Lab #13

Overall, I believe this class has been very helpful. I have learned a lot of information that I will need to know in the future for teaching. There are still a lot of areas where I need a little help in. I have trouble with differentiating the types of technology that is appropriate to use in certain situations. I believe that I can get a lot of help with this in my higher level educational technology courses. Another thing that I believe I will struggle with is planning to use technology when making my lesson plans. I am not good at planning ahead right now, but I will have to get a lot better when I start teaching. Currently, I do not use research databases that often so I need to understand those better so that I can teach my students how to use them and incorporate them into my lessons. Another thing that I need some instruction in is how to discuss technology based evaluations. The last thing that I need to understand a little better is acceptable use policies that schools have. I understand that all schools are different, so I might just need to brush up on these before I start my teaching. Although I have mentioned a lot of negative aspects that I have not perfected quite yet, I also have much strength that I have learned because of EDTL 230. I am quite confident that I am able to select the software that is available for kindergarten to twelfth graders. I can also develop a portfolio and apply online resources to support problem solving and related decision making for maximizing student learning. I have really learned a lot in this course. The things that I am not so good at, I would really like to strive to gain knowledge of how to be proficient on these topics. I would also like to practice using all of the skills that I have learned so that I do not forget them and am able to use them in my future classroom.


Profile Statements Low/Medium/High Learned
1. Identify the benefits of technology to maximize student learning and facilitate higher order thinking skills. (I, III) Medium X
2. Differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate uses of technology for teaching and learning while using electronic resources to design and implement learning activities. (II, III, V, VI) Low X
3. Identify technology resources available in schools and analyze how accessibility to those resources affects planning for instruction. (I, II) Medium X
4. Identify, select, and use hardware and software technology resources specially designed for use by PK–12 students to meet specific teaching and learning objectives. (I, II) High X
5. Plan for the management of electronic instructional resources within a lesson design by identifying potential problems and planning for solutions. (II) Low X
6. Identify specific technology applications and resources that maximize student learning, address learner needs, and affirm diversity. (III, VI) Medium X
7. Design and teach technology-enriched learning activities that connect content standards with student technology standards and meet the diverse needs of students. (II, III, IV, VI) Medium X
8. Design and peer teach a lesson that meets content area standards and reflects the current best practices in teaching and learning with technology. (II, III) High X
9. Plan and teach student-centered learning activities and lessons in which students apply technology tools and resources. (II, III) Low X
10. Research and evaluate the accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, comprehensiveness, and bias of electronic information resources to be used by students. (II, IV, V, VI) Low X
11. Discuss technology-based assessment and evaluation strategies. (IV) Low X
12. Examine multiple strategies for evaluating technology based student products and the processes used to create those products. (IV) High X
13. Examine technology tools used to collect, analyze, interpret, represent, and communicate student performance data. (I, IV) Medium X
14. Integrate technology-based assessment strategies and tools into plans for evaluating specific learning activities. (IV) Low X
15. Develop a portfolio of technology-based products from coursework, including the related assessment tools. (IV, V) High X
16. Identify and engage in technology-based opportunities for professional education and lifelong learning, including the use of distance education. (V) High X
17. Apply online and other technology resources to support problem solving and related decision making for maximizing student learning. (III, V) Medium X
18. Participate in online professional collaborations with peers and experts. (III, V) High X
19. Use technology productivity tools to complete required professional tasks. (V) High X
20. Identify technology-related legal and ethical issues, including copyright, privacy, and security of technology systems, data, and information. (VI) Medium X
21. Examine acceptable use policies for the use of technology in schools, including strategies for addressing threats to security of technology systems, data, and information. (VI) Low X
22. Identify issues related to equitable access to technology in school, community, and home environments. (VI) High X
23. Identify safety and health issues related to technology use in schools. (VI) Low X
24. Identify and use assistive technologies to meet the special physical needs of students. (VI) Medium X

Week #13

This week we talked about issues in implementing technology in schools. We talked about ethical issues as well as legal issues in classrooms. One thing that I was suprised that we did not talk about was implimenting church in public schools. I believe that the seperation of church and state is very important for teacher's to uderstand. This is really important because I am positive that no teachers would want to go to jail or anything like that.

Week #12

This week, we talked about distance education. This topic is a topic that I enjoy learning about. Currently, at Bowling Green, I am taking an online course. I contributed to a lot of the conversation because I was one of the few in the class that is taking a course that is strictly online. I am not too found of my class personally because since I am not in the classroom on a regular basis, I often forget to complete assignments for this particular class. In class, we talked more about our Blogs and Wiki’s and started talking about how to add key components to these two things. Today’s class was exciting because I knew a lot about what we were discussing. The discussion boards that we talked about seemed really confusing. Today’s class went well.

Week #11

This week was really exciting. We learned a lot of new material, so I am very thankful that I did not skip class. I started to understand the whole concept of Blogs as well as Wiki’s. These are really cool. I really hope that I can use them in the future. I started to explore the Blogs and Wiki’s that we are assigned to do for class and they are really interesting. I really feel that these could be very beneficial in classrooms. I think that Wiki’s are nice because they offer a variety of pages and links that each individual looking at the page can view and take them to a lot of different sites that are related to a specific topic. The Blogs seem to be a lot more personal. In these, people can put more personal things such as feelings. Blogs really make me think of sites such as Xanga. This was a site that was around when I was in middle school that kids would post stories about their days and their lives in. Blogs and Wiki’s are really fun.

Week #10

We continued the same lesson as last week in class this week. We started to discuss Universal Design. I’m not really sure what this whole concept is quite yet, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang out it eventually. We had to start posting our weekly reflections in our blogs/wiki’s. I do not understand how to do these at all. I am really bad at it but I am sure that I will improve since the lessons in these are very long. I am extremely overwhelmed with how much work this class has each week, but it’s starting to get better. However, I think that I should have waited to take this class until next semester because of the huge workloads that I have in all of my other classes. The blogs/wiki’s are very confusing now. My teacher was explaining that he uses one of these programs in his sixth grade classroom and it works very well for him. Someday, I hope to learn more about these and be able to use them in my classroom as well.

Week #9

This week was Saint Patrick’s Day. Class seemed to drag on forever because everyone just wanted to leave. We talked about Webquests this week. We also learned about using the web for teaching and learning. This was a boring lesson because everyone in the class already uses the web on a daily basis. Overall, today was fairly boring. I was really glad to hear that we do not have a lab due next week. I really like the videos we have been watching in class. They are about how children are so in tune with the internet and use it for a lot more than just educational reasons. I find this to be quite sad, but at the same time, it is the truth. Children are starting to use MySpace and FaceBook at a much younger age and parents are unsure of how to control this behavior. Overall, the lesson today was boring.

Week #8

This week, we started to talk about the internet and the World Wide Web. This was sort of boring since I use the internet everyday in my life. Overall, I knew a lot about what I was doing in this class. It was really nice to have a week off of classes last week. I got a lot of things done for education technology. When we got our ATC’s back, I was a little disappointed. I did not fail mine; however I did not get a passing grade. I am really glad that there are no chapter activities or readings due at the next class. This is really helpful to me because I have a lot to do in my other classes. I am working on labs number seven and number eight. These are very interesting. I am learning a lot about PhotoShop and iPhoto in the videos that I am watching. It is a lot of work, but I can see myself using these types of programs in the future.