Teaching with Technology Week 4

      This week reading focused on professional development and student cooperative learning. I really found the lesson on professional development helpful because I feel that this is an area that our teachers need more support in. Technology may not be new to all teachers but I feel a significant majority do not have the knowledge or confidence to actually integrate technology in the classroom outside of assigning a word processing assignment. Web 2.0 new tools new schools talks about how the norm for professional development is a one day class with an expert who show you the product and then leaves (Solomon, 101). We are taught that when we introduce students to new information we should still go back and allow them to practice to ensure that they have the full understanding. Is it that because we are teachers that does not apply to us. When you attend a professional development class, the Instructor (Expert) is the teacher and the attendees are in the role of the student. Should we not have a chance to practice or the opportunity to ensure that we understand the information given? The reading helped me take a different perspective of how I feel professional development should be handled. It should not just be a mandatory thing but something that engages the participants. Part of the reading and videos discussed the learning environment of the student. It is important for students to work together to accomplish a common goal. Technology helps to make this easier for all kind diverse learning groups. Using the information learned in the previous weeks on UDLs, using wikis and other Web 2.0 tool, there is a wealth of knowledge that students can create new and creative things if we allow them to. When reading some of the reading it helped me come up with ideas to engage my students and encourage group activities. There are a lot of people who prefer to work independently rather than groups but if they are motivated and understand the purpose of the assignment, they may learn more than they imagine. Soloman, G & Schrum, L.(2007). Web 2.0: New tools, New schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 99-116

Teaching with Technology Week 3

      This weeks online readings focused on learning about UDL (Universal Design for Learning).  When the term UDL was first introduced I had no idea what UDL stood for, what it meant or most importantly how it would help me teach with technology.  I read the first article "Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age" and received some information about UDL but I still didn't really understand why this was a subject that I needed to know in regards to teaching students with technology.  Why devote one fifth of a class to UDL?  Why three articles instead of just one?  Well once I begin reading the third article, I begin to really understand how UDL (Universal Design for Learning) can really help in the classroom and why it should be included.  Computers are a big part of technology and often is the most utilized tool for teaching with technology; we often forget that everyone cannot always access this technology or may have to access it in a different way. 
      In an effort to provide meaningful experiences and engage a diverse group of learning the UDL tool can be used to customize lessons for all diverse learner.  In today's classrooms we have students with a variety of knowledge, student with learning disabilities and physical disabilities.  These students can learn the same thing but we may not be able to teach in the same exact way.  When dealing with Universal Design for Learning it focuses on the brain process (Recognition, Strategic and Affective).  Everyone learns differently and the UDL helps to customize the process of learning for everyone.  Blind student, Deaf student, and students with other disabilities are still able to use the computer and other technology resources sometimes just in a different way. 
      This weeks book reading focused more on the different ways technology can be used in the classroom to enhance learning.  The chapters talked about how Web 2.0 tools  (Wikis, Podcast and Flickr) can be integrated into subjects such as Math, English, Science and even Social Studies.  Although these chapter did not per se focus on UDL I can definitely see how these tool could be used to customize instruction and learning of a diverse group.  Blogs would be a great tool for a student with a speech impairment to participate in discussions or using a podcast or clip-art to teach a students with auditory issues.  This weeks reading and video were filled with a wealth of information that I will utilize in the future.

Teaching with Technology Week 2

  This week assignment we were to brainstorm about how to teach technology to a group of diverse students as a group.  I believe we did develop some ideas about how to accomplish this task.
     This weeks readings involved a lot of research about how technology affects student achievement and benefits students in the lower social economical classes.  Technology can help student become engaged in learning and can offer a lot of experiences and knowledge that a student may have otherwise not had the opportunity to experience.   I learned how student in lower social economical areas have a significant achievement growth with the use of computers.  I never really thought about students that are in higher social economical areas looking at technology as a norm versus other groups in lower social economical area valuing the technology because it is not apart of their everyday life.  I believe that technology will continue to help student of all social economical level and abilities grow.  I think it is important to let student have access to technology in the classroom.  The readings this week really confirmed my knowledge that technology is an asset in the classroom.

Teaching with Technology Week 1

WEEK 1
     The third course in my program focuses on Teaching with Technology.  I really expected to get a few hand on activities completed using the technology I learned about in my first course.  In this course we are going to work in groups to create ways to effectively teach with technology with a scenario provided by the instructors.
     In the first week we had a lot of interesting articles to read and I must say that they were all beneficial. The quote I found significant is "Technology can help to create an active environment in which students not only solve problems, but also find their own problems." This quote was found in "How People Learn, Brain, Mind, Experiences, and School" page 207. The reason I thought this was a powerful statement is because often people look at technology as 'just another gadget' or just a place to find answers quickly. Technology has so many different uses and problem solving is one of them. If a child is actively engaged in learning and can use technology to help find some of their answers; that can spark an interest to want to find out about other things. The more knowledge a students gains, the more likely they are to explore things that are not familiar to them thus creating questions. This helps the student gain more knowledge and leads to lifelong learning.
       The articles for this weeks reading have taught me that you do not need to be an expert in order to teach technology but you will want to know what you are looking for.  Research shows that  using technology in teaching can help children grow.  I look forward to learning more about how technology can be used in classroom to positively teach students.