Digital Blog Post #E - Chapters 4, 7 &/or 9

This week I will be reflecting on all aspects of multimedia in the classroom. After reading chapter 9 of our textbook as well as noticing different tools used in education throughout this course, I now recognize how important the content of the media we are showing to our students is just as important as the technology itself.
I would like first to reflect on Multimedia. After reading the definition of multimedia, my first reaction was to think back on my education and the lessons that stuck out to me the most. Most of the lessons I could recall all used multimedia. My teachers knew how to engage us and did an excellent job of doing so. I would like to one-day incorporate multimedia in my classroom such as interactive videos.
Next, I would like to reflect on Media Synergy. Unfortunately, this class is soon to be over because I do not fully grasp the concept of media synergy. If it is what I think it is, it would mean a teacher whom stands up and teaches the lesson while incorporating media such as power points. This is interesting to me, but I would like to learn more about this in the future.
The third thing I would like to reflect on is multimodal learning. I believe I would do well teaching in this manner. I have a brother that learns differently due to his learning disabilities. With that being said, I firmly believe students learn in different ways, and I think this learning technique would benefit all students because it teaches in several different ways.
I have enjoyed learning new techniques that I will be able to enhance my classroom.

To see an example of Multimedia click here to see my Storybird story.

Digital Blog Post #D - Chapters 6 &/or 10

In this blog post, I have decided to reflect on low-tech,mid-tech, and high-tech accommodations. I am very interested in becoming a special education teacher. For this reason, different types of accommodations interest me for the benefit of my future classroom.
    Low-tech accommodations are often unnoticed, in my opinion. Resources such as one-on-one Learning with flashcards, Whiteboards, and worksheets are just as important as the more updated resources are used. I cannot ignore the price difference for using resources that are just as efficient with less cost.
    Mid-tech accommodations interest me because I feel like they integrate technology into a student's life at a slow pace without overwhelming them. I would like to use tablets to adjust my students slowly to the idea of education with technology.
 High-tech accommodations use technology that could benefit students who work better with computers and the resources of advanced nature. Using Advanced technology could help students who are visually impaired by using audiobooks with headphones to produce sounds for them to hear. In the same way, it could help hearing-impaired students see the lesson in words and visual summaries that could make all the difference in their learning experience.
     With a combination of different technologies to accommodate students in my classroom, I believe I could see a high success rate with the children I teach.

Resources:
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Blog Post #C - Chapters 3 &/or 8

The concepts I have chosen to reflect on for this blog post are all similar to each other.
    First, I chose Internet Literacy. This is important to me because of the way out the world is headed in this technological era. One of my biggest pet peeves is to see multiple Facebook friends “sharing” posts that they honestly believe to be the truth. To me, this is an example of a lack of Internet literacy. To be honest, it worries me, and I do not believe that there is enough education or awareness for Internet literacy.
    Second, I’ve chosen digital literacy I would actually like to learn more about this concept. It feels like an umbrella term meaning a bunch of different types of literacy categories and one. You should have critical thinking skills as well as knowledge of new modifications of old materials. I personally feel I need to improve more in this area of literacy.
    Third, I chose Media Literacy. Media Literacy is a concept I believe my generation is exceptionally well at. Because of this, I feel like I could bring fresh and new ideas to me future classrooms. Ideas that would include social networking and web-based creativity. I would love to incorporate concepts such as my students blogging and creating their own web pages.
All three of these ideas interested me in different ways. However, I think the information I have learned about them will benefit me as an educator of the future.

Resources:
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

OPTIONAL Digital Blog Post #B - Chapters 2 &/or 5

I am slowly learning that there is more to technology in the education field than I ever could have imagined. In chapter 2 of our textbooks there were many aspects that I found interesting and complexing. Today in my blood I will reflect on three of the concepts I found interesting. 

1.  My first concept that I will be the different types of advanced applications that are being used in classrooms across the nation. According to our textbook between 2010 and 2012 there were over 25 billion apps downloaded. Since this information is a little dated and the amount of involvement on technology has increased I am willing to bet that this number has increased greatly in the past 4 years. I found it extremely interesting that there are apps for History and shows virtual timelines of our history. This brings the saying "going back in time" to a whole new level! By integrating history into technology we are now giving it new life and showing it in a more interesting way to students. I strongly agree with using applications in a class room do to this. I believe that by using apps that bring things to life for students it will in return show a higher success rate with in the students. 
2. My 2nd concept I will reflect on is the Digital Divides. Digital divides are a growing problem that I believe needs to be solved as soon as possible. Coming from a place of understanding, I was born and raised in the middle of no where, our school was low income almost of our families were as well. Due to this, when I moved to college I had a little bit of a harder time adjusting to all of the different ways technology is used. With as fast as our technological world is moving this disadvantage could one day become a life altering issue that could prevent students from wanting to continue education or could discourage them from certain jobs. Of course, I am thing of the worst case scenario but it is still a scenario that could happen if we, the futures educators do not find a way to equal out the disadvantages.

My 3rd concept I would like to reflect on are TED talks. Although this was a small excerpt in chapter 2 I found it very important. I am a huge fan of TED talks due to the fact that I am an Audio and Visual Learner. I would like to see these in our course because of how well I do with relating them to lessons. I feel that other students, even younger ones could benefit from these videos just as I do.

https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/dpYl5Mgtmuz/?mode=presentation#/

Resources


Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #A- Chapter 1

1. My first concept I will be discussing is the iGeneration. Being not far ahead of this generation I find it amazing as well as scary that these children have never been in a world that hasn't been saturated with some form of technology in their life. On a positive note, these children will be effective students and successful as the world continues to advance. Due to their background of constant technology I feel as though these students will always easily adapt to the newest form offered on the market.  I,myself, was not have a phone until I was 11, and didn't have a smartphone until I was 15 or 16. I still find myself struggling with new areas in technology. However, theses children have never learned how to do things manually and that could be very bad if one day our nation, for some reason goes off the grid. According to the textbooks 95% of students ages 12-17 are online and 85% of those students use social media websites such as 
2. The second concept I will reflect on are the Technology-Based Libraries.  We live in a time period where everything is at the touch of our fingertips. At one point in history, the tools we have today were not even though about in the wildest of dreams.  Today, not only do we have the technology to learn about but we have a plethora of resources at the touch of a finger. I am a nerd when it comes to books and research so it is no surprise that I am a fan of valuable information instantaneously.
3. The third concept I will reflect on are technology-based offices. This was probably my favorite concept in this chapter. I find it amazing that teachers can now condense grade books,attendance records, lesson plans, and calendars, to a laptop or tablet. Not only will this keep the desk organized but I feel it will take stress off of the teacher. With out having to keep track of 4 or five different books and papers they can open a computer and have all of their information in one nice and neat place. I believe this will benefit teachers and change the ways of teaching forever.  I know in my ESE classroom I volunteer in at home the teachers life has become much easier due to a new tool called the Class Dojo.

In conclusion, There are many aspects of technology that are changing people and the way we communicate and learn. All aspects contribute to the future of education and how we learn and how some of us will teach. The students we teach and the technology we use to teach them are all important things to think about.

Resources


Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

ClassDojo,(2012,Aust,22)Introduction to Class Dojo [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaeNSYJvrn0]