4th week of tech class

Chapter 5 discusses more of the current topics that we, as students and future educators, come across everyday.  The first point that I would like to mention is the idea of the "limitless information" we can obtain on the internet.  Statistics in the textbook show that "by May 2005, the search engine Google reported it was indexing over eight billion Web pages, with the number growing everyday" (page114).  That amount surprised me and I can't even imagine how large the number is now in 2012.

With the factor of limitless information on the internet, it is very important to determine which sources are valid or invalid.  For example, for researching topics in sociology, is it smart to use Wikipedia, or the ProQuest search engine for scholarly journals on sociology.  For us, the answer would be an obvious one, for we were taught how to look up valid sources to support our information.  But personally, I feel it's okay to look at something on Wikipedia, to at the very least find out the definition of a term or concept, and with that in mind, one can research valid sources.

In addition to understanding the limitless findings on the internet and how to determine which sources are reliable, it is very important to stress about giving credit where credit is due.  St. John's as well as many other colleges, have taken serious steps to avoid and punish those who plagiarize.  My question would be, how to explain the affects of plagiarism to elementary school children.  How do we show them that it is okay to look information to support homework or projects/essays they may be working on, but set that distinction between looking up information and using that very information that is not your own in your work.


Additional questions:
1.  Has anyone completed a web-quest before? 

3rd week of tech class

One of the many ideas that struck out to me during our 3rd class is the idea of a "flipped classroom."  It reminds me of the concept of "backward learning."  "Flipped classroom" is when the lecture or content of the curriculum is presented outside of the classroom while the group discussion, sharing, and gathering of information takes place during scheduled class time.  My first thought is how the role of the teacher will play in the learning development of this teaching technique.  If the teacher will also be in the classroom to facilitate discussion and/or answer questions students may have, then I wonder how the pace of the class will run.  I've noticed and seen how packed the curriculum can be for elementary schools and to have the students take charge of the discussion in class may affect how much content can be covered.  In addition, how will the teacher assess what the students learn?  These are just a few critiques I had of the idea of the "flipped classroom."

In chapter 3, a very important idea that I reflected upon was the idea of "What do I teach Monday?"  When I begin teaching, in the near future I hope, I always think about how the content that needs to be covered and how I may present the material in class.  It is very helpful and even comforting that there are two reliable sites that offer online articles and resources that we can utilize in our teaching instruction (page 61).

I am happy to read that this chapter covers the UBD- Understanding By Design, also known us "backwards design."  I've also covered this topic in another education course.  I agree with the concept that the objectives or goals of the students should be established first.  For everyone to understand the foundation of the lesson.  In addition, with so much going on in a classroom of 20-30 students, one can get carried away and drift into another topic.  Having the student learning objectives established first will prevent that digression from taking place.  Furthermore, I agree with the altered for of assessments that can be used to determine whether or not the students reached the objectives that were initially introduced.  

This can help gear teachers towards a more content base learning than just focusing on the activities (hands-on) that students may do.  The same goes for the use of technology.  With the student goals established in the beginning of the course, technology will not be used as a distraction or a form of entertainment.

2nd Week of Tech Class

As I watched the two videos, "Growing Up Online" and "Digital Nation,"  I began to think that maybe the statistics that were given in chapter one may have been underestimating the dependency that our youth has on the internet.  For example, in the first video, the fact that a typical Friday night party would be to gather in someone's basement and play online games is rather unusual.  It was not like this back in the day to say the very least.  Furthermore, when teenagers feel that they have an entirely different personality on the internet can also be troublesome.  I don't think they realize the amount of content can be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.

The story that stuck out to me the most from the first video is about Ryan.  He committed suicide after not only being bullied at school, but also at the comfort of his own home- cyber-bullying.  It wasn't until after his passing that his father decided to look through his laptop to look for answers as to why he committed that act.  What was most disturbing is that the father found that a website and chats with another young boy about how to commit suicide.  This struck me because not only is that sick but that really deteriorates the most basic purpose of having access to the internet, which is to seek knowledge.

Being an advocate for self-expression and online socializing during my teenage years, this movie was certainly an eye opener to the "dark side" of internet usage.  I will most certainly continue my thoughts about the two videos in my reflection.



Two questions from ch 2:
1- It seems like the student-centered approach makes more sense to use?  However, will that be giving too much freedom to the student when it comes to technology use?
2- How can internet literacy promote engagement and collaboration as demonstrated later in the chapter?

First Blog Entry-week 1 of Tech Class

As the start of a new semester ensues, I am excited to start off by taking a technology course.  I've seen children as young as 4 years old, playing games with an I-pad, and eager to learn more.  I would like to keep up with technology and continue to use the latest material for class work.  From the age of cassette players to MP3's, from large videos to YouTube, all of this new technology can be used in a classroom.

I've been in classes where the professors did not know how to turn on the projection screen, or had trouble looking for a specific video clip on YouTube.  This takes away not only time but motivation to even pay attention in class.  I felt like I needed to reread the course material on my own time because I was so distracted by the technical difficulties the professor had.  I do not want to be this kind of educator.  I aspire to be an educator who is on top of technology and even impress the students with the material I use to teach.  This will allow me to have their undivided attention while I make learning more interesting and fun for them.

In chapter 1 of Transforming Learning..., I've realized that the generations that we will soon be teaching will have more technology exposure than we have.  To think that "adolescents live media-saturated lives, spending an average of nearly 6 and a half hours a day with media" (pg 3, Maloy)".  This number was shocking.  Clearly technology and media are heavily included in the younger generation's daily routines.  If this is an evident interest in their lifestyle, why not incorporate it with their learning in school?

For this class, I aspire to learn many interesting and advanced methods of teaching with the use of technology.  Being a person who is very dependent on her laptop and iphone, I can't imagine coming up with teaching material and lesson plans without the use of technology.