FINAL THOUGHTS

This is my last blog post for my technology class.  I have to say at the start of this class I was really dreading the class.  I personally thought I knew A LOT about technology and how to incorporate it into the classroom.  I was COMPLETELY wrong.  I have learned so many tools that I can use in the classroom.  Many of the technologies we used could also be used for students as well as teachers. 

Throughout this course I have had personal favorites and personal dislikes for certain technologies.  Some of my favorites have been the Glogster, digital storytelling, and the portfolio.  They allowed me to be extremely creative and they are technologies that I could see me using in the classroom. 

Since my last post I have created a Webquest as well as a portfolio.  Webquests are great ways to get students involved and excited about a lesson while allowing them to use technology.  Webquest are just time consuming.  Therefore, in my personal opinion teachers would need to have a basic layout created so that they could simply put the information into the webquest and re-use it for different lessons. 

I absolutely loved the idea of an electronic portfolio.  All of my technology creations are now all in one specific spot that I can go to whenever I may need to reference something or even use it in my future classroom.  I believe that the electronic portfolio is a wonderful tool for students.  They would always have access to their work and creations, which is vital for students to see their growth in learning and developing. 

Overall, this has been a wonderful learning experience.  I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to take this class and explore various technologies.  My new knowledge will help my future students succeed in the classroom. 

EDCI 505 Post #3

Hello All!!!

I am back again to write more about what I am learning through this experience in EDCI 505. Just to refresh everyone, I am in a technology class where I am learning all about different types of technologies that can be used in the classroom to help students. It is hard to believe that we are narrowing down on our last two assignments in this class. For this blog post though, I am mostly going to focus on Wikis, Digital Storytelling, and Interactive media using PowerPoint.

Out of these three projects I would have to say that the digital story was by far my favorite technology tool. I can see this technology being used in so many different ways. For example, in another graduate course we are to take our Multi Genre paper that we are creating and turn it into a digital story, but the difference is we have to record ourselves telling the story. This is just another unique way that digital storytelling could be incorporated into the classroom.  I believe that this is an excellent tool for students to learn a variety of different things such as editing, creativity, writing strategies, and the list could go on and on.  I would LOVE to see my classmates’ digital stories.  That is one recommendation that I would have for future classes.  It is always fun to see what other people create.   
As for the interactive media, it was extremely time consuming, and as a future teacher, I personally would find it hard to spend that much time on one aspect of the classroom.  Maybe once I have been teaching for a while this may be a tool that I could use and spend time working on.  The nice thing about interactive media is that once it is created, a teacher could just change it up a little bit to fit what they are teaching.  For example, I created a jeopardy game, but I could take the questions and answers our and tweak it to what I need the game for.  It is a great way to keep students motivated while using technology. 

I believe that wikis could be a great resource for students to create.  I believe that creating a wiki could stand in place of a research paper.  By creating a wiki, students would have the opportunity to present their information in a fun and creative way.  The whole idea of a wiki is a fantastic idea, and I believe that it could be used in many different forms within the classroom. 

I continue to learn so many valuable lessons about what will and will not work in my classroom.  All of the tools that we have had the opportunity to work with have helped me gain excellent knowledge of technology.