This class has been a positive influence in the usage of technology in education. As a future educator I am grateful for the learning experiences that helped me better understand the instructional technology tools out there that benefits not just teachers but students as well. The assignments were fun and interesting once you figured out what you were doing. And every assignment had a purpose of not just to teach us as future teachers something but for us to be aware of some of the useful tools that we may find useful in our future classroom. Some useful assignments for future classrooms, just to name a few are: intro video; concept map; website; voki; xtranormal; turnitin paper; and TED Videos.
The first assignment, the intro video aligned with the NET Standards: 3a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of the current knowledge to new technologies and situations; and 3c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats. This assignment aligns with these standards because it is a technological way to show a different form of using technology to create an introduction which could be used more than just one way; it is also another form to communicate information, in this case an introduction about your teacher, using digital media. The video may be used in other technological areas such as a teacher’s website, which is discussed later. This is useful because you could record much more than just introductions and use them to compile important information, like for an example: have my students to create separate group videos on topics and compile them all together to create a single video that covers important topics they discuss and understand in their own words.
The second assignment was the concept map, which aligns with NET Standards: 1a. Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness; and 1c. Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. The concept map aligns to these standards in that to create a concept map it requires one to think selectively, and it implements the usage of creativity through things such as using a variety of: hyperlinks, fonts, and pictures and colors to be used on the concept map. I enjoy creating concept maps and I would use this in my classroom in order for my students to create their own versions of concept maps, because they provide an easy way to structure selective important information.
Another assignment was the Teacher website, which aligns with the NET standards: 3b. Collaborate with students, peers, and parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success; and 5a. Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. The web page allows the usage of students and parents to access information about the teacher and the class such as class calendar and schedule. Also parents and students have access to videos and website teacher approved that benefit the students learning. The teacher web page is also a way for in which the teacher and other peers may participate and collaborate in local or global learning communities and learn or explore other creative applications of technology to improve student learning like standard 5a. standard states. I liked this assignment as way in showing me how to create a page that could include important tid-bits of information such as: quick facts about the instructor for parents knowledge, a calendar with labeled assignments to keep parents and students on track of what is due and when, and resources to enhance or help student learning.
Another two assignments that are similar are the video assignments Voki and Xtranormal which align with the NET Standards: 1a. promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness; 1b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources; 1c. promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes; and 3c. communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats. I liked these assignments as a creative way to discuss or provide information in an engaging and creative way. I enjoyed creating a voki and a xtranormal video; these are useful tools in showing students fun, and innovative ways to discuss relative information.
Another assignment is the turnitin assignment which follows the NET standards: behavior in their professional practices. 4a. advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources; and 4c. promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information. It is important for students to be aware of the etiquettes in using technology such as internet resources, that it is ok, to draw from sources needed information but credit must be given to those sources; otherwise, it is illegal copyright or plagiarism. I liked this assignment and will use it in my future classroom to establish to my students the proper form in which to conduct research and write papers so that they may not cheat their way through school.
The last assignments to discuss are the TED videos, which align with the NET standards: 4b. address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies and providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources; 4d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools; 5a. participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning; and 5c. evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning. The videos are a useful tool in showing advances in education around the world in benefiting teachers and students alike, and not just in technology. It is also a useful way in engaging students in the going-ons around them as well as out in the world and discuss the issues or information of each video. I would use this in my future classroom to discuss current beneficial educational issues and other forms of issues and technologies I believe my students should be aware of.
I enjoyed all of our assignments in this class. Many of them, like the ones I just discussed, I will draw from and use in my future classroom. I have become a little more technology savvy since taking this course, and learned some useful technology tools that will help me in the long run as a future educator.
