leviblog

Ed Tech Reflection

2006-08-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

This ed tech class has given me some very useful ideas as regarding programs and projects to use in my own classroom when I become a teacher. I also really agree that learning about technology is highly integral in the modern classroom, both for students, and teachers as well.
Some of the projects I enjoyed the most in this class were the web site creation and the claymation project. I enjoyed creating my own web site because I think that this will be very useful in the classroom. If I have my own web site I can put information about myself on it so that my students and their parents can learn more about me. This will really facilitate a more open environment in the classroom and it could also create connections with my students, who may learn that we have some things in common. I also enjoyed the artistic nature of creating a web site. Mapping out how the page would be set up and choosing colors and pictures to use on it really stimulated my artictic side. This could be a great plus in the classroom if the students were to create a web site dealing with some of the information we are going over in the class. This would help them to focus on the topic and think about it in new and different ways.
I also enjoyed the claymation project. It really amazed me how our group could create something like this both in the relatively short amount of time we had to do it and considering the fact that none of us were highly technical savvy. Claymation would also work great in the classroom because the act of coming up with a concept, visualizing it, and then physically creating it would be a great way for diverse learners to learn more about the information, rather than just listening to a lecture.
All in all this ed tech class was very interesting and I enjoyed the change of pace it presented as opposed to the other classes. Its projects were more hands on, and they also allowed for greater creativity. I look forward to trying to implement some of the things I have learned in this class into my own classroom.

School bullying prevention computer programs

2006-08-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

One of my Smart Brief articles today elaborated on a new computer program being tested in German and English schools in 2007. The program was created at the University of Hertfordshire, England. This program would put students into a virtual situation where they interact with a bullying victim and they come up with prevention strategies to make sure it did not happen again.
I think that this is a great use of new technology to deal with a a very old problem, bullying in schools. I like the way that the program is similar to a video game because this is a medium that children can identify with, and they also might think the program is fun because of this, rather than a boring chore.
Bullying is certainly a problem in schools and it is not likely to go away without inventive programs like this that flip perspective on the students and show them the errors of their ways in postive, fun ways.
This is educational technology that I believe would be useful in a classroom on its own standing, rather than an enhancement tool for lessons or lesson planning. The way it gives students the opportunity to come up with preventative strategies is also a crucial function because it would really make students think about the problem of bullying and ways in which they themselves could stop it.
Hopefully this program will work out in England and Germany so that it could be used here in America. I would be very interested to see how the program would work out in a classroom, and I would not mind using it in my own classroom when I become a teacher.

The use of edtech projects in our own classrooms

2006-08-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

I think that some of the projects that we are currently doing in the edtech class could be very ueseful in our own classrooms once we get started in fall term. For instance, the newsletter could be useful in a few different ways. You could use the newsletter about yourself to send home to the parents of your students, they could use this to get to know you better and perhaps be more comfortable with having you in their child's classroom.
Secondly, you could have your own students create newsletters for you. You could get to know them much better this way, their home life, or their hobbies, and in this way you could perhaps share your similarities with the children and build a better teacher student relationship.
Also, I really like the idea of the photoshop photos and the process of manipulating them creatively. This would be useful in a history course where students could create their own photos manipulated in a way to show a historical situation. Students could build historical projects around photos in which they could tell the historical story with the explanatory function of the photo.
Finally, creating your own web site could be used for more advanced students in high school. The web site could function in a similar way to the newsletter, in that it could tell information about the students and so foster connections between all the students and with the teacher. I like the idea of a web site as a way to constantly update what is going on in a student's life, they could share what they feel about the class and maybe even give some suggestions on how the teacher could make it better.
All in all, this ed tech class will be very helpful when starting our careers as teachers. It has already given me some interesting ways in which I could connect with my students.