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Project based learning summary

This project based learning assignment taught me mroe then in any other class I have ever been in. It taught me how to really create a grant proposal but it also showed me that I can be a leader. Before I never thought that I could put together a program from the ground up. I can. i create a program that discussed how to bring real life into the classroom and get the community involved. This is needed in schools and i was able to describe how a professional development activity would be developed to discuss the program for the teachers involved. We created examples that really help the learner to see how money and other things really work in the real world. Developing a relationship on googledocs was hard at first but we were able to communicate very effectively on google documents.

project based learning article

I found a very good article that discusses the effects of project based learning on a student. Hootstien (1994) describes how simulations can help a students to achieve more in this article it helps a student to see how something really works. It discusses a hands on activity. An activity that allows the student to create something. In school today we as teachers dont give a lot of time for studfents to explore. We guide them most of the time. A simulation allows a students to make there own mistakes and backtrack till they get it right. The main point of this article was
“Simulations help students to develop and practice their decision-making skills.” In school that should be our main goal anyway.

Hootstein, E. (1994). Motivating students to learn. The clearing house. 67 (4). 213.

Motivation and Technology Blog 11

Motivation was the topic of a project based learning proposal me and my group came up with to increase participation in students. This is because we realize that students will learn more if they are interesed in what is going on. I feel reallife is the way to get them motivated. After completing the assignemnt though I realize that using technology in the class is a really good way to motivation the students. Especially if the students are in a underprivilaged community.Theses students have not been exposed tro a lot of the equipment that others may have used. Therefore motivation will help them to become mroe involved.

Technology that promotes E-Learning Blog 10

Technology that supports elearning is very important. I am apart of a new STEM lab approach at Clayton, County Public Schools. The Stem lab allows the children to work with a diverse amount of equipment without having the actually having to have the large equipment in the room. It allows for the kids to use simulations. In my class we have a STEM lab which stands for science technology engineerign and math.

Motivating student learning Post 9

Increasing student participation is very important because many times if we can get the students to participate we can also get the students to learn. The main problem though is motivation. Motivation is something that has to be within a student. We as educators job is not to motivate them but to get the intrisic motivation out of them. THe way that my group is tryign to get it out of them is by helping the students see the use of real world application. Many times students have to try to figure out why they have to learn a certain subject. They may ask, why do I have to learn this, I aint gonna never use it. THis is untrue. My group looks to influence the students motivation by showing them how they will use certain things they learn in real life.

How to Motivate

Motivating students can be a very difficult task because in many ways learning can be a cumbersome task. Students have to learn the skill then practice and study before they can really understand it. A lot of times practice can become boring even to the most studious student. Therefore teachers have to be inventive in the ways that they motivate students. Students have to be in structured environments and project based learning environments are the most innovative ways to create motivating experiences.
Projects help students to do something that is just not out of the book. It helps students to create meaningful examples of their learning. Egbert (2009) believes that project based learning helps students to become more motivated. I agree that when students are involved in hands on activities they seem that they are more open to participating. Participation is the first battle. Therefore, to conclude I feel that this was a very good point to motivate students by using the correct methods of project based activities.
Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: Essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Critical thinking Post 6

I think a new technology that supports critical thinking would be the new ways that teachers are using computerized programs to differentiate student k learning. One of these programs is called IPASS. IPASS is a math program that the students can log into and develop a plan based on what they know already and build off of that. The first thing the program does is test the student to see if the student is on a certain level the teacher can log in to see what level they are on and cater to the students needs. At the same time the math program questions and tests the student the entire time. It supports critical thinking as well because it uses real life examples in the math program. This is good because students can see how they use math in their everyday life.

Moviemaker

The moviemaker activity was a dificult activity because it was too much about timing and seemed to technical for me to let let the kids use. I think it would take a very long time before the kids were able to get the hang of moviemaker. It deals with very large files and seemingly endless photo and movie uploads.

I did learn that I as a teacher can use it to create instructional actitivities, These activities can be instructions for the child to follow and the movie to show the students the step by stop process.

It can also be used to introduce a lesson to the students. This is to get the students thinking about what will be discussed.

Turning Point Promoting creativity Post 8

I think that turning point software promotes creativity and productivity. Turning point is a program that allows students and teachers to create slideshows with questions embedded in the slides. Embedding them in the slides allows the students and teachers to promote productivity because the people that are reading the slides are paying a lot of attention to detail because they want to be able to answer the questions on the upcoming slides. Also this promotes productivityfor the teachers because they are able to grade work quickly and get things graded fast. In the system we use at our school when the kids answer usign the clickers the grade can go directly to the gradebook.

Internet safety Post 5

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology Essentiels of Classroom Practice. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall

Chapter 3 discussed interenet safety and its importantance in the classroom. Many times i dont think that teachers take interent safety seriuosly for many reasons. One of the main reasons is because most school systems have in place some sort of internet blocking software that does not let the students get on certain websites. This should not be depended on though by teachers because students know how to get around this software and onto sites that are innappropriate. I have first hand knowledge of this because in my classroom I have 30 computers and I wa surprised when I saw one of my children on facebook. Before i made them get off the program i made sure I looked at how they got on the site. They used a proxy website. That site tricked the computer to think the student was somewhere else. This could have been very dangerous because students could be talking to strangers and this could cause problems. Therefore it is very important to discuss safety rules with students early and often.

New Technology that supports collaboration Post 4

I think that the best technology that I have seen that supports collaboration would be Google Docs. We have been usign this in class and I am not afraid to say that it excites me to be able to work online at different times t get work done on the same assignment. In my class we have boon using it and everyone seems to understand the imporantce of collaborating. It also allows everyones voice to be heard. In a regular group setting. some people get left out because there voice is not heard in google docs everyone has a chance to do some part in the editing process. The other group members may redo or erase the editing but they are forced to read it. THis tyoe of shared document is the future and it really excites me.

ComicLife

I know your students will enjoy your ComicLife. There are so many things you can do with it. I like how you left out the names of the planets and just gave the description. You did a great job.

Comic Life Project

The comic life project was much better then the Voicethread project for several reasons the first reason is because we were more experienced as a group. During the first project we had to learn how to work as a team at the same time as we learned how to complete the Voicethread assignment. Its difficult enough to work in an online environment because no one is online at the same time. During this project I was very impressed by the leader’s ability to explain the project to everyone. She seemed to be constantly online and that made me feel very comfortable.
The assignment itself was also very eye opening. I never heard of this software but I will use it because it is something that I am sure students will love because of its comic book format. There is so much you can do with it. I decided to use it to make a fact sheet for class and give it to the student so they could use it study from about the different characteristics of certain planets in our solar system.
All in all I have to admit this was not what I expected I expected to be confused like I was during the first project but I think it is just because we were new as a group. Comic Life can be a very useful tool from kindergarten all the way up through college because it is flexible and easy to use. Its ease of use is what made this project easier

Blog update

OK. We are halfway there we have learned how to use a blog. How to collaborate on google docs to get things done. We have learned to use Voicethread software to get students to participate more in class. We have also used Comic life. This software is good for visual learners.

Egbert Chapter 2 Post 3

In Egbert’s (2009) chapter 2 the topic that stuck out to e the most was about the use of the computer lab (pg. 42). The text states that students should not be working on all the same things at the same time. I may get in trouble for this but I almost think this is absurd. Teachers can try to differentiate the types of work that students are working on but I think that it is crazy to expect the teacher to be able to keep up with all of it in a class of 30. A computer lab is usually a place where the computers are arranged in a circle and the teacher usually walks around the inside. If all the students are working on the same thing I think that the teachers will have a easier time monitoring the students progress and determining what that student needs to be successful. Many times I think this text are not real life enough and in this case it’s not. Every teacher wants to be a good teacher but the overuse of technology in the classroom can defeat the purpose. Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: Essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

VoiceThread Project

I will be using this idea in my classroom. I think your VoiceThread can be used at any grade level. The students will want to be prepared when they know they will be participating in the VoiceThread.

Voicethread

I have completed my Voicethread sample for my group. This voicethread is about the Solar System and it is used as a way to informally assess students learning over the previous week. It is a discussion that all the students could learn from. When the indivudual students comment n the questions the teacher is able to assess there learning and at the same time they are still learning. The Url to this voicethread is http://voicethread.com/share/609327. Check it out. It is simple but just a sample.

New Technology that supports Content Learning Post 2

I dont know how new this technology is but clickers have just now made its debut in the classrooms at my school. The studetns absolutly love it. It helps the kids to feel like they are playing more of a game then learning. This is a good thing because many times kids will not participate because they think they are learning. The clickers puts things into game format. In this format the students are answering questions from slides that are related to the material that is being studied. The kids pay a lot of attnetion to the slides because they never know when the next slide is going to be a question.

I have found this a very innovative way to create competition. Creating competition creates learning. As with any technology there is a downfall. The only downfall is that the students whisper the anwers to one another. This can take away from the point of the clickers. Very good classroom management has to be used.

Technology Integration Definition

Technology IntegrationTechnology integration is defined as the use of technology to enhance and support the educational environment. The educational environment can be enhanced by allowing the students access to materials and reference that they would otherwise not be able to use. This can be done through the use of the internet. One example would be the use of the internet to put student in contact with first had sources that could give them information about a certain subject they were studying. Many times in education the textbooks are outdated and the internet would allow the students access to much more updated material. Technology integration in the classroom can also support classroom instruction by creating opportunities for students to complete assignments on the computer rather than the normal pencil and paper. The computer has access to graphics and other functions students can use to express their creativity. Technology integration does not always have to do with the computer. It can be the use of the overhead projector, student response clickers, etc. Enhancing how the student learns is very important in technology integration.

The missing piece of Technology Integration Post 1

This article focuses on how visual literacy in technology integration. Visual literacy has to do with the way that a finished product looks. Many times the use of technology has become more important then the visual product. The courses that many colleges or universities have for their teachers to incorporate technology into their classes do not take into account visual literacy. Visual literacy is mainly based on creativity so it is difficult to train formally. The way that PowerPoint’s and other visual instructional tools are used is important to convey information the audience. One definition within technology is a scientific process based on visual perception. Instructional technology is important because all students need to be taught using different forms of technology. This helps students and teachers.

Sosa, T. , (2009). Visual Literacy: The missing piece of your technology integration course.Career and Technical Education. 51 (2). Retrieved August 22, 2009, from http:// proquest.umi.com

Working Definition

Technology integration is defined as the use of technology to enhance and support the educational environment. The educational environment can be enhanced by allowing the students access to materials and reference that they would otherwise not be able to use. This can be done through the use of the internet. One example would be the use of the internet to put student in contact with first had sources that could give them information about a certain subject they were studying. Many times in education the textbooks are outdated and the internet would allow the students access to much more updated material. Technology integration in the classroom can also support classroom instruction by creating opportunities for students to complete assignments on the computer rather than the normal pencil and paper. The computer has access to graphics and other functions students can use to express their creativity. Technology integration does not always have to do with the computer. It can be the use of the overhead projector, student response clickers, etc. Enhancing how the student learns is very important in technology integration.

Introduction

This blog will help teachers to understand how technology can help to increase participation in the classroom. Many times students do not want to answer out loud in class or they are just shy. Many times the use to technology can help a student better understand a subject or it can help to bring a student of his or her shell. This blog will help to show you both.

In this blog we will show you how Voicethread can help students in the classroom. Many don’t even know what the tool is for and not knowing sparks fear for many people. We plan on helping teachers to understand this and other tools that may be of great help to them in the classroom.

This blog can also be used to show teachers how they can use a blog in the classroom. Many individuals donot know what a blog is or what it is used for. This is my first blog but it will definately not be my last. Blogs enable individuals to show progress in a certain subject. As the semester progresses I hope that the different discussions within this blog help teachers to better understand the concept of Technology Integration