#8 - Mind Games

This past week we were given the opportunity to visit the Sports Psychology Lab located in the Stone Building. There were all sorts of different technologies here that they use with student athletes to work on the psychological aspect of sports. I have personally used the Dynavision system before, which is basically a giant black box that has buttons arranged in a circular pattern, then the buttons would light up and the goal is to hit the button as soon as it lights up. There were several other tools that we were able to work with during our visit. I don't know if I would necessarily use any of these tools in my classroom, considering I am hoping to be a general education teacher. I feel as though special education teachers would have  more use out of these tools from the sports psychology lab.

I would use PowerPoint in order to describe Bloom's Taxonomy to support student learning at each level of the taxonomy. The order of Bloom's Taxonomy goes as such, remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. I feel as though making a PowerPoint will support all of the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. It will help with remembering, only if the students have access to the PowerPoint after the fact so they can review the material and remember it. The presentation will help with understanding, applying, analyzing, and evaluating the material, based on what is in the PowerPoint. Usually the information that is given in PowerPoints, is the information that is the most important to the lesson, allowing it to be applied  elsewhere.

Image found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/21847073@N05/5857112597 

 

 

I came across an article filled website that was jam-packed with different technology trends! There was just so much to look at, I couldn't decide where to look first. This website would be a perfect place for anyone to come and check out the latest and greatest in the Technology world! Click the picture below to visit the website!

 

 

#7 - Assistive Technologies for Diverse Learners

Assistive technologies are used in several different ways to support learners of different abilities. These technologies are mainly used for students who are under the categories of physically challenged, has learning issues, or is gifted (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 67). There are specific areas of content regarding technology that support special needs in those areas (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 67). There is a wide range of resources for diverse learners to use in order to learn to the best of their ability. Some examples would be recorded books, which is when a recording of a person reading the book aloud is made (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 71), high-interest low-level vocabulary books, which "assist students by providing interesting content but at a reading level consistent with their current abilities" (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 73) and many other options. I know in elementary school, we were given certain level books based off of our scores on reading tests so that we could read in our reading level. There were some students in my class that were reading at a lower-level than the rest of the class, but I don't know if those books were considered "high-interest low-level vocabulary" books. Some challenges with using adaptive technologies in my classroom would be, accidentally singling out those children with certain disabilities, disregarding some students who may not have a disability (whether it be physical or a learning) but still struggle with some problems in school.

I have used Weebly in the past for my senior year portfolio in high school. In all honestly, I wasn't the biggest fan of this particular "Create Your Own Website", when I used it in high school, and I have to say I am still not the biggest fan. I just find it difficult to get used to the different tools on this website. There are some things that I do really like about this medium, but if I could, I would choose a different website to use. I think it's hard to customize easily using weebly, and it's hard to edit as well. I  know that I did enjoy the option to upload your own photos for headers! That made it possible to give it my own personal touch. I know that in my future classroom, I will for sure use a classroom page or blog, and this assignment has gotten me more comfortable with the idea! I may not necessarily use Weebly, but I know I will have a class page. Here is a screenshot of my Web Page! Click on the picture to be brought directly to the website!

Diigo is one of the more applicable websites I have learned about in Educational Technology. I know that in the future, I would most definitely use this learning tool, whether it's with my students or my fellow teachers. Since I am hoping to teach in elementary school, I feel as though I would use Diigo with my colleagues, rather than my students. Diigo is a great way to peer review sources to use within your classroom and I know that I would love feedback from fellow teachers about whether or not I should use certain sources, games, or criteria within the classroom. 

(1) ILP Participation - Lynda: Improving Your Memory

In this Independent Learning Project, I decided to utilize the Lynda.com license that we as students a Florida State have access to. I couldn't decide what area I wanted to take a tutorial on, so I went under the Education tab. There were several different tutorials to choose from, but I chose a lecture based on Memory, and how to strengthen your memorizing skills. At first, I had chosen this tutorial only because it's an important aspect of my campus ministry to memorize scripture from the Bible; I know that I struggle with memorization, so I thought this tutorial would help a lot. Besides helping me with memorizing scripture, I thought this would help me greatly with studying for exams as well. I would utilize these tools I was given in my future classroom as well.

Here are some of my notes from the Lynda.com tutorial I participated in!

 

Feel free to click on the image below to be taken to the specific tutorial I did!

Here are some tools that were provided at the end of the tutorial!

#6 - Went to the Tech Sandbox and didn't come home with my shoes filled with sand #success

The school website that I decided to investigate was Conley Elementary. I purposely chose this school mainly because I am a part of their EDEP staff. The information that is available publicly is your basic information regarding school events, among other things. Unfortunately, I was unable to gain access into any of the class pages, mainly because I would have needed a student or parent log in. Conley Elementary is a Kindergarten through 5th grade school located in Tallahassee, Florida. The Conley Elementary website was filled with information in how to get in contact with the school. The school also offers several programs that parents can choose from to put their children in. Here are several aspects of this website that I felt were very beneficial to the prospective parent.

 

 

Feel free to click on the pictures to be brought directly to those specific pages!

I envision myself using technology to accomplish my professional responsibilities more efficiently and more effectively in several different ways. Some examples of these include, productivity software, classroom management software and administrative software (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 147). I know in my future endeavors as a teacher that I will use all of these programs to ensure my productivity and efficiency in the classroom. The program I think I will use the most would be the classroom management software; this will help me keep track of all of my students and their grades (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 146). Using this software to keep up with my students grades will allow me to maintain close watch on the students that may need extra help. This will allow me to maintain my professional responsibilities as their teacher.


After visiting the tech sandbox last week, I realized how much technology has changed since I was in elementary school. There were so many cool gadgets and "toys" to play with and I know I will want to go back and visit again. The piece of technology that amazed me the most was the SmartBoard; yes, I have been around SmartBoards most likely my entire schooling life, but what amazed me the most was how much they have advanced since I was in elementary school. We were shown this cube, that worked with a video projector. It projected images that were basically 3D and interactive. I was amazed by this because I know I would have paid more attention if I had that when I was younger. I was also able to "play" with the virtual reality glasses, Oculus Rift; that was weird yet very cool experience. I think what was the coolest thing about that set up was how they actually use that technology with therapy patients! I would highly recommend anyone to go and visit this awesome resource in the college of education.

#5 - LibraryThing gets a gold star

The Web 2.0 tool that I think is very useful in the classroom or to support teacher professional development would be having a class blog. I think this particular tool would be incredibly helpful for both the students and the teacher to maintain organization and keep everyone updated on classroom news. This is a great way for a teacher to post assignments from each day to keep students in the loop; this is also great for students who may have been absent that day due to sickness, or what have you, giving them the opportunity to keep up with the rest of class. This also gives students the chance to communicate with each other and the teacher, regarding any possible issues with homework or classwork. Communication is key in the classroom and it's important for the teacher to maintain consistent contact with their students. The podcast mentioned how students can have their own personal blogs, and I don't agree that this is the best use of a Web 2.0 tool. If blogs were to be used, I would rather it be a single class blog rather several individual blogs.

The interesting Web 2.0 tool that I used was LibraryThing. This website is great for the fellow bookworm to build a social network regarding their personal reading library. The website is very easy to navigate and allows the user to set up an account efficiently. You basically set up a personal catalog of "books you own, books you've read, books you'd like to read, books you've lent out ... whatever grouping you'd like". Much like the tool we used in class, Diigo, the user institutes tags and is able to share their catalog with other people via this website. Since it is all done online, everyone can contribute to book ratings, reviews and tags. I personally find this to be awesome because I enjoy reading very much and to be able to catalog my personal library makes my inner organizing self very satisfied. I ended up making an account for myself, and I am so excited to use this Web 2.0 Tool.

Chapter 12 discusses several different technology advancements in the classroom. The advancement that I believe that holds the biggest promise for education is "gamification". In Chapter 12 it states, "gamification adds game elements to instructional content to increase motivation and interactivity, encourage creativity, and deepen understanding of content" (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 288). I think educational games are a great tool for teachers to use in the classroom because using games will always get your students involved in the material and topics you are discussing in class. It makes the concepts a lot more interesting for the students and gets them all involved in your classroom! The advancement of the different types of games have come a long way, even from when I was a student in the classroom. Back in my day, we never did any educational games that involved technology, but rather did flashcard games and competitions. I believe this holds the biggest promise for education because the development of educational technology in the realm of educational games allows for even more games to be created and even more ways to teach different concepts; this is great for students to be taught in their comfort zone and to the best of their ability.

#4 - #twitter #digitaldivide #edtech

Twitter has been a really cool tool that we have been using in EME 2040. I haven't really interacted much with other teachers or educational technology professionals via this app, but I have found some interesting articles through the use of Twitter. I found some interesting views on different forms of Educational Technology and how important it is to use Educational Technology in the classroom. I have followed several professionals within this particular specialization, and it is a larger business than I was expecting. I know that Twitter will be very helpful for me in the future because there is a lot of helpful information from several sources regarding not only the use of Educational Technology but also simple lesson plan ideas.


The digital divide can greatly affect student success, especially when the teacher solely uses technology in the classroom. I think this issue would be a big issue in urban schools because of the lack of funding, not only in the schools potentially but also in the homes of some of the students. A lot of the active learner software, which is "a diverse collection of academic software that can be used to enrich teaching and learning for both students and teachers ", that is used requires internet, and some students may not even have internet at home (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 176). Although some active learning software does not require internet, the availability of the software maybe less than likely for some students. The digital divide can greatly affect the students success, because they don't have access to the proper software or materials.

         

I know when I am writing research papers, or anything that requires sources, I am very careful when choosing websites to gain information from. I tend to choose the websites that end in ".gov", ".org" or ".edu". These particular sources are considered to be trustworthy because they are official sites that contain content that is correct and justified. When considering if a website isn't good, you must also read over the information that is within the website to make sure it is properly cited. Making sure that the content is properly cited, will save you from any troubles with any copy right violations. Finally, making sure that the content in the websites is applicable to whatever you are researching will make it easier to use within your writing.