Bringing Tech to Class
At First Glance
I originally had thought that understanding technology wouldn't bring much to the table other than knowing the signs of when a student is on their cell phone. Personally, I stick to Facebook, ESPN, Twitter, and Youtube which I had never really used in an educational sense. Here's a look at how I viewed the Internet before this class.
My initial thoughts
Reflecting back on the class though, I have found so many useful tools from online sites. It really allows your students to show their creativity when working on a project. Animoto allows you to create short video clips, adding captions and songs to show some of the things you've learned as I have created on my site here. You could also throw in VoiceThread that allows students to record themselves as well as put captions on the images and videos. Then, you can use a site such as this, to create a smore, combining all of your work. You could also use Wordpress which will create a blog for you that you can keep updating. There are so many educational tools that you can benefit from by using. Not only that, but others can view the information that you post which will help them out as well.
How can we use tech to our advantage?
Simple, yet Extraordinary!
IPADS IN THE CLASSROOM!?
I thought it was crazy at first, but reflecting on this course, there are plenty of positives to pull away from the iPad. You can take notes, create presentations, record videos, use educational applications and even educational games. You can buy digital textbooks now, saving you money and bringing you the convenience of having all of your needs in one place. You don't have to worry about forgetting your books or your notes. It's all there! Take a look at some of the the applications you can add to your iPad to bring the classroom to your tablet!
ipads for education
So How Does This Benefit Me?
As I've mentioned before, I will be a physics teacher in a couple of years. Some of my ideas would be to have them use an iPad to create videos of the real world where they go in and edit those videos to where they show the concepts of physics as they apply to the real world. I would also like them to use the smore application online. How cool would it be if you had a site dedicated to a concept that your class could always refer back to when you needed to study. Some of these concepts will include Newton's laws, forces, momentum, collisions, energy (potential and kinetic) as it relates to things such as roller coasters, electric and magnetic fields, centrifugal force, gravity and the list goes on and on. You can see some of these concepts viewed below!
How will I use technology to improve my class?