blog #10

Qualtrics was a very interesting program to use. I think it is very beneficial program and that can be use in several ways to impact the class room. In the future when I am an Accounting professor I will use Qualtrics to determine the satisfaction of my students with me as an instructor, my teaching methods, and how accurate my examples are in comparison to my exams. That way I can make sure that I am not only a good teacher but that I am giving the students the education that they deserve. One feature that I really like about Qualtrics that will help me with gathering this information is the exporting of the survey responses to an excel file. Qualtric really does an amazing job of simplifying this process and moving the responses to excel. Once in excel it will be easy to make charts and graphs to read my students responses and keep a track record of my progress from year to year.

What I found interesting about my classmates blogs is that we all have different backgrounds and come from different places. And that some of us did not originally start in education. But what I find the most interesting about my classmates blogs is that even though we come from different places and backgrounds we all have same goal. We all want to better the education in America. We all want to impact and develop the minds of our students wether it be in 1st grade or in college. I think this is very beautiful goal because the future of this country is in the hands of the youth and they will need proper guidance from people that love and want to teach them. Rather then someone who is just doing it as a job

The next program or skill I would like to learn to use is C++. Although it is an advance programing language i think it is very important tool to know how to use. It is obvious that the future is technology driven and if you can learn how to program you will have a very useful skills that not many posses. Furthermore you will not only know how to use technology but how it works and that will help not only monitor problems but help you better teach and use technology.

Some ways that I plan on reaching my educational technology related goals is by always having the passion to learn and to use the opportunities presented to me. Often jobs will offer courses for employees to learn different programs and acquire new skills. I am going to always take advantage of all the programs that are offered to me not only the ones that apply to my current job;because even though i may not need or use the skill at the moment it may come a time when I do need it. Also like i said above I will continue with my passion to learn if there is a program that I want to learn or need to learn and it is not offered from by employer I will learn it outside of work, on my own because it will only enhance my skill set sand make me a more marketable employee.

ILP Design "Glogster"

Glogster was very fun to use. It was definitely fun using a different tool to create educational material. I found it a little bit difficult to navigate and create stuff, i think it should be easier to use or at least provide a set of instructions for first time users. Over all I was happy with my final result. I really like the video feature in the presentation. Something that I really liked about the uploading video feature is the fact that you can look up the youtube on the template. Instead of going to youtube and then importing the video. Overall I really like Glogster and if I ever need to use it to make a lesson plan or teach a subject I will be ready.

ILP Technology-Related Event

Activity Log

3:30- went to Tech Sandbox

3:35- looked at the 3D Printer

3:40- saw the material used to print

3:45- saw a bracelet printed

3:50- asked questions about the printer

3:55- played with some of the print outs

4:00- took picture of the printer and print outs


I went to the Tech sand box and researched the 3D printer. Although it is not one of the technologies that you can play with or be hands on with I learned a lot about 3D printing and what printing in the future may look like. The 3D printer we have in the Tech sand box uses a material called PlA and it is a plastic material. Surprisingly this material is fairly inexpensive and last very long. There are other types of 3D printers different from the one in the sandbox. For example there are 3D printers that use metal instead of plastic to make objects. Currently there is not a printer that does both metal and plastic products but that is definitely the future of printing. Although 3D printing is something people today are amaze with it will be something that is regularly used in the future. Today you can buy a plastic product 3D printer for 200 to 300 dollars. As technology continues to develop and engineers continue to develop printers in the future 3D printers will be inexpensive and will bring a positive impact into the education field.

Blog #9

The flipped classroom i think is a really good way to get students to learn. I think that hands on trainings is usually the most impactful way to reach students. It gets students actively involved in the classroom in fields that they are interested in. But it dose not just get them involved in the academia aspect but it gets them involved in real world scenarios.


A really impactful web based scenario that I will use in the classroom for professional development is Purdue owl. Purdue owl is a online web page that contains all type of grammar rules, professional formatting, and proper structure for written communication. I think this is important because writing is the most common way of communication between professionals and scholars. Like everyone one we are all humans and can make mistakes or forget proper grammar at times, but when communicating it is very important to have proper writing skills and Purdue is an excellent resource to help with that.


The interactive power point assignment was very cool. It allowed me to use features in powerpoint that I had no idea existed. It also allowed me to make a very fun educational game. I made math game and it was astonishing how many of my friends got some of the questions wrong. It showed me that the education system needs to do a better job of having our students develop stronger mathematical skills. But what really shocked me was that most of my friends that were non science majors or engineers really guessed them self on some of the question. But my girlfriend who is a science major did exceptionally well. So then it makes me think is it the education system or the respective fields in which we each choose to pursue.

Post #8

As 3D printing is perfected and modified to be affordable and efficient I think it holds a lot of promise in the classroom. 3D printing will allow teachers to print basic materials for students like paper, pencil, pens and other classroom materials. This is extremely beneficial because it cuts out the hassle of future teacher like myself having to go and purchase these items and at the same time it helps make sure students are never with our proper schooling supplies. Furthermore I would use this technology in order to educate my students on specific subjects. For example if I am teaching and geography class and we are talking about Europe I would print out a sample of the Eiffel tower because it is an important monument in Europe.

I am a supporter of technology in the classroom. I believe that technology helps enhance student learning and at the same time prepare them for upper education levels and ultimately future jobs. When there are students in my classroom that do not have access to technology like iPads or laptops I will make sure to give ample time for assignment that require technology and that way the students can use resources like the library to get the assignment done.

The PowerPoint assignment was very useful in learning how to create an interactive class lecture. It help give me a strong foundation on how to properly use power point to develop a lecture. I learned how to use both animations and transitions. It helped me figure out how to post direct links to external sources and I think most importantly it helped think of what teaching is actually like. It helped me see that teaching is not just posting a power point but portraying and explaining the information on the screen to the students and with your explanation help reinforce what is on the power point.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a very unique and widely use tool in education. Power points allow you to instruct your audience through slides. The unique thing about power points is that they can either be original or you can use other peoples slides on the same subject. This a very interesting feature because it helps us instruct our students at the create level of the blooms taxonomy. Other levels in the blooms taxonomy are evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding and remembering information. Power point hits all of these levels. With Microsoft power point you can upload graphs, timelines, and other visual information to help students analyze and evaluate the topic of discussion. At the same time power point allows you to upload pictures and images that will help students from all levels remember and understand the information being taught. Lastly power point can be use for applying the knowledge you are teaching by putting up questions and also asking students to make their own power points on a topic and see how much they really understand the subject.

Adaptive technology helps students with disabilities feel included. Just because students have disabilities does not mean that they are not able to use technology it just means they need some help with input and output devices. Some input devices used for students with disabilities are voice recognition software and some output devices are like joysticks. These devices seriously help with disable students and the integration into the technology era. Some troubles that come with different technology is some students might feel left out or different. But it is our job as instructors to make them feel included and normal

The webpage assignment was very interesting. It helped us not only acquire a new and important skill but helped us learn how to organize and present teaching material. If I were to do this again I would organize my information better and post better resources for my users. I will definitely use a website in my future classroom. I think that a blog would be a better suited type of webpage for me because I want to entice conversation and dialogue.

http://elementaryaccounting.weebly.com/calendar.html

Blog #5

With technology evolving and the ELA standards enforcing the use of technology in the classroom it is eminent that teachers know and understand how they work.  I think all web 2.0 resources are useful in their own way but all of them bare the risk of student safety.  For example twitter is a great way for students to keep up to date with news and peoples thoughts on national issues; but twitter only provides snippets of information and that can lead to students not having the whole story and misguided views.  Another web 2.0 resources that is very effective in teaching is YouTube. YouTube allows you to go beyond only talking about the subject you are teaching and it allows you to show your students visual representations of the subject matter. Although YouTube is a great teaching tool student safety is also a concern here whether it be misguided information, or inappropriate information for the age group, or sensitive topics. So as a teacher you need to be aware of that and try limit that as much as possible. Both web 2.0 resources I describe do not need peripherals since you can access them off the web.

A web 2.0 tool that I find interesting and that I would use in the classroom would be Diigo. Diigo is not only a great way to get students their own online audience and platform, but it is a great way to get students thinking. Diigo provides blogs for students to be able to develop and portray their ideas in a safe way. Diigo also allows online interaction for peers to give constructive criticism or comment on how great your post was.

Another great way to use Diigo in the classroom is for in class discussion and analysis of research papers or other online material.  Diigo allows you to go through research or reading material and make your own sticky notes, outliners, and allows you to share your thoughts with your peers. Again Diigo serves as great tool to not only see what your students think about the assignment topic but to gauge their level if understanding and knowledge based on their analysis. This provides a great platform for teacher to evaluates students and see who needs help and who us making great use of the technology. If you are interested in how Diigo works and possibly using it click here.

The concept map was a really helpful assignment in terms of organizing ideas. I think this helps for prospective teachers because it helps narrow down your thoughts in an organize matter and be able to reach your main points. I think the most under looked but most useful thing in my opinion is the simplicity of concept maps. It allows you to follow an idea or a topic in fast and effective way and in my opinion that is the best way to engage students.