Miss Cozat’s Blog

This is the story of Exceptional Children learning to use adaptive technology. Enjoy…

This course has really helped me to grow and develop as a technology teacher. I feel that I am more prepared, have more ideas about technology integration, and understand how to use some new types of technology. I have also learned a lot about instructional learning categories focusing on what makes a piece of technology good based on how children are taught and learn online. This class not only showed me what these technologies were and how to use them, it also helped me develop projects using them and I actually had to use technology that we were learning about. Many courses that I have taken have taught me about technology and how to use it effectively in the classroom, but this course actually taught me how to use the technology. This is a great benefit because I will be more likely to use it in my classroom now. For example, I have been taught about podcasting for several classes, professors did podcasts of research, but this was the first class that I actually had to make my own podcast.

I also have come to realize that TechQuests are a very fun way to integrate technology with curriculum. Done correctly TechQuests can be a very motivational tool that gets children excited about learning and using technology. By making a quality TechQuest children are able to learn from a variety of different pedagogical strategies which makes for a powerful learning experience! Not only are children using the computers to find information about the classroom curriculum they can use web 2.0, podcasting, blogging, wikis, flip cams and many other wonderful tools to create projects or reflect on the project that they are working on.

Online Experiences that I have had during this course- Which of these tools makes for great learning? Well… to be honest TechQuests, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, RSS feeds, Research, Electronic Portfolios, software, web based programs, Simulations, tutorials and gaming all have the potential to be excellent tools to educate- but then again, not used correctly or with enough emphasis it can be just as exciting as a worksheet! I love the potential that all of these online experiences hold, however when compiled in a so-so manner they are not so-so good! Reading about different types of software and online tools in this course has been a really eye-opening experience for me. Learning about the different types of learning that occurs based on Grabe and Grabe’s article. It is very important that we categories of instructional learning that work best for children. We also should be using a variety of instructional learning categories so that children can experience different types of technology that work well for them. This was probably the most interesting section for the session for me because I had never thought about technology in such as way. I will definitely purchase the book so that I can reference it often.

Overall my goal in this course was to become more competent in web 2.0 programs as well as learning about new technologies and the effectiveness of them. I truly believe that as I step away from this course I am going to be more likely to use different types of new technologies in my technology lab, as well as evaluate them in a better manner. As I continue down the road of educational technology I would like to develop more TechQuests and perhaps even programs that help children to learn more about curriculum as they use technology. I plan to keep up with my Educational Technology program to help me do this, as well as continue studying and reading online resources.

Overall my podcast project went quite well there were a limited amount of issues that we ran into while implementing the project. The children were excited to try podcasting, and definitely pleased at the outcome of the project. A few things that I would take a look at before I implement the project this coming school year would be to really discuss and perhaps even look at a rubric that shows what being a good partner means. I really want to “hype up” how important working with your classmates in a manner that is productive and constructive.

I would also like to bring in the use of rubrics, I typically use rubrics to have students assess themselves and one another for various projects in technology. The first rubric for the research aspect of each region, the second rubric for the cooperation and collaboration between classmates, really focusing on how well they work together. It seems that the more I hype up working together, the more they will collaborate because they will have boundaries that they will follow (or be more likely to) because of the rubric. The third rubric would be for the actual podcast, how they sound, how enticing it is, and how well they really projected information about the region being researched to the listeners of the podcasts. I feel that rubrics give children straight forward guidelines that help them to see what is expected of them and on what level things are expected to be completed.

I would also like to put more time into the actual task of creating a podcast, making that a couple of days worth of lessons in technology. I think it would really help the children to focus on the actual research being done (getting quality work) instead of getting so-so resources so that students can get to use the audacity program first. If the students know how to use and create podcasts I feel that the focus will be on research (rather than making the podcast) and podcasting will be the final reward in researching their project.

And finally, I would also like to pull in some different audio visual tools. Such as animoto, voicethread and flip cams. Animoto is a slideshow program that you select the pictures for and music, you can put in your own voice and you have a really great and easy picture slideshow. I also like to use voicethread where students could host pictures and talk about the region of North Carolina that way chosen. Another great tool would be to have the students actually record themselves with a webcam or flip cam making a commercial for each region. So in addition to making a podcast they would choose one of the three options and take technology one step further than audio, into visual.