Technology survey

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Time went by fast

Well this class went by quite quickly. I have learned many new ways in which I can use technology to support learning and how it can be used in a teacher centered classroom as well as a student centered classroom. I have realized through this course that I mainly use technology in a teacher centered classroom but I really want to strive to have a student centered classroom.

One instructional technology tool I would like to use in the future is using computers to help them take notes or summarize notes. Ideally I would love to have laptops in my classroom but I they could take the notes into the computer lab and reorganize them or have a computer activity to help reinforce the notes they were given.. Another way I would use the technology is by having them blog with me on certain subjects or with each other. There is a website called Weeble for Educators where I have a page set up for my students with websites that they used for a poster project we just did. It also has a blog there where my students could have posted any questions they may have had.

Next school year I plan to be more organized with my ideas about where and how to use technology. I would have them set up blog accounts early on so it can be an active source of communication between myself and the students. I would also use different strategies in providing notes to my students and provide different ideas in how they can organize them. This would require me to get into the computer lab more often so I have the access I need to the computers because it can get difficult to get lab time. Of course, ideally I would love to have laptops for my own room.

Friday, April 2, 2010

voice thread

Okay, I am not sure I did this right but here is the link to my voice thread.

http://voicethread.com/#u831993.b1040339.i5545379

Cooperative learning

"Cooperative learning is not so much learning to cooperate as it is cooperating to learn" (Pilter,H., Hubbell,E.,Kuhn M.,Malenski,K.,2007). This was the phrase that stuck with me as I read our learning resources on cooperative learning and the social learning theory.

Cooperative learning can be used in conjunction with social learning theories because students have to learn to work together in order to learn the material. Technology can do this in many ways. I usually use the Internet for just as a resource for my students but eventually what I would like to do as a teacher is use it as a communication tool between my students and other students within the United States or even the world. Many of my students will probably never leave the area in which I teach. In using the Internet for a communication tool it will allow them to see what else is out there.

Another resource the text mentions is web-enabled multiplayer simulation games. I did not know these were available to play as a group. I like that it would involve problem solving and academic information both at the same time.

I really wish I could have been introduced to the process of cooperative learning and how to introduce it to my students at the beginning of the year. I will investigate possible ways of using the technique this year but I know for sure I will incorporate this into my next school year at the beginning of the year.