EME 2040 was a big learning experience. I initially thought
that I would be learning about the white board and other educational
applications use at school but what I learned was beyond that. I learned to
think outside the box. Introduction to technology provided me with a look on
how website tools have change the way education can be accomplished. The Web-quest and the Teacher E-profolio were excellent
tools that I enjoy using a lot and found that students would probably like. Learning
to create these projects helped me to solve many problems and by figuring out
how everything worked my learning was more constructive. I was able to see how
important it is to evaluate sources whenever we use online tools and resources.
Having a criteria also allow me to dig deeper into a website when using it as a
source of information or to back up my research. The internet presents
limitless opportunities to learn but it can also present some problems like
bullying, information privacy and unappropriated content. All these are
problems that as teachers we must be aware of and know how to handle them. Cyber-bullying
is always present at our schools, it is our job to identify it and be able to
take the right approach.
Lastly, the digital badges created throughout the semester
taught me many valuable lessons. In order to create a badge it was necessary to
read and understand the book content first. Then choosing a digital tool took
time and exploring, it was an empiric approach to technology. I personally do
not consider myself a technology expert and it takes me some time to figure out
how things work and put them together. What astonished me more is that I am
only 26 years old yet I am part of the old generation. My education was limited
in technology and my classes were chalk and projectors now kids have access to many
tools and technology resources. It is
important to keep up with technology and always seek to think outside the box
by been aware of what is out there and how can we use it to make our classes
more enjoyable and relevant to this digital era of students.
This is the future of education and as teachers we need to embrace it and be able to function in it.
Works Cited
Maloy, R., Edwards, S., Woolf, B., & Verock, R.
(2011). Transforming Learnig with New Technologies. Upper Saddler
River, NJ: Perason Education.
Duke University. (2014, September 14). Center for
Instructional Technology. Retrieved from
http://cit.duke.edu/get-ideas/teaching-strategies/flipping-the-classroom/
Maloy, R., Edwards, S., Woolf, B., & Verock, R.
(2011). Transforming Learnig with New Technologies. Upper Saddler
River, NJ: Perason Education.
Multicultural education in the 21st
century- In today’s
schools ethnicity, race, religion and many other factors challenge teachers to
provide an equal learning environment for everyone. Also, kids with
disabilities need to be provided with opportunities and practices that include
them in the curriculum. To ensure that every child sees themselves reflected in
today’s curriculum cultural differences should be respected, discrimination based
on race, sex, religion or sexual orientation should not be tolerated and school
material should be reflective of the schools population. Half of the students
in school are white, 22% are Hispanic, 15% African American, 4% are Asian and
1% are native American this makes for today’s multicultural education.
Adaptations for classrooms learning
with technology- adaptation
accommodations can be classify in three; low-tech accommodations are made
easily and don’t cost much. Low tech accommodations can be providing chairs
that are adjustable, providing left handed scissors and materials that students
can use in the classroom without technology use. Mid-tech accommodations are
changes in the curriculum and organization of the classroom and they may
include digital material. Some examples are the tracing letters for autistic kids
or the texture boxes, audio recordings and magnification software to see well. High-tech
accommodations use computers and specialized information technologies for the
classrooms. Some examples are interactive read out-loud books, walkers for
disable students; motorize wheelchairs for students that have muscle dystrophy and
whiteboard with interactive lessons that allow for enlarging text.
Writing
transformations with technologies- for every class students have to write and
when they graduate college requires even more writing. Students don’t enjoy
writing at school due to many factors; pressure to spell and write right, lack
of confidence in what they are writing, lack of enjoyment in writing, lack of
patience (this I see myself reflected on) to concentrate in one task without
getting distracted, all of these and many more are the reasons student fail at
writing in schools. To bypass these setbacks teachers have develop a system
that we use today and it is; we brainstorm, draft, revise and edit a document
before we publish it. Technology in today’s world allows us to approach writing
easier and more enjoyable. Writing tools help students throughout the writing
process so they don’t disengage and loose interest half way down the road. Microsoft
word check spells, blogs make it fun to publish, brainstorming is easy when
guidelines are provided and many more sources that facilitate writing.
Resources: Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
