A Bit of an Introduction

Welcome to my Instructional Technology Blog! This particular blog was initialized as a requirement of my EDUC2201 course. I'm very new to the concept of blogging, so I am looking forward to all that I will learn throughout this semester. I'm currently an Elementary Education major; however, I would ultimately like to teach education courses on a collegiate level. Whether I end up in an elementary or college class, I will need to have a good grasp on the technology available to me as an educator. I hope to gain that necessary knowledge from this course so that I will be more readily able to offer my students helpful technological tools to enhance their learning.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

5-min. presentation idea/resources

I think I am going to do my presentation on the importance of recycling and how we can "go green".

google images has some really nice pictures I can use in my presentation


This website is full of tips to "go green"

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Thoughts on blogging

I really enjoyed blogging with the students from Fairview Middle School. I think blogging is a great way to get kids involved with technology at a young age. It's simple enough for them to understand and use, and they get to experience appropriate socializing in a supervised arena. I was amazed at the dynamic abilities of the students. Some were very capable of expressing their thoughts in full, complete sentences using correct grammar. Others used abbreviations and more "online lingo" which I think is acceptable in this situation if used properly. What disheartened me was seeing very poor spelling and incorrect usage of wording. These students are in the 5th grade and some of their posts were complete run-on sentences. Teaching correct punctuation when using online technologies is important. My main concern with using blogging as a future educator is circumstances that might require use of a computer outside of a classroom. I'm hesitant to use blogging much more than right in my own classroom in fear that some students might be a low SES or unable to complete assignments due to lack of internet or computers. I also did not like the blogging program that was used. There has to be a better blogging site that allows immediate display of information that can still be monitored and controlled by the teacher.

Overall, I think this activity served as a learning tool for both the middle school students, as well as myself and my college classmates. I would most definitely encourage the use of this activity in any classroom, including my own.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Scratch Project

Scratch to modify

content standard that this scratch project can meet:
Science, 6th grade SC.O.6.2.2-use pictures to show cyclical processes in nature (e.g., nitrogen cycle, carbon cycle, or water cycle).

The three things I chose to modify in the project (they might be hard to notice unless you are watching the original and revised projects simultaneously):

1)the color of the sky
2)the length of time between the words presented
3)the motion of one of the clouds

To check out the new scratch project click here

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Scratch

After looking through several different projects in the Elementary Education section, I found a project that helps beginners with addition. To view this project click here. This project uses simple keyboarding skills (up and down arrows) to compute math problems using addition. The project uses bright colors, a talking dog (who will add interest to the activity to keep kids excited about the "game"), and animation/sounds to engage the students. This project is nicely done, but could encorporate other types of math problems such as subtraction and even multiplication/division for more advanced students. Creating a project similar to this one would be useful in a future classroom.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Convergence Culture

Convergence Culture, as Dr. Henry Jenkins explains, is a connection of every medium through ideas presented. It is not a replacement of old media with new, but rather an integration of the ideas presented in the old medium into the new--creating a type of symbiotic relationship. Dr. Jenkins claims that this process should not be considered purely technological. That is, the process should not be considered simply the combination of a telephone, television, and camera into one instrument, but rather a new medium serving as a catalyst to enhance the idea presented by an old medium. One example was presented in the video that helps visualize this process. Television produces shows that can be viewed on a TV set. If someone misses this episode, TV corporations have realized that they can use other sources of media, i.e. the internet/ipods to reach more viewers. Consumers can still get the intended product of a television show, but through different media device. This media of an ipod or internet site does not replace a TV, but allows further viewing of the same product--making entertainment easier and more convenient which is an ideal of our culture.

Convergence culture is very pertinent to education and classrooms. A variety of information can be accessed by numerous sources. The convergence of media allows teachers to enhance lessons with technology in countless ways. The potential for technology in classrooms seems limitless, but this requires some education of media literacy. This might shift the focus of required skills from those such as the three r's to include media skills and technological literacy. There is what Dr. Jenkins called a "participation gap" which limits children who do not get the chance to participate as much as other students with technology because they do not have access to it at home. Teachers need to be aware of this gap and attempt to bridge it by incorporating participation into daily lesson plans.

Schools are most definitely limiting students' access to digital tools for several reasons. Cell phones and ipods, however helpful and resourceful they may be, lead to distractions during instruction time and can be a great nuisance to a teacher trying to do their job. The same can be said for online sites such as youtube, facebook, and other social networks. While these sites can prove to be very useful in instruction time, they cause great distraction and are therefore restricted in many school networking systems. I agree that there needs to be some monitoring when using these forms of media in the classroom, but the advantages of they provide seem to outshine the negatives associated with them. There do need to be restrictions at certain times during certain situations, but these resources should not neglected. It would be doing students a disservice if they were not encouraged in a classroom setting.