Equaccess to the Digiworld

In the classroom I believe that a teacher can provide equal access to the digital world to all students. Outside the classroom is another matter however, as some students do not have as much access to the internet as others, and some don't have any at all. There isn't much a teacher can do about a student's technological capabilities at home. Schools can do more than individual teachers to help students attain access to the internet and computers in general. They can keep the computer lab open after school and allow students to use it to do homework that may require a computer or just let them surf the web for a while. Some schools hand out laptops preloaded with many educational applications to all students that they can take home and do with what they want. Even if a student does not have internet access at home the laptop can have everything they need to do their assignments.

While handing out laptops to all students is a wonderful practice it is not possible for all schools to do so. It takes money. I don't know how much but probably a lot. That really is the crux of most educational problems: Money. With it comes technology and with technology comes vast opportunities for learning.

EdTechTalk

I went to the EdTechTalk site and listened to a webcast about video in the classroom, mainly its use in elementary schools. I was relatively surprised by the flow of the show. There was a lot of joking around and laughing but it was also very informative, the people just seemed to have a great time discussing their topic.

I chose the topic because I plan to one day be an elementary school teacher and also I always enjoyed watching videos and full feature movies in school. One thing that surprised me about the content of the show was that it was really more about the children actually making movies rather than the teacher just putting one in and the kids watching it. It really is a great motivator to see something that you created from the brainstorming process through the final editting and finishing touches. When children see what they can really do, and they think about all the work that they put into it, they have a sense of pride about what they accomplished. It is also something different and fun that will keep the kids engrossed in what they're doing. They are not only learning about the subject of their video but also the video making process and since most likely it will be a group project, they are learning collaborating and social skills.

http://edtechtalk.com/node/4566

Collaboration Station

What can we gain through collaboration?

Not much. Just kidding.

What we gain from collaboration is knowledge, and depending on who (whom? I never know) we are collaborating with, this knowledge can be very great and helpful. The old saying that two heads are better than one pretty much sums up the general idea of what collaboration can accomplish. Two people motivating and pushing each other to succeed in whatever their endeavor are much more likely to come out winners than if it were just one. Many people putting their knowledge and expertise together to solve problems will solve that problem faster and in more ways than one, or few, working on the same problems.

Collaboration between educators can make teaching a much more enjoyable and simple task than one might think. I'm sure many people think that teaching will be a difficult (yet fulfilling) career decision and yes, in the old days of one room schoolhouses that may have been true, but with the amount of and ease of collaboration that goes on between educators today someone is usually not more than a phone call/text message/IM away. Most of us will most likely (and hopefully) land jobs in relatively large schools with many seasoned teachers that have seen everything. These people will be more than happy to help us noobs with whatever challenge we are facing that particular day, and I'm sure there will be many.

K12 Online Conference

The video that I watched was a podcast called 'No Teacher Left Behind'. It was about the advantages and impact that web 2.0 can have on the world and more specifically on education. Web 2.0 makes it easy for anyone to create and post information on the internet, much easier than its web 1.0 counterpart which required one to know complex languages, such as html. Blogs, twitter, and wikipedia are examples of web 2.0 in which someone simply needs to type and click a button to get their message or information out there. It makes collaboration between colleagues vastly easier and quicker, with very little knowledge of the technology involved needed to actually use it. Children are using it so why shouldn't their educators? They need to be able to keep up with their students and see what all this new technology is all about.

Stuff for class

1. Why should we integrate technology into lessons
2. What is the purpose of integrating technology into learning

I will begin by answering question one. Technology, when used correctly, only makes our lives as educators (and future educators) easier. That alone is reason enough to integrate it into our lesson plans. Teachers who resist the change in times will only fall behind and by proxy their students will fall behind as well. When technology is used in the classroom children will tend to forget that they are in school and enjoy their learning more than if they are just being lectured at. Whether we like it or not new technology is quickly becoming a large part of education and unless we want to fall behind other states, countries, etc. then we will embrace these new technologies and utilize it to its fullest.

Question two was partly answered in the previous paragraph but I'll go on. The purpose of integrating technologies into lessons is two-fold: one, it will make our jobs easier and two, children will need skills in new technologies because of how large a part of their lives it will inevitably come. Educators need to realize that their students will be immersed in technology at a very young age and we need to prepare them for it as best we can.

About Me

My name is Ryan. I rarely enjoy talking about myself. I do it a lot, I just don't enjoy it. It might be a curse. I work at the LL Bean Outlet store in Concord as a sales representative, also known as a cashier who folds sweaters. I have worked there for a little over a year. I enjoy it for the most part. I live with my girlfriend and our horrible cat Cricket (I'm not kidding, I've had lots of cats and this is by far the most annoying). I am looking forward to being a teacher (I think, still wondering whether I'll be any good at it.) Is proper grammar required in blogging? I can handle spelling but punctuation and such is beyond me, I hate commas. Anywayz, we'll see how it goes. (I enjoy adding z's to words randomly, also sneaking up and scaring people, can't think of much that's more fun than making someone scream, also, Star Wars is awesome).