Chapter 13 reflection

In chapter 13 I learned that there are legal, ethical, and social issues when we implement technology in school. As when we use material from Internet for any presentation or homework, that material can be copyright, and this mean that we cannot use it without the owner’s permission. There are exceptions for teachers as Fair use that allows them to use copyrighted materials for education. There is also the TEACH Act that offers similar guidelines for the use of copyright material in distance learning. I also learned about the right to privacy, that mean that any children can use personal information as names, addresses, phone numbers, and photographs without asking parent’s permission. Also about Children’s Online Privacy protection Act (COPPA), and Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), both use specific measures to protect children who use the Internet, and teachers in school have the responsibilities to protect children’s privacy. Other thing that is interesting is the cyber bullying, which is when the Internet, cell phones, or other devices are used to send or post text or images to hurt or embarrass another person. This became popular between children, and it is a bad way to use technology. But not all communication using technology is bad, the online social interaction can be beneficial for everybody, can be as small learning comities that helps children with school assignments at any time they need help, and it can also help for many other problems giving a children positive thinking.

chaper 12 reflection

In chapter 12 I learned how a Instructor can teach the students by distance. On distance education the teacher is located at a school site and the students are taking class at home. In this class the student can work at any time without pressure. and have communicatio with the instructor by computer. There is also correspondence courses, where the books and assignments are delivered to students via the postal system, and students mail their work back. The tests were often given by local proctor, who mailed the completed exams to the teacher. I learned that although distance education is helpful for students that cannot assist to school for any reason, it has problems too because the technology is not always perfect. Some times students might not get materials on time, or books might not be available, or when the student have any question about the lesson he/she has to email the instructor and wait for the answer a lot of time. I think the classes are better in school with teachers who give a feedback inmediately but for other persons who cannot assist at school the technology is a good way to educate them.

Chapter 11 reflection

In chapter 11 Audiovisual Technologies, I learned about Oral histories and oral journals, those can help students to work on interviews or on reflections on their own experiences, making oral notes give students the chance to capture their own voices and emotions and improve their communication skills. Optical media as compact disc (CD) and DVD give us the opportunity to save the time and effort necessary to sort through the entire sequence of stored data. The Internet audio allow us to download and store only what we need rather than having to buy a full CD that may have only a few portions that are useful as supplements to our lesson. The Internet radio give us a variety of programs including, music, sports, science, and local, national, and world news, but teachers have the responsibility to know what the students are listening in class. Digital projectors and document cameras can help students and teachers to realize any assignment and show it to the class so they can have a good visual idea of what they are learning. Internet video let teacher and students create videos and store them in a convenient DVD format. YouTube make easier for Internet users to share videos, but teachers have the responsibility to check if the videos are appropriate for the children age.

Chapter 10 reflection

I learned that I could find educational resources on the web. Online publications as journals and articles can help me to find information easily. There is a wiki site that contains information that anyone can alter, but I think this is one of the sites that have clear and understandable information. There are also weblogs, or blogs, that is one way of communication and where people can post personal commentary on the web. In Education Portals we can found many things as teacher’s guides, lesson plans, educational games, information about schools and colleges, and more. I learned that classroom management tools on the web could help me to create test for the students, and to store and average student grades. E-Pals can help students practice communication skills while enhance cultural awareness. And there are three important things a teacher has to judge to determine if the resource is appropriate for the students; 1. Acceptable use, 2. Privacy, 3. Filtering (student level). These web sites can help me with my future job as teacher to organize the units I’ll teach, to help students to improve their communication and to show them new ways to find and learn new information that is appropriate for their age and level.

Chapter 9 reflection

In chapter 9, The Internet and The World Wide Web, I learned about connections, telecommunications, tools and services. I learned that Modems carry a signal between a computer and the Internet and make the communication possible. Internet service providers (ISPs) are network that provides the computer a way to connect to the Internet and this service is typically paid per month. The primary communication tool on the Internet is Email. It works similarly to post office boxes but faster. Another communication tool is the computer discussion. It can be public or private, and it is good for teachers and student to share ideas. Chat is part of an ISP’s services and it is a communication tool too. The videoconferencing software allows us to hear and see video images of each other. I think all these soft wares allow teachers to have better communication with their students, and if the student needs help with the homework after class he or she can communicate with the teacher or another student who can help her or him without problem.

Chapter 8 reflection

In chapter 8 Academic Software I learned that there are a variety of software packages that can be used in teaching and learning. I can use desktop publishing software to create professional looking printed or electronic pages as text, graphics, digital pictures, stylized headlines and more. Imaging software lets me capture, and edit hard copy images including text, graphics, and photos. Editing software allows me to do changes in the image. Reference software is a CD-ROM or online formats where we can storage information. Drill and Practice software is designed to lets learners practice and review concepts, as often and as long they need. Educational game software can help students to learn playing. Concept mapping tools generates digital maps where the student can type a brainstorming process so they can visualize their ideas and turn them into a cohesive whole. These soft wares and others more can do the teaching and learning easy and fun.
I read five posts of Special Education because I think it is one of the biggest problems that teachers have in school. Some of the teachers feel they are not well prepared to help a student with disability. So I think this information can help me understand better what is the real problem.
The first post I read was “You are your best motivator” in Jerry’s Special Education Blog. It talks about how important is that teachers believe in their students. If teachers believe that their students can learn they going to learn because it is a big motivation to them. The second post I read was “Are disabilities declining?” in Jerry’s Special Education Blog. It talks about how the percent of students with learning disabilities dropped from 13.8 to 13.4 between the years 2004-2008, and it also said that the 80 percent of this students are diagnosed with leaning disabilities because of reading problems. So these students just need a good instructor to teach them how to read well. The third post I read was “Inclusion or Negligence?” in Jerry’s Special Education Blog. It talks about how inclusion provide to children with disabilities opportunities to learn appropriate social skills from their peers, but it doesn’t work for children with Asperger’s Syndrome. It also said the teachers in the Redlands School district are not well prepared to work with these children. The fourth post I read was “Who cares about special ed kids?” in Jerry’s Special Education Blog. It tells us about how The Southern Poverty Law Center complaint against New Orleans School district because they discriminate students with disabilities. And the last post I read was “Students with Disabilities are Disproportionately Published” in Jerry’s Special Education Blog. It tells us that an online news in Delaware reports that 20 percent of students suspended are students with disabilities and the problem is most reflected on the autistic spectrum. It said too that there are a lot of teachers who are not well prepared to provide positive behavior support to those students.

chapter 7 reflection

In chapter 7 Administrative Software I learned about software types. Word processing software is the most commonly used computer application. This software helps us to prepare letters, reports, lesson plans, and more. I learned what is (WYSIWYG) “What you see is what you get, it is word processor format that let us look a preview of our document before printed. Spreadsheets software can help me to prepare budgets, numeric tables and summaries, organize data into vertical columns and horizontal rows, type in alphabetic or numeric data, and create formulas and functions. Database management software can help me to organize mailing list, and reports. And the Presentation software can help me to create presentations for workshops, conferences, and meetings. This software has many capabilities as animation, hyperlinks, templates, and multimedia elements, printing options, display options and more. I think these software can help me to realize my homework or any project I need to do, well organize, presented, easy to do and understand.

Chapter 6 reflection

In chapter 6 I learned about input and output devices. The most common input devices are the keyboard and the mouse but there are others as scanners, digital cameras, and digital tables, pen input, and touch screen. One input is flat-bed scanner that is the most versatile; it is able to scan different sizes of bound. The higher dots per inch (dpi) the scanner has, the higher quality of image it capture. Also it is important to know about ports, those are points of connection between a computer system and its peripherals. If I want to buy a new scanner I most to be sure the connections is the same as my computer. Another input is a digital camera that can varies in capacity of storage media. These cameras can take pictures and also videos, and we can download it in our computer. The graphics table also called digitizer is used to draw diagrams or create artwork. The touch screen is a computer monitor screen that responds to human touch. It is quick and easy and it is good for pre-readers and special students. The output devices are the projectors, scan converter, speakers, and headphones. The data projector can display a large and bright images and videos across a classroom. There are also digital technologies for the classroom as wireless devices, smart phones, mini-laptops, portable storage and e-books that helps the teaching and learning in school. Each of these devices has an important role in teaching and learning.
I read, "Why I hate Interactive White Boards" and I think that the use of White Boards in the classroom depends on the teacher. There are some teachers who are not very knowledgeable of technology and prefer to use these boards. For example, my history professor at the College told us he did not know how to use a DVD player, projector, cell phone, computers, and anything else concerning the new technology, and was too old to start learning. So in classes he use only the White board to write notes and we just copy it. If for any reason a student would miss his class, he or she had to call the teacher's house and leave the message with his wife. I think the White boards is not the best thing teachers can use in classroom compared with the new technology that makes easier the teaching and learning. But if the teachers do not know how to use the technology, the White board is one of the few options they have to teach.
I also read “One Teacher, One Smart phone” and I think Droid X, Picasa, Evernote, Ustream, and Dropbox are so helpful for teachers today’s day. Those programs make easier the communication between teachers and students, and the comprehension of the lessons. I think is important every teacher know how to use new programs, that way they can find new strategies to teach their students.

Chapter 5 reflection and Cool Tools for School review

Chapter 5 reflection

In chapter 5 I learned about computer devices, programs, viruses, and types of multimedia. The input devices as mouse and keyboard, and output devices as monitor and printer are the system stored inside the computer’s hardware. I had the opportunity to look what’s inside the CPU and it is incredible how a little chip can storage a lot of information. I learned that windows is the most popular operating system in schools but there are others schools that use Macintosh, this information helps me to know that I need to learn how to use both programs to be ready when I need to use it. Now I know how important is to save our documents not just in our computer, but also in other media storage devices as CD or USB Flash Drive so if our computer has any problem in the future as any virus, we don’t going to lose our documents those going to be save in other place. There is also a web program called Dropbox that let us save our documents, photos, music, etc. and we can open this program in any computer.

Cool Tools for School review

I think Cool tools, as PreZentit is a good help when we have to do a presentation. It aloud us to work in team doing the same project, at the same time but in different computers. So if the students cannot meet their team in a certain place they can work with the team using their own computer in home. The tools look easy to use so the students can understand its functions. The power point presentation tools are variety so the students can create their presentations, as they like. The presentations can be public or private, so the student’s presentation would be safe. I think students going to like it, and they are going to have a new way to learn.

Chapter 4 reflection

In Chapter 4 I learned that students with special needs are students who have disabilities. But those disabilities are not just physical as walking and motor coordination. Disabilities also include students who have visual and hearing impairments, attention deficits, autism and any other thing that make learning difficult. Now I know that technology is a great helper in student’s learning. With programs like concept mapping software, word prediction, text-to-speech, talking word-processing and others, help students with disabilities to improve writing, reading, and talking skills. I learned that teachers have to speak loud and clear in class so all students can understand what they are talking about without problems. I know that teach a student with disabilities is not an easy job but I’m sure all children can learn no matter what disability they have, with patience and with technology’s help teachers can encourage these children to achieve their goals.

Chapter 3 reflection

In chapter 3 I learned that design-plan-act (D-P-A-) system is important for teaching. First, teachers have to design the instructional unit to identified the competencies that the students will achieve as the unit is presented. Teachers have to create a daily lesson planning where they will considers which components of the design should be presented during each day of instructions and describes how the lesson will unfold. And then teachers have to act each day remembering the many small but critical details necessary for instruction. The design-plan-act must be flexible and adaptable to accommodate continual changes in strategies to meet learner’s needs. This system can help me to be organize and can give me more time to discover what are the learning styles of my students. I learned that is important know the learners, their developmental stages, cultural or language backgrounds, incoming skills, and learning styles. Teachers needs to clarify their objectives that specify what the student will be able to do when the instructional event conclude. Now I know that classroom environment can affect the student’s learning. Teachers have to be sure that the classroom has a adequate environment as good decoration, nice temperature, enough space for students, and adequate lighting. Student needs to fell comfortable and safe in classroom to achieve a successful learning. I think all this information is going to be helpful for me on the future when I have my own classroom because I will know how to create a good classroom environment and I will know how organize the instructional units in class.

Adora Svitak

chapter 2 reflection

     This week a learned about learning styles, that everybody has different learning styles like behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist. The person who learning style is behaviorist acquires behaviors, skills, and knowledge in response to the rewards, punishments, or withheld responses associated with them. The cognitivist learner focus his or her learning as a mental operation, this learner probably likes math and science. The constructivist learner based his or her learning on the experiences within which those mental processes occurred. Knowing what kind of learner my student is I can use different teaching styles to make the learning easy for them, and technology is and important factor in teaching and learning today’s day. Also I learned that environmental factors like interrupt communication, loud, dim lighting, excessive movement, uncomfortable temperatures, and psychological factors like a highly emotional or traumatic events, affects the student’s learning. That’s why it is important to have a good communication and feedback between teachers and students. Another important thing I learned is that in the recent years has been an increment of multicultural classrooms in schools. There are students of different countries with different cultures, beliefs, values and languages. To have a successful multicultural classroom the teacher has to learn about those cultures and teach it to all the students, and the most important thing is respect their cultures and do that students respect each other too. Be patient with the students who’s English is their second language and motivate them everyday to don’t lose their native language, and work with their parents to achieve a successful education for those students.

Chapter 1 reflection

     The first day of my Technology class I learned that any technology used by educators in support of the teaching and learning process is the educational technology. It can be the computer, smart board, chalkboard, books, paper, colors, TV, DVD player, etc. The (AECT) Association for Educational Communications and Technology is a group of educators that improve instructions through technology to facilitate learning. The (ISTE) International Society for Technology in Education helps teachers and students giving them appropriate information about technology to improve teaching and learning. This project is called National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T), it prepare teachers to use their knowledge and technology to facilite and inspire student learning and creativity, design and develop digital age learnind experiences and assessments, model digital age work and learning, promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility and engage in professional growth and leadership. The National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S) require students to demostrate creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts. I also learned about "My Teaching Manifesto", it is a written statement that a teacher declares publicly the intentions she or he has about teaching. Another think I did in class is open a Gmail account and set up blogger blog, I couldn't believe what easy it was. And another important think that I learned in class is that teachers never stop learning even when they are teaching already in some school because there will be always something new in the world about kids, learning, technology, and a lot of other things.