Seventh Post on Student Choice in Technology

Giving student’s choice

As this semester is coming to an end I can think of so many topics to discuss. Everything in my mind has seemed to revolve around 21^st century learning and project based learning. I have discovered over the last few years that if the teacher plans and facilitates a great lesson plan the students can easily have choice. They can have choice in how they learn the information, how they choose to show their learning and how they present their learning.

The choice of learning tools is what I would like to blog about today. I have noticed in my personal experience that students are much more willing to start an assignment when given two or more ways to complete the task. Lately with my class I have been giving them the option to use Sway or PowerPoint when completing their science projects and assignments. Some students love PowerPoint and never want to change. Other students love the features of Sway and are more attentive when using it.

Sometimes I have students come up to me and ask to use Word or other programs as well. It opened my eyes as a teacher to not being narrow in my directions as to how to complete the assignment. If the students work can be completed and assessed using different tools then there is no problem letting them choose those tools. I am very lucky that my school district has an Office 365 account for every student and teacher. This has made choosing multiple programs a lot easier. If a teacher did not have access to secure sites like O 365 I could see it being more challenging. I am interested to know other people’s experiences with student choice. What programs do you have your students use?  Do they seem to like having a choice in how they complete their work?

Digital Storytelling Draft

Hey everyone! Thank you for taking the time to check out the draft for my digital storytelling project. Please let me know what you like and what can be better. I chose to do my prezi on animal classification. The students in my class are currently learning how to classify animals based on physical characteristics and behavior. The grade level is third.

http://mcgrathteach.wikispaces.com/Digital+Storytelling

Digital Storytelling

This week I have been working on digital storytelling. Through my studying and work this week I have learned a lot about how educators can incorporate digital storytelling into the classroom. Check out the prezi I created on digital storytelling!




http://prezi.com/w8o46s-3y2ot/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Ethics

 

 

 

I decided to pick a topic this week that relates to our current module and also confuses me. I think it confuses many other people as well. When talking about ethics in non computer fields I have learned that there are some tricky situations where you need to use your gut feeling to determine what is right and wrong. When knowing what you can and cant do with computers in my opinion is a little more difficult.




Before I go into talking about fair use policies let me give everyone some background on the small daily struggles I have encountered. First when wanting to share a PowerPoint or other presentation with colleagues. Is it appropriate to "use" these resources at a team or school level? Next things like using pictures and other media in my Office Mixes. I sometimes feel confused if they resources are "fair use" or not.

So I have always heard about fair use and how great it is for teachers. One day when wanting to use some type of media and share it with colleagues I was frustrated I did not know what was allowed and not allowed to be used and shared

EME5050 post 2 thoughts

Hello all!

I have been extremely busy as many others I'm sure are. For my post though I would like to discuss one to one environments. I love teaching in a one to one environment. There are so many positives but today I am going to talk about the negatives. When teaching Elementary school just telling the students where to go and what site to use usually doesn't fly. You need to be methodical and have your materials which in this environment includes computers, web browsers, internet sites, Power Points and other media in place. On top of that you must have a way for the students to access that information. It can be extremely frustrating when a handful of students cannot access the OneNote you created. The alternative is to have a paper and pencil activity ready for these students if and when the technology fails. Isn't the point of using this technology to save time? If I spend the bulk of my energy creating amazing One Notes for my class I don't have extra time to make a separate paper lesson just in case. What are your thoughts on technology failing and how teachers can save time when it does?

Technology Today

I love thinking about the future of technology as related to educational settings. I can remember being in elementary school on Long Island , N.Y. during the mid nineties.  The cutting edge of integrating technology into the curriculum lay on the foundation of putting a large group of students in front of desktop computers and having them use a word processor. Fast forward almost 20 years I have transferred my primary role from student to teacher in the field of education. After reviewing Ingvi Hrannar Ómarsson's blog post about "obsolete" in today's schools I started reflecting on computer rooms versus the experience my students have in my classroom.( http://ingvihrannar.com/14-things-that-are-obsolete-in-21st-century-schools/) At the beginning of the school year I had to front load a lot of basic hardware and software lessons to help the students be successful using technology to its maximum potential. I agree with Ómarsson's view that a large computer room can be ineffective when a class is brought in for one lesson (taught in isolation from their regular learning environment) then brought back to class, leaving the technology behind. Having a fully integrated model where students learn and program and then have the technology with them as they learn the rest of the day seems a lot better to me.

I believe the best part of the technology today is the affordability and access. Their are so many programs and opportunities to help put hardware and software in the hands of students. With many grants, scholarships, donations and some school funds most classes should have the technology needed to prepare todays students for college and career readiness.

 

 

Works Cited

Ómarsson, I. H. (2014, February 26).  14 things that are obsolete in 21st century schools Retrieved from http://ingvihrannar.com/14-things-that-are-obsolete-in-21st-century-schools/