Post #4 - Technology

# 1 - As I get older, I find my tech life dwindling faster and faster. When I was in high school, social media (e.g. MySpace, LiveJournal) were the big thing and you missed out on everything if you weren’t a part of it. Every year, I find myself using my social media platforms as more of “picture storage” and rarely ever read anyone’s posts. Wading through an overwhelming amount of shared “funny pictures” and opinions that spark hundreds of mean replies just isn’t appealing any longer. So I have pretty much cut myself out of the majority of tech in my personal life and try to focus more on what I am doing.

Academically, however, I am very big into exploring the tech world. I currently have one semester left until I have my Bachelor’s Degree and I have only attended 5 physical classes. When it is all said and done, I will only have attended one full semester of classes over my 4 years of college. All thanks to technology and online courses. This has caused a large interest in the technologies used in other educational institutions. Whenever new forms of technology are introduced in my internship or in a classroom, I immediately want to research it’s benefits and uses in the classroom. I feel as if technology in the classroom are great tools to further education and I hope to build a large catalogue of different technologies (blogs, Wordle, Weebly, etc.) to use in my lesson plans. My teachers used absolutely zero technology and I feel like the students today use so much that it is a disservice to not focus on technology as a classroom tool.

 # 2 - VoiceThread gives a wonderful opportunity for assignments like book reports to become more interactive. Writing a report or doing a simple presentation on book reports generally turn into mostly boring explanations of what is read. In my experience, there are never any hands-on elements. On top of that, the reports usually end when the student is done presenting and that is the last word on the matter. Using VoiceThread, it is possible to create a digital book report with photos, illustrations, writing, and more interactive methods. A student can post their report and may begin a discussion that can continue over multiple days, the entire unit plan, and (most importantly) when they leave the classroom. This isn’t exclusive to book reports, though. It can be used for any number of assignments to turn them into technology-driven projects where every student as the opportunity to interact.

# 3 – I have been a user of GoodReads for a few years now and it provides a lot of useful insight into finding a new book. There are times when I am unsure about a book and I can jump on their to make my way through reviews (both spoiler-free and spoiler-filled are available). If a student is unsure of what they may want to read, GoodReads gives very good recommendations. There is also the “competition” aspect as you can set reading goals, compete against friends, and be social on the site. Students are in need of constant encouragement and if they can find this intrinsically, let’s say by wanting to read more than a friend, it is giving them more of a reason to actually get into reading. The risks are low, which is another perk. Students could hunt for spoiler-filled reviews to cheat on exams and be subjected to some foul-language-laced posts by other users.

FlipGrid is another site that offers many benefits. With how popular apps like SnapChat and Instagram are, students are obviously drawn to the social aspects. FlipGrid seems to give students the ability to post their videos (responses to assignments would fit well here) and other students can respond. This seems like a great way to have students hold large conversations using videos (something that may draw them to the assignments). The risks are similar to GoodReads with the possibility of stumbling upon a response or post that may contain unsavory language or images.

# 4 – Some of the mentioned sites I noticed:

·         Duolingo – I have heard about DuoLingo in the past from other classes. This seems like an outstanding way to assist students learn a second language outside of the classroom. With there being many ESOL students in my county, this website would be outstanding for teachers and students. It’s great to see the Top 200 include a language-based app like this.

·         SoundCloud – I have seen SoundCloud around quite a bit (mostly people promoting their “mixtapes” and songs they create at home). After looking through the site, it seems to contain quite a few podcasts, many of which are educational. Podcasts may help students who learn in a more auditory fashion.

·         YouVisit – This seems like a great way for students to go on free little “field trips.” It also has many classroom/lesson possibilities. I found myself just randomly searching through it and enjoying the experience and I can imagine it would be a great way to get students involved. 

# 5 - What some teachers don't seem to get is that technology is so broad that there is many different ways to use it in order to enhance every lesson. Students can use different forms of technology to assist in any tier of Bloom's Taxonomy. Many teachers believe that technology is just there to "make things easier" while it is helping students to dive into the material, using what they know to make a more powerful impact on their education.

# 6 - Right now, I am interested in using VoiceThread as a tool for projects. I have very limited experience with the website but everything I have heard is positive. Incorporating digital media into Language Arts seems to be a great way to include students who claim "reading/writing isn't there thing.” With the overwhelming amount of students claiming they “don’t like to read” or anything along those lines, the hope is that something like VoiceThread as a digital book report will give them a bit more push towards reading the book so they may be creative with their digital report.