ILP “Participation” – FSU Tech Sandbox

The FSU Tech Sandbox tour was a great experience. During the tour, we learned about different technology that could one day be in our classroom. We started off in the 3-D room where they had a 3-D printer and a 3-D pen. Both objects allow you to make three dimensional figures that can be useful when you are trying to explain to your class how something is made. For example, with the 3-D pen you can show your class how a cube is constructed. When many students look at a cube on a piece of paper they think it only has four squares because they cannot visualize it. With the 3-D pen you can draw out the cube and show your class that it is made up of 6 squares. Next we moved to the SMART Board and the Promethean board where we learned the differences between the two. There was not many differneces and both boards function similarly. A unique feature about the SMART Board was the Mixed Reality cube. With the cube under the Smart Document Camera lens you can move an image on the SMART Board all around with the cube. We also learned about Osmo. Osmo is an interactive game system that connects to an iPad. The Osmo works by using a reflector over the camera to see what pieces you have chosen. We also went over many other technologies that could one day be in our classroom. This field trip was so much fun and I enjoyed getting to learn more about technology. I will definitely be visiting the FSU Tech Sandbox in the future.

My favorite activity while at the Sandbox was using the Promethean board. On the Promethean board, I practiced writing my name to see how the pen worked. I also decided to pull up my blog to see how it looked on the big screen. A feature that I noticed while using the board was how accurate the pen was compared to the SMART Board. The pen on the Promethean board instantly wrote what I did and was very accurate. After using the Promethean board and the SMART Board it made me excited to one day be a teacher and use this technology in my classroom. Both boards have a lot of resources that come with them like premade lesson plans which I thought was a major bonus. These boards are a great way to have an interactive classroom. With either board, students can come up to it and write. A unique feature of the Promethean board is that there is a student pen that teachers can program to allow the pen to only can do certain things. Another tool I enjoyed using was the 3-D pen called the 3Doodler. Although I did not have much time to use it, it was awesome to see something I drew become 3-D.

Blog Post #5

One possible web 2.0 technology I think is useful in the classroom would be blogs. If I were to teach in a high school I would try to incorporate blogs as part of the curriculum. Blogs are a great way for a teacher to post assignments and homework on. Students can interact with one another on the blog and make homework more of a group project. I would also use YouTube to show the class videos. YouTube has many educational videos that my teachers would show me in high school. The videos offered by YouTube are another great resource for teachers. I do not think that social media like Instagram is appropriate to use in a classroom setting. Instagram would not support teacher professional development because all you can do on Instagram is post pictures and in a classroom setting that could be hard to monitor.

A web 2.0 tool that I would use when I am teaching would be Google Classroom. Google Classroom allows the teacher to distribute assignments, communicate, and work with students over the internet. I find this web 2.0 tool very useful because when I was in high school my teacher would use it all the time to distribute assignments students could easily access their homework. Also, if you missed a day of class it was very simple to make up that assignment because it was all online. With Google Classroom students also have access to Google Docs so assignments that worked on in class can easily be worked on at home. https://classroom.google.com

The technology advancement in chapter 12 that I believe holds the biggest promise for education is cloud computing. Cloud computing holds the biggest promise because it allows students to access their work from any computer or device. So, for example, say a student is working on an essay in class they can save the essay to some form of cloud computing and finish the rest at home. The use of cloud computing allows students and teachers to bridge the gap from assignments at school and at home. Teachers can also use cloud computing to post the daily agendas and course work for students who must miss class.

Blog Post #4

I love that we use Twitter in class. It is a great way to get to know other classmates more, and to see how funny everyone is. I have been interacting with Ashely a lot by re-twitting her. I find this beneficial because Twitter allows me to communicate with classmates in a different way. Twitter might be helpful in my future career by following the education accounts. The educational twitter accounts post great information and resources.

The digital divide is the divide between people who have internet access and the people who do not. Students who have computers and internet access at home are at a greater educational advantage then students who do not. The same thing works for schools without computers. The digital divide affects school by the schools with access having higher achieving students. Some causes of the digital divide are that some students can feel ‘less than” for not having a computer at home, and it can also hinder their learning. Being a teacher I must be aware of the digital divide. Depending on which school I work at if there are computers I will have my students working on them in class so that everyone gains experience and knowledge.

The student software I plan to use the most in my future second grade class would be educational games. For young kid’s games are a great way to practice lessons in a fun way. I remember playing educational games in elementary school. The student software I will use the least will be simulations. Simulations provide students with scenarios and circumstances through interaction. I feel that this would not be beneficial in my classroom because I can easily present a situation to my students without the software.