Video Reflection

The video this week was about the common mistakes people make when creating power-points. I found it to be very funny. Mainly because I have seen many presentations that have a lot of these common mistakes. ome of them include spell check, too many words on one slide, colors that make it hard to read. This is something that needs to be taught to students, otherwise they do not know they are doing anything wrong. When creating an activity that helps students learn about power-points, I think it is important to include the simple rules that tend to be left out.

Reflection

The tool that I have chosen to use in my classroom is video conferencing. I am a history education major and a part of the curriculum is geography. I think a really fun and educational activity for your children and my students would be the opportunity to video conference with someone else in the United States and in another country. It would allow the students to not only learn about and use this form of technology, but also learn about the different region, culture, language, foods, cities, etc., that are all over the world. It opens the students minds and helps them realize that there is so much more out there besides the city they live in. There are so many different kinds of people and places out there that they can learn about by participating in this activity. These are the many wonderful pros of this activity.
A few of the cons would be the unpredictability of what will be discussed. There will be times where the students can ask questions to the person on the other side of the video conference, and though I will not allow inappropriate comments, there may be questions and comments that were unexpected. Another con of this activity could be the possibility of technological difficulties. But, unfortunately, this is the case in many activities that deal with technology.
Overall, this activity would be very beneficial and one I that I believe will teach students more than a textbook or lecture can. The opportunity to talk to someone and learn about someone who lives somewhere else in the world is one that can impact a student and should not be missed.

The next tool I hope to use in my classroom is digital cameras. Cameras are a great way to portray a student's life. For one of my lessons, I want the student to create their own history. They will accomplish this by taking pictures of things they believe to be important and pertinent to their lives and then create a power-point slide show. This is a great way to familiarize students with how to use digital cameras and downlaod the pictures to a computer. Also, it allows them to explore their creative side and what they think had made up their history ths far in their lives.
A negative with this activity will be the need of digital cameras for those students who do not own them. But overall, it is a great activity that I hope the students will be excited to participate in.

Educational Video:

Video Reflection

literacy, sharing, collaboration, creativity and give students an audience.
The video this week was about blogs and the benefits of allowing the students to use them. It allows students to collaborate with each other. It also help students with literacy and creativity. Another great aspect of blogs are that they give students an auidence. They are great ways to get students engaged in using technology. I have had to use them in a few of my classes and they are fun ways to do reflections, and I think that is something I will try to carry over into my class.

Podcast and Vidcast Reflection

What: Podcast and vidcasts are great ways to relate information and knowledge to students and others who want the information. It serves many different purposes, like allowing distant education students a better chance and opportunity for learning. Also, if students are absent, it gives them a cnahce to still see and learn from the lesson. They are great tools for teachers and students both.
So what: Podcasts and vidcasts are new to me within the last year or so. I have had college teachers, mostly education teachers, use them. It was so great because if I missed class, the podcast was availble to me and other students. They are something that are becoming more common but should become even more common because of the value they have. More teachers should take advantage of these great tools.
Now what: As a student who has been able to take advantage of podcasts and vidcasts, I would definitly use it in my classroom. It is just a great way to get all students involved, even the ones that missed class. It is also a fun tool that allows students to use technology. They are not difficult to do or use, therefore, I plan on using them in my classroom.

WebQuest Reflection

The past couple of weeks my team and I have been working on our webquest. It was something new for all of us, but we worked well as a team and were able to accomplish it successfully. I felt that along with my teammates, I performed well and added a lot of useful work to the final product. I was able to come up with ideas that my teammates liked and expanded upon. The webquest was something that I believe will be very useful in a class and therefore, it was great to learn how to create and use one. It will be a professional goal of mine to use and create a webquest to use in my classroom. I know that in the education field, there can be a lot of group and team work. This experience was a great one. I have had previous group experiences that were not as successful as this one. My team was very helpful and we all worked extremely well together. There was no one that was a control freak. I really enjoyed working with and sharing ideas with my teammates. I hope that in my professional experience, I will have groups like the one I worked with for this project. I know that this may not always happen, but I will make it a goal of mine to be as open and workable as possible. Overall, this was a great experience for me and I enjoyed learning, using, and creating webquests with a group.

Field Experience Post

This week I went to Lone Peak High school to observe. I was able to observe the students, teacher, classroom management, lessons, but also the technology available to the class. First off, some information on the class. It consisted of 34 students. There was no seating chart, but the students mostly sat in the same places during the classes I was there. It seemed to cause more classroom management problems due to this. The teacher, however, was able to keep the class under control, for the majority of the time. He also used the technology that was available to him. Though there were not computers in the class for the students to use, he had two computers. He also had a projector and screen that the class would watch videos on and power-points. There were also two T'.V.'s. But these were not used while I was there. There may not have been computers for the students in the classroom, but they go to the computer lab. In fact, they have a big paper to write and they go to the lab a couple times before it's due to work on it. Obviously, it would be ideal if each classroom had its own computers for the students, this is not always possible. I was, however, glad to see the class and teacher taking advantage of the ones available for them in the lab. It was an enjoyable observation for me where I was able to look for things I have learned not only in this class, but in others as well.

Webquest Reflection

What: This week we learned more about webquests, the technical side. We learned how to create licenses, more about tools on power point, and were able to ask questions and have them answered. We were also able to work in our groups and got a lot done on our webquests. It was great to be able to learn more about them, but to also be able to work on them as well.

So what: Webquests are great tools that are availble for teachers to have their students use. There are many different types and different levels. They are also great to create for your own class. They are great ways to get students to do assignments and learn while using technology. It can help them become more familiar with technology.

Now what: As we are creating the webquests, I am learning about not only my content, but also about technology. I hope to continue using webquests and continue creating them for my future classrooms. They are great tools that I had never used in my high school but hope to use them wherever I teach.

Video Reflection:
The video was confusing at first. I did not know what to expect, but as it went on, I realized the point and importance of it. Cellphones, and other form of technology, can help educate children in countries where education is not prevalent. It is something that may have only been used for advertising, but I feel that it is something that can be done, and hopefully one day it will be. If people truly understood the use and power of technology, then perhaps many more children would benefit from it and become more educated.