Week 7 PLE

The role of technology in creating dynamic experiences for students is that it can show them things they wouldn't be able to see or experience otherwise. Also it can make more dry subjects seem more exciting and interesting. Technology might detract from student learning by them concentrating less on the content and more on the special effects or the technology. If a student uses a technology to learn something, they might only remember how to use the technology rather than what they learned from the activity. Three examples of effective technology that I have used or experienced would be computers, a Promethean board, and videos.

Week 6 PLE Post Continued

I viewed three different virtual tours and found them all to be very well done. The first one I watched was the one about volcanoes. I thought that it asked good questions and used a good variety of photos and videos. The second one I viewed was about WWII. I thought it focused on the important events and locations of that time and also asked good questions. The last one was about different ruins around the world. The activities and questions done at the different sites were thought-provoking and interactive. The good things about implementing a virtual tour in the classroom would be that the students would be able to see things that they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Also, it is very visually stimulating so it would keep the students interested. The bad things about a virtual tour is that it takes time and careful planning to put it together. Also the teacher would have to learn how to use the program and that also takes time.

Week 6 PLE Post

When a virtual tour is used in the classroom, there are other things that can be used simultaneously to help the students learn more. The teacher could play music that is appropriate for the location or time period being studied. Another thing that could be done is the students could draw something that is related to the content being studied. The students could also bring in things from home to share with their classmates. The students could read or listen to stories about the subject matter. One last thing they could do is make things out of clay of what they learned.

Digital Storytelling Project

Here is a link to the storyboard:
Storyboard

Digital Storytelling Technology

A pro is an argument that supports something and a con is an argument that is against that something. Some pros about the technology we used to make the story was that it was very visually-based so it was easy to see exactly what was being done to our video when we were editing it. Another pro was it that it was easy to upload and use our own photos and music. A con about it was that we were not familiar with it and it took a little while to figure it out and get the hang of it.

Week 5 PLE Post

Some of the basic things you can do with Google Earth are to see different landmarks and places you wouldn't normally be able to see. You can visit these places without leaving the house. There are other resources available at the different sites that allow you to learn more about that place. I con use Google Earth in my classroom to help my students learn the curriculum better. If they see it and experience it through Google Earth, it will make the subject matter much more interesting than just hearing about or even seeing pictures about it. The other resources and videos available at the sited will also help them learn better.

Participation Assignment

I mostly have talked to my roommates and my older sister about what I have learned in this class. I have also talked a little to my mother about it. I have learned that a lot of people don't even about there being a class about technology and teaching when I tell them about, but they say it makes sense when they think about it. I have shared the technologies and resources we have learned about and used with them and some of them have used them themselves. When you tell somebody something you have learned, they will probably share that with someone else and then it will just keep going until maybe even hundreds of people have heard about it. I think that is so amazing. We should share what we learn more often. Everyone would know a lot more.

Week 4 PLE Post

The storyboards that I looked at and commented on were Katelyn Sneed, Cherie Abiang, Aubrey Barker, Lindley Burton, and Morgan Thorup's. I thought they were all very creative and would keep the students entertained.

Problems that a teacher could run into while trying to do this in the classroom would be the availability of the right technology to do it. Also it might be hard to get the kids organized and interested in the project. It might be best if the class was split into larger groups instead of smaller ones. It would depend on the age of the students. Obviously, the older grades would have a better time with it.