Education Tech Blog

I chose to complete a Prezi for my second individual learning project. I am a social science education major and am particularly interested in geography, history, economics, and government. I chose to create a prezi about elementary geography. Andrew Woodle's Prezi

I believe that data collection will be very important to the success of my classroom. One way that I plan to collect classroom data is through surveys. One survey that I could give out at the beginning of the school year could be used to collect information about my students' learning philosophies. I could create a questionnaire with questions about different teaching approaches and how helpful they could be to students. This type of data collection could help guide my teaching for the rest of the year so that students would enjoy coming to my class. I could also use Excel to keep track of my students' data. I could keep track of test scores and assignments for a chapter and then average them out for a chapter grade using Excel. I could use this information at the end of the year to help students improve in problem areas before the end of course exams. I am looking to become a high school economics teacher and this information could help students because of the independent assi...

The concept of "flipped classrooms" is very interesting and holds a lot of potential for classroom engagement. A flipped classroom is one that utilizes educational videos to teach students outside of the classroom and allows for more interactivity and engagement in class. This concept is an example of a blended classroom. A blended classroom is one that uses the internet to digitally engage students. Many of my honors classes at FSU are "flipped classrooms". Almost all of my honors classes are completely discussion based and this helps facilitate my learning. One digital resource that a teacher can used in a flipped classroom is  Khan Academy . The two "open" terms I will use the most are open courses and open content. Open courses refer to free online courses that anyone can access. These can be used to gain professional development points as a teacher and give students additional resources. An example of this is taking an online  MOOC . The other type ...

I learned about many new teacher professional development tools through my efforts today. I posted about the professional networking site, LinkedIn. This professional social network allows for educators around the world to connect with one another and share resources. I also learned a lot from viewing other's bookmarks. One new tool I learned about was Lynda Tutorials. This website has a free trial window of thirty days and allows unlimited access to courses. This could help me gain required professional development credits that I will need to keep my teaching license.

There are many new adaptive technologies that are used to support learners with exceptionalities. Adaptive technologies are technologies that have features built in to them that are meant to help students with disabilities or impairments. They are used in schools to help students who have disabilities in school succeed. One example of an adaptive technology is recorded books. Recorded books are also called audiobooks and can help students that are blind or dyslexic. These books can be free and are used by school districts that lack funding. Another form of adaptive technology that can be used in the classroom are keyboard labels. Keyboard labels are adhesive labels that stick to keys on a keyboard and provide larger letters with higher contrast than regular keyboards. This adaptation helps students that have trouble distinguishing letters and numbers on keyboards. Another great technological adaptation is word processing software. Word processing software can be used by students who ha...

I learned a lot by using Diigo to explore new adaptive technologies. Bookmarking a resource that I found online to help students with disabilities was very useful. I bookmarked a keyboard label set. This set has very big 1" letters so that students who are visually impaired can use it with ease. I believe that if schools had more key labels then visually impaired children would be able to learn better. I also learned about culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in the group presentation. CLD students can benefit greatly from the increased use of technology in the classroom. The internet allows these students to immerse themselves in the English language in a patient, controlled environment. CLD students can also use the internet to research cultural aspects of their new home which creates a smooth transition. I also learned about different types of adaptive technologies when I was viewing other classmate's bookmarks. I learned about a variety of technologies ...

My experience with using Twitter as a personal learning network has been very positive so far. I have connected with many educational accounts including Edutopia, Eduporium, and Edublogs. This connection has made me feel more involved in the educational community. I have learned a lot from using Twitter as well. I have learned mostly from the account Edutopia. I have viewed many links that they shared about the new innovations in educational technology. I have also connected with educational gaming accounts. Classcraft is an educational program that allows learning in video game form. They have liked several of my tweets and I have tweeted to them a couple times. I also learned that using Twitter as a personal learning network is great in order to make connections for the future. I have not experienced any issues with Twitter so far. There have been no technical difficulties because the site is run very well. The Web Page Design assignment is a very useful assignment. I am still sett...

I learned about many new educational tools and how to improve my annotations on Diigo in the GICA on October 17. Sharing educational resources with my peers is very easy with Diigo and I am planning on using this when I become an educator. Many of my classmates left useful annotations on the website of a tool that I shared that will help our other peers use this tool. I learned about an awesome new tool called Google Docs from this in class assignment. I have used Google Docs to create documents before, however through the annotations provided I learned about the social aspect. Multiple students can be working on a document simultaneously through a link provided. This fosters team work opportunities for both teachers and students. The entire Google Suite has this collaborative function as well and I believe that it is groundbreaking.

Mrs. Smith's Class Website   with Jana Honoski Contrast: Overall the contrast was well done on the website. The font color was very readable because it was white font on a dark red background or red on an orange background. Repetition:  The website kept the theme constant. The entire website was themed to be a scroll with ink marks on it. All of the buttons on the website kept the same color scheme with a  white font on a dark red background . Alignment: All of the elements on the website are in alignment. There is a banner at the top of each section followed by resources that are formatted similarly. The alignments on each tab are constant throughout. Proximity:  The website did a poor job with proximity. There was a large blank space on the home page. At the bottom there was an email link that was not close to anything else.

I viewed a fifth grade science website for my assignment. Mrs. Smith is a fifth grade science teacher from Raleigh, NC and created her website with Weebly. She works at Harris Creek Elementary School. Much of her website was public. Her home page contained information that was pertinent to the lesson recently taught (I assume). This included links and embedded videos that related to nutrition. She had six other tabs on her website as well: homework videos, quizlets, websites, videos, study guides, and about me. She added an email link to the bottom of her website. All of her videos were embedded in to the site and all of her links were hyperlinked. I feel that this sets an example of ELA skills that children need to be successful. Her public information contained no information on her students, which I feel is good because it promotes internet safety.  Mrs. Smith's Website As a teacher I am planning on using technology to help me complete my professional responsibilities...

This week in class we did an activity with Diigo. I learned a lot of Web 2.0 topics through the use of social bookmarking. The first article that I read discussed the use of social media in schools. I learned about how social media has positive effects on students' understanding of subject material. I also read an article about the positive effects of having students blog. This article discussed how starting blogs in classes can drive a student to want to write more and proudly display their work. I read an article about the positive effects of MOOCs as well. I learned that MOOCs provide students with benefits that are not tangible and many MOOC students say that they expanded their minds through these courses.

The internet is an important resource in order to engage students in a controlled environment. There are two main classifications of web tools: Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Web 1.0 tools present information to users with little to no interaction, while Web 2.0 tools have interactive elements that engage users visiting the site. I believe that the most useful Web 2.0 tools for the classroom are Twitter, Diigo, and YouTube. Twitter is useful for both students and teachers because it allows them to create their own personal learning environment. Students using a class Twitter account have the ability to interact with foreign educators, political figures, and other important educational accounts to ask questions and develop a global perspective. This alternative learning style may help to engage students who get bored in lectures. Twitter is also a great tool for educators. Educators can connect with other educational professionals and create a large network with this site. We are already creating...

For my Individual Learning Project I chose to complete a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). I chose to complete Amnesty International's course: Human Rights: The Rights of Refugees . To access this course click  here . Course Description This course discusses the issues that refugees face in host countries and what citizens can do to become activists for this cause. The modules all centered around a different concept in refugee protection. Each module was made up of sub-quizzes, videos, and discussion questions. The sub-quizzes in each module served as practice for the end of module exams. The videos are very informative because they cover relevant topics are from Amnesty International. The discussion questions were my favorite part of the course because they allowed me to connect with students around the world and see new ideas about refugee protection. The end of the course contained an end of course exam and provided an option $49 certificate, which I did not get. Activi...

My embedded tweet is from Kelly Keith, I found her discovery of a lesson about natural disasters fascinating I enjoyed the lesson on natural disasters you presented in your #resourcecritqueactivity @kkeith_fsu #fsuedtech — Andrew Woodle (@ahw16c) October 6, 2017

I believe that my Twitter Personal Learning Network project is going very well. This is a great project because it is very interactive and prepares future teachers to find innovative ways to use social media networks. I have been very active on Twitter and have been engaging with professionals in the field of educational technology. One account that I have interacted with is called Classcraft. This is the Twitter account of a start up company that creates educational gaming software. Specifically, the company created adventure gaming software. I tweeted my support of their company's message last week and they liked the tweet in return. Another Twitter account that I have interacted with is Times Higher Education. They tweeted and expressed their opinion on why teachers should not have professional social media accounts. I replied to their tweet and gave a differing opinion in order to provide new insight. Twitter can be very helpful in a teachers career. I have only been on Twitter...

I found many valuable resources for teaching American government while I was looking through CPALMS. The standard that I chose to look in to was LAFS.1112.RH.3.7. This standard dictates that educators must integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information using a variety of media sources. I found a resource titled "Presidential Learning". This resource is a lesson plan that is interactive and contains a multitude of activities for students. I believe that this lesson plan is a very good resource to use in a lesson. The plan is very comprehensive and comes from CPALMS: a verified source. The material in the resource is printable, therefore it is possible for low SES level students to be able to have the same resources even if they do not have computers. This activity covers all levels of high school social science education as well. The information covered in this lesson plan discusses the effect of media on the president, changes in campaigning, and governmental changes ...

ELA technology standards are important in order to increase technological literacy in the classroom. One standard that I feel like I am ready to teach is the consumption of "use of multiple resources". This standard emphasizes the ability to gather relevant information from multiple resources, assess the credibly and reliability of each source, and avoid plagiarism. Students need to have the ability to integrate outside information in to their assignments. The ability to asses the credibility of sources will be incredibly important in a student's professional future as well. I feel like I am suited to teach this already because I have a lot of existing knowledge about this topic from years of lectures about plagiarism. One standard that I need more experience with is the production standard "write to explain and inform". This standard emphasizes the importance of using informative texts and graphics in order to assist students in understanding complex materials....

As a digital native, I have frequently used Microsoft Word and have seen my teachers use it frequently as well. I write all of my papers using Microsoft Word. I find that this program has the most user friendly interface of any other word processing system. I have also used this program to write many natural science lab reports. Microsoft Word has tools that are great for multiple student functions. My teachers have all used Microsoft Word as well. Every teacher that I had in high school required me to submit any essays and writing using this system.  Many of my teachers have used copyrighted materials in their lessons. Learning about fair use was very interesting this week because I have always wondered how my teachers used copyrighted materials without being punished. One of my high school teachers presented a historical video series from a large network once a week. He used his fair use rights as a teacher to be able to show this legally. As a teacher, I feel like I could use ...

My Twitter Account is now linked in a side bar on my blog. I have also attached another link below Andrew Woodle's Twitter

Technology has been integrated into the classroom at a rapidly increasing pace since its introduction. Educational technology influences teachers and students in vastly different ways. Technology mainly influences teachers because of third party influences. There are many councils that influence how teachers use technology in the classroom. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a major federal initiative to improve technological literacy in educators. Another major council is the Association for Educational Teacher Technology and Communications. The AECT is the oldest technological council for teachers. The ability to digitally plan lessons and use multimedia to improve learning is important as well. Technology influences students in slightly different ways. While students are greatly impacted by digital lesson plans and multimedia, the integration of computers in to the classroom has had a positive effect on learning. Assistive device technology is incredibly...