After having the first ETEC 672 online meeting I feel confident that I will learn a lot about the latest technologies in education. In one session alone I learned about Zotero, Canvas, Line, Identity Finder, and File Vault. My students will definitely appreciate all the knowledge I gain from this course as they are the primary beneficiaries.
My name is Cheryl. I teach 9th grade Social Studies at a project-based high school on the west side of O'ahu. It doesn't feel like it but I have been teaching for 9 years. Time flies. In this course I expect and hope to take away valuable information on all the latest innovations. It is important to keep abreast of technological tools because these tools will make class fun, enjoyable, and, most of all, engaging. I introduced my students to Google Docs this past school year and they absolutely LOVED it. They were amazed by its features: the ability for more than one person to work on a document, its mobility and accessibility (many of them could work on writing projects on the go without having to always meet face-to-face), and the ability to see their peers type in the document in realtime. I look forward to learning more so that I can expose my students to useful tools and applications and, possibly, adjust my projects to include the use of tools like Prezi or PowToon (thank you, Reid, for sharing!). My students will REALLY get a kick out of PowToon.
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 9 years of teaching!
I think one of the qualities of a good teacher is being teachable! It sounds like you are striving to incorporate up-to-date technologies into your classroom to improve student achievement, and that is admirable of you! The whole life-long learners idea might seem overused, but it is really true. There are always new tools being created and taking the time to check them out and give them a try is a valuable skill for teachers in the 21st century.
Have you ever heard of Scratch (an animation tool) before? You might like it.
Thanks for sharing,
Alicia
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Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteNice to ‘meet’ you! I think it’s great that you’ve already started to introduce new technology tools to your students! I personally feel that Google Docs were the best thing since sliced bread… especially for collaborative work. You’re definitely shaping our future generations by introducing them to such resources! I too hope ETEC 672 will help me learn about a variety of tools that can make our professional and work lives easier. However, there appears to be quite a bit of work already =/
The 1st class was pretty interesting. I had no idea there were so many innovative resources out there (i.e., PowToon, File Vautl, Canvas, etc.) My group is planning to use PowToon for our first group assignment. Hopefully it’ll be fun!
Hello Alicia and Justin,
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for my delayed response. It's very nice to meet you both! Sticking to the theme of having many available tools, I'd like to stay that sometimes having too many options makes you lose focus. You kind of don't know where to start. And once you become comfortable with one tool another one is released. There is no constant. The only constant is change--pardon the hackneyed saying but it's true. We having to keep learning, however, lest we become as obsolete as yesterday's viral internet meme.
P.S. Thanks for the Scratch suggestion, Alicia. I'll check it out :)