Of all the tools and concepts you learned in this course, what are the 2 most useful and why? What are the 2 you think this course could change or do without? There are no wrong or right answers, your credit is based on that you answered all parts of the question.
This class has taught me so much valuable information about the world of technology and all of its many benefits! It is so hard to only choose two. The two most useful tools/concepts I learned in this course was how to make a podcast and build a website. The podcast is so useful because it provides teachers a different way to deliver content to students and allows teachers to teach beyond the four walls of a classroom. Learning to create a website is useful because it allows teachers yet another way to communicate with students and parents.
ReplyDeleteI believe the course could have done without the Trackstar assignment because it was hard to understand and simply did not work. One thing I think the course could change was the reading assignments. For me, the reading was really basic and covered a lot of information I already knew (especially the parts of a computer, what hardware is and software) but I understand this is not the case for everyone. I really enjoyed this class and learned so much that will aid me in my upcoming years as a teacher!!!
The 2 most useful and beneficial concepts were learning about blogging and prodcast. I was not as familiar with these as the others and it allowed me to open my mind and just be open in general to ways technology can be used to enhance learning and build communication.
ReplyDeleteThe concepts that were not so useful were power-point and word processor. They weren't useful to me because I already know how to use them. The other thing was I felt as though it would have been better to require only 1 weekly post and not 2. Overall, the class was great.
There was so much useful information that I obtained in this class these past weeks. The two that I felt were most useful were learning how to create my own class website and doing multiple technology integrated lesson plans. I felt like creating my class website was very useful because I feel like this is something that will allow me to keep my parents and students in the loop of things. Also, it is created now, when I have my real class, I will just have to tweak it a little to make it revolve around what I will actually be teaching. The lesson plans were useful because it allowed me to really think about how I am going to integrate technology into each lesson plan I do. It is only a matter of time before it comes second nature to me.
ReplyDeleteThe two things that I felt we could have done without were Trackstar and the podcast. Although the podcast could be something I would use in an online classroom setting, I do not ever see myself using Trackstar. With the podcast, I do not see me using it any other time besides in an online classroom.
This class has taught me so many new tools that I can use for my future career in teaching. One of my favorite tools that we learned to use was Prezi. I thought this program was so neat and offered a different way to organize information for lesson plans. I think it is very helpful to have some kind of visual for teachers and students to see and how the information connects to one another. This is especially nice when a lesson contains many different sections. Another tool I found to be very useful is the excel data spreadsheet. I love charts and how you can use them in almost every lesson plan. The charts can be used to sort data and to log data for class assignments, grading, and other classroom information. Two tools that I think I could probably do without are the podcast and trackstar tools. I think the podcast tool is great if you have many parts of instruction that requires the students to listen to your instructions without you, but I do not really see myself using this tool very much. Also the trackstar was very complicated to use. I could not create an account and it just seemed to be more of a pain than helpful.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the most useful tools I learned about are blogs and the concept of integrating technology in lessons. I created a blog for my last 2 lesson plans. It was such an easy thing to do and I would never have thought to incorporate one myself. Although I have used them before, I had no clue on how to set it up. The lesson plans we completed allowed me to see how easy it is to integrate technology in all lessons. Simple things like allowing student s to respond to a blog or listen to a podcast make this a possibility within every lesson as a tool to enhance the learning experience.
ReplyDeleteTrackstar and digital photography are the 2 that the course could do without. The issues I experienced with Trackstar showed me that depending on such an option could be a let down. Digital photography was listed as an option to incorporate as a web2.0 tool. I think that would be a more sufficient option for older students. K-5 digital photography would require direct supervision which could cause a students ability to participate to be reduced base on external conflicts.
This class was an eye opener to me. I learned a lot regarding the many ways a teacher can integrate technology in a lesson plan and in any subject. Teachers have a wide variety of technology tools that they can utilize to make a lesson plan valuable that will benefit and enhance students learning. The two useful concepts and or tools that I benefited from this class was how to make a Podcast and how to integrate technology in the lesson plan. I see myself utilizing podcasts-where children will listen to a story or poem and answer question based on the story or poems. Trackstar and two weekly discussions I could have done without. I just think that 1 weekly discussion should suffice. Other than that I believe this class was extremely useful with valuable resources for teachers entering the educational field.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed learning the graphic organizer and the website activity. The graphic organizer makes a class fun with the different pictures you can use to represent you class theme. This was my favorite. Creating website is a learning experience for me because it gives me great insight on what I need to create for my future classroom. It could do without the 4 lesson plans; one at the begining and one at the end. I really didn't care for the podcast. I really think that's more for middle grades, high school, and college.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed learning the graphic organizer and the website activity. The graphic organizer makes a class fun with the different pictures you can use to represent you class theme. This was my favorite. Creating website is a learning experience for me because it gives me great insight on what I need to create for my future classroom. It could do without the 4 lesson plans; one at the begining and one at the end. I really didn't care for the podcast. I really think that's more for middle grades, high school, and college.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed learning the graphic organizer and the website activity. The graphic organizer makes a class fun with the different pictures you can use to represent you class theme. This was my favorite. Creating website is a learning experience for me because it gives me great insight on what I need to create for my future classroom. It could do without the 4 lesson plans; one at the begining and one at the end. I really didn't care for the podcast. I really think that's more for middle grades, high school, and college.
ReplyDeleteOf all the tools I've used in this course the two most useful in my opinion were the Weather Spreadsheet and the completion of the KWL chart. As a future educator those were both skills I had never used and was very thrilled about learning how to do it. I see both of these tools being used in my classroom for Newsletters and collecting date. I believe this course could do without the Podcast because in my opinion it is geared towards older school age children. Trackstar was also a great resource, but was very complicated to figure it out and get going on the assignment.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated this class I must say! At times I was like why we have to do certain assignments, but I have gained the understanding of how an educator use so much content and technology to create well around lesson plans for their class. The two tools/content that I found very useful to include technology into every assignment that I did that made me a better educator. I truly enjoyed learning about mapping, especially using the website Prezi. Additionally, knowing that I can use Prezi to brainstorm any topic in any of my courses for my degree will give me a better way to organize my papers. Likewise, that I can also use Prezi for my future students. Secondly, learning about different technology that I can use with my students that are special needs is a plus. Having the students feels like part of the class will give them more confidence within themselves. However, on the other side, I feel that the textbook was not really supportive of the course. There we many things in the book that I had already known about computers and its parts. Another change can be the Trackstar websites, due that it was not working properly. It made it hard to do the assignment which decreases my want to use it in the future. Overall the class has taught me many things.
ReplyDeleteI believe that out of all the tools and concepts I learned in this course, the two most useful are creating websites and podcasts. Creating a classroom website offers many opportunities for communication. Teachers can post schedules, class rules, field trips, homework, links to help students with their homework while also being able to directly communicate the expectations of the students to the parents or other important information. Creating podcasts offers students another way of learning new information that is being learned inside the classroom, by making it available to the students outside the classroom. I believe creating podcasts can help students who struggle in retaining the information of what is being taught inside the classroom by having the podcast lesson readily available to the students to listen to at anytime. I believe the two tools and concepts this course could change or do without would be word processors and PowerPoint. Word processors I am already super familiar with and I did not learn nothing new with this particular tool. PowerPoint I am also super familiar with and I believe this tool is beyond overused when it comes to teaching a lesson. When I was in high school, the teachers would always just use PowerPoint or word processors to teach a lesson, and I felt that it was not engaging myself to learn the information through those two tools. I know it is easier for the teacher, but for the students it is super boring to just watch each slide and take notes. I believe because there are so many other ways to use technology that is actually fun and engaging to students, those two tools should be put to rest. Overall, I thought this course was very interesting in learning all these awesome new tools that teachers can use today to create an effective way of learning!
ReplyDeleteOf all the tools and concepts I have learned in this course, the 2 most useful was how to make a podcast and building my own website. I never knew what a podcast was nor the steps needed to make one. I found this assignment very useful. With technology becoming a high need in society it was fun creating a lesson were I didn’t have to show my face or use images and I could strictly talk to the students. I believe I will really use podcast later in life for assignments and projects because it’s convenient, so it is very useful for my academic success. I was nervous when I found out we had to make our own website because I didn’t know what to expect. I know this is also a very useful tool for me to know in the teaching industry because it is require of me/teachers. I will be able to create websites for many other reasons and have a good outline to follow because of this class. I will already be one step ahead for my future teaching position. I believe the class could have change the track star assignment because I personally felt it was confusing because it was a harder why to create a lesson plan in my opinion and we already had that assignment given. For me personally, the PowerPoint was not much use because I already knew how to make and use a PowerPoint. However, I am not upset because I still learn something different from the track star assignment because I never used it before and for the first time, I create my very own classroom through the PowerPoint assignment.
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed this class. In the beginning I was a little skeptical and actually scared! Technology was something that I chose to stay away from and didn’t think I would have to use it. I was okay with the pen and paper. Throughout this course, I have learned a lot and have become less frightened of exploring the world of technology. The 2 more useful tools that I loved during this course was learning about Voice Thread and learning how to integrate technology into lesson plans. Voice Thread is a great one to keep students engaged in an assignment. Voice Thread does not focus on one particular group of students, it reaches every child, rather in the regular education class or children with disabilities. Learning how to implement technology into lesson plans helped me out tremendously in my Ed 311. I was able take my knowledge from this class to build on another class. I didn’t understand how important technology was until now.
ReplyDeleteTrackstar is absolutely one tool that I believe could be omitted from the course. I can see the potential behind this tool, but it was difficulty for me. The Podcast is another tool that I believe could be omitted. I personal do not have a great voice for recording. If my audience can not understand me, then my Podcast will not be beneficial. Over all this was an excellent class and learned so much. This course has allowed me to venture off into the world of technology more!
One of the most useful things I learned in this class was how to make a webpage. I have never attempted one before. I made a blog page on Blogger years ago when my first son was born to keep the family up to date on how he was doing and growing. Then entered Facebook and the blog page was no longer updated. That is the closest I have come. While making the assigned web page I learned that I can really customize it to suite my needs and tastes. It has been time consuming though. Probably because I want it a certain way and I won't stop until it is just right! Another assignment that I found useful was the technology included lesson plan. Having the practice with how to integrate technology and what constitutes technology will be very useful in making my future lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteTwo things that I think the course could do without are the Excel and Word assignments. These were very similar to the ones that I had to submit in a past technology course that was required when I was in a cohort. I am purely speaking for myself since I am not sure if anyone else has had that course.
Mrs. Furney, thank you so much for your guidance during this course. You are one of the best professors I have had during my time at Brenau. Don't change! The girls at Gum Springs say hello!
I feel like could use the Excel spreadsheet, because I could use it for attendance and grades. Until I read how you could use it for that I never thought it would be a useful tool for my field. I also liked the teacher toolbox and the thing you could do with and the useful site on that to help your students with things like writing papers and coming up with topics. Another one I liked was the electronic white board that can be useful in so many ways. I could use it for writing assignments, interactive games, videos, and much more. It is a board with multipurpose, that can be used in so many way and a very useful tool for teachers.
ReplyDeleteI did not like the Mind42, I cannot use it and feel it is better used for businesses and to display points in a business meetings. I had a hard time with it because you cannot download your own images; it has to use images from the internet. I was just frustrating for me. The making of the webpage is a good idea if you have a business, but not useful for teachers. I feel like the teacher would never make their own webpage, for several reasons; 1. A teacher could never download pictures on it of their students with a signed permission from parent and school for safety reasons. 2. If the school wanted them to have one they would set it up under the school with a link to that teacher so that the parents could have access to it and to school and would be able to monitor it. 3. with all they the teachers have to do in the classroom and sometimes at home, they just do not have the time to maintain it every week and set it up each year. I feel like it is a waste of time and I could not use it
This class was contained so much valuable information. The two most useful tools/concepts I learned was how to build a website and the mind mapping tools (Prezi, Mind42). I always wanted to implement a website into my classroom. A website is a great tool to communicate with parents and students. It was great to learn how to make a website and the useful information that it should contain. Weebly was so fun to use. It was so easy to make a website that looked very professional. I liked the mind mapping tool because I am a visual person. I like that you can visually see how information connects. This will be very beneficial in the classroom as it can support what you are teaching. Two things that I could go without are TrackStar and the podcasts. TrackStar was very complicated to use. I see how it could be beneficial but its difficult setup outweighed it. The podcasts seem to be more beneficial for online classes or older students. I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot of things that will help me in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think two of the most useful tools I learned, were how to create a website and how to create a track. I plan on using a class website because it takes advantage of all technology has to offer. It allows you to have all of the handy sites you need in one place, it isn't papers or lists the students can lose, and it can be constantly updated and added to. It also gives the parents the same access to all of the information. I also really liked the tracks because you can have sites in one spot and provide all of the information students will need easily. I also liked that the tracks are available for everyone to use so it is a great source for new ideas.
ReplyDeleteOne of the tools I don't see myself using as much are the podcasts. I think they are more complicated than they appear and for younger students, you would have to play them over and over again so they know what to do and can remember the information. I think videos or handouts would be easier for younger students. I also didn't like Mind42, although I might find a similar product, because it was very hard to use and there was no way to upload your own content. I ended up getting very frustrated with it and didn't care for the final product very much.
Out of all the tools I loved the 4teachers.org "toolbox" and the Podcast. The tool box especially Trackstar can be an awesome tool for Differentiation. The different links can allow students to go pretty much at their own pace as far as not being in limbo waiting for other students to catch up with them before the whole class can move on. No, the student who needs remedial work can click certain links and the TAG students can connect with more experienced or experts on the topic. Everyone wins!!! The podcast allows students to hear the lesson over and over again at their own pace as needed. This is important to help students have notes or help when at home. Parents can listen since I will post my podcast on my class website.
ReplyDeleteThis can empower parents to help students too.
I have learned alot and I feel I will no doubt be prepared to excellent in the classroom. The only things I'd like to see is that there would be one 1 hour Skype session available for students can participate in about midpoint for a Q & A. I know you were available and I chose to work on my assignment. But what if this last Blog could have been a Skype where we could verbally speak our responses and have had room for Q & A. That would be great for the next class coming up, perhaps. Also if the links on Trackstar could be checked in advance to see if they still work. I think 8 out of 10 links I chose didn't work. That was frustrating.
Overall. I will take up your invitation for any questions that pop up. I will email you.
Thanks,
Gwendolyn
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