blog post 8

     Adaptive technologies allow students to learn at their own pace and in their own way, which can greatly reduce stress and a feeling of general "behindness". Concept mapping is one way that students are able to make sense of things their way. By using concept mapping tools, students can organize their thoughts in a way that makes sense for them personally, which can improve their comprehension. Technology can also be used to help students who speak other languages. Through the providing of comprehensible input, technology can help students overcome the language barriers they face.
     I am not personally familiar with the use of adaptive learning technologies. I feel that it may be difficult to ensure that students are all getting where they need to be. It is great that students can work at their own pace, but at some point they should all be at a certain level, and guaranteeing that happens may be difficult.
     Using powerpoint could be a great way to help students learn at each level of Bloom's taxonomy. For the remember level the powerpoint could show students simple facts, such as definitions. For the understand level the powerpoint could include visual graphs that help further explain what the facts shown previously actually mean. For the apply level the powerpoint could offer up real life examples of the concepts that are offered early in the powerpoint. For the analyze level the powerpoint could include graphs to show how the information can be categorized and grouped together. For the evaluate level the powerpoint could include different persuasive arguments about the theories being discussed to offer students different points of views. For the create level the powerpoint could include rewritten definitions in different terms based on the students level of understanding.
     
forbes

     Forbes is a good way to stay up to date on the latest trends, even in technology. It provides rankings for different categories of technology and descriptions on what these types of technologies do.

     From Twitter I have been able to learn a lot about social networking as a tool for knowledge dissemination. Not only have I found interesting and informational articles, but I have also found discussions about these articles from various users. These discussions allow me to view multiple opinions and views about the same problem or solution. Altogether it helps me to be a more well rounded individual, evaluating something based on many different angles. So far I have had no issues using twitter, though I do wish that searches for certain people or posts could be made easier.
     The web page design assignment allowed me to use creativity, which I really enjoyed. It helped me to really think in terms of the viewer and try to make everything included in the page as clear and easy to understand as possible. One thing I did not like about the website design was the editing tools from the creation site. They were a bit confusing to follow and made some things, such as changing the font of a text, way more difficult than they had to be.

website 

     With Diigo, I have learned about how to edit articles in order to make them more clear for educational purposes. By being able to highlight and add notes, I am able to pick out key points of a website and make the clearer for students. The sharing tool also makes Diigo helpful when trying to collaborate with others. If you share a page with people of a certain group you can get their feedback and opinions on articles instantly. For my own personal usage, I think Diigo would be helpful to pick out important pieces of information and make sure that I understand them, perhaps by cross-referencing them with other articles.


     

ILP "Design"- Prezi

I have also been interested in educating people on the history of modern Irish dance. I tried to make a Prezi on it a few months ago but did not find the time to get very far with it. As part of this ILP I decided to complete my Prezi and make it in a format that would be easy to understand for people who are not familiar with the topic. In order to do this I included many visual examples, from pictures to videos so that people would better be able to visualize what I am discussing.

Prezi

Blog post 6

     The school web page that I chose to look up is that of my old high school (http://www.fairbanks.k12.oh.us). Though I only attended Fairbanks for high school, the school is for children K-12. On the school's site you have access to the newsletters, staff and their contact info, academic and athletic calendars, and board of education information. All of the information that is public is helpful to keep the parents and children engaged in the school's most recent activities and plans.

     In order to accomplish my professional goals as a teacher, I envision myself using technology such as database management software. This software will enable me to keep track of my students and their information. It could potentially help me to keep track of student grades as well. In order to do that I could also use portfolio assessment software which would enable me to track student progress and cross-check it with standards. In this way, I could make sure my students were on track.

     In the sandbox, I found many of the technologies fascinating. In particular, I think the virtual reality could be very useful in the classroom for visual learners. For instance, if I wanted to take my students on a field trip to a place that is too far away, I could use the VR to take them there. Then, with the help of the VR, I could show the students different aspects of the place that they would not be able to experience from a simple slideshow on a computer screen. With the VR I could also help my students to visualize shape and dimensions, particularly in math. As a kid it was very difficult for me to understand 3D objects in math, but with VR in the classroom, I believe I could better explain to students why the math actually works. 

     

Blog Post 5

     I think in the classroom, youtube can be a valuable web 2.0 resource. It allows teachers to create playlists of videos and share those playlists with students which adds and element of interaction with the students. Not only can the students then watch the videos at their own leisure, but they can also comment and watch other videos that are related to the topic. I feel that, while twitter is useful, the points that the podcasts made are not all that realistic. If students are trying to ask a famous writer a question, it is highly unlikely that they will receive a response on twitter. While in theory, it is nice, in reality it is not likely to occur.
     An education tool that I would use while teaching would be https://www.scribd.com . This site allows users to pay around $9 a month to have access to 3 books and 1 audio book a month. This membership fee would greatly decrease the costs of reading for students because books on their own can get expensive. It would also motivate students to read quickly, as they must get the best bang for their buck so to speak.
     I believe the ability to video conference holds a large promise for education in the future. Through video conferencing, students would be able to meet with their teachers from the comfort of their own homes and ask questions about the homework they are doing or the paper they are writing all in real time. I also think video conferences will allow students to connect with a larger circle, including some well known people that they may not have had the chance to meet otherwise. A FaceTime with Bill Nye would mean so much more to students than simply watching his videos, and I believe that is where the classroom may be heading.