Reflection...

Over the span of this and the previous course, I've felt as though I've made some pretty significant growth, in regards to my awareness, knowledge, and skills with integrating technology, web-based or otherwise, into my teaching.  I think my teaching style has always been somewhat of a guide on the side, encouraging students to move as far as they can on their own, before seeking me out.  I feel as though a heavier integration of technology allows me to do so even more.  That being said, just because the technology is there, it doesn't mean my role is eliminated or even diminished.  In some cases, I feel as though it may increase my role.

With the integration of technology into my curriculum, it becomes vital that I monitor its effectiveness and appropriateness, and interact with students to check for understanding and provide guidance if needed.  Students will make efforts to appear engaged, as to not stand out amongst their peers.  Though technology has become the standard in society today, it should not be assumed that every student is technologically savvy and should be somewhat understood that those who are not, are likely to take on the role of the "fly on the wall."  They may feel as though they are "dumb" for not being able to comprehend all of the things their peers are doing, in what appears to be such an effortless manner. 

Additionally, some technologies are more student friendly, so various technologies will present different obstacles for each type of curriculum, each student, and each teacher.  Integrating web-based technologies encouraged me to look more closely at what various technologies could do and what potential hurdles may be presented with technologies which are not web-based. 

Specifically, I think of Moodle vs. Power Point.  Though I'm not sure I'm a fan of a Moodle lesson, over a Power Point lesson, it does offer a student the freedom to interact solely on the web, without needing a place to save or a program to run the lesson.  The same could be said for Google docs, vs. Microsoft Word or Apple's Pages.  This makes for some pretty powerful accessibility.  Almost gone are the days of having teachers complain they couldn't open your files or students not being able to access their work outside of school.

Given all of this personal interaction and exposure to technology, since we've started these courses and due to the fact that I gave myself a rather broad goal, I would have to say I've achieved, but not surpassed, my goals for learning about technology.  This is not to say I'm satisfied with my achievements, because I believe I've just begun to scratch the surface on how far I can go with integrating it into my curriculum, but I do feel I've learned a significant amount.

In the future, I'd like to make the subject(s) I work with more accessible to the students, especially those who fall behind, due to illness or inability to maintain the pace of the class.  With a Resource Room, I also find that some students are being held back by the class' pace and would benefit from being able peek ahead a bit.  If there are sample of every topic available, they could do so.  This would just benefit them in preparing to move back into the general education setting.  My hopes are that over the summer, I can work toward making some of this a reality, whether it be through Moodle or a different site.

Wikipedia hmmm?

So I have to admit that I let myself get a bit behind on my blogs, but I'm glad I'm still plugging away on them, because I'd have never noticed some of the omissions on Wikipedia, regarding my school.  I took the time to add a sport and correct the name of our PE teacher, as it had not been updated.  (Link in title; screenshot below).

Slideboom!

Okay, so this may not be an educational technology the kids would access, yet it may be.  I was looking for a way to embed my Power Point into Moodle, and then my web page.  I began to get frustrated, as it seemed easy for the PC, yet I found nothing for the Mac.

A Google search took me to iSpring, which was specifically designed to carry out the task I wanted to carry out.  However, after looking at the specs, I noticed I couldn't use iSpring on a Mac!  Ugh!  C'mon!  Really?  New software that doesn't work on a Mac?  Irritating!

What iSpring DID do, was give me a link to a site called slideboom!  It's not the "best" software, but it was free, it let me do what I needed to do, and it hasn't bugged the crap out of me yet with emails trying to get me to buy it!

So, Slideboom made a new friend and I just wanted to share with the rest of you, in the instance you decide you need to Flash too.  :)  Notice that the title of the blog is also a link to the site.  I'll post my project on my links menu.

What's up Docs?

As a user of Google docs, I've grown to appreciate it's flexibility and accessibility.  Granted it's limited in it's formatting and the quantity of tools, which can be frustrating, but it's free and it allows you to access your docs from anywhere you can get an internet connection.  Overall the limits seem to be little things, when it comes to creating a general doc, but there are little things a general word processing doc app doesn't offer that Google docs does, so in some ways I feel they balance out.

One of the "little things" I like about Google docs are the sharing options, which allow you to share your docs with others and even invite them to edit the doc.  This could be great for group work/assignments or even for that person who needs someone to edit to their work, but doesn't have that trusted friend there at the time they need the editing.  Granted it's another email, but it doesn't take up space on anyone's personal computer or hard drive.

As far as editing goes, Google has also included an edit tracker, which keeps track of all edits that have taken place with the doc.  This eliminates a potential mishap, when you have that member in your group who may not be so tech savvy and makes the mistake of deleting information from your document and doesn't know how to get it back.  It gives you the opportunity for a "do over," without squabble about who did what or why.

The biggest benefit for me is in the classroom.  Granted, I love the the app overall, but as a Special Ed. teacher, I find the accessibility for my students to be invaluable.  Whether it be the lack of need for a server, or lack of need for an external drive, I know that almost all of my kids will have access to their work and none will have a reason not to at least attempt to complete it.  Unless the student has no knowledge of how to word process, no internet access at home or no way to get to the library, there is no longer a reason not to complete his/her work.

The kids will need some general info on how to navigate through Google docs, but it's very similar to email, so the learning curve should be relatively light.  The tabs for creating a new document and sharing a doc are located conveniently and clear.  The kids will really only need to know the email address they're sending to!  Better yet, not only will the kids not lose their work, but the dog can't eat it!  :)

It's not an app that's particularly limited to a subject matter either.  I think this is really an app that could be used in any class where students are expected to complete and turn in a written assignment, including many math assignments.  It's not just limited to a student turning an assignment, as it could also be used to post an assignment or as forum of sorts to share input, when a Wiki may not be quite as appropriate.  Granted it may take increased familiarity with the app itself, in order to know how to perform certain functions, but the fact of the matter is that the options are there for those who may need them.

Granted, as with any technology, there are some responsibilities that should be considered, such as making sure every student has an account to access the docs and that you've taken at least some time to give all of the students a tutorial, as to insure they understand how to do what's being asked of them.  Once this has been done the students should be able to work with the teacher and each other to collaborate on and share assignments and projects.  It will be difficult to monitor exactly what students have on their Google docs, but keeping them on a somewhat limited network to limit those who have access to the students may be beneficial for safety reasons.  Given that Google seems to keep expanding the capabilities of the "docs" app, who knows how powerful this app could become?