My Philosphy of Technology's Role in Education

Through the course of this quarter, I've learned the importance of education not only in book smarts, but also in what I will refer to hereon as "tech smarts".

Although my generation has grown up with the internet, search engines, social networks, and constant digital communication, in comparison to a lot of people my age, I have never really been comfortable claiming myself as technologically efficient. Being a PC user, I'd walk into a Macintosh lab and freak out at the loss of my right click. I'd get terribly confused if I couldn't get attachments to work on emails, and nearly had a heart attack when my laptop crashed as I had no idea what the first steps were to deal with it calmly. Our classroom mantra "don't freak out" was not something I picked up right away.

However through the time I spent in this course (Instructional Technology 442) in my senior year of college, I've explored technologies, created a blog, a film, a presentation kiosk, and even explored technologies on my own.

I finally understand that technology is not something I need to go through to complete assignments for myself, but useful tools I can utilize in a classroom. I always thought of technology training as an extra skill that children would be able to work on in weekly or bi-monthly computer lab sessions. However, I know now that they can be an everyday asset to classroom instruction. I realized there are certain applications that will help me grade, help students (and me) present information, brainstorm, research, and explore their own levels of creativity. With the realization that there is a high possibility that children of future generations will be more comfortable calling themselves tech-savvy than I was, I know how important it is to keep up with them. I am so excited to use the tools I've learned in this course to extend my knowledge as well as my students' in the future.

Speed Dating for Self-Chosen Technologies Reflection

After a round of speed dating for prospective teachers with educational technologies, I've made the following observations and reflections:

The technology I would most likely use in my future classroom... and WHY:
     There were two techonologies that particularly grabbed my attention that I think I might definitely use in a future classroom setting:

1. Vorbeo
2. Quizlet

Vorbeo is a poll making site in which you can create a poll and embed it into a blog or website. In terms of instructional use, vorbeo can be used to create an online multiple choice quiz, checks for understanding after learning vocabulary, and also for recording opinions from the class. The program is free and there is no need to create an account to make a poll, which adds greatly to its appeal. It also seems relatively easy and friendly to use, so students can even poll their friends or create their own test/exam questions and see how successful it is with their peers.

Quizlet is a program I think I might use for myself in the very near future. This program allows you to create flashcards on the computer and also to play games to learn the information. You can create and share the flashcards either with your friends, or if you're a teacher, you can create the flashcards and share them with the students to help them better prepare for an exam. It can help with a variety of subjects, from spelling to geology to simple math facts. I feel like that ability to share your flashcards is what was most appealing to me about this technology.

A technology I do not think I will utilize in my classroom:

Because of the fact that I do now own an iPad, nor do I anticipate iPad availability for every single one of my students, I do not think I would use the Mathboard app for the iPad. Although it's range of information can begin at addition and go all the way to exponential values, I don't think that it would be the best use of money. Though I was impressed with the fact that the application not only gives you practice problems, but also walks you through the steps of the probolem if you choose, due strictly to accessibility issues and lack of group collaboration, I don't think I would buy this app.

Instructional Strategies I learned from my peers:

      I learned a lot about the wide range of technological mediums in which students can learn. I feel like creating vivid slideshows/movies, and digital art are all big themes which proves just how friendly technology has become a means to fostering creativity in students. I felt as if the majority of these technologies were relatively cheap (for basic versions) and easy to use. Teachers and students no longer need to be completely tech-savvy to create something sophisticated and beneficial to the classroom.

     I felt as if a big trend in a lot of our technologies was accessibility to students of all types, and technologies with a very basic level of ease of use. These easy to use interfaces made learning much less initmidating. Voki for instance is a good tool for giving oral presentations/sharing information with those who are not comfortable speaking english. It is also beneficial to those with social anxiety who are unable to comfortable give a speech in front of a classroom, etc.

The most fascinating thing I learned from my peers today:

Even basic thing such as brainstorming and flashcards are now being offered digitally through the internet. And there is a certain sophistication to The Smartboard that is an impressive way for students to touch, drag, and learn outside of a book and piece of paper.The ability to share lesson plans, flashcards, homemade slideshows/etc. all point to one very positive thing: an inclusive classroom learning community.

Writing Trek Program

Name of Technology: Writing Trek

Category of AT: WRITING: spelling, conventions & word choice

Description of how the technology works: You must install the program onto a computer for children to access the software. Once installed, students can open it and choose one of six different locations to explore: Poetry Corner, Design Studio, Story Place, News Center, Research Hall, and Theatre. The whole idea is that writing is an adventure, and students venture from world to world with a click of the mouse and access information pertinent to the title of each place. For example in Poetry Corner, the students can play games (Punctuation Jukebox), access a writing handbook, and refer to a rhyming dictionary- all with the aid of colorful characters and interactive interfaces. These locations/activities are enhanced even more by the use of music, animation, and sound effects. There are also other games and activities such as Spelling Highway, a section on comics in the Design Studio, and even how to create your own script to create your own puppet show. Overall, it provides a variety of ways and a multitude of information for students to engage in writing practices and learning.

Universal Design Principle:
Representation of information: The rules, methods, and tools for writing are all included in this program- the information is all there, but just presented through a computer screen. The advantage to having this software is that information is interactive and engaging for students. It is certainly more fun to explore these worlds than it would be to sit in a classroom and give them a list of writing rules. It also provides them with practices and instant, individual feedback that would be time-consuming for a teacher. Punctuation Jukebox only plays a little tune if you choose the correct punctuation described in the question; if you get the wrong answer, it plays a sour note. The assessments are instant and the games are educational, but the content for learning better writing practices is the same as if you learned them in a lecture-type setting.

Target groups/Learning Goals: What's wonderful about this software is that everyone can benefit from it. It certainly offers basic information and simple games which are helpful when introducing new writing concepts to your class, but for students who know this content already, it provides writing tools such as rhyming dictionaries, which they can refer to as often as they would like.
I certainly believe that this could help students who have difficulty paying attention in class, as the software is attention-grabbing and interesting. For students who have difficulty listening to and interpreting information through lecture, Writing Trek provides the same information through several visually stimulating screens.

Reservations: Something I noticed almost immediately about the software is that the illustrations are a bit outdated. The programming and colors do not look modern and are certainly a little "bulkier" and a lot less sleek, as many websites today are more simple and sleek- like the layout of this blog for instance. I'm concerned that since the software is a bit older, students in future classes wouldn't respond to it as well as if it had a more contemporary look  to it. These days, when young children have constant access to facebook and video games with very advanced image quality, it might be something the children find old, boring, or even too outdated to be relevant to their current learning. Also, I assume that students having access to their own computer in a class is limited at best, so taking turns is definitely necessary. And of course, this software costs money and confidence in installation and handling technological difficulties on the part of the teacher if it malfunctions or freezes. Relying on this technology alone for writing education would be inconvenient if, say a power outage occurs and you have no back up plan.

Questions: Is there a more updated version of this software, with the same basic idea? Is there any way to monitor progress of each student so that results from games/quizzes are sent to the teacher afterwards? How much does this software cost and how many computers can you legally install it on?

A Day in the Life of Marinel

Hi there! My name is Marinel Beltran. I am 20 years old and I am currently in my 4th year of college at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. I have 3 brothers and I am a Filipino-American student.

I love school, so to get a good understanding of me as a person, let's take a look at my daily school routine:

I am a deep sleeper, so my morning usually starts with my mother waking me up, or by a phone call from my friend Jeffrey. The first words I usually hear from my mom or Jeff are usually "Wake up! You don't want to be late for school!" And I don't! So I wake up, walk to the bathroom I share with my little brother, turn on the lights and take a shower.

After I take a shower, I go back to my room and decide what clothes I want to wear for the day. I get dressed, make sure all the lights are off upstairs and then walk downstairs and heat up some breakfast.
I am currently commuting to school from my family's house to Western Washington University which takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes to drive in my Dad's truck. I drive 70 minutes to a Park and Ride bus stop and then greet the bus driver as I swipe my card so he or she can take me to school.

Depending on how sleepy I am and how early I get to school, I will buy a cup of coffee or tea before I head to class.Once in class I pay attention, ask questions, and take notes with a notebook and pencil because that's how I like to record information. Sometimes I'll bring my laptop to school, but it's heavy so I don't do it often. I use my colorful highlighters to highlight assignments, readings, vocabulary words, and important dates that I need to remember. After classes are over, I keep a calendar online on google.com that synchronizes with my cell phone so I always know what I need to do that day.

Once I am sure I am done with everything I need to do in Bellingham,  I'll take the bus to my car at the Park and Ride, drive 70 minutes back to my house where I greet my parents and my little brother, help my brother with his homework, play with my dog, and then start my schoolwork. I try very hard to do my work/reading ahead of time and then I will usually spend my time with Jeffrey or my family when I am done.

When I get ready for bed,  I go to my room upstairs, change into my pajamas, say my prayers, and turn out the lights. I set my alarm, which will hopefully wake me up before my mom or Jeff (although I will probably accidentally sleep through it again) and then rest for the next day!

I love being a student and I have always loved school. Here are a few other things that I love:

Between the ages 3-13, I lived in a town in Southern California named POWAY. Here's a picture!


So that's all just little bit about Marinel and where she came from. =)