What I learned in EDTS523

I really enjoyed this course with Dr. Ransom this semester. I had fun learning about how technology can be utilized by teachers in order to provide students with a better learning style. I feel that my attitude toward technology has significantly changed after taking this course. Before knowing all the available resources on the internet, I used to think that all teachers teach their students under a traditional style. After learning from this course, I now know that technology can turn a traditional teaching style into a more fun, engaging, and interactive learning environment. The knowledge I have gained from this course will help prepare me to become a creative and fun teacher in the near future. I especially enjoyed learning about web 2.0 tools which can be incorporated in the classroom.  I particularly enjoyed learning about tools such as blogging, wikis, podcast, inspiration, and voicethread.  Class assignments along with class activities have provided me with the opportunity to explore each tool.  As a result, I now have an idea of what type of tools I would incorporate into my class.  Two tools I can picture myself using would be podcasting and blogging.  I believe that these interactive tools can help spark students’ interest in learning. 

Also, the PowerPoint project was a hand’s on experience that helped me understand PowerPoint can be used in a classroom.  Prior to this class, I had no idea that you could animate or record using PowerPoint. Even though our group spent a lot of time on completing the task, I feel that it was time well spent. I believe that I’m now prepared to create lesson plans using PowerPoint.

I think that it was a great opportunity for me to write a research paper on the topic of improving literacy using technology.  I spent a lot of time doing the research, and found numerous articles proving which supported the fact that technology can have a positive impact in the classroom.  My weekly blog post has encouraged me to think outside of the box.  I have become more interested in writing blogs as a result of this class. My experience writing blogs have been beneficial to me and I’m excited to consider ways in which I will incorporate blogging into my lessons.

In conclusion, I truly believe that technology has a positive impact in education. Though it could be frustrating sometimes, it is definitely a powerful tool and can potentially increase students’ interest in learning.  This class has opened my eyes to endless opportunities to utilize technology in the classroom.  I can’t wait to get started!

Thanksgiving Week

A couple of weeks ago, I was so excited thinking about having a relaxing Thanksgiving. However, as Thanksgiving approached, I realized that I had a lot of assignments due the week following the holiday. I started to stress and began to think that this weekend would not be relaxing after all. Furthermore, I knew that a good deal of my vacation would be spent in the car driving around New York to see my family and friends. As we were packing for the weekend, my husband Sam told me that he was able to use the internet by tethering his blackberry to his laptop, and suggested that I do some work during the ride. At first, I didn’t believe that it would work; and if it did, I thought it would be really slow. I was wrong. The internet worked well and I did not hit any “dead-zones” while traveling on the highway. I think that this type of technology can be very beneficial for students who commute or travel long distances on the weekends. Students that take public transportation can definitely benefit from tethering as they are can access the internet while traveling to work/school.

My little sister came to spend Thanksgiving with me this year, and told me that her classmates use many technological tools in school. She told me that her classmates use many cool applications on their iPods such as the “flash card” application. She told me that many of her classmates use this application in order to download flashcards onto their iPods so that they can study using their iPod instead of writing them out on index cards. I also heard that for students who are preparing for SAT, students will download Podcast programs in order to hear people pronounce SAT words and explain their definitions. In high school, I loved using flash cards but absolutely dreaded writing them out. I think that these are great ways to incorporate technology to help students improve academically.

I used to think that I could manage without most of the modern technological advances over the past 20 years. However, I realized that I have come to depend on many of these advancements. Although I could survive without many of these advancements, I’ve realized that there are endless opportunities to use these advancements to help motivate students to learn.

http://www.flashmybrain.com/ipod-flash-cards.php

What I learned this week!

Today in class we worked on our podcast project. Aside from some frustration trying to post the podcast on wiki space, the project went fairly smoothly. The most difficult part of the project was the fact that we all used a different computer and each experienced some form of technical problem. However, I’m glad that everything worked out fine in the end for me at least. I was really excited to see my finished product and I thought it was awesome that we were able to post it on the wiki space. As a result of posting it on wiki, I was able to share our project with my family in Taiwan and they were able to hear my sweet voice. I believe that my experience producing my first podcast has made me more confident in making recordings. Now that I know how to use “garage band”, I will be well prepared to produce episodes relating to various subjects when teaching my students.

Another thing I would like to talk about is the tool “dropbox”. I believe that Dr. Ransom mentioned “dropbox” in a previous class. At my assistantship at the “Center of Excellence in Math and Science” there is only one computer that is shared by two grad students. As a result, I often have to work at the computer lab. It’s a pain because I have to send documents from the computer to myself via email, so that I can work on it at the computer lab. Recently, my professor suggested that I try using “dropbox” to share the projects that we work on. Since then I have been doing a lot of downloading and have found this tool be very helpful. I no longer have to walk back and forth to the computer lab in order to save the documents that I’m working on.

I’m continuing to learn that we are surrounded great technological tools that can be used to make teaching and our lives easier. Sometimes we need to take a step back and consider ways to use these tools to make our work more efficient. Being in a professional environment has helped me gain exposure to various resources. It’s important that we share what we learn with others so they can also use these tools to make their lives a little easier.

Mac VS. Pc

My parents bought our first family computer when I was in middle school.  I can still remember the sound of the dial up internet when we tried to connect online.  My parents bought the computer for my sisters and me to use, but never tried using it themselves.  When I was in college, my parents would often call me on the phone, but would never use online tools such as email to communicate with me. Recently, they have started to explore the resources of the internet and computer technologies.  I think that they are now addicted to it as well!  First, they started sending me funny emails and talking to me on either email or facebook.  Now, they often use MSN and Skype to call me from Taiwan.  I am truly amazed how technology has changed my parent’s lives at an older age.  I spoke to my mom last week and she told me that they are getting rid of their desktop because it’s too “slow” and it “freezes” up on them too often. I asked them what computer they are getting, and she told me “APPLE”.  She actually meant a Mac, and bought one to replace her old PC.   I was really surprised, because I highly doubt that people at their age (almost in their 60s) would know how to use a Mac and appreciate the differences between the capabilities of a Mac or PC.   She replied to me that she will learn the difference very quickly. 

I went online and wanted to find out more information about how Mac is doing in the market.  And I found out that Apple uses an aggressive retail strategy in order to entice first time buyers.  With their face-to-face customer service and support and other services, they are allowing people to switch from a PC to a MAC with confidence. Apple stores also provide a good way for customers to test out their new products and play with it before they buy them.  I believe that their unique marketing strategy sets them apart from other companies.  I actually enjoy using Macs more than PC’s after I started this class. I think that schools should encourage students to have both PC’s and Mac’s for their students.  They both have different functionalities that can be useful for projects and papers.  It is important for students to know how to use both types of computers as they may need to use them in their future. They will then have the opportunity to find out which one fits them better in creating their projects in schools.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10396757-37.html

Podcast and its positive impacts

Before this class, I didn’t know anything about Podcasting.  I realized that technology is so powerful and can be used in ways other than just entertainment for children.  When I was in high school, I had to commute to school an hour (each way) on a public bus.  I spent most of time on the bus sleeping, day dreaming, or talking on the phone. There would be times that I tried to study or read my textbooks on the bus, but I would quickly give up due to motion sickness.  I even missed my stop many times as a result of sleeping on the bus!  Since reading made me nauseous, and sleeping was convenient, I never found an effective way to spend my two hours a day on the bus.

After learning about Podcasting it made me think of a way I could have spent all of my wasted time daydreaming during bus rides.  Imagine what I how much I could have learned if I spent 10 hours a week listening to Podcasts.  First, I could have been listening to school related material during the bus ride which could have cut down the amount of time studying at home.  Secondly, I never would have missed my stop!  Podcasting is a great way for children to absorb information when there minds are otherwise idle. 

In Asia, most students commute over thirty minutes a day to get to school.  In Taiwan, students are assigned to high school based on their performance on entrance examinations.  Therefore, they may have a far commute in order to attend the school that they are placed in.  In America, most students attend the school that is within a certain distance from their house.  Therefore, Podcasting provides a great opportunity to let children use their “toys” while learning.  I believe that children would enjoy listening to Podcasts on a bus, and would definitely help them learn about various educational topics.

PowerPoint in the classroom

Before this weeks class, I had no idea that PowerPoint could be used in the classroom.  My first experience using PowerPoint was for presentations in college. In many of my classes, I had numerous opportunities to use PowerPoint for presentations. However, I never learned how to properly create slides.  Thinking back, I’ve realized how I underestimated the many potential uses of PowerPoint.  Furthermore, I did not understand how to properly structure a PowerPoint presentation.  I used to include a lot of information on each slide, and basically read from the slides.  As a result, I believe that my audience quickly lost focus in the detail included on the slides.  I now understand that an effective PowerPoint presentation should include bullets and short summaries in which the person should expand upon during their presentation.

 I was really amazed by the fact that PowerPoint can be integrated with animation, voice, and video. I had no idea that it could also be created for one on one learning activities. I’ve now come to realize that PowerPoint is a perfect tool for a differentiated classroom. Many students have different needs and share different interests. There are endless opportunities to engage students in learning using PowerPoint.  For example, you can have them use PowerPoint for assignments, which will allow them to be creative and learn at the same time.

 I think that training should be provided in school so that teachers learn to use PowerPoint. Many teachers choose to use traditional lecturing styles with PowerPoint, but have not considered all of the application’s functionalities.  However, if they were provided with more training using the application, they would be able to develop more inspiring lesson plans, which will lead to more interesting lessons for their students.

Enhance Literacy with Technology

The topic of my research is “Enhancing literacy with technology”. Before I started my research, I was not sure about how technology could enhance literacy in elementary schools. The overall findings from my research reflect the positive impact that computer based technologies have on literacy if used appropriately. In particular, this review examined the use of internet, television, web 2.0 tools, and other digital resources that can be used to strengthen the reading and writing abilities of young children.

Technology plays an important role on shaping children’s literacy. Decades ago when the use of digital resources were not available, teachers had to use textbooks and memorization tools in order to improve literacy rates.  The evolution of technology has provided teacher new creative ways to help students improve their reading and writing skills.   This project taught me about various software, website, and online tools that can be used to help motivate children to improve their literacy.  I think that it is the responsibility of the teacher to seek out these new tools and find ways to incorporate it into their lessons as studies have proven that they can have a significant impact on raising literacy rates. Technology tools such as smartboards, Inspiration, wiki, Skype, and blogging are specific examples of ways that children will become interested in reading and writing, and therefore improve their literacy if used appropriately.

However, I believe that using technology in the classroom may be easier said than done.  Not every district in America can afford to have a smartboard in their classroom.  As budgetary decisions are often made at the board level, this is not something that a teacher can necessarily have complete control over.  As such, there are students who will have greater opportunities to benefit from the aforementioned technological tools based on the resources available to the district.  Therefore, I think teachers’ jobs are even more difficult, as they will need to find both creative and cost effective ways to use these tools in their classroom.  For example, not every district can afford a smartboard or Inspiration software. However, nearly every school has internet access; therefore, blogging and skype are tools that would not be exclusive to districts with large budgets. Teachers should make sure they are sharing the research and results of how digital tools can improve their students’ literacy in order to influence budgetary decisions.

I think that it is essential that districts and teachers become familiar with digital tools that are available.  Districts should provide teachers with trainings and resources in order to help them improve the effectiveness of their teaching.  A lack of student motivation was one of the leading causes for student illiteracy cited in numerous studies.  Therefore, I believe that using digital tools is a great way to help spark interest in children and promote fun and creative ways to improve their literacy.

Acer Eclipses Dell and Apple

I found this article on Google News the other day, and I was so excited to read that Acer has recently passed Dell to become the second-largest computer manufacturer in the world. Acer is a Taiwanese brand that I have tracked since it started to become popular in Taiwan about 3 years ago. The father of one of my friends in high school works for Acer, so I learned a lot about the company talking with her. In high school, she would often tell me that Acer was going to be huge worldwide, and was a great computer company. I didn’t pay much attention to her back then, but now I wish I had bought stock in Acer three years ago!

 Being Taiwanese, I’m proud to see Acer become more popular. I believe that this sort of publicity can help shine a positive light on Taiwan and show the world some of the amazing technological developments that come from my country. The thing that I like most about Acer is that their computers are considered good quality, and reasonably priced. Considering the economic environment, Acer computers are more appealing to the public given that many people are trying to save money when making significant purchases. It amazes me how a lot of American company’s will take a product that is typically very cheap, and mark it up to increase their profit. For example, in Taiwan an Ethernet cord might cost $5. However, there are many stores in the U.S. that carry the same cord for $15. Therefore, I think that Acer has found a great niche in the marketplace and will continue to do well in this economy.

Please check out this link if you are interested in finding amount more about the company!

Acer Eclipses Dell and Apple Article

My First Lesson Plan!

I recently prepared my first mock lesson plan about weather for one of my education courses.  When I first started working on the lesson plan I struggled to find information relating to the topic and had difficulties figuring out how to structure the lesson plan.  My original thought was to lecture about the topic and have the children complete a worksheet followed by a quiz.  I tried to prepare a worksheet on Microsoft Word, but even had trouble formatting the page.

After spending some time working on this project I decided to step back and think about some of the concepts and tools I learned about in this class with Dr. Ransom.  The first tool that came to my mind was Inspiration and how I could integrate this tool into my lesson plan.  The first benefit of using this website was that it was a lot easier to create a worksheet and quiz.  I then realized that I could also make the lesson interactive and have the children use the Inspiration software.  As such, I designed a graphic organizer which included different sub-topics relating to weather, each including a Quiet Tube video relating to the topic.  My lesson plan immediately became more interesting and would most likely be more appealing to children.

 One of the most challenging and tedious parts about making a lesson plan is citing all of the sources used in the lesson.  At first, I used Google.com to search for pictures of three types of clouds to be used in an activity.  However, I realized that for each picture I would have to prepare a reference.  I then remembered that we learned about Delicious.com.  Using this website, I was able to found the top bookmarks relating to clouds which included pictures of each type of cloud (on one webpage).  As a result, I saved a significant amount of time as I was not required to prepare as many citations.

 I’m quickly realizing how educational technology is a powerful tool for a teacher and can make the creating of lesson plans more efficient.  I’ve known that technology will continue to be more important as I progress in my career, so I will continue to seek ways to integrate technology into my lessons.

Web Communication

I really enjoyed today’s class where we learned about websites which are very useful, especially to educators.  Websites such as Delicous.com helped me understand how other persons interests can expose me to new ideas or topics that I never knew about.  I really feel that technology has made the world smaller, and brought people together by sharing our differences and knowledge.  Furthermore, the information sharing is becoming timelier.  That was apparent when Dr. Ransom posted a question on Twitter, and received numerous responses immediately.  After that class, I became very interested in creating my own Twitter account!

I was also very excited to hear that we are going to see Cathy Cassidy in the classroom through Skype!  Skype is an incredible program that I’ve used a lot over the past few years.  When I was a freshman in college, my family was in Taiwan and therefore, it was tough and expensive to talk with them often.  I tried using webcams for a while but it was always choppy and would stop working after a few minutes.  After my first year, someone showed me how to use Skype and I was amazed by the clarity of the call and the speed of the connection.  After buying a headset, it actually felt like I was on the phone with my parents.  The best part about the program is that it’s cheap!  Every year I started using Skype more regularly and was able to call both home and cell phones in Taiwan. 

This sort of technology made me wonder whether video conferencing might ever be used for children to communicate between classrooms.  Especially for smaller schools, I was thinking that it might be useful for students to collaborate with other students from different parts of the country in order to perform activities.  I believe that might be the next step in this line of technology.  However, my fear is that one day there will be a classroom of children, being taught by a teacher on a video projector!