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This course was extremely helpful and informative about using technology in education. I was able to demonstrate my skills about computers and websites and expand my creativity online. By writing online journals, I was able to both express my thoughts and discuss the textbooks content to the public. The website review assignment allowed me to evaluate and recognize which websites to trust. The discussion board was a way for us as students to interact with each other online and discuss topics. It gave us the opportunity to analyze and evaluate each topic and the involvement of technology. Two projects that enabled us to cooperate with classmates as a team was the wiki and collaborative lesson plan. The wiki and webquest helped me “create a portfolio with samples reflecting ways technology can support classroom management, administration, and teaching in a K-12 classroom” (Coleman). When I was creating the wiki, I managed to create a Voki for visual and audio enhancement. The webquest gave me an opportunity to design an internet assignment using several online resources for middle school students. I learned how to give credit to photos and search non-copyright photos on Google and Flickr. GPS-Caching was an outstanding way to get the classroom involved and away from lectures. The last project, the teacher e-portfolio, was a project where I put all of what I learned in class into this website. It allowed me to view how I’ve developed over the semester. The overall quality of the course was more than just about right. I learned more things in this class than in any other class. There are no suggestions improving this course, since what I’ve learned will be useful now and for the future. As a future teacher, I will be able to use these skills for my students in the classroom.

Resources:

Coleman. (n.d.). Edison State College Syllabus. . Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://eme2040edison.wikispaces.com/file/view/EME%202040%20INTRO%20TO%20TECH%20FOR%20EDUC_Coleman_SP14.pdf/479780492/EME%202040%20INTRO%20TO%20TECH%20FOR%20EDUC_Coleman_SP14.pdf

Focus question: How can teachers and students use digital portfolios as tools for learning?

A teacher will be evaluated throughout their career, which sets the context for developing a digital teaching portfolio. Digital teaching portfolios is where teachers store a collection of educational and professional materials in an electronic format. It allows teachers to organize a collection of educational materials, which shows their growth and development over time. The digital portfolio may contain Word documents, PowerPoint, videos, pictures, and copies of paper materials.

In this class, we are creating our own portfolios where we can store our educational materials. Once we finish it, we will be able to provide career-related information to teaching colleagues and school administrators. It will be a way to store activities, ideas, field experiences, summer work, and community volunteering over time. These portfolios give us an opportunity as future teachers to reflect on our developments.

Portfolios can be used to “connect teaching skills and competencies to teaching or curriculum standards as way to show that new teacher candidates are qualified to receive a license or…to remain as the teacher-in-charge in the classroom” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). It enables us as future teachers to acquire a distinguishing quality of master teachers and to think critically and creatively. It’s a good idea to update your portfolio so it won’t become a “celebratory scrapbook of the past,” but promote growth and change in our minds and works. Students will be able to use to portfolios for their personal and public piece of writing. It’s easier to store electronically because teachers and students can take it anywhere without having to worry about missing pages. It will also increase their confidence and technological skills.

Tech Tool Link: Survey and Poll Resources and Apps

In this class, we have used poll apps before with our cell phones. Surveys and polls online are ways to generate discussions in classrooms and conduct instructional preassessments. The article provides some websites and apps for teachers to look up. SurveyMonkey is an online survey tool that can be used to formulate questions and collect information. Poll Everywhere is a texting app that is used to submit responses to questions using cell phones.

Summary & Connection:

This chapter examines on the role of assessment in teaching and learning. Teachers evaluate the students learning by using assessments. Assessments have three interrelated elements: new teacher assessment, student assessment, and student self-assessment. Student assessment is how teachers will assess students’ learning while new teacher assessment is how supervisors will assess the teacher’s work. Student self-assessment is when students are active in the evaluation of their own learning. Assessments let teachers’ know where they need to change and what other strategies to use. Digital portfolios is a way for teachers to see their own growth and development over time.

Students involved in their learning and assessment will motivate them more to complete the assignment. Students have little or no influence on curriculum topics in many classrooms. It’s an opportunity lost when a teacher fails to give students a voice in decision-making. Students can use digital portfolios to learn more about how to use computers and other tools. It can also increase their confidence. This chapter also explains with how online surveys enable students to self-reflect about their learning.

Resources:

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B.P. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Focus question: How can assistive technologies be incorporated into instruction to support teaching all learners?

Assistive technology enable students to become more independent in school and throughout their life. It allows teachers to “differentiate instruction and pursue universal design” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). Disabled children use assistive technologies to learn and function more effectively. Individuals with hearing, sight, mobility, or cognitive challenges are able to translate text and understand spoken words. AT can be communication boards, special purpose computers, prosthetics, attachment devices, positioning devices, screen-readers, communication software, educational software, specialized learning materials, and curriculum aids. Teachers need to be actively involved with the child, in addition to using technology.

A software that displays written text from a person’s spoken words is speech recognition. Individuals with fine motor disabilities and dyslexia use this software. Some individuals prefer to speak than write or type their ideas. Users need to train the system to recognize one or more major voices by speaking into the microphone for speech recognition programs. The software learns to recognize the individual’s speech patterns and tonal nuances. The software provides students a new way to record their thoughts. Although it transfers spoken words to written text, it still needs to be revised by teacher and student.

Text reading software are available in many versions, which enables users to “hear written text aloud by a computer” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). When I observed elementary classes, I noticed that students can listen to stories on the computer. They have the story in front of them, but they have the option of having the computer read the story to them. It’s a wonderful tool for students who learn better through a multimodal experience that supports decoding letters, sounds, and words by listening to text read aloud. Screen reading software is a type of text-to-speech software. This software is like a translator for the visual page. It has features that allows the user to know the whereabouts and actions of the mouse. The screen reading software reads the text that was scanned on the computer screen. Some examples include JAWS, VoiceOver from Apple, Google Chrome, and TalkBack.

Tech Tool link: Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards are mounted on a wall or whiteboard. It’s connected to a computer and a projector, which allows “teachers and students to access a computer’s desktop directly at the board using a finger, pen, or other touch device” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). Interactive whiteboards show any material on your computer screen in large size. It creates instructional opportunities for students as a class, groups, or individual. Teachers can use it for visual, auditory, and hand-on learning activities.

Summary & Connection:

This chapter explains about how teachers have opportunities to meet the learning needs of all students through computer technologies. Diversity students show more interest in U.S. history when they see that teachers have integrated stories and histories of multiple peoples. Technologies such as interactive websites, online videos, and web-based primary source materials bring names of individuals or groups that are not mentioned in books and lesson plans.

Teachers and students are able to access resources from the internet to explore multiple languages. These resources provide opportunities to English speakers and students that are learning English. An example of a helpful resource is online language translation service. Both students and teachers can access Google Translate, which is free and available as a website and app for smartphones and tablets. Teachers are able to translate notes, assignments, letters to parents, and other materials for students of multiple languages. “Technology supports diverse students and multicultural education” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011).

The chapter further discusses about differentiated instruction (DI) and universal design for learning (UDL). The purpose of DI and UDL is to address the needs of diverse students with curriculum and instruction. It benefits students with special educational needs, gifted and talented learners, or ELL by meeting their needs and differentiating classroom activities. Teachers create different educational experiences to meet students need called DI. UDL is “the application of universal design principles to educational settings” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). In order to serve the needs of the widest range of students, teaching and learning situations are created. Students with disabilities use assistive technology to learn and function in society.

Resources:

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B.P. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.