First, from the onset of the reading it explains how important
technology is to life today, in particular the children growing up in the
digital age. Technology is integrated into
every facet of our daily lives and the children of today come of age with these
digital portals to cyberspace in hand. I
have a unique perspective with respect to this topic as I am an adult student that
grew up with chalk boards when computers were still kind of a novelty in
schools. Now I am attending college via
the internet, utilizing many different digital tools to accomplish this as I am
physically disabled. I am a father of
two, an eleven year old and a six year old.
They cannot imagine life without cell phones, tablets, and
computers. I am pleased to see how
integrated technology is in their curriculum.
Both of my children use a tablet and or laptop for school work and their
teachers utilize apps like Edmodo, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edmodo/id378352300?mt=8 and websites to keep us up to date on their progress. As a parent I try to limit the exposure my
children have to the wide open internet.
We utilize apps that monitor their activity and activate timers to shut
down any applications that are not for reading or education. Let’s face it, these devices are always
within arm’s reach so as educators we should capitalize on that. Look back into your own school experiences
and evaluate the effectiveness of your professors how tech savvy they were or weren’t. Keeping up with advances in technology will
also help to stay connected to your students as well as gain their respect.
Second, I found the section describing the
must have technology for teachers. I was
astonished at the numbers in the samples provided. We as future educators should really take
note of this. After reading this section
I decided to just take a moment and write down the most prominent tools that
assist me. I came up with roughly 30 in
just a few seconds. The list encompasses
everything from my iPhone to my Dragon Naturally Speaking program/app.
I am quite certain that if I took more time
the list would be exponentially longer.
As a person with my physical challenges I anticipate that I will be
leaning very heavily on technology to conduct my lessons. With limited use of my arms and hands the
white board will probably be used on a limited fashion. I absolutely do not see this as an obstacle,
it is most definitely an opportunity.
Third, I would like to touch on the section on the
importance of a digital identity. “Your
digital identity as a teacher refers to your technology talents and
competencies-what you know how to do instructionally and professionally with
computers and other new inter-active technologies.”(Maloy, et al, 2013, p. 15) I think this is of particular importance to
every one of us and unfortunately there are some aspects that are often
overlooked. The text explains the value
of a polished and detailed digital identity with regard to both colleagues and
students for networking in the business/school environment; however, we need to
remember that everything that goes out onto the web is there forever. As educators we will be held to a much higher
standard than the general public and rightfully so. This may be covered at a later date with in
this course but I felt it needed mentioning.
I have to admit that after reading this chapter I now have a
greater understanding of the tools at our disposal. The reading stressed the importance of
technology in today’s digital society and I could not agree more. In order for the really prepare students for
the future we as educators have a responsibility to stay abreast of these
advances in order to stay relevant.
Resources
Maloy, R.,
O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming
Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education
Inc.
Nuance Dragon.(2014, July 22). Dragon Naturally Speaking 13 In Action. Retrieved September 2, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImlKOA1MhlI
Edmodo.[mobile application version 5.4.1].Edmodo Inc.
Edmodo.[mobile application version 5.4.1].Edmodo Inc.
Yay! You got your first post on your first blog!! :) Congratulations
ReplyDeleteThe points that resonated with you are good ones - ones that you'll likely build upon over the semester's time. Nice job on your reflective writing - a skill that you will also further develop as you get some additional posts on this blog. You also did an awesome job in those citations :) and getting that relevant video embedded - excellent!
The things to work on for the next blog post: 1) Instead of putting links in your writing as you did with https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edmodo/id378352300?mt=8 in reference to Edmodo, hyperlink that URL to the word Edmodo - means the reader can still go to the designated webpage, but they are not distracted by the messy URL look 2) Try adding a Creative Commons licensed photo with proper attribution (there's a link to tutorial on the module page). Also with the site, bibme.org or one of the other citation sites, you can just type in the important information and they will create the citation for you (ah, the beauty of technology! Feel free to use!)
Overall, a great first post - keep up the good work. :)