be used in the classroom. But reading my classmates’ blogs about their ideas was really helpful in understanding the possible applications of each tool.

            The next technology-related skill I would like to learn is the smart board. I played with the smart board a little in the FSU Tech Sandbox and some of my high school teachers used it. There seems to be so many cool capabilities within the smart board and I would love to learn how to use one and possibly have one in my future classroom. Even using them for PowerPoint games seems to be better than just using a projector and a clicker. With the smart board, I could touch the screen like the actual Jeopardy game. I think this tool has tons of capabilities that could really enhance any classroom interaction.

            To achieve my future technology-related goals I will likely take more Lynda courses while at Florida State University. Reading about my classmates’ experiences with Lynda really convinced me to take advantage of these courses and resources. Another tool that I will use is google. More specifically, I can use the internet to find different seminars or lectures for professional development on technology-related topics. This course also taught me to take advantage of my co-workers and my schools librarian for help or guidance with certain technology-related tools. Asking for help and collaborating with others can greatly increase my knowledge with certain technology-related topics and tools.

9-The Flipped Classroom, Professional Development, and PowerPoint Information

"The Flipped Classroom"
This classroom describes a scenario/routine where the student learns the material at home through an online video of a lecture. Then the student comes to the classroom to complete assignments or work on activities with others. This concept is basically "flipping" the traditional classroom. In the traditional classroom, students sit in a room and listen to a lecture. After a lesson, students are typically given at-home-assignments or homework to complete. "The Flipped Classroom" is simply reversing this concept. Here is an example of a website containing educational videos for kids. http://www.turtlediary.com/videos.html

Web-based Resource for Professional Development
http://www.learningandthebrain.com/teacher-professional-development-conferences
This link guides you to a website containing upcoming conferences for teachers to attend for professional development. After looking at this website for a few minutes, I quickly realized how informative it is. There are many conferences listed and they each include the date, place, featured speaker, and a short description of what will be discussed at the conference. One conference that stuck out to me was The Science of Imagination: Cultivating Curiosity and Creativity in Our Schools. This conference will take place April 7th-9th in Orlando, FL. When I clicked on the event title, it brought me to multiple links about research on this particular topic. This can be extremely helpful for teacher professional development. This resource provides information that can help prepare for the conference before attending.

PowerPoint Interaction Assignment
This PowerPoint assignment was so much fun! The template that Nova and I found for Family Feud was so easy to use. We were able to create our very own game for our 4th grade science class in about an hour. After doing the PowerPoint for Information Dissemination I learned a lot of new skills that I was able to use when creating this PowerPoint Interaction game. I think it is really cool how I can create the navigation kiosk to control what comes next in the show. This provides so much creativity for creating PowerPoint games! This was definitely my favorite skill learned during this assignment. There really wasn't anything I disliked about this assignment!
In my future career as a school speech therapist, I can use these skills a lot. For example, when practicing certain speech sounds with a group of students, I can create a game through PowerPoint. I think one of the most important parts about speech therapy is building confidence to speak out loud to others. An interactive game could help encourage this. Students can earn points for the team by saying challenging words out loud. I look forward to creating games similar to this one in my future career.

8-Emerging Technologies, The Digital Divide, and PowerPoint

Emerging Technologies

After reading chapter 12, I think that personal learning environments hold the biggest promise for education. Giving students the opportunity to have their own goals and different techniques to accomplish them allows for a lot of growth. One of the biggest problems with today’s classrooms is the different levels within a grade level. As a student, I felt that I was held back from learning throughout elementary and middle school. Many students struggle with this. Some may be way behind the majority of the class and this can really affect their self-confidence and self-efficacy in school. This just leads to further retention. Personal learning environments embrace the diversity of the classroom and allow each student to work at their own pace. They create personal learning spaces adapted for individual learners. The technologies allow students to personalize their learning environment while still having the support and sanction of educational institutions.

The Digital Divide
The Digital Divide describes the students who have computers and other technology at home and those who do not. This can be a great challenge in the classroom. Technology is always talked about as being so great and the future of the classroom but this can cause many problems for students who do not have access at home. Growing up, I always had a home computer and when I graduated high school I was given my own laptop. This made it easier for my parents to contact my teacher and check my grades multiple times throughout the week. I think this made a huge difference in my school experience. As a teacher, it is important to recognize that not every student or parent will have these opportunities. To make sure that these students do not fall behind in digital literacy, I will give them adequate time to use computers and technology throughout the school year. The Digital Divide makes it even more crucial for teachers to integrate technology in the classroom every chance they get.

PowerPoint
The PowerPoint for Information Dissemination assignment was a lot of fun. Before working on this assignment, I thought I knew all there was to know about PowerPoint presentations. I quickly learned that I was wrong. PowerPoint has so many features to help make an amazing presentation. The new skill I learned was how to record a presentation show with audio. At first, I thought this would be really difficult but it ended up being super easy. I think this could be really helpful for presentations given at a distance. If the speaker is unable to attend, he/she can simply record the show with their voice and send it to the conference or meeting. In my future career, I know I will use PowerPoint.

The only thing I did not like about this assignment was the master slide tool. It was really hard for me to figure out. I still do not fully understand the point of having a master slide. But hopefully I can continue to practice and talk to my instructor about what the advantages of a master slide are. I really liked using a template online, I had no idea there were that many free options! I will definitely be using those in the future.

As a speech therapist, I might not use it every day to teach my students like a teacher would, but I will use it in other ways. I can use it to present my techniques to my colleagues or parents. One really cool application would be to record the child’s voice and speech pronunciations. Throughout the PowerPoint, the listener (parent or colleague) could listen to the different speech sounds the child has improved on. Speech therapy takes a lot of work and sometimes the accomplishments are too small to notice. But making a PowerPoint show could help accent the accomplishments and show what the child has worked on throughout the therapy sessions.

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QZv57tzBGjbUvfaIhDU0VdurGHMuNpCyoCd2zfwEmKI/embed?start=true&loop=true&delayms=3000" frameborder="0" width="272" height="182" allowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true"></iframe>

7- PowerPoint, Adaptive Technologies, Web Page Design

              PowerPoint can be a very useful tool to support student learning in a particular lesson. At the first level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, knowledge, I would present my student’s with a slide on terms and key information they need to recall before the new lesson. The second level, comprehension, has to do with translating information. In the PowerPoint I could include a short video clip that demonstrates the definitions and key terms being used in context. Application is the third level and it can be applied in the PowerPoint through multiple slides containing specific examples of the subject. The analysis level is used to differentiate things. As the teacher, I would include a PowerPoint slide asking the students to explain the difference between two similar, yet different, components. The PowerPoint can also contain multiple articles from various sources that allows the students to synthesize and relate all of the information together. At the end of the PowerPoint I would have a section for evaluation. This would give my students the opportunity to gather all of their thoughts on the subject and then reflect on it. Higher-order questioning would be important to evaluate how well the students comprehend the material.

Adaptive technologies are used to support diverse learners. Students who have physical disabilities and cannot use a mouse, type, or read can use different output or input devices to allow them to operate a computer. An input device they can use voice recognition software instead of typing. An output device that can be used is a braille printer. Students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities can use spell check programs to help them write papers. The textbook mentions text-to-speech programs which provides auditory feedback to what they have written. This can be extremely useful for students with a visual impairment. I have not used any of these technologies and I do not know anyone personally who has used them. I hope that sometime in the near future I can see, in person, how these adaptive technologies are used and how they enhance every students learning. There are some challenges that could come with using adaptive technologies, but the positive effects they have on learning are worth the challenges. Some challenges I perceive happening include lack of time, financial support to provide the expensive technologies, and making the student user feel comfortable using them.

              While working on the Web Page Design assignment, I learned how to change font size, font color, and header pictures. But the overall best skill I learned was how to add a questionnaire. I loved being able to add this to connect with parents and get feedback about chaperones for the field trip. Sending papers home can usually be complicated, especially with students who may misplace or lose their papers before their parents see them. This weebly feature seems to be so useful in communicating with parents and I think I would definitely use it in my future career. A web page seems to be extremely simple to operate and update and is the perfect way to connect the physical classroom with the home classroom. I really liked the format of weebly and all of the different customization tools that it contains. There really wasn’t anything I didn’t like about this assignment. It’s my favorite one so far! Check it out! http://savanaheme2040.weebly.com/

(2) ILP "Design" - Edmodo

https://www.edmodo.com/home#
Edmodo Group Code: kyiw8e
1st grade science
SC.1.E.5.1 Observe and discuss that there are more stars in the sky than anyone can easily count and that they are not scattered evenly in the sky.

Before this class, I had never heard of Edmodo. It took a bit of playing around with the website to fully understand how it works. But soon after creating my classroom, I was quickly able to post quizzes, notes, and pictures to my students and parents. Being able to communicate with both students and parents is probably my favorite feature of Edmodo. I think it can help connect with parents who live busy lives and do not have time to observe the physical classroom or go through a ton of paperwork.

Slide Share - Watch this!

Slides 16-23 give a good tip on how to avoid bullet points. The difference it makes is crazy. I am definitely one who always says "That many slides will take too long!" But actually, it's pretty clear that it won't take any longer to do a single point on each slide than several bullet points on one slide.

6 Ways to Quit Bullet Points with Style from Podium Wisdom

6-Web Evaluation Wiki

Class Web Page

I found my elementary school’s website online, Crawfordville Elementary School. I clicked to first grade and it showed me a lot of information. However, some information is hidden unless the user has a log in and password. So I did not find a specific class page, but I was able to access first grade’s page. This page provided information about spelling words, class textbooks, homework, parent night information, and kindergarten skills. This information is very useful for parents and students with internet access.

Professional Responsibilities
Anyone working with children holds an abundance of professional responsibilities. Teachers are required to communicate with students, parents, and faculty members. Using technology can really make a difference in effectively communicating with all of these individuals. E-mail, social networking sites (such as Edmodo), and class web pages are important tools that a teacher must be comfortable using. I envision myself dedicating specific time frames in my day to use all of these tools so that I don’t push it to the side and forget about it. After reading the textbook and taking this course, I realize the difference technology can make in being a successful teacher. Presentation software is also necessary in being a good, effective teacher. To engage my students in lectures I will need to use this technology often. In my PowerPoint presentations I need to use a lot of multimedia to keep students interested. Also, using themes within PowerPoint can make my presentations run smoothly and prevent students from getting distracted by tacky color schemes or unrelated themes. Printing my slides and giving them to my students to take notes on can be extremely useful in keeping students on task. They can use the printed slides to follow along and take notes during the presentation. These are only a few of the ways I envision myself using technology to accomplish my professional responsibilities as a teacher.


Web Evaluation Wiki

I really enjoyed this group assignment. A new skill that I learned while working on this assignment was how to create a webpage. I have never done this before but I have always wanted to. I think this can be really helpful in my future career as a school speech therapist. Having a wiki full of information about my students, different speech exercises, accomplishments, and other useful information can really help me connect with the parents of my students. I think meeting up with my group members really helped us collaborate and successfully complete and awesome wiki. I am excited to use this program more often in the future. I think this site is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I also learned a lot from creating the actual web evaluation form. I never realized how important it was to evaluate web pages before you share them with students. This is extremely important. I am very grateful that the Internet has so many resources and sample web evaluation forms to help me determine what web pages I will allow my students to use in the classroom.

5-Web 2.0 and Concept Mapping

Web 2.0 includes social networking tools, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and wikis (according to the podcast on Web 2.0). Many of these elements are essential in the classroom and even for teacher development.

YouTube videos are extremely helpful in the classroom, based on my experience as a student. In lectures, when a teacher shows a video it gets me back into the topic and usually helps me understand the topic more clearly. To effectively use these tools, a classroom must have connection to the Internet. As the chapter discusses, there are many different ways for schools to connect to the Internet. Some are wired together from the ceiling and others are using wireless technology, WiFi network.

Blogs are also an important element that should be used in the classroom. This course is the first to use blogs that I have taken. I really think that blogs are useful because it gives students a way to reflect on textbook chapters, lectures, and podcasts. It is also useful when reading other students blogs to see their perspective of the material. Blogs can be helpful when studying for tests or quizzes because it gives multiple viewpoints on a specific topic. To access blogs, an Internet connection is also necessary. 21classes.com gives teacher access to all of their students’ blogs so they can ensure they are being safe and appropriate. They can also control the publicity of their blogs to ensure student safety.

Twitter is also an important tool to use in the classroom. For example, students can reach out to scientists, astronauts, or doctors to ask them questions about certain topics. This gets students excited about learning because they are communicating with a main source. An Internet connection is also imperative for using Twitter.

As a teacher, it is important to not only use Web 2.0 tools in your classroom but to also allow students to engage in the use of these elements. For example, rather than showing YouTube videos in the classroom, a teacher could also teach their students how to create videos and share them through YouTube. This is probably one of the biggest lessons I have learned about educational technology so far in this course.

            Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/about “Read like you own every book in the world.” This web 2.0 tool is a membership book service. Scribd has a virtual library of approximately one million books, including audio books, music sheets, and comics. Not only does Scribd house tons of books, it also allows people to share various documents. As of now, Scribd has shared over 60 million documents from their users.

This tool can be extremely helpful in a classroom. Elementary students can use this to read books without having to go to a library. If a students’ parents cannot take them to the library, Scribd can somewhat take its place. Within the classroom, students can read while having computer time. This tool can also be accessed through the Internet on iPads or tablets which can be useful if students have access to these devices. Because this web 2.0 tool also allows academic articles to be shared, older students can use it to do research on certain topics being discussed in the classroom. Students can also share their documents and Scribd will give them the feeling of sharing with a virtual audience. This can get students excited about research which is important for teaching.

Using Webspiration turned out to be quite fun. At first, it was kind of difficult to get the program working the way we needed it to. Once my partner and I got into the program and successfully shared it with one another, it was much easier than we expected. I really liked this assignment because it is something I have never used before. The only complaint I have about this assignment is the difficulty logging in at first. Next time, I think I would meet up with my partner to complete the assignment or use some sort of video chat to connect with her while collaborating and completing the assignment. In my current “career” as a college student, I think I can use concept mapping as a tool for studying. Creating the concept, alone, was helpful in remembering facts and making connections that will stick in my long-term memory. In my future career as a school speech therapist, concept mapping can also be used. Because I am not in the program for speech therapy yet, I do not have a real specific idea of how I can utilize concept maps in my career. However, I think I could use them to communicate with parents of my students/patients. In the field of communication disorders, a lot of people do not fully understand the diagnoses or the tools needed to improve certain speech impediments. A concept map related to the specific diagnosis and all of the factors associated with it can be extremely helpful in teaching not only my students/patients, but also giving their relatives or caregivers a better understanding of what is going on.

4-Web Hunt

MAFS.3.G.1.1 Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories.

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/classify-quadrilaterals

This website contains drill-and-practice software for third graders and classifying quadrilaterals. Drill-and-practice is important for reinforcing already known material and it gives immediate feedback about a student’s progress/understanding in a certain area. Drill-and-practice is also essential in learning because it can target specific weak areas based on each student’s performance. As the teacher, I would have my students use this tool often. This can give me an idea of who understands the concept the most and who needs extra help. I would use this as a supplement to my teaching and in-class activities. This website would be shared with my students’ parents so they could work on it at home. A lot of kids enjoy using computers at home and this would give them that opportunity. I would also use this website in centers during class time. For example, I would have 3-5 stations set up relating to classifying quadrilaterals. At one station, the students would sit at computers and do the online practice given on this website. This is a really simple way to incorporate technology in the classroom and it would also interest my students much more than doing math problems on a sheet of paper would.

In the past, my research has included typing key words of a topic or question into the Google search bar. Then I usually open multiple links in new tabs and skim through each of them to decide which I will use. This is much like open content. In my previous research I have come across articles or lectures from other colleges or universities. This is very obviously a method of open education. Seeing that information or research comes from an accredited university makes me trust that the information is accurate. I have recently become exposed to open source with one of my course textbooks. The entire textbook is online for anyone to use. The content is well researched and extremely interesting. Plus, as a broke college student, I am EXTREMELY thankful for a free textbook. Open source, open education, and open content are all very useful methods of research. The problem is that a lot of people will not take the time to utilize them.

Most of the skills I used to complete the Web Hunt assignment were skills that I already had. However, I think the most interesting was finding the interactive field trip online. At first, I thought this was simply a YouTube video that showed clips of a certain place. I found out that there are websites online that provide an interactive AND virtual field trip experience for students. This really amazed me. It gave me ideas for working in Title 1 schools that cannot afford field trips for their students. Giving a virtual field trip would be a great experience for any student.

Question	1. Answer 2. Which ELA anchor standard are you addressing? (except where included)	Search Strategy (e.g. searched Google using search string "green dog")	URL where you found the answer (copy and paste from browser)
You want your students to have an idea of what their field trip to the Tallahassee Museum will be like. Find four photos that show the main activities at the museum.
You want to show your students statistics about the community they live in (Tallahassee). Find a website with the main statistics.
You want to find an audio book to share with your kindergarten students. Find a website that has one for free.

3-Digital Literacy and Newsletter

I feel most prepared to teach the “Multimedia:” Literature ELA standard. I plan to use a lot of presentations in my future classroom along with audio and video components. Throughout grade school, students learn a ton of information. In my experience, the information that I collected and prepared a presentation on was the most memorable. To this day, I can remember just about every presentation I had to do in front of my classroom. I feel very prepared and excited to teach using this standard. I also feel prepared to show videos in my classroom. This is a simple tool that can engage an abundance of students who may not remember as well if they are only reading a book or listening to a lecture. In college, I get excited about watching videos in class that relate to the topic my professor is lecturing on. These videos help me remember and apply the information I am studying. “Use Technology” is another standard that I feel confident in. Being a digital native and growing up in a world full of technology I have a ton of experience with it. Connecting and collaborating with other students and teachers across the globe is something that I know will be used frequently in my future classroom. “Evaluate Speaker’s Point of View” is a standard that I wish I was more prepared to teach. English was always a difficult subject for me so I need a lot of help with this standard if I want to teach it to my students. However, I am confident that I will be able to do this because of the amazing resources available on the Internet. Interacting with teachers who are more confident and prepared with this standard will surely help me apply it in my classroom.

I plan to work with 3^rd grade students in the future. I would like to use social networking sites with my students to engage them in learning. This tool will allow my students to connect with multiple students across the world so that they can have an insight on what they are learning. Wiki is another tool I would like to incorporate in my 3^rd grade classroom. Before reading the textbook, I had no idea the opportunities that come with using Wiki. This tool will excite my students and help them focus on a specific subject area. For example, if I am teaching my students about The Holocaust, they could use Wiki to share multiple resources and facts that they have found on their own. I think that 3^rd graders will LOVE this feeling of contributing to a lesson and sharing it with the entire class. While incorporating this technology in my classroom, I will also teach my students about digital citizenship. The textbook gives a useful list of what 21^st century educators need to teach their students. This includes things such as communicating clearly with respect and good manners, letting me know if they suspect another student is behaving inappropriately, recognize intellectual property and understand the rules about when it can be used, and ask appropriate questions related to their subject when searching for information online.

The Newsletter Design assignment was more time consuming than I expected but I had a lot of fun creating it. It kind of gave me the feeling of being a teacher which was exciting! For improvements next time, I will set aside more time to work and hopefully arrange a time with Ms. Cates to go over a few questions I had. I am looking forward to creating more newsletters in my future career! Although I want to be a Speech Therapist, I still want to work at a school. Creating a newsletter to send home with the students I work with will provide an easy way to communicate information to their parents. I will include things such as what we worked on throughout the month, what techniques helped, what the parents can do to help their child, and many other insightful updates. I never thought about doing an electronic newsletter so this was a new idea for me. I think it is helpful, especially with the ability to include a link to my e-mail and other hyperlinks that can give parents an insight to what we are doing in the classroom. I loved this assignment and almost everything about it. I am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s newsletters in class today and to hopefully share some ideas.

2-MS Word and Twitter in my future classroom

              As a student, I have used Microsoft Word for writing papers. These papers have included short stories, research essays, persuasive essays, and even poems. This program has allowed me to include graphics for title pages and data charts for research statistics. My teachers have used Microsoft Word to write up instructions for an assignment or an outline for a paper. Another way I have seen my teachers use Microsoft Word is to create a rubric for an assignment. This program makes it easy to create a sheet of paper full of information for students to refer to when working on a homework assignment. Also, my teachers have used Microsoft Word to create tests and quizzes.

              While in school, I have learned a handful of things about copyright and fair use. The most emphasized topic has been about plagiarism and how to correctly cite information from various sources. In grade school, I did not have much experience with fair use. My teachers didn’t really share much information about it with the students. However, in college this topic has become more prevalent. For example, many of my professors have warned the class not to take pictures of their PowerPoint slides because they are copyrighted. As a teacher I will ask myself the question: “Is my use of copyrighted materials a fair use?” Furthermore, I will evaluate whether or not I added material to make it something different. Also, I will have to be responsible for using the right amount of the material and not overstepping my boundaries. I will teach my students how to properly use copyrighted materials in their own work. This includes showing them the transformativeness standard and ensuring that they fully understand what it entails. These skills will prepare them in creating their own works and using other sources.

              Before last week’s class about Twitter and personal learning networks I did not know much about how it can benefit my future career. Now I fully understand the benefits of hashtags and how they can be used to find tweets related to a certain topic. This can help me in the future if I want more information about speech therapy techniques and how other therapists across the globe are dealing with certain issues. Another thing I learned was how simple and educational Twitter can be (This kind of shocked me!). Within approximately ten minutes I connected with various educational and technology-related Twitter accounts. After following these accounts, Twitter suggested other pages for me to follow based on who I was already following. This is so helpful! I am really excited to use Twitter and other personal learning networks in my future career!

1-TechInClassrooms

Computers are an essential asset to the educational experience because of the world that students will be working in. Even now most jobs require some kind of technological literacy. Not knowing how to properly use a computer could hold an individual back from being employed. Most of the students earning an education are digital natives, therefore not knowing how to operate a computer can significantly impair one from competing in the work force. Almost all teachers have a computer in their classroom to use for many tasks. These tasks include recording attendance and grades, preparing lessons and presentations, and sending e-mails to parents or administrators. Critical concerns for teachers using technology includes funding for technological devices and having enough time to use these resources. I agree that funding for the materials needed can be difficult for some schools. However, I believe that the effects technology in classrooms can have on one’s education is beyond worth the financial investment. Time can be an issue in the beginning but once the teacher and students are adjusted to it, there will actually be more time available in the school day. Bringing technology into a school that does not necessarily accept its use can also be an issue. I agree that this issue can be a huge one at first. However, once other employees learn the positive effects of technology it will make the entire school process run smoother.

Almost all of the ISTE standards “gladdened my heart”, but the main one was “Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making”. I think that research is an important part of education, especially in preparing students for college. Critical thinking is when actual learning takes place. Rather than memorizing definitions or answers for a test, challenging a student to think critically about a topic helps them understand and remember the content. The ISTE standard that seems outside my current skill set is “Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments.” Because I am not comfortable using many programs, I would have a difficult time implementing these tools in a classroom.

I really like the terms “digital native” and “digital immigrant”. I agree that almost all of today’s youth have a clear understanding of how to use technology. For example, my parents are constantly asking me how to check certain alerts on their phones or on the Internet. Whereas, my 7 year old dance students know how to operate smartphones and laptops almost as good as they know how to walk and talk. One semester I had a professor who had a lot of challenges with technology. It seemed as though every day she would not be able to play the video she had planned to show us for the lesson. As a digital native, this was a little frustrating because it was such a simple task for me. It was hard to understand why she had so many problems with technology. I think the main impact it has had on my learning experience is the amount of time wasted on a teacher’s challenges with using technology. I anticipate a slight difference between me and my future students and our use of technology. Although I do not anticipate as big a difference as I had with my teachers. But technology is ever changing so I will be required to adapt to all of these changes if I want to be the most effective teacher.

0-EMELearningStyles

 I have taken a computer fluency course, so I feel fairly comfortable with using technology. However, there are plenty of areas of technology that I am clueless about. For example, I have worked in Excel a little bit but I have a lot of room for improvement. Also, I have no experience designing web pages.

In this class, I hope to expand my knowledge of technology and become more comfortable using various programs (as mentioned above). I am excited to learn how I can incorporate what I learn, not only in my future career as a teacher, but also in my present life as a college student. The skills I learn will hopefully prepare me for the many papers, projects, and presentations that I will be assigned during my time at Florida State University.

I was not surprised with my result  as an active learner. I have always preferred hands-on activities and working with others on projects. Being a sensitive learner explains why I have always enjoyed math and science courses. These subjects contain facts and make me feel safe and confident with my answers. I am pretty balanced between visual and verbal learning styles, either teaching style is good with me, although I like having text attached to a picture or a graph to help me understand what it means or how it relates to the topic. I thought that my results would show a higher number towards the sequential learning style. I get overwhelmed if things are not going in order or if clear steps are not given. Before taking this test, I would have guessed to have greater than a 7 towards the sequential learning style.