Week 13

Word: spell check, dictionary, thesaurus, editing features.
Excel: Goal seek, Freeze panes,
Powerpoint: sound effects, movie clips, images, graphs, text art.

Word: Students can write a paper and exchange a digital copy with a cohort. After using the edit feature students send the new copy back with editing notes made using the edit features.  Students then correct their paper and look to enhance by using thesaurus and dictionary feature.
Excel: using the goal seek and freeze panes feature student can create a work out plan including dieting goals of calorie intake and expenditure. This way student can alter different inputs and see how it effects the caloric percentage.
Powerpoint: students can use powerpoint to share their findings with the class from the previous assignment.  By using powerpoint students learn, or enhance, their ability to communicate information with technology.

Week 12 three questions for the NU Ed. Panel

1. What does technology mean to you?
2. How big of a role does technology play in the classroom of the future?
3. What advice to you have for a soon to be teacher?

Reflection #10

  What: I don't commonly think of it as technology, since I have been using it for so long, but excel is a product that can easily be integrated into the physical education class very easily.  Student and can learn, or reinforce learned skills, of excel.
So What:  I think excel is one of the most powerful tools on the computer for the everyday user.  It's multitude of functions lends it self to an ever expansive realm of uses.  Being able to manipulate excel will undoubtably have a profound effect on individuals years down the road.
Now What:  That being said I believe it was a tool not taken advantage of enough.  Their is the obvious uses in math but excel can so much more then organize a data set and graph.  It is something that I think would have made for some truly enriching high school experience.  It is not an over the top use of technology but an important one.

Reflection #9 Online testing

What: Last year I had a class with all its test online.  I though this was great because then i could not only get help from other students but take my time with it.  Ultimately though I found it to be a very cumbersome and unrewarding experience. First, it was a timed thing and so I was constantly worried time would end and I would not have submitted my test and therefore receive a zero for the test.  Second, I relied heavily on my cohorts for answer and so it was a not a genuine reflection of my understanding of the material.
So What:  Do you thing there is a place in education when an online test is appropriate?
Now What:  Have any of you had similar experience with the online testing method? Would you do online testing? How would you do it?

Reflection #8 Discovery

What: Discovery, the online Classroom for NU

So What:  So What? Does anyone every use it consistently.  I'm amazed as to how many teachers have no clue how to, or are unwilling to learn the system.  The best feature is the grade reporting feature.  An up to date grade is highly motivating and yet hardly any of my teachers use it.  It's frustrating knowing that the school spends so much of my money to create this tool and yet hardly any teachers use it.

Now What: This is one of the those teaching moments, unknown to the teacher, why I say "I know how I will not teach."  It just reminds me that learning new technology and staying up on the culture of education is important and I should do my best not to be left behind.

Reflection #7 Micro Blogging

What: the control a government agency, in this case China, has over the internet and the spread of information.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15383756

So What: I found that this article, written by Michael Bristow for BBC news, brings up and interesting point to the control one would have over an information sharing resource such as microblogging (the likes of twitter) in juxtaposed to the ever increasing popularity and growth of the medium.  China knowing the power of twitter has blocked its use in China, but that hasn't stopped people from creating their own blogging pages.

Now What: As educators, I think we should take from this article the importance of educating our students not just the tremendous power that comes with personal media outlets (such as twitter or blogging) but also the negative impact, and social responsibility one undertakes when they decided to post something for all to see.

Week 14 blog Free speech and the future of technology in education

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/27/emma-sullivan-sam-brownback-kansas-tweet_n_1115006.html?ref=education

We have learned of many different ways to incorporate technology into our classroom, and that is great, but how do we prepare for such incidences.  This could have been a class assignment (I don't think it was, but for sake of argument let's say it is) asking students to tweet about their experience on the field trip.  I think this situation brings up many great questions about the future of technology in the classroom.  It's limitations, how we implement it, and the students right to free speech.  Where does the school's power end and the students home life begin.  Does this cause a disruption in your class, or just a great teaching opportunity?