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.

Week #7

This week we discussed Academic Software. With this, we had our ATC midterm. This text took a lot longer for me than I thought it would. I did not think that I would do poorly but I definitely did not thing that I received above a ninety percent, but I will see next week when we get the results back. There seems to be more and more work in this class each week and it is really having a huge impact on my Sunday evenings. Overall this class seems to get more and more beneficial each week. I seem to be learning so much material that I could someday use in a classroom. This week we discussed how to get started on labs number seven and eight. These labs deal with photo editing. This seems to be something that I am very interested in. I have never used these types of programs before and am very interested in learning about them. I am currently not sure how this will fit into my future classroom, but I will see after I finish.

Week #6

This week we really focused on preparing for the ATC. We also talked about Administrative Software. Bowling Green State Universities BGSU Web Portal is a perfect example of this. There is a lot of room for students to explore the various tools that Bowling Green has to offer without even going to the campus. This function allows students to turn homework in via webmail and things like that. This function is a way that teachers or administrators can communicate with students through the internet. There are many other schools that also had this. When we were in class on Monday, people were saying that their high schools did not have programs like this. In my high school, we had something very similar to what Bowling Green has currently set up. I believe that this is a really good system and that all school districts should have this available to them. There are many districts that don’t have this and it’s really a shame that they do not.

Week #5

This week we basically just discussed chapter four. There was a trio chapter share. We have started really preparing for the ATC. This seems like it will not be too hard of an assignment. What we have to do for it is create a two slide PowerPoint, an excel spreadsheet, and a word document. Since I have been doing all of the labs that have been assigned to us, I should not do too badly on the ATC. This class is getting to be a lot of work and now I have to start doing it earlier in the week so that I can get it all done by class time on Monday evening. This week we explored digital technologies in the classroom. This dealt with using cameras, videos, and things of that nature. This is good because things like pictures on blogs or PowerPoint’s can be used. I believe that this class is very beneficial in the future.

Week #4

This week, we learned about computers in the learning environment. It was really interesting because in class, we went around and discussed the number of computers and computer labs that we had in our high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools. Some people in the class had a large number of computers for a small number of students. At my high school, each classroom had at least five computers in the room and then there were eight computer labs with about thirty computers each in them. In the computer labs, teachers are able to rent them out for a period of time. This concept works relatively well in my high school of eight hundred students. But for a larger school, this might not work so well. There are many schools that had computers in every classroom. But this is very expensive for those school districts. Overall, learning about this was very helpful because I am going to need to know what types of computers certain schools will be able to buy and the realistic amount of individuals that will be able to use computers in classrooms.

Week #3

In class on Monday, we shared our All About Me PowerPoint’s with a few other individuals from the class. This went really well. The teacher’s idea of presenting these was very smart. No one student was singled out and instructed to present in front of the whole class. I believe that this is very good so that a few other people can get to know about someone else. I think that this is good because although it would be nice for everyone to get to know everyone else; it is humiliating to have to stand up in front of the entire class. I believe that this would be very good in a future classroom because of these reasons. The labs and chapter activities have not been too hard so far. Although the work in this class takes up a lot of my time, I feel that it will be very beneficial in the long run. I believe that this class will be a lot more beneficial than the other educational classes that I have taken so far at Bowling Green. The programs in the college of education that I have to take here at Blowing Green State University, I found helpful at the following website.

Week #2

Throughout the past week I finished the work that I needed to do for this class. It wasn’t too hard this week, which was a good thing. All that we had to do was read, do activities, and watch a variety of videos online and check off a list that we actually watched them. If there is not much else to do in this class, I believe that it won’t be too hard. We learned about Blooms Taxonomy in class, that was pretty interesting. Next week, we have the All About Me PowerPoint due and I’m really hoping that we do not have to share in front of the whole class. I feel that the All About Me PowerPoint is a great idea. I believe that it could be incorporated into a classroom very easily. This would show children how to use PowerPoint if they have never done it before. It would also provide a way for one student to learn a little more about a different student. The All About Me PowerPoint is a great idea for a classroom.

Week #1

This week was our first week of class. We basically just discussed what the class would be like and what we would be doing for the semester. We talked about the first assignment which will be the “All About Me” PowerPoint project. In class on Monday, we were taught about the MyLabSchool online function. This was very interesting because there are a lot of activities that can be found online as opposed to hand-outs in class. I found this to be very interesting. We really didn’t learn too much this week because it was the start of the class. The lab videos seemed like common sense material such as how to open a file and things of that nature. I hope they get more exciting. We really only had the PowerPoint assignment as a “technology” based type of homework. I suppose that I can incorporate PowerPoint’s into my teaching, but I’d like to learn about more advanced things that I could do in the class.