Technology Explorations Assignments 1, 2 & 3

I've discovered this week that the standards that we've discussed have been implemented by others, as well as in my own classroom, in various forms, but I wasn't actually aware of it. I've compared the standards with the philosophy of teaching the whole child, and these standards do represent benchmarks for this type of teaching. By the time school starts, I intend to have further studied these standards so that I can incorporate them into my lesson plans, actually addressing the specific standard with a specific lesson plan. The only challenge that I see to incorporating these standards is that it will take a little more time to correlate with the lesson plans, much as the CLEs (Course Learning Expectations) and SPIs (State Performance Indicators) were when those standards had been updated. To overcome the time constraint, I'll keep a copy of the standards on my computer's desktop so that I'll have quick reference when writing my lesson plans.

EDOL 533

Technology Exploration Assignment Form

You should complete this form thoroughly for each of your twenty Technology Explorations.

Student Name: tparsons                                        Date: 07-05-13

Technology Exploration Resource Explored (be sure to differentiate which resource is which for each of the three items:

Technology Exploration 1

        Wiki

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response. http://pbworks.com/using-pbworks-individual-classrooms In my opinion, this resource comprises an online classroom where students and parents can go to check out the classroom curriculum and content, and there are also places to register feedback. However, I did not know that there were free sites where teachers could upload class materials that could be interactive with students. This site offers a Basic Edition that is free of charge; a Classroom Edition for $99 per year which affords 4GB of workspace; and a Campus Edition is available for $799 per year for schools that want to provide each teacher with available online workspace. According to this website, this classroom workspace affords teachers, students, and parents a platform to publish class notes, PowerPoint lectures, schedules and policies; and display of student work. Students can build collaborative pages, and discuss and comment on each other’s projects . I did not know that sites, such as pbworks, were developed to decrease the volume of email. By creating a centralized repository, pbworks has implemented a role-based access system that allows all participants (teachers, students, and parents) secure access from remote locations.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. This resource is similar to what we used for our teacher websites at Ivy Academy. My teacher site was called The Quill and Pen of English Ten, and it provided page after page of resource material and assignments for my students. I uploaded most of students’ lessons so that if they encountered problems with a lesson, they could Skype me and I could open the class website, see exactly what they were seeing, and give them the help they needed with that particular part of the lesson. It proved to be an invaluable resource. The best part that I like about the pbworks website is the Parent Outreach. Parents can access the site from home or work and be made privy to their child’s assignments, the due dates, volunteer lists, among others. It is a strong tool for parental involvement in a child’s education. This is an excellent platform to display student work, whether audio or video, and the link can be accessed remotely . It’s not enough to say that students can obtain teacher help after hours, or that parents can keep up with what students are doing, but if a student, for whatever reason, is homebound, this remote access system ensures that there doesn’t have to be lapses in education. If students are suspended, or are home sick for a few days, their education doesn’t have to be interrupted. They can carry on with their assignments and participate in class discussions as their peers are doing.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not? I haven’t used this particular site before, but from researching it, I believe that I would use it and possibly recommend it. I think that I would prefer the Classroom Edition to the Basic Edition in that the former allows 4GB of workspace. I would be allowed to upload videos, pictures, and interactive web links. This assignment prompted me to search out other free classroom workspaces on the web. I found one called SchoolRack at http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2011/03/school-rack-free-and-easy-workspace-for.html From exploring this website, as with pbworks, I have found that it is very consumer-friendly in that the aggregation of teaching materials to be uploaded is expansive and easy to understand. These sites also offer the advantage of being able to collect student work, as opposed to the necessity of students emailing assignments to the teacher.

EDOL 533

Technology Exploration Assignment Form

You should complete this form thoroughly for each of your twenty Technology Explorations.

Student Name: tparsons                                        Date: 07-05-13

Technology Exploration Resource Explored (be sure to differentiate which resource is which for each of the three items:

Technology Exploration 2

        E-Books

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response. www.tumblebooks.com I had heard of tumblebooks.com from a school librarian who found the site to be a valuable teaching resource. However, when she got to the word “database,” my attention dropped from 10 to 0. I haven’t been a fan of databases, probably because I don’t feel comfortable using them, and the ones in which I’ve come into contact seem to possess extraneous information that obscures the information I’m trying to find. It always seemed to be easier to just “ask the librarian.” She could find in five minutes what it would take me an hour or more to find. The TumbleBook Library seems to have been well received by Special Education teachers, so I find it most worth my while to check out something that I have formerly discounted. I probably just didn’t understand it. This website is user-friendly and it’s easy to navigate, and students would have the opportunity to work independently and self-assess. The Library also offers more teacher resources than I thought it would.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. The Tumblebook Library could easily be used in a school setting where all students have access to computers and e-readers. This resource can provide enrichment to students who are independent readers by offering a variety of high-interest material, and it can support student who require skill building. Not only would this resource provide enrichment in reading, it would also give student the opportunity to enhance and practice their skills using computers, i-pads, and other technology. A valuable feature of this resource is that with each Tumble Book, there are comprehensive lesson plans that are designed to accommodate a broad range of reading abilities, according to the site’s resource page. There are guides that offer whole class instruction, small group instruction, and individual skill-building activities. A flash-animated quiz is also made available for students to take online to test their reading comprehension. The Library also offers online teacher guides which include themes, activities, and units that can stand alone or be incorporated into an existing teaching unit. Some features in the guides include ideas for bulletin boards and templates for learning centers within the classroom.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not? I don’t think that I would recommend this resource to other educators because, even though the reading list is quite extensive, I would probably only use it if I couldn’t find the material anywhere else. Also, it seems to be cost prohibitive, as many schools and school systems are cash-strapped and grants are harder to obtain.There are discounted subscriptions but the subscription for one school is $499/year. This resource almost make me think that it is 21st century version of the old McGraw-Hill SRA Reading Laboratory Program that encouraged student self-learning and self-assessment using the color-coded reading levels. Not having personally used this database, I don’t think I could recommend it, but it would not do justice to discount it for schools that have the budget to offer it to their students.

EDOL 533

Technology Exploration Assignment Form

You should complete this form thoroughly for each of your twenty Technology Explorations.

Student Name: tparsons                                        Date: 07-01-13

Technology Exploration Resource Explored (be sure to differentiate which resource is which for each of the three items:

Technology Exploration 3

        Podcasts

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response. I never knew it could be so easy to create a podcast. When I taught tenth-grade English last year, my class website was such that it was very user-friendly. Some of my students were tech savvy, while others floundered with email. Not only could students use it interactively, parents were also able to access the links so that they would know exactly what their kids were supposed to be doing. Since I employed differentiated instruction, each student has his/her own agenda and all might be working on a grammar assignment, but were working on different levels. I posted links to podcasts and websites that others had created, however, I made no podcasts of my own. As I have a Smartphone that smarter than I am, I didn’t think that I could learn how to do it. I vicariously lived and taught through other people’s websites. I’ve discovered a fabulous website by Sandy Scragg, EdTechie: Resources for Teachers at http://edtechie.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/by-sandy-scragg/ This site contains articles and “how to” information for technological deficits, such as myself, who still have difficulty negotiating Facebook. There are several podcasts listed on this site including, Mr. Eric Langhorst’s Speaking of History, which I had listened to previously.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. Scraggs mentions on her podcast website that allowing students to publish their work is a great motivator . . . and it is. Not only are students able to showcase their own creations, parents who work and cannot attend a classroom presentation are able to access the podcast and listen. Students can also create audio journals of trips they take or record their own stories that they have written in class. This resource is beneficial to their public speaking assignments, much as a tape recorder used to be. Students can listen to their own voices on digital recordings, noting their pronunciation, inflection, pitch, etc. and can adjust their speech accordingly.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not? Not only will I recommend this resource to other educators, I intend to implement the use of podcasts in my classroom. I’m going to practice making podcasts this summer, as the cost is not prohibitive to get started. Links to podcasts can be embedded on classroom websites and blogs to be shared with students and parents. Students, as well as teachers, can use podcasts to create online journals, share adventures, entertain, and showcase their classroom projects. Teachers can also record a podcast for parents with information pertinent to the educational curriculum. The sound clarity is great and the ease of listening is such that when interesting material is presented, the podcast is finished before the listener wants it to be. You can use a cell phone or a computer to record your podcasts and Scraggs points out that there are sites where editing software is free. One such site called Audacity, has software for Windows and Mac users. A big plus for podcasts is the ability to impart a vast amount of information in a short amount of time. When you take a student’s age and add two, you know his/her attention span. A five-to-ten-minute podcast can easily cover a lesson in a unit, and students can work independently.