My Final Reflection

Integrating technology into a classroom can be much easier than I expected. I learned about several new technologies that I didn't know was out there. I believe adding technology into the classroom can help engage students. Students in this day and age use more technology than ever. Adding this component into your classroom can add a familiarity for students. It can also help to get their attention perhaps better than traditional methods. The students of this era are used to using and figuring out how to use all kinds of different technologies. I would recommend trying out any different technology you intend to use. The more you know about it the easier it will be to use. I would also recommend adding technology when appropriate or be sure to gage your students as to how well they will respond to the new technology. Each class will have different levels of knowledge and interest. Lastly I would recommend to always try to use new and different technologies. The ones I found the most useful were the ones I wasn't expecting.

Gardening Time

credits: freesound.com: acoustic guitar,acoustic2.mp3
growing plants, in_conservatory01.flac
opening announcer: Shayla Ralston

Using Google Earth in the Classroom

I think using Google Earth in the classroom would work wonderfully for me. I am a secondary science major and this would be great in an earth science classroom. Students could look at so many different views they wouldn't be able to even visualize otherwise. It could be a great way to engage the students into a new topic. I can think of so many uses for this program in the classroom. It could also be used in a beginning environmental science class. I would be an interesting way to intoduce map reading. I'm excited to use this program in the classroom.

Using a Blog in the Classroom

This one was a little harder for me to decide. Their are a lot of potential positives to using one as well as potential negative ones. It could serve as a great tool to get the students thinking and working outside the classroom. It could also serve as a forum for discussion and reflection. I wonder how well the students would respond to this or if their would be resistance. I am unsure if they would be fearful to put their word/work out there for all to see and potentially criticize. This one for me is still up in the air as to if I would want to use this tool in my classroom. I think also each class would dictate the usefulness of it.

Google Docs in the Classroom

I really enjoyed working with google docs. I feel they could serve as an amazing tool for collaborative projects. Students would be able to work on group projects even if they didn't have a lot of outside time together. Each student could work on a portion of their project and the other group members could comment and make suggestions on how or what to change. I feel this is something I will definitely try to utilize in my classroom.

Twitter in the classroom

I am a skeptical as to how well twitter can work in the classroom. I worry the students would forget the topic at hand and go be using it for social communication, not educational. I am sure their are probably ways to prevent this from happening. I also wonder about the amount of computer access all the students may have. I worry about the possibility of some students not having access and them being segregated out for that. As I was going through some of the tools it made me wonder. I could be a great way of keeping in touch with the students outside of class time but I also began wondering how the students parents would feel about them being on a social network. I'm sure most of the students already are but again their may be some who are not allowed this kind of networking. I have a lot of unanswered questions on how to make it work.

Using Flickr

I am a secondary education major in Broadfield Science. I feel flickr could be a great tool. One idea I had was to have students create a native plant collection. This could work to publish their collections and share with the other students without having to pick any plants. a lot of emphasis is on not disturbing the ecosystem. A picture collection could be a great substitute for the real thing and flickr allows the students to do so many different things to the pictures. I think it could work great.