Online Communication Tools

This week we have been learning about the various types of online communication tools and how they can be utilized in the classroom. Some of these tools I use on an almost daily basis, like email, others I have never used, wikis, for example. Blogging is a communication tool that I am new to. This class is actually my first experience with using blogs, so I am learning as I go.
I am not yet teaching, so I haven't had the opportunity to use online communication tools in the classroom. However, I have used some on my last job, which was working as a case manager for a mentoring program at my district's middle school. For this job, I used email almost daily to communicate with program staff, potential mentors, and my supervisor. My school district provides email accounts for all employees, and the one we used was through Microsoft Outlook. Email is an efficient, convenient means to communicate with people on the job. It saves time by allowing you to compose a short message and send it immediately. However, there are a couple disadvantages that I have come across when using email. One of these is that it might take someone a few days to reply to the email. If time is not an issue then this will not pose a problem, but if an immediate answer is needed, email might not be the best tool to choose. Another disadvantage of email is that sometimes it can be difficult to get a message across in the exact way you mean it. The email recipient could misunderstand the message or the tone of the message, and this could cause unnecessary miscommunication issues. How many times have we read an email or any other type of written message and mistakenly thought someone was upset or aggravated when they actually were not. Email is not always the best means of communicating with people, but for the most part, it work really well. Also, if you're like me, you would rather send an email than have to make several phone calls. Sometimes email is just a more feasible solution. Some other disadvantages of using email were mentioned in the article "Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication Tools" by Julia Ashley. This article mentions that email can be "misused as a collaboration tool and can become overwhelming."
One collaboration tool that I would like to utilize in my classroom in the future are blogs. I think that blogging would be a great activity to have students participate in, much like we do in this class. Blogging is a good way to integrate writing and technology and can be used to improve skills in both areas. My school district's website features  teacher blogs and web pages, so blogging seems to be something that educators are using more and more. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to create a blog in this class because now I can teach my future students how to create and use them as well. One of the assigned videos this week, "Technology Support for Teachers: Supporting the Profession" mentions the importance of modeling technology use to students. If my students see me utilizing the different types of online communication tools, they are likely to want to learn how to use them as well.
Using online communication tools addresses the NETS-T standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. This standard states that "teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society." This standard will be met by modeling the use of different types of online communication tools to students and by using them to communicate with parents and coworkers.
Overall, I think online communication tools can be used successfully in the classroom if utilized in the appropriate manner. I plan on using some of these in my future classroom, such as email and blogs, and I hope to become more proficient at using them, and I hope that my students will become proficient as well.

Week 4 blog: Powerpoint Presentations

This week for our blog assignment, I created a Powerpoint presentation. I have to admit this is the first time I have actually created one. I had to learn the program as I went, and I found it was fairly easy to figure out. There are a lot of different options for customizing the look of the presentation, which I found somewhat overwhelming at first. However, the more I explored the program options, the less intimidating it became. I graduated high school eleven years ago, so Powerpoint was not used that often, and in my early college years, I did not have to use it either. This is just one of the many ways that the use of technology in the classroom has changed over the last ten years.
One of the things that I seemed to have the most trouble with was deciding on colors. This probably seems silly, but I had a hard time trying to decide which font and background colors to use for each slide. I wanted to make sure that my presentation was easy to read, and would not pose difficulties for any viewers. I chose to keep the background plain, I used white, because the words and graphics stood out better against it, and I didn't have to worry about colors clashing. This probably sounds boring, but after trying out several different background colors, I decided that plain and simple was best for this presentation.
 I utilized the online clipart feature throughout the presentation to find graphics that helped to illustrate the lesson I was wanting to teach. I found that the online clipart option gave a greater variety of graphics than the clipart that is already on the program. This feature made finding graphics for my presentation quick and easy, which I definitely appreciated.
Since I am not yet teaching, I did not have a group of students to create a presentation for, so I made one for my preschool age children. My presentation is about the letter "A." I kept it fairly short, 7 slides, considering the age group I was doing the presentation for. I explained that the letter "A" is the first letter of the alphabet, and also the two different "A" sounds, short "A" and long "A." Then, I included a list of examples of words that begin with the two different "A" sounds. I created a slide for each letter "A" word, and inserted a clipart graphic to illustrate the word. My oldest son's name is Aiden, so I used his name as one of the letter "A" words and included a picture of him in the presentation, which he was excited about.
What I am most proud of about this Powerpoint is the fact that I was able to use the Powerpoint software for the first time and create a presentation.  I am probably more proud about being able to figure out how to use Powerpoint than the actual presentation itself.
One thing I would change about the presentation is that I would like to include media clips. This was one aspect of Powerpoint that I could not quite figure out, so as you can see, I still need a great deal of practice in order to become proficient at using this program. I want to learn how to use Powerpoint in an effective and creative manner in the classroom. My goal is to improve my presentation skills and learn how to use all the features of Powerpoint, not just a few of them.
Something I heard in the chapter 5 video we watched that stood out to me is that technology cannot replace the human element of teaching. In other words, technology cannot replace teachers. I thought about the use of technology, including Powerpoint, in the classroom, and thought about how a presentation, no matter how creative and visually appealing it may be, cannot replace the teacher giving it. Presentation software should be utilized as a means of enhancing the lesson the teacher is teaching. It should not be expected to do the teacher's job.

Educational Technology Week 3

This week I have learned a great deal about word processing and desktop publishing programs. Both can be utilized in the classroom by teachers and students to make their work more efficient and also more professional looking. The document I am posting with my blog is a flyer that was recreated for the school-based mentoring program I previously worked for.(Unfortunately, funding for the program ended this past school year.) I am not yet a teacher, but I worked as a case manager for a grant funded, school-based mentoring program, and I had to create several different types of documents for the program. We had a hand-book that was created by program staff to give to all mentors who served in our program. We also created agendas for program meetings, and all the necessary forms for the program such as permission slips and confidentiality agreements. One document that I personally created was a flyer to promote the program around the county as part of our mentor recruitment effort. I did not have a copy of the original flyer on my personal computer, so I created a new one. It is similar to the original in that it contains the same information and showcases a photograph of students. I retrieved the photograph from the clip art that was available on Microsoft Publisher, which is the program I used to create the document.I also used the word art feature for some of the text in the flyer.  I actually have not used this program very much. I have only made a few documents on it. However, I thought it was fairly easy to use, especially since it has a variety of templates to choose from for practically any type of document you want to make. I used one of the flyer templates to create the document, which saved me a tremendous amount of time, and when you have two toddlers running around, anything that can save some time means a lot.
I feel like the flyer I created is visually appealing. I like the color combination, and I thought the photograph of smiling students was an effective way to help get the message across. One thing I did realize after finishing the document is that perhaps it does not have enough information about the program itself. It is difficult to display a large amount of information on a flyer without making it look cluttered, which is why I kept it simple, and included contact information for those wanting to learn more.
One of the assigned videos this week,chapter 4 "Technology Supports Diverse Learners-Jr. High Students,"  actually mentioned the use of peer mentoring in the classroom. A technology class featured in the video showed older students who served as mentors helping younger students with technology and computer skills. These students were able to use their skills in these areas to help other students learn. This approach helps both the mentor's and mentee's computer skills and helps them to learn problem-solving skills as well. I thought this was interesting since I worked with a mentoring program.
Creating documents for the classroom with programs like Microsoft Publisher addresses Standard 3-Model Digital-Age Work and Learning in the NETS-T. It especially addresses parts b and c of this standard which state, "b. collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation" and c. "communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parent, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats." It is important that teachers know how to use technology in the classroom in an effective way. Teachers are role-models for their students, and it is important to be knowledgeable in the area of technology in order to help our students become proficient at using it as well.

Educational Technology Week 2

Living in such a technology-based society as we do, I often find myself feeling a little technologically impaired. I feel like my knowledge of a lot of things in the area of technology is very limited, which can make using new technology a little intimidating at times. However, I am open to learning new things, especially if it will improve my lessons and make my teaching more effective. I have very little experience using spreadsheets and databases, and have only used Excel a handful of times in my undergraduate study. I had a research and statistics class in my undergraduate work, and I think that is the only class that I had to use Excel in. Using programs like Excel is something I need to work on so that I can utilize them in the classroom.

While researching websites on spreadsheets and databases, I came across one that I found to be an excellent resource for teachers wanting to implement their use in the classroom. The site is the Trumball County Educational Service Center: http://www.trumbull.k12.oh.us/Teachers/resources/usingss.htm  , and this site has a page titled "Using Spreadsheets in the Classroom" that provides a great number of resources for teachers. The site provides links to articles, activities, lesson plans, online spreadsheet sites, and tutorials for using Excel. It's like a one-stop shop for teachers wanting to find out more about utilizing spreadsheets in their instruction. When navigating this site, I was surprised at the vast amount of possible activities teachers can do with spreadsheets. One of the links on this site is called "Excel Activities," and it has several interesting ideas for spreadsheet activities. For example, an excellent beginner activity to have students do is analyzing M&Ms data. This activity allows students to become familiar with how to use Excel functions like calculating and graphing. Not to mention the fact that you and your students will be able to enjoy eating the M&Ms at the end of the activity. I was surprised to find that using spreadsheets in the classroom can be both educational and fun.

The use of spreadsheets and databases in the classroom addresses Standard 2 in the NETS-T: Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. Having students do activities like the M&Ms data analysis would address this standard in that it involves the students using an important technology and becoming familiar with it. This activity would also address Standard 3 in the NETS-S: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Using Excel would give students the opportunity to use technology to analyze and interpret data in an efficient and effective manner. 

One of the videos I watched "Tools for Tracking Student Success" in Ch. 7, describes how one school district implemented an online report card system that allows teachers to input student data and then have that data create an online report card. Parents can view these report cards and see how their child is progressing in his or her classes. The program is able to chart student progress over time, which helps teachers, parents, and students get a clear picture of how well a child is doing. This report card system is an excellent use of database and spreadsheet technology in the classroom. 

I am not yet a teacher, so I have not used spreadsheets and databases in the classroom yet. However, I see how I could definitely make use of both of these tools in the classroom. I could use Excel for projects like the one I described earlier. I could also use spreadsheets to track student grades and progress in the class. I could utilize databases to keep records of my students that could be passed on to their next teachers each year. This would give other teachers accurate background information on the student, and allow the teacher to more effectively meet each student's individual needs. 

After this week, I have realized the importance and usefulness of both spreadsheets and databases for classroom instruction. I plan on using both of these tools in my future classroom. 

Educational Technology Week 1

Technology is all around us. We use it in our everyday lives to the point that we often take it for granted. When I was a high school student, very few kids had their own cell phone. Actually, few adults I knew had a cell phone. (I graduated in 2000, by the way). Internet at home was rarely heard of. I live in a very small, rural town. My area just got DSL a couple years ago, and there are still places in the county that use dial-up. Despite my community being relatively behind in some areas of technology, since graduating high school, I have witnessed tremendous advances in technology in our everyday lives and in our schools. I have worked as a case manager for a mentoring program in my county's middle school for the last three years, and the majority of the students have their own cell phones and access to internet at home. Today's students live in a time when they cannot imagine not having these things. I went to school in a time when their commonality was just emerging. My students are often shocked when I tell them I did not have a cell phone or internet at home until I went to college. My own children, ages 21 months and 3 years, can already use an iphone to play games on. We live in a digital age, and it will only become more so as time passes.

What I have learned so far from the assignments we have done for this class, is that the use of technology in education is only going to increase, and as educators we must learn how to effectively utilize it. I am not currently teaching, but I am working towards an MAT in Special Education, and I have learned several things this week that I will be able to use in my future classrooms. I have learned that students have different learning styles or ways that they prefer to learn new information. By taking the time to discover each student's individual learning style, I can find ways to present new concepts and ideas in the most effective way for each child. Some children have an auditory learning style, while others have a visual learning style . It is not fair to expect every student to learn in the same way. In order to implement this in my classroom, I will need to learn how each of my students prefers to learn and create lessons that adhere to those preferences. This will be a challenge because many times in our schools, we have too many students and too few teachers. It will be difficult to find time to learn each and every student's individual learning style, but I feel that it will be worth the effort. One way that I could overcome this challenge is to present material for each lesson I teach in a variety of ways. For example, I could use lecture to cater to the preferences of students who prefer the auditory learning style. Then, I could use visual aids such as charts, graphs, etc. for students who prefer the visual learning style. Finally, I could have the students do a hands-on activity to engage students who prefer the kinesthetic learning style. I could use technology to further implement this plan. I could have students watch a video on the subject we are covering, which would utilize both the visual and auditory learning styles. I could involve the students in the use of the technology itself, which would serve the kinesthetic learners, and allow all my students to gain experience using a new technology.

What it all comes down to, is that as an educator, I must learn my students individual needs and try to meet them the best I possibly can. As an educator in today's digital society, I must learn to utilize the technology available to me in a way that will help my students reach their potential and achieve what they are capable of achieving.