An excellent way to find new tools to use for your websites, wikis, blogs, and podcasts or just educational tools is to check out this year’s award winners for WebWare http://www.webware.com/html/ww/100/2008/winners.html
Check it out and let me know what you think! There are so many Open Source tools out there, it is amazing that we spend so much on software in education.
5 responses so far ↓
What have I learned in ECI 530, about integrating technology into the classroom ? Aside from a few Word tricks, I feel like I have been exposed to many types of programs that I would have not been aware of in the near future? At first I was worried that it would be a class so focused on hardware and software that we would not address what I thought was the real issue. I was glad to see that the first assignment was to look at different problems that this “new” technology has presented. Getting students to understand how to navigate in a 21centurey environment will be critical to their success as adults. As teachers it is our responsibility to teach traditional subjects: Biology, English, Math etc., but, to do so in a way that exposes them to the technology and skills needed to succeed in a 21 century workforce. With so much information being produced, just organizing can be a challenge. I think over time I will be more open to using technology in my class, in the beginning maybe just to keep the students engaged, but I hope as I become more confident in my teaching (this is my 1st year ) I’ll be able to see what assignments will work well with certain technology. I do think that this has to be a central focus of our school system, and I hope that we have enough people looking forward to face the challenge.
What I have learned most in ECI that I feel will help me to progress is working with Powerpoints. I really needed to update my lecture/notetaking procedures for my class and Powerpoints will help me with that. I also like Inspiration for notetaking skills. I think that my students will definitely be able to benefit from organizing and sorting data. This has truely been a great learning experience for me. Thank-you Mrs. Hellmann, because you have a genuine heart for people, and you just don’t know how much I wanted to give up, but your kind help and words is what drove me to push on. Now, I have found that technology is not the Big Bad Wolf that I thought that it was.
It is amazing to see how many sites were listed above! As teachers it is important for us to convey certain information to our students. For example, I teach biology and it is important for my students to understand certain aspects of the field of biology. However, as teachers we also share the responsibility of teaching our students about technology and how it will help them and implicate them in their lifetimes.
I feel I have learned so much in ECI 530 that sometimes it boggles my mind. I now feel confident around different kinds of modern technology (this has not always been the case). Next year I plan on using more of microsoft powerpoint for lectures and microsoft excel for collecting data on labs. I also plan on teaching my students the proper and ethical ways to do research for projects. I feel this is a practical application that is lacking in public schools. With all the work we’ve done on webquests, human/social/ethical technology issues and different search engines I should have all the tools I need to help them! This also ties in with my last point. The web. We live in a world where all of the information you could ever need is in an item that can fit in a pants pocket. Imagine the power and change the world could see if our students were taught how to mobilize and correctly use it? The Web 2.0 will have to be brought into more classrooms and incorporated in class on a more regular basis. For my part next year I will have students finding pertinent articles off of the internet, using webquests to learn information, and organizing search engines so they know how and where to find them in the future.
I have learned so much in ECI530. I had previously taken tech curriculum through the school system but it was a brief overview of various tools, etc. Now I have learned a great deal about technology and the global attitudes, pro and con. I have taken a new view of how our uses and responsiblities are so important. In the web quest you had us do on social, ethical and human issues I learned a great deal about the digital divide and my responsiblities. As a teacher I thought I could get away with teaching like I always have and that the students needed to conform. Now I look at it as though maybe I need to be the one to conform. With that new view I am very excited with my new abilities in working with Power Point and Excel the most. I was not very comfortable with either of these tools. Now I am trying all kinds of new things and actually find myself remembering what to do while I am creating. I am concerned how well I will be able to teach these skills to young children, but that is my next step. Learning the basics and then how to join these tools together will be a big push in the beginning of the year. Then they will have the skills to do creative work with their learning. I will have to eventually step back and guide while they teach one another.
I will start using Inspiration more. We have some hand outs designed using Inspiration already but they are very basic. I see possiblities for using it in so many aspects. I am concerned about having insufficient time and amount of computers to fulfill our activities.
I still have concerns for the social issues that very well may inhibit some equality in the learning and application at home. I am very open to suggestions on how to approach the areas of haves and have nots.
I see possiblilities in using Word for writing, editing, spelling, and creating charts for many areas across the curriculum.
I cannot wait to see how the first web quest goes in the next two weeks. I feel I have a lot of redesigning to do with my teaching to incorporate all that I have learned.
I also feel I have just touched the tip of the ice berg in what there is to learn and how to use technology in my classroom.
I look forward to making the students go “wow!” and wanting to know how I did that. The fear of what do I do now has turned into….hey… look what I can do with this! (Which is why my final took so long).
I feel that my strenghts are on ideas of how to use the tools. My weakness is on being able to figure out all of the applications. I do not know the short cuts. I am really improving in clicking buttons and figuring out how to do what I want to do. I am also more willing to ask questions about how things are done. I am no longer an ostrich……now I am an eagle!
Upon entering this class, I believed myself to be a computer moron. After the first class, I realized that I was in fact a computer idiot who needed a lot of patient instruction. I was familiar with a few of the devices and programs we explored, but I have discovered more in-depth applications that I can incorporate in my presentations. Some of the programs were totally unfamiliar, but now I will be able to utilize them in my content area (Wikis, Inspiration, Web 2.0, etc…). I was most intrigued by Webquest because not only is it beneficial for my students, but it may help other teachers generate ideas, or incorporate some of the same concepts in their teaching.
Inspiration was another one of my favorites. As a graphic organizer it helps students visualize and organize their ideas, concepts and theories. I also learned a lot about powerpoint and enjoyed playing with it. Being the artist that I am I can now come up with some wild and imaginative presentations using powerpoint. Overall, my wonderful instructor turned what was potentially an unpleasant and uncomfortable burden of a class into a richly rewarding experience. I feel that I have learned so much and can now be much more effective in my pedagogic endeavors.
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