Final Thoughts on Technology in Education

Technology integration into the classroom is key as we move into an age where all out students are digital natives. Coming out of this class I feel more versed in specific technology that I can use to enhance and differentiate my instruction, which is essential to my work as a special educator.
Technology comes in all shapes and sizes and offering your students a choice between traditional and digital work gives them a larger range of options for learning and expresssion.
I think the most useful thing we learned this semester was how to use the IWB, as I have seen that in almost every classroom that I've been in, and the software behind it can be quite daunting. I feel more confident that I can create great flipcharts aligned with lesson plans and employ them in the classroom.
I think that as teachers we need to remember to stay on top of new developments in technology and not settle for sub-par equipment in our schools. Being advocates for technology in the classroom is important for student learning, and we don't want to do our students the disservice of not updating ourselves on what is the newest and most effective technology for instruction.

IBAs

Inquiry-based activities are very similar to WebQuests but both more short-term projects and also based on inquiry learning, as the name suggests. IBAs can come in a number of forms but we created them on the PBworks wiki that we had been using for other things during the semester. Our IBAs were centered around worksheets with questions, and the technology came in in that students had to discover answers withi websites which we provided, instead of using a textbook. This is a good approach for students who cannot seem to focus on a textbook, and find searching through websites more meaningful/interactive/easy.
The IBAs were not difficult to put together and the advantage of them being online is that the student cannot lose the worksheet or 'misplace' their textbook, and as long as your school has computer access they have no excuse not to do it.

Digital Diagrams

Our class used Inspiration9 software to create interactive digital diagrams for the academic subject of our choice. Diagrams are helpful for differentiated instruction and thought organization in the classroom. The diagram needs to be clear and not cluttered but still visually stimulating enough that it is useful and memorable for the student.

I had never used Inspiration9 before, and found that it was extremely straightforward and user friendly. I had no trouble at all creating a diagram on proportions and ratios, and completed the assignment quickly. I would absolutely employ this software in the classroom for creating both physical and digital worksheets with ease. I can also see this being an assignment where students create their own diagrams much the way we did in class. 

Digital Storytelling

Using visual media in the form of videos to introduce content to your classroom is not foreign to most teachers, but actually creating, editing, and producing that content usually is. Going into this project, I was unsure of what exactly I would create, but I decided to go with a subject which I had seen in action in my elementary practicum placement this semester - accountable talk.

I had experience editing videos because I used to run a webshow on YouTube in high school. However, I had always used Windows Movie Maker, and our directions for this assignment were to use iMovie. iMovie is fairly straightforward but as with all Apple software, takes some getting used to if you are a primarily a PC user. I decided to pair a voiceover about using accountable talk in the classroom with images of responsible classroom talk and instruction, and take advantage of the "Star Wars" themed title to sort of make it into a story for the kids - that they could "save" their classroom through accountable talk. 

Videos are extremely useful in order to get kids excited about a topic and to stimulate visual learners or take a break from the monotony of lecture, but I do think that it can be tempting to rely on video for more than is necessary.

IWB Chapter

Interactive White Boards are definitely some of the most recent technology to make its way into the classroom. While intimidating, the software which comes with these machines offers an exciting new way to engage students in learning, during lectures, reviews, or activities. However, there seems to be some debate as to whether or not use of IWBs in the classroom is linked to student achievement. There seems to be more evidence for links between IWB use and high achieving students, and not low achieving students. This is something that as a special education teacher, I would want to look into. I think I would also like to attend more professional development related to IWB use, because of the warnings about teachers failing to use the boards effectively.

Web Albums

Web albums like Picasa and online presentation like Google Presentations are extremely useful for a teacher who may have several computers on which work is done, and does not want to keep a flash drive with all materials on it. This way, any presentations made for class can be stored online and accessed from any computer.
The digital photo hunts were good activities for upper level (middle/high school) students to do, and perhaps to create a digital portfolio. Otherwise, both activities are good to use as presentations for younger grades, so they are able to access them  in more ways than just watching at the front of the class. Teachers can embed these presentations into websites so students can later look at them.

Resource Wiki

The resource wiki collection we put together in class was extremely vast. It's good to have as many people as possible contribution to a resource wiki if you really want a comprehensive source to pull from. One teacher may have to teach several different subject areas and not be totally familiar with all of them - this is a good way for the teacher to prepare. Resource wikis are also great go-tos for when you need a sub in your class and have no lesson plan prepared.

WebQuests

WebQuests are tools designed to integrated technology into the classroom and facilitate learning.  Designing a WebQuest means gathering resources from the internet that you want your students to use and designing a lesson plan around them. WebQuests can be used for a number of different subjects and every cross curricular discipline. You need to take into account several things before using a WebQuest in your classroom, however: whether or not the activity could be done without the internet, how comprehensive it is, whether or not you should use groups, etc.

Evaluating Websites

Evaluating websites is critical to being able to provide valuable resources to your students. If we do not take the time to evaluate websites we put ourselves at risk for giving and receiving false or erroneous information. If we are not evaluating the teaching strategies we research online, we could be in danger of employing harmful strategies rather than credible evidence based practices. We also need to be able to show students how to critically evaluate website information for themselves. By doing this we are able to provide our students with important tools for their future success in both academic research and personal research and self-education. An activity similar to the one we completed in this class could be used in order to guide students' thinking about what factors they need to take into account in order to determine the credibility of a website.

Blogging in the Educational Community

Blogging is an easy way to consolidate thoughts, resources, experiences, and ideas into one space. This is especially useful in education as a way for teachers to share and collaborate both within a community and to the world at large. Niche communities find their own spaces within the blogging community - I've included a few SpEd blogs on a list to the side - which can help teachers with their lesson plans or simply with coping in the classroom. Many times, (and traditionally) blogs were used as online journals/diaries but now they are used for promotion and commercial interests as well as a source for activities/classroom resources, etc.