Blog Post #7

So far, I have not had any trouble with using twitter. I think it is a really cool was to see what other students are up to and what people around the world are doing in terms of education. Having a class twitter makes me think about this class outside of the classroom. Some benefits of twitter or to allow students to interact with peers and other students around the world. I think the concept of twitter is pretty straightforward and I have not faced any issues with it.

I have never created a web page before so everything with the web design project was now to me. I think it’s so cool to be able to create websites for free about anything. I learned how to insert pictures, links, and a bunch of information. I think web design skills can be very useful in my future career to be able to display and get information out to people. These websites are completely customizable to it is easy to add anything and everything you want. Weebly offers so many different options to improve the webpage and if I were to create another page I would want to explore all the different options Weebly has.

http://rpesick.weebly.com

Diigo is a very cool concept. A skill I learned from using it is how to annotate an article online. Instead of having to print out what could be a 30-page article, you are able to highlight and add sticky notes right on the screen. I think this could be very useful in a classroom and students could save paper and time by not having to print out articles to be annotated on. It is also a good way for teachers to share websites or articles with their students. Diigo also includes a discussion board which can help facilitate classroom discussions outside of the classroom.

Blog Post #6

I visited the website for Walled Lake Northern High School in Commerce, MI. This school is for grades 9-12. Each teacher has their own website which include links to helpful websites and videos, classroom notes to print off, and upcoming dates and assignments. The websites also include a little bit about the teacher and contact information. Most pages also include a calendar and information about the course or courses the teacher teaches. All the information posted is useful for parents and students to keep up on assignments and know what is going on in class. http://wlcsd.org/schools/high-school/northern-hs/

I think technology is very beneficial to accomplish professional responsibilities in the classroom. If I was going to be a teacher I would probably teach science. With new technology, I think science can be totally revamped. With virtual reality students would be able to completely submerge themselves in different environments and learn about different habitats and ecosystems. Also with 3D pens and printers people would be able to print or draw things that they could actually manipulate and look at up close. All these new technologies would really improve the learning environment and allow students to be more involved in the learning.  I also think that with the internet, there are so many options to what students can do and see. Google maps can allow students to see places all over the world and classroom websites can allow students and parents to stay up to date on assignments and classroom news.

I really enjoyed going to the tech sandbox. My favorite technology there was the 3D pens. I think these pens could be used for many different things in the classroom. For example, when studying DNA, it may be easier for students to understand if they could actually draw the DNA strand and be able to look at and manipulate it. I also think the virtual reality software would be very useful for the classroom. Especially for an environment unit, students would be able to emerge themselves in the environment and really understand how a species lives in it or how the environment is important.

Blog Post #5

I think social media is a very useful Web 2.0 technology. It allows students to use something they are already familiar with for an educational purpose. Most students now a day use social media very often. Using social media for educational purposes will allow students to use their favorite apps and social media accounts for a bigger purpose. In my opinion, a less useful 2.0 technology for a classroom is blogging. I think many students think blogging is an old school task. Although blogging can be similar to some social media apps, it is less familiar to students and they may not be as interested in blogging.

An interesting Web 2.0 tool is Wordle. Wordle allows you to generate word clouds that show the most used words in a body of text. You are able to change the appearance on the word cloud to make it more appealing to certain audiences. This could be used in teaching to help students figure out the main point of an article by entering it into Wordle and it will show you the main words. Wordle is a fun way for students to create interesting designs using key words. Wordle can be accessed at this link http://www.wordle.net.

I think social media holds the biggest promise for education. Not only does social media allow students to discuss with other classmates but it allows them to share ideas and information with people all over the world. News spreads very fast through social media which can be a very good thing for educational purposes. With continuing advancements in social media students are able to stay up to date on current events and different things happening all over the world.