Final Blog Reflection

What do you feel is the most useful technology you have learned this semester?

I definitely think the most useful technology I have learned this semester was the class website. I really enjoyed the Wiki version rather than the Google version though. Since the semester is over and I have time, I will be making a Wiki site rather than maintaining my Google site. This resource will be so helpful for students when they are needing help outside of school time. It will also be very useful for collaboration among students in the classroom in the sharing of ideas and projects, and even study helps.

How do you plan to use this or other technologies in your future classroom?

I will be using a class website to set up group projects, study guides, reading assignments, and general communication between me and the students. I think that all of these methods will be helpful to both me and the students, enabling us to be more efficient in our teaching and learning.

How can you use these technologies to engage your students in "active" learning?

With technology, it is not simply something that can be shown to your students. They have to experiment with it and learn how to use it as well. Often the students will be the ones teaching us rather than us teaching them when it comes to technology. Having my students do projects using any of these technologies will be essential in ensuring that all the students are participants and active learners.

Wiki Project

After using the Wiki and uploading my personal technology project, I can't wait to be able to use one in my own classroom! It was so useful and it is very open to change and contributions from whoever is allowed to edit it. It was also very helpful being able to see other students' projects to get a feel for what other teachers are planning on using in their future classrooms.

Here is a link to my personal technology project. It was so much fun working with the Google Earth software. You can do so many things with it and explore all over the world! I will definitely be using the program in my classroom.

This Semester

This semester my favorite thing that we did in our online class was making our class websites! I can't wait to be able to use this when I become a teacher! Here is a link to my class website.

Personal Technology Project Proposal

I have been exploring Google Earth for the past few days. I think it is fascinating all the things you can do with it and the places you can see. For my project, I am going to use Unit 6 of the Geography standards for UEN, and focus on both Objective 1 and 2. This standard states that students should be able to use geographic knowledge to connect to the current world. Objective 1 states that students should be able to use geography to connect to the past. Objective 2 states that students should be able to use that past knowledge to understand the current world.
As a project using Google Earth, students would choose a place anywhere on earth, and use the technology to explore the actual location. Using their knowledge of geography, they would decide how the civilization which they chose, came to exist in the way it does. Then they would see if this correlates in the methods which we have studied in class, or if it varies from the norm in the civilization's development. By doing this project, students would have to apply what they have learned in the class and it would help them understand the material in a hands-on approach.
This technology will enhance this project because the students can look at the actual location and analyze it from a bird's-eye perspective.

Internet Safety: Sharing with a Parent

After learning about internet safety, I was actually kind of interested to see what my parents had to say about it. I have a younger brother who is in his mid-adolescent years, and he is starting to spend a lot more time on the computer. I was able to share the talk, "Pornography" with my parents. With my younger brother being at that age, my parents were able to see how they can closely monitor him so that he does not get into things that he shouldn't be. I think it was an eye-opener for them to see how readily accessible such things were online, but they were also glad to see the ways in which they could prevent those things from happening.

Internet Safety

While I was reading, I realized just how important it is for us to be so careful while we are on the internet. We also need to make sure that our students are aware of the dangers of the internet. They are lurking on many sites, yet we may not even realize it. Even the simplest things can be wrong if used in an incorrect way. There are so many sites out there that are educational and spiritual, yet the adversary has taken a wonderful thing and used it to promote promiscuity and pessimism. In the "Just a Game" article, it discusses how gaming can take over a person's life and become central to how a person acts and thinks. This also related to Elder Bednar's talk "Things as They Really Are" fireside address. By participating in gaming and online web surfing, it becomes difficult to distinguish between who you really are as a person and the addictions which come from the internet.
As a future teacher and parent, I am beginning to understand the issues that come with the blessing of the internet. As a teacher, I want to encourage the use of the internet as a resource, but I need to make sure it is used as a knowledgeable resource, but that my students are safe while browsing. I can ensure this by investigating sites that I want the students to explore and ensuring that they are wholesome and safe. As a future parent, I can closely monitor my kid's activities and make sure that there is not a lot of idle time spent at the computer, but that there is a purpose in the use of the internet.

Constitution of the United States Video

Making this video was so awesome. I think this type of a project would be very useful for a review for students, or as an introduction when trying to teach a new topic. It would be helpful for the students to have a quick synopsis of what the subject is, in order to prepare them for the upcoming class periods. It gives them a taste of what will be happening. I can see myself using this as a teacher to present different ideas and topics that will be discussed. I can also see my students making these types of videos as a project. By doing so, I think they would learn more about the topic by doing so, because they would have to research for the information. They would also learn more about the importance of copyright because they would have to pull resources to form their video. This project was helpful for me as a future teacher because I have never considered making a video to teach a topic. I will definitely be using this in a future class!