educational technology – Never Grow Up

Virtual Reality in the Classroom

Virtual Reality is an up-and-coming technology these days. You can by VR technologies and use that at home, in your workplace, but can you use them in school? There are multiple ways VR came be integrated into school, and more importantly each grade. I think virtual reality could easily be used in courses such as history, and science. You can go back in time with the usage of Virtual Reality, which is such a cool and interesting concept.

I found this really good article, https://elearningindustry.com/pros-cons-using-virtual-reality-in-the-classroom, which discusses the Pros and Cons to using Virtual Reality in schools. When I originally thought about this topic I personally could not produce any cons. I think VR would be extremely engaging for the students and make it a lot more fun for them to learn. They might actually be excited to come to class. The article points out how expensive VR really is. Bringing Virtual Reality into schools could cost thousands of dollars. Another strong negative is that it lessens human interaction. I think this is actually becoming a very prevalent problem in 2017. Kids and teenagers alike are very disconnected from the world because of the internet and all the new technologies and applications coming out each and every day. However, I do think VR would be very helpful in the classroom if it was used properly and for limited amount of time.

Through some research I found this video on YouTube about a school in Canada using VR in their classrooms. The teacher explains that VR makes instructing students easier and more interact. They want to participate and they want to be involved in the lesson. I never thought about how it could be used in math to depict measurements easier. Virtual Reality apparently helps to shorten the length of time is takes for students to learn things. One of the teachers claimed that he was able to teach his students a lesson in 2 class period rather than weeks, etc. Virtual Reality might be the next step to better 21st century learning.

Using EdPuzzle in the Classroom

I wanted to use this particular free write entry to talk more about the website EdPuzzle. I genuinely enjoy the setup of EdPuzzle. I love the fact that this site allows students to watch a video jam-packed with info and teachers can strategically place questions or comments throughout the video. Having these question embedded throughout the videos help students reflect on all the information being thrown at them. Also, I think it is a very smart way to ensure that your students are actually watching the videos and retaining the given information. It would be very easy for students to play the video and walk away, or play the video and keep it on mute but still get credit for watching it. Putting Colorful puzzle pieces coming together these embedded questions not only grabs the attention of your class but keeps/holds their attention. I know when I am watching the EdPuzzle I take notes on what I find to be very important and nine times out of ten, the question will relate to what I have written down. However, sometimes I may miss the information stated in the question but luckily there is a “rewatch” button which I find extremely helpful.

Subsequently, I think it is great that the teacher can chose not to put any questions in the video, but can make side comments that are often really helpful and reflective. When watching the videos it is nice to pause and read a helpful fact from your personally professor. Often times, our professor will give us a heads up that the video contains older information, but that it is still very useful. Other times, our teacher will tell us to reflect back on our reading and remember how the video relates to what we are currently learning about in the class.

I have said this multiple times throughout my blog posts in this class, but I will most definitely be using this website and the majority of the websites and apps we use in this course. I find all of them very relevant, helpful, and fun. I am excited to integrate websites such as EdPuzzle in my future classroom. Personally, I believe this website is very creative as well as innovative. This will certainly make reviewing and learning easier for my future students. I wish that there was a website like EdPuzzle when I was younger because I think it would have been extremely helpful. I am grateful to have used and learned about all the new (to me) application and sites because I know feel like I have the upper hand in regards to future teachers who were unable to take a course such as Web Tools.

What HASN’T Gen2108 taught me? That’s the real question..

I feel as though, as a class, we can all agree how much we have learned from taking this course. I have be introduced to ideas that never once crossed my mind. I will be honest, before taking this class, I truly question my ability to become a teacher. I never knew if I would be good at it. With the work that we do in the class, my opinion has completely changed. Each and every weekly activity we participate in, has truly helped me feel more confident as a future educator. Making presentation and lesson plans allowed me to prove to myself that I can do this! Focusing on presentations for the moment, I wanted

to mention how before this class I though PowerPoint’s were my only option. I have now learned that there are so many different directions I can go in regards to making a presentations. I can make a presentations with a voice over, I can use google slides, I can use Prezi(https://prezi.com/), Emaze(https://app.emaze.com/mypresentations), Popplet(http://popplet.com/), etc. I am positive that when I become a teacher, I will be using all of these different platforms. I learned that I can turn social media into a educational place. I love using twitter to connect with educators across the globe, and I think beyond this class I will continue to use my twitter as such.

Also, I really love our textbook because it allows us to connect with educators via their twitters or blogs. Most chapter use quotes from these individuals and then

leave their twitter handles at the end, so that we can easily follow them and connect with them. I like how our textbook uses real-life personalities rather than people that are less obtainable, meaning we would not be able to actually

par-take in discussions with them. I can easily find these people on twitter and messaged them or reply to one of their posts and 9 times out of 10 I will get an encouraging and friendly response.

Subsequently, I learned about websites like EDPuzzle, Edmodo, and Diigo. I really enjoy these websites and I think they work really well in the classroom setting. It is interesting to see us as college students using them, and then see that children much younger than us are engaged in these sites, and even adults older than us are using them as well. I find all of the sites a lot of fun to use and I know I will be using them in the future as well.

Digital Tools: Edmodo

The tool I’d like to talk about is called Edmodo (eedmodo.com). In the Global Educators toolbox, located on page 26 of the Global Educator, Edmodo is displayed under the Community & Social Media category. The tools in this classification revolve around the common use of sharing blog posts, discussions and multimedia. On the Edmodo website, founders describe their site as “a global education network that helps connect all learners with the people and resources needed to reach their full potential” (edmodo.com/about). According to the textbook, Julie (a present educator) uses Edmodo for global community building. She also explains that Edmodo is “excellent …for different purposes and age groups” (The Global Educator). Edmodo the perfect website for technological learning/teaching because it can be used for assessments, as well as peer-review and writing exercising, etc.

In the linked video, a teacher from Pee Dee Elementary school discussing how she implemented Edmodo into her classroom. At one point in the video, the teacher spoke about how more shy students and student who did not like to respond began enjoying to participate when using Edmodo. She also went on to say how Edmodo really aided in creating a sense of community in her classroom. Discussions were stronger and better because children actually liked to contribute. A lot of times we see a handful of students who are quite and typically make no real offerings during class discussions, but Edmodo is able to help eliminate that. One of the interviewed students in the video said that he liked Edmodo because he is able to help other students who are struggling with whatever topic they’re discussing in class that day. Technology is extremely popular in this day and age and using it in the classroom is the smartest idea!

Edmodo’s website actually links multiple “mini-lesson plans” for teachers to use to help them integrate Edmodo into their classrooms. By visiting https://support.edmodo.com/hc/en-us/sections/200909844-Mini-Lessons, you can find over 10 short lesson plans for quick and fun activities using Edmodo! For example, the New Year/Holiday Activity (file:///C:/Users/caitd/AppData/Local/Temp/10EndofYear_HOliday-1.pdf) lesson plan uses Edmodo to engage students in online discussion. In this activity, students log on to Edmodo, joining an assigned group, and post about their academic resolutions for the New Year! The teacher can also throw in extra credit for students who actually succeed their goals! The second activity involves assigning a new group for the class and taking polls on the “best and worst moments” of the year. Again, this really helps to engage the students with one another. They can share common interest or dislikes, make friends, and all in an educational online setting!

YOU’RE FIRED

Red "Fired" Stamp — How to get fired when technology’s involved

Is technology in the classroom a good or bad thing? That all depends on how the technology is being used. As long as computers, cellphones, etc are being put to proper use in the classroom, then there should be no problem with their presence. Technology in schooling should be used for educational purposes only. However, if these things are not being used properly by staff and students, then your job may be at risk!

If teachers are using social media, things can get exceptionally tricky. It is so very important that educators, or any professional for that matter, are careful with what they post on the internet. In the Global Educator, a collaborative learning and teaching book, the author explains that an educators presence on social media is acceptable but only if they are being careful with what they say! I understand social media is generally used to express likes/dislikes, and feelings but as a professional you need to kept your site professional! I found an ABC news article, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-firing-teacher-loses-job-commenting-students-parents/story?id=11437248, in which a teacher is fired for misuse of technology. Unfortunately, June Talvitie-Siple, a Massachusetts high-school teacher, broke this professional boundary by posting about her students and their parents on her Facebook wall. What a huge mistake! According to the article, June “was forced to resign … after parents spotted Facebook comments she wrote describing students as “germ bags” and parents as “snobby” and “arrogant” (abcnews.go.com). The teacher tried to stand by what she did, saying that she thought her Facebook was private so only friends and family could see what she was saying. Even if that was the case, it is never okay to bad-mouth your students on the internet!

Lately in media, I have seen a large amount of videos going around where teachers are being caught on camera doing/saying unthinkable things to their students. For a long time, there was a video going around of a teacher fighting one of their students, also there was one of a gym teacher dragging one of his students into a pool; unfortunately the list goes on and on. Through the usage of cellphones in the class, students are able to video tape/record anything and everything. Through the use of apps such as Snap Chat, they can take a video and post it immediately for the internet to see. In Baltimore, a teacher was caught getting verbally aggressive with one of her students and she actually began making racial slurs at the child. The video starts with her screaming at a student, and ends with her calling her kids stupid, and the N-word. To watch this monstrosity of a video and read the Baltimore Suns article, you can visit: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-ci-teacher-video-20161117-story.html. Although this teacher 100% deserved to be fired, if she was not caught doing this vulgar act, no one would have proof of how she treats her students. Cellphones in the classroom will certainly get you fired if you act equivalently to this teacher.

My last example of how to get fired does not involve an article, but more-so a personal experience. In high school, I had a specific teacher who obviously did not care much about her job nor her relations with students. Whenever she did not want to teach, she would have us play board games instead. As we played games instead of learning, she would surf the internet. She would be on Facebook, YouTube, or she would be playing games like solitaire, etc. The principle came into our classroom one day, but the way our classroom is set up there was a front entrance and a back entrance. My teachers desk had its back towards the back entrance so if someone came in quite enough she would not be able to tell. Needless to say, our principle was in shock by the obnoxiously loud classroom, where no work was getting done, and the teacher with head phones in watching YouTube videos. She did not have ten year, so she was fired and replaced by someone new. As educators we need to remember that technology is not always our friend!

Future Plans to Aid Educational Technology

Personalized Student Learning Emblem — Refine. Vision. Plan. Implement. Assess

As I was scrolling through my twitter, I came across a fantastic article about future educational practices involving technology (https://twitter.com/jeffchicki/status/807932503747084289). With the astonishing and ever-growing advances in technology, there is no telling just how amazing the future online educational experience might be. Towards the very beginning of the article, writer and deputy director at the Office of Educational Technology, Katrina Stevens emphasized that a lot of U.S administrations are completely redesigning their high schools and making them more tech-friendly. During my personal high school experience, instructional technology was already very present and playing an important role in my education. If I am remembering correctly, Smart Boards were introduced to my schooling systems around the 8th grade and were also brought into our high schools. Smart Boards are a very popular piece of technology that we( the U.S) have even carried into university’s. I only graduated high school 2 years ago and since then my high school has advanced even more when it comes to using technology for learning. Students are encouraged to use their phones and laptop during the school day. They now use their phones in order to access data the fastest. Also, the teachers use social media to communicate with their students outside of the classroom and post about homework and any questions the kids might have. Through the use of the internet-capable tools, learning has become much easier for children of this generation.

Next, Stevens spoke about a program called Future Ready Schools. Considering I have never heard of , I did my research. Future Ready was designed by the Alliance for Excellent Education, which is a “is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those who are traditionally under served, graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship”(futureready.org). The Alliance for Excellent Education then decided they wanted to conceive a program “to help school districts develop comprehensive plans to achieve successful student learning outcomes by (1) transforming instructional pedagogy and practice while (2) simultaneously leveraging technology to personalize learning in the classroom” (futureready.org). Thousands of FRS participants have implemented new plans and ideas for other educators to use across the world. I think FRS is an extremely innovative and creative way of expanded instructional education. Their plan allows students of the future to take advantage of digital learning to ensure that they are ready for the future. What more could you really ask for?

With this being said Katrina went on to explain that the Office of Educational Technology is taking notes from FRS when releases their own set of blogs called Personalizing the Learning Experience. They already have a five step plan of how they want to implement their personal learning series. Again, I think that organizations like the Office of Educational Technology are taking the right steps towards furthering instructional technology and its importance to future learners. Programs such as these are most important for the future and I am sure they will have a large impact on how people of the future will gain knowledge. I thank the Office of Educational Technology as well as Future Ready Schools for their active betterment of the educational system.