The Technology Enthusiasts' Argument

The technology enthusiasts' argue that the traditional schooling system, that exists now, is not working. The enthusiasts argue that this type of schooling is detrimental to children because eventually it turns children away from wanting to learn. The enthusiasts envision schools to integrate technology to the point where the classrooms look like a "technology-rich workplace". They believe that the way the school system is now is not comparable to the world they will be entering in the future. Now, in schools, students do not do most of their work on computers like they will be doing when they are in the workforce. Some people may believe that we have tried to make a change in revolutionizing our classrooms by adding computers but, the new additions did not make the expected changes. The enthusiasts say we need to implement a design of interactive learning environments, which are programs that provide support to students who are learning new things. After reading the enthusiasts argument, I do agree with many of their points. I agree that their job will involve them working with technology on a daily basis, and having the classrooms look similar to how their future will look will allow them to be more familiar with technology. In addition, I do think that our classrooms do not incorporate the use of technology as much as it can, so I feel that there is room for improvement. However, the enthusiasts scaffolding argument, which was that teachers do not have the time to scaffold effectively with each child, so technology can close that gap. I do not necessarily agree with this statement because I believe that is our job as a teacher to make sure we make the time to provide individualized support to each one of our students.

If technology has not been completely embraced by the schooling system, then I will make sure that, at times, my classroom looks like a "technology-rich workplace". I think that if I implement this into my classroom my students will be better off for their future and have gained more knowledge.

Credible Sites?

The majority of the links provided to us are obvious to me that they are not credible sites to use. First of all, the first pregnant male or the tree octopus are not real, existent things. However, young children who are just learning how to use the internet as a resource may not recognize the obvious. Some of the websites provided may confuse an unexperienced person, like the Martin Luther King website. When you quickly glance at this website it may look to be credible; however, when you start to read through the website you realize that it talks about rap and communism, which has nothing to do with why Martin Luther King Jr. is a historical person. So, I would encourage my students to carefully read through websites to see if the website is talking about what it should be talking about. One thing I found on the explorer website explained that it is not a credible website on its "about" page. So, students should read the about page, if the website has one, to check the main purpose of the website. I would explain to my students that they need to be skeptical about the information that they get. Lastly, on the bottom of the dihydrogen monoxide website it contained excessive advertisements. I would inform my students that this should be a red flag. Credible, informative websites do not usually provide excessive advertisements on its webpage.

Digital Booktalk

Stephanie, Angela, and I did our digital booktalk on the Three Little Pigs. Earlier this week we sat down to figure out how we wanted our video to look like and then, we began to film. Also, we had to make several props to add character to our film, like the pigs noses, the police sketch, and the brick house. The making of the props did take quite a bit of time, but it was fun. Then, the filming took a while to complete because we had to do a lot of retakes. None of us were willing to settle on anything less than what we thought to be the best take, so we all put a lot of thought into the video. Completing this assignment was a lot of fun because it was something different than our normal book work. Learning how to use the windows movie maker was a lot easier than I anticipated. Learning how to use this program was fun and will be beneficial to my future as an educator. I could do many different presentations for my students using this program. Whether the presentation is something I do for my future students or with my future students. I foresee myself doing many projects using this type of program.

Something New I Learned Today

I learned several new things today. First, I learned a lot of new resources that I can use for this class and as a future educator, like teacher tube. Also, I have never used any program besides power point in my academic career to do a presentation with. So, that is something new I learned that I will take with me from here on out. Also, we discussed other programs we can use to present with, like making a movie to do a presentation. Also, we discussed a lot about the difference between learning with and learning from technology. At first, it was hard for me to differentiate between the two, but the practice we did on the integrating technology matrix website helped clarify the difference between the two.

Preface and Chapter 1

This reading reinforced my knowledge on the growth in technology and the "knowledge revolution" we are living in. I understand the importance and benefit of integrating technology into our curriculum and exposing children to it. I agree that it is a tool children can use to continue learning outside of the classroom as well as inside the classroom. Since technology is not a fad and is not coming to an end anytime soon, I do feel it is important for children to learn how to do different things with a computer because they will be using it on a daily basis for the rest of their lives.
As a future teacher I will make it a priority to incorporate the use of different types of technologies in my classroom. Whether it is a technology that I will use, the students will use, or one we will use together, like a smart board, I will make sure to expose and teach my students the importance and benefits of technology.

Digital Autobiography

I believe that I put a lot of effort and time into my digital autobiography. First, I took a lot of time to go through my picture folder to find the nine pictures I wanted to use for this video. Then, I began using photoshow, and then, I realized I did not like it. So, I started over and used animoto. After I uploaded all of my pictures, I wanted to choose a song of my own, which was hard to find a song that I thought fit. So, the one I chose, which I think fits best, I had to buy off itunes and then, downlaod a converter to convert it from an mp4 to an mp3. Lastly, I did a lot of editing and switching around my pictures and texts as i found that it would not all fit. So, I believe I put a lot of time and thought into this assignment.
This assigment taught me something that I did not know how to do. I had never created any kind of video like this, and now that I know how to, I want to try to organize all of my pictures into videos.
After doing this assignment, I learned something new, and that is the approach I am going to take with my in my future as a future educator. You can always try and learn new things.

Growing Up Online

The video, Growing Up Online, made me feel like the internet and other technologies can sometimes take away from other opportunities and experiences. A couple people in the video said that the internet is like a secret world that they can escape life with and be themselves. I think using the internet excessively, for many things unrelated to school, can take away time for more productive activities. It made me a little nervous to think that such young children are using the internet as a social networking site. I believe that children should make friends at school or in other extra curricular activities and not by sitting in front of their computers all night. Also, as for teenagers, I think the internet can be dangerous ecspecially when teenagers are not using it appropriately.
As a future educator, I will stress the importance and benefits of using computers and the internet, and at times, I will use different types of technologies with my students to enhance their learning. However, I will stress the importance of not becoming consumed in all of these new technologies. I do use the internet on a daily basis, so I am pro technology. However, I think young children should be engaging in more productive activities on a day to day basis rather than sitting at their desk using a computer.

New Thinking After Today

After today's class, I learned a lot about different types of technologies, like communicative technologies, social networks, organizational technologies. Before coming to this class I did not know the categories that I would have placed all the different types of technologies in and now I do. Also, I learned about different types of technology that were completely foreign to me prior to this class. I am excited to learn a lot more throughout this semester.

The Role of Technology in Teaching and Learning

Nowadays, technology has a big role in teaching and learning. Students use computers in classrooms along with other types of technologies. It can be used for certain accommodations or modifications for some students to allow them to complete an assignment. Also, certain technologies, like smart boards, projectors, and elmos, assist teachers in their classrooms. I think technology plays an important role in teaching and learning.