Yellow Blog Group #1 KeraV.

Looking back on my previous blogs about technology, I see that my attitude towards techonology is mostly good. I think technology can be a great asset in the classroom and can create interest and creativity. Overall, we do rely on technology too much as students. I know I rely on technology for research, papers, communicating with friends, listening to music, spell/grammar check, and so much more. If I think back on my experiences in school however, my teachers didn't integrate technology as much as they could have.

Technology can be used in so many different areas in the classroom and can be very effective if used properly. After class discussions and readings, my views have changed slightly. I feel as though some technology standards are forcing teachers to integrate technology and involving teaching around technology instead of the other way around. There are also technologies that are appropriate in classrooms and those that are intended for entertainment purposes. With so many programs out there, teachers need to research and decide whether certain programs or technologies are appropriate in the classroom.

Overall, I think that most of my posts are very similar. Even though I do have some holdbacks when it comes to technology in the classrooms, most of my thoughts are postive. Technology is an enormous aid in today's society and I think it should be used as often as possible if it is benefiting our learning.

Green Group 1

The technologies that I use at home are mostly for entertainment purposes. Like I said before I mainly use the computer to manage my music and other media. I have about ten thousand songs in my iTunes library which I play though a 5 piece stereo speaker system that takes advantage of HD surround sound. As you can tell music and how it sounds is a very important concern in my use of technology. Having said that I do use the technology at home for other things such as research, word processing, and school work, but my main focus remains on music. Other technologies in my life include my Black Berry, iPod, and Xbox 360. As I think about these technologies it makes me realize that most of them have little or no use in the classroom and could be even deemed inappropriate.

I suppose it’s obvious that my previous posts about technology at home and the role of technology in the classroom are completely different from each other. I believe that there are certain technologies that are appropriate for at home and ones that are acceptable for the classroom. This belief came to be shaped by the simple fact that my use for technology at home has nothing to do with my use of technology at school. They are two separate things and should remain so. When “entertainment”
technologies are brought into a school setting they only act as a distraction.

One technology that I use that serves a dual purpose is my BlackBerry. The convenience of getting my emails sent to my phone keeps me up to date with changes in class syllabus, class cancelations, or even just general information about events on campus through the daily digest.

Overall the majority of technology that I use in my life is either for entertainment or school purposes. Their uses remain distinctly different and rarely cross over.

Jon Scharff

Green Group Blog 1

I guess what it all boils down to for me is that I do think that using technology in the classroom is great. Obviously, I would be better off in today's sort of world if technology was better intergrated into my own school background. This is the way that the world is going. We are constantly adjusting to new or updated technology to keep in touch with the world. I guess, though I think that sometimes we rely a little too heavily in this modern world on the latest and greatest digital whatevers, and perhaps lose some of our basic creativity/functionality. You know, its kind of sad how wierd and out of place some people feel if for some reason they left their phone or ipod at home, or do not have access to the internet for long periods of time (that period is to be determined by each individual). Heck, if I did not have my phone, I would never be able to call up my best friend, or even my brother. I never commited their numbers to memory or bothered to right them down in a good old fashion phone/address book. This brings me back to how technology can be great this day of age. I loose a phone number, no worries, I am so connected I can look it up online, or at the very least, email or facebook message my friend to get it back.

My problem with technology is that I only use the more basic items, I find that either other uses/items are more expensive, or I am just not that into them. I have to be motivated to use certain technologies. I feel that this point is the same I would be making when using technology in my classroom. I would need to make a good argument as to what types of technology I will choose to introduce in my lessons, and what benefits my student's will get out of them. I will have to also determine how reasonable (price) the technology is, and how easy it is to manage.

I need to learn more about technology in classrooms, know whats out there first and foremost.

~~Yael S.

Me, Technology, and Education

I found this blog topic very interesting especially after the events of this weekend. On Saturday my cell phone carrier called me and informed me that I was eligible for an upgrade. I was so excited because I'm definitely a "tech freak". I always have to have the newest cell phone, Ipod, laptop, etc. So I raced to the nearest VZW store to see what new, interesting gadget I would be using to communicate with my friends and family. As I was in the store pawning over the latest addition to Verizon's mobile phone line up, the Blackberry Storm, I began to second guess my "need" for this new piece of technology. Did I really "need" to have this phone? Did I really need to upgrade to the newest Ipod at Christmas when the one I had was perfectly fine. Do I really need the new laptop I've been searching for considering the one I have is just a little over a year old? To conclude my saga I left the store Blackberryless ( if that's a word). I said all this to make the point that I do not believe technology makes children learn better, quicker, or more. I feel that it is just a perk, extra, fun, cool, new, and interesting, but not neccessary to perform basic tasks( by technology I mean the new innovative products that are created almost every day, not basic inventions like the telephone, television,stove,etc). In the classroom it would be great to have the latest ELMO, projector, and a fully equipped computer lab in the school library. I believe that technology makes education more marketable and in this current technology based era it is an asset to know how to use technology in and out of the classroom. Technology also makes learning a more hands on experience and it definitely helps to give the educational reigns over to the students, which makes most constructivists happy. As a whole technology makes knowledge more accessible for students, leaving the teacher in the role of facilitator not deliverer, and all-knowing leader. I am not against technology in the classroom, however I do not believe it helps children to learn more efficiently. I think the quality of the education still lies in the hands of the teacher, the parent, the student, and the available information whether its through technology, books, or hands-on experiences.

Green Group Blog #1

Since I have been exposed to so much technology, I think that for the most part, technology can be a huge help in the classroom. When trying to engage young children and keep their interest, resorting to educational computer games every so often is not a bad thing. I can remember being in elementary school and loving when my teacher gave me an opportunity to play on the computer. Even though I would always only be allowed to play a certain game, or do a specific activity, I would enjoy it so much more than if I had to do the same activity on paper at my desk. My friends and I would always pay attention more when using the computers, and try harder when doing the activity. Because of this, I personally that using technology such as computers to practice a certain topic, is a very good resource. Now a days, the technology of computers has changed drastically from when I was in elementary school. There are many more advanced computer programs that can be both helpful and not helpful in the classroom. I think that even though computer games may be fun for most children, there will always be those students with behavioral problems who fool around on the computer instead of learning. Sometimes, it is necessary for the teacher to continue doing a lesson without the use of the computer. Also, since the cost of computers to use in a school can be so astronomical, it is hard for school systems to provide enough computers for all these students. This leaves the students in lower income areas, without computers, to lack the knowledge of using some advanced technology that other young children are growing up with. I think technology is a good resource in the classroom, but it can not be the only resource. Students need to know how to do some things without relying on a computer, or the internet. In the classroom, there needs to be an equilibrium of technology teaching and “old-school” teaching, which should be implemented by the teacher. I plan to introduce my students to the use of technology, without over doing it.

There are many similarities in my techno-biography and my classroom technology post. Both show my background of using technology daily since before I can remember. Throughout elementary school, high school, and college, I was exposed to many varieties of technology both in the classroom and out of it. Since I have learned through technology, I find it necessary for my future students to learn through the many ways of technology as well.

Technology in the classroom

As I look back on my technobiography and posts, I realize that technology has greatly effected my life in both good and bad ways. While I believe technology has provided a lot of positives, I also believe technology can bring some negatives. Throughout my life, I have seen technology used in many different ways. I believe there is a huge difference in technology being appropriately used in the classroom, and technology being used to simply say it was used. During a discussion in class the other day, I stated that I believe in a general education classroom, technology should be used solely to help teach the content. If technology is being used to show students what is "new", I do not think it is being appropriately used. I believe specials should be used for this type of instruction. When I had classes that used technology for unapparent reasons, I was never interested. While I do use technology in my everyday life, I am not very fond of it. Daily troubleshooters that arise, such as my Internet going out, really frustrates me. As a future educator, I try not to let the fact that I am not good at using technology judge whether or not I integrate it into my classroom. Rather, I judge whether or not a certain piece of technology can truly help the children learn the information being presented.
Gina Pagliaccetti

Looking back at my posts

Looking back at my previous posts I have noticed that technology has shaped both my life and education in both positive and negative ways. I realized that my attitudes towards technology are directly affected by my previous experiences. I never really knew much about technology or computers when I was younger. They were just becoming popular and were still pretty expensive. When I was in Elementary School, I got my first taste of technology with the Apple Computers; but those never really sparked my interest.
Once I reached the upper grades in my Elementary School I got introduced to the Dell Computers which I loved. But I never really understood what a computer could do until I reached Middle School and had to take technology classes. However, once I left that class the only thing I could remember was how to type correctly and fast. Maybe that is why I am still a little computer illiterate today. I never really had the chance or interest to explore the computer and everything that it is capable of performing. Hopefully this class will help open my eyes to the all the benefits that both computers and technology can have in both my future teaching carreer and life.

Technology in the classroom.

Technology in the classroom is something that gets a little tricky. When teachers use too much technology, students seem to get unmotivated and lessons just turn into lectures. I think that using power points have their advantages and disadvantages. In one of my classes this year, one of my teacher uses a power point to go over all the notes. Normally, I wouldn't like that because when teachers do that all I do is copy and not look at what I'm actually writing down. The way that she makes it better is by having us fill in things. So instead of just handing out a ditto or having us copy everything, she gives us the best of both worlds. I think that technology needs to be integrated into the classroom because its a huge part of everyones lives now, no matter what job you have. I don't think that cell phones and ipods and things like that are appropriate for the classroom, even though I know that I'm a student who is on her cellphone during class. I think that technology should be used in fun ways like to make reports, educational games, group projects and things like that. Another thing that I like in the classroom is when we watch videos and mini clips. I see a lot of my teachers now using youtube clips and showing us portions of videos. I think that things like that are a good use of technology as long as what your showing has value to what your trying to teach.

Technology in the classroom

Thinking back about all my experiences with technology in my classrooms shaped the way I feel about integrating technology today. In grade school, technology was used more by the teachers then students due to the limited amount of computers as well as access. When children are given the opportunity to use technological appliences in the classroom, it gives them varitey. I think that variety is not only helpful but also important in getting the students motivated and ready to learn. However, I think there should be a limit as to what students should be doing for example when using a computer. Some children may think computers are the easy way out. To some extent they are. There have been so many times where the computer has helped me increase a grade due to the help that microsoft words provides for my grammar. The problem with that was when it was time to actually handwrite the paper myself, I had a number of grammar mistakes that I most likely did not notice because nobody underlined it for me like the computer does. In high school, technology was introduced a bit differently. It was strictly used for assignments, and introducing new information. Unlike in elementary school, I did not get the opportunity to use the computer for learning games such as phonics, math etc. Though I still think it gave me variety which as I mentioned before definately motivated me.
As I looked back at my first blog, I still feel the same about teachers using technology for lessons in the classroom. I happen to be a visual learner, so when teachers provide powerpoints to my classes, I learn and understand the information more efficiently. Not only had my technology experience made things easier for me, but it has also introduced me to so many new ideas and skills and still help me today. Using technology may at times be the easier way out, but if the students are learning like I did then I feel it is okay.

Red Group: Effect of Attitudes & Experiences

My attitudes about technology and my experiences with it definitely affect the way I think about how, why, and when technology should be used in various classroom settings. My techno-bio and classroom situation posts overlap. In my techno-bio, I mentioned my uneasy relationship with technology. I’m sure my unease stems from relative inexperience beyond the basics of word processing, emailing, and online researching. Overall, I’m a late adopter of almost any new technology (in or out of a classroom), not because I oppose it, but because I’m not easily convinced that I need the next new thing.

In my classroom situation post, an inadequate number of computers in the library affected the successful integration of technology. At my current, overcrowded elementary school, there is no classroom with a 1:1 ratio of computers to students except the computer lab. It is nearly fully booked each day, so it’s hard to get access to it other than your own scheduled Special. In my post, I didn’t use a classroom example from my K-college years. The technologies used now are light years beyond what was available then. That the media have changed doesn’t necessarily make the old ways more effective or less effective; some older technologies have a place in today’s classrooms. From working in K-3 classrooms for the past six years, I’ve seen that students don’t mind the old technologies. While the kids love a chance to use computers, it’s also exciting for them to write on the chalkboard, use markers on dry erase boards, use manipulatives to learn math facts, or get picked to write on a transparency.

From my classroom experience, I’ve also noticed that teachers’ first choice is to use technology they are familiar and comfortable with. With some exceptions, I’ve seen that younger teachers are more likely than older ones to use new technologies. For many teachers I’ve observed, it is easier to use tried and true technology like overhead projectors. However, I think that appropriately integrating new technology can become simpler for any educator, including future media specialists like me, with enough initiative, practice, and planning.

Technology and Me

Technology has been part of my life for a very long time dating back to elementary school. As I got older technologies such as pagers, cell phones, TI 83's, and laptops were introduced. I have always been fond of technology, my favorite toy as a child was my Vtech ( a computer-like toy). I got my first pager at about 13, a cell phone at 14, a computer at 14, and numerous cell phones, Ipods, and laptops later here I am, the tech. freak...

Blue group

I think my experiences in the classroom have really made my beliefs about technology in the classroom what they are today. I also feel that my experiences with technology in every day life are not consistent with what is appropriate use of technology in the classroom. I feel that technology in the classroom needs to be regulated, and also not relied on too heavily. Students should not think that their only reference tool is the internet. I also feel that technology should only be used for educational purposes ie: reference, educational games, etc... However, I do not use technology in this way in my leisure. I mostly use technology for communication, games, and other sources of entertainment. I do use technology for educational purposes frequently, but the bulk of my technological usage hinders toward the entertainment side. I would say my view own technological use is similar from my technological biography in that I only referenced entertainment purposes in my autobiography. I didn't mention any educational references to my own use of technology. In my other post, I said how technology had benefited my own learning in the classroom. When technology can be used to help understand a concept, it should definitely be integrated. My technological biography and my classroom post were completely different in these two regards. On one, I only wrote only about my experiences in the classroom, and on the other, how I use technology as entertainment. I do also believe that techonlogy in the classroom should have some sort of fun aspect to it, but should not be its main purpose.

Blue Group Post Feb. 9, 2009

I think that my attitudes and experiences shape what I think are good and bad uses of technology in the classroom. For example I think that I am at a medium level of technological literacy and I feel that I could integrate different forms of technology into my classroom as a teacher that would be able to help my students visualize and conceptualize information. I think that with my blog on integration of technology I would want to incorporate different technologies that helped me learn and others as I see it helps my students. I feel that it is good to use visual aides that help students see and hear the same material. I would want to incorporate different technologies that would accommodate different learning styles. Students that were more audio visual learners would benefit from sound bites and visual power points. Students that are more hands on learners could be involved with making their own power points and using different technologies themselves in the classroom. I think that email, cell phones, and other communicative devices are considered "bad" technologies and shouldn't be used in the classroom. But I think in some forms they are just fine. For example I think that using cell phones to stay in touch with the teacher or group members is just fine, yet using the cell phone for keeping in touch with friends during the school lesson is inappropriate. I think that email is a great technological tool that can send ideas, questions, and information from student to student, teacher to parent, and student to teacher.
There are a lot of similarities between my latest two blogs. I think that I am familiar with a lot of technologies that are used in the classroom. I know that from my best classroom experience the technologies that were used I have become familiar with and try to use in presentations and in my teachings at internship schools. There are some differences, I know there is one piece of technology that I did not become familiar with which was pod casts.
I do feel that technology can be incorporated into the classroom accordingly and can be beneficial for student learning.
-Kami B.

Blue group-post 1

My opinions about the use of technology in the classroom have been shaped somewhat by my own experiences of it in the classroom. I think that educational videos, access to the internet for research and activities that reinforce learning, and communication devices all have a place either in the classroom or as a resource outside of it. For example, the Bill Nye videos I watched in science really helped to reinforce the concepts I was learning, so I think that anything that helps students visualize what they are learning is appropriate and helpful in the classroom. My experience with using the internet as a source for verifying and researching information helped me to complete assignments, and I think that is a valuable resource to have in the classroom. Communication through e-mail, social networking sites, and cell phones help students and teachers to communicate about projects, homework, etc. This has been extremely necessary, especially in college.
However, I don't think that all technology is apprpriate in the classroom, and this relates to my technobiography. Although I use technology often, I do not think I am an expert at using a computer, a cell phone, a DVD player, etc. I feel that if those things were mandatory, I would not be good enough at using them to efficiently integrate them into the classroom. If I was expected to teach students how to use certain technologies, I don't think I would be able to clearly explain them since I do not understand them myself. I feel like students should not always use computers or calculators when they can get the answer easily enough without them.
My technobiography mentions that I use technology in my everyday life. Because of this, I do believe that technologies which are necessary for use in everyday life are appropriate in school. This includes how to use a computer to type a paper, look up information, find pictures, and send e-mails. However, I don't think it is appropriate to teach students how to use computer programs that will not be used often just for the purpose of integrating technology. That might be a waste of time that could be spent on more valuable instruction.
I think the only connection between my technobiography and my experiences with technology in the classrom is that both of them list technologies that I could use in everyday life either for communication or learning. Therefore, that is what shaped my views about what technology is appropriate to use in the classroom.
-Chrissy C

Classroom Technology

Throughout my education there has always been some kind of technology in the classroom used to help the students learn. One specific example that I can think of comes from when I was in high school. I was a Junior in a world history class and part of our requirement for the class was a research paper. At the beginning, none of the students knew exactly how we were going to do our research or what we were going to write about, good thing the teacher had a plan. The plan was to use the mobile cart of laptops and bring them into the class so we could walk through how to use the research database Ebsco. By allowing everyone to have a lap top, it made it much easier for the teacher to tell us students exactly what we wanted. He could just show us what to do on the laptop hooked up to the projecter, it helped lay the ground work for our papers. Other then the benifits already described the use of the laptops in the classroom placed everyone in the class on the same level, in terms of how we were to complete the assignment. The instruction was clear and that day in class if we had any questions they could be easily answered with a demonstration of how to use the database. Starting our research for our papers this way was definitely very benificial to everyone in the class.

Gina Pagliaccetti Classroom Technology

All throughout my education, I have experienced the use of technology in my classrooms as an aid for teaching. One situation in which technology was used to help me learn that sticks out in my mind was during my freshman year of high school. During each year of high school, I was assigned to write a research paper in my English class. As an introductory lesson, my class was taken to the library to receive a lesson from the librarian. In each classroom in the library there was a Smart Board. The librarian began by showing the class how to look up and access books and other materials throughout the library. This entailed signing onto my high school’s website, clicking a link for the library, and using that site to search materials held in the library. She then continued to use the Smart Board in order to show us how to properly search the Internet for articles and other information we could use in our research papers. She began by signing onto the Internet using a keyboard. Throughout the lesson, the librarian allowed us to use the Smart Board by doing things such as touching a link projected onto the Smart Board in order to navigate through different sites. While most of the students were interested in the Smart Board, I felt it did not have much to do with the lesson. Aside from providing a large screen for all of the students to easily see, I do not think the Smart Board benefited the lesson. While the students did have the opportunity to search the web by touching the board, I feel the same could have been done using a projector connected to a keyboard and mouse. I do, however, feel the Smart Board is a very useful piece of technology when used in a more beneficial way. I feel in this situation it was not necessary.

Technology in the classroom

I have used technology in many of my classes, but one instance that really sticks out to me was in a physical science course here at Towson. I cannot remember the exact details of what we were doing, but it had to do with molecule collision in relation to temperature. At first, the instructor explained what physically happened, and tried to explain it to us through lecture. Afterward, each group was given a laptop to recreate this experiment through a simulator. This allowed us to see the concept from a visual perspective, and also allowed us to control the variables througout the experiment. I thought this was a great way to reinforce what we had learned in the lecture because it gave us ownership over the concept since we could control it for ourselves. Since it would be impossible for us to physically view the molecules, using a simulator was extremely helpful in our understanding.

All throughout grade school and during my three years at towson I have used technology in many of my classes. During grade school, mostly in science classes, my teachers provided us with powerpoints as their source of notes. I also became very familiar with using powerpoints myself to complete projects. Throughout college I have gotten the opportunity to become familiar with using blackboard. I have used blackboard in many of my classes as a source of turning in assignments and communicating with my class members. The most recent class I have used blackboard as a source of communication was in my African American Literature class that I took second semester sophomore year. This class was 50% in class and 50% online. Every week we had to read a piece of literature and post our reactions on blackboard. After we posted, we had to respond to at least 4-5 other member's posts in the class. I really liked having 50% of the class online because to me it was much more efficient then listening to lectures twice a week. I think having us use blackboard was good because knowing that I had to post every week encouraged me to constantly read and complete my homework. A more recent class where I used technology a lot was in my ELED 320 class. In this class we had many grammar presentations to complete in which powerpoint was an option to use. I found that powerpoint helped a lot because my group members and I got to teach my class, for example Grammar in Context, in a clear and understandable way. Everything we put on the slides we discussed more thoroughly to make sure that my class members understood it. I like using powerpoint for presentations and I definitely like when professors use it as well.

Throughout my entire education up until this point, technology has always been incorporated in my classrooms. I never had an idea of how big of a role that it played in my education until now. I feel that integrating different types of technologies into the classroom to aide new learning is a wonderful idea. Technology is everywhere in our society today and I feel that it gives students a great way to connect new information being learned to everyday life. However, I do not think that technologies such as computers, Internet, the television, etc. should replace teaching. The integration of technology and teaching should go hand in hand.
I remember being in my Elementary School and finally getting computers in our classroom. We had always had a computer lab, but never one in our actual classroom. Every student in the class was excited and when it came to free time, everyone fought over who was going to get a chance to use the computer first. It got so bad that my teacher had to come up with a computer schedule and students could only go on the class computer the day that they were assigned.
The computer was one of the first pieces of technology incorporated in my school learning and I can remember the first time technology really impacted my learning.
I was in the fifth grade and our class was writing a thank you letter to a guest speaker. My teacher thought that it would be better if our class letter was typed. So, she hooked her computer up to the television so we could all see what was being typed. I just thought it was so cool that you could view a computer through a TV and that activity really inspired me to learn to type better on the computer. The computer/TV display aided our class in constructing an appropriate thank you letter.
If you were ask me a little bit ago whether technology really impacted my learning, I would have said no. But now I see and understand that technology has played a big role in my education and that it can play a big role in the minds of my future students if used appropriately.

Throughout my learning experience, I have been exposed to many uses of technology. My senior year in high school, in my Math Pre-Calculus classroom, we were introduced to the SmartBoards. All year we had been using powerpoint, and the overhead projector. Around February, our classroom had a smartboard installed. As a student, it seemed like so much fun to use the markers on the board to click on things on the computer. My teacher would give us lessons and notes on the smartboard, and she could do such cool things with images and even the words on the microsfot word pages that she had her notes designed on. THe one thing I did notice, was how much trouble the teacher had getting accustomed to the new smartboard. At first, she did very basic things with it. She would make notes on Microsoft word, project them on to the smart board, and use the different colored markers to give examples, make images, and highlight what was important. As the teacher, she had to spend the extra time after school learning how to adjust her classroom to incorporate this smartboard. I am sure that there was many other cool and educational things my teacher could have done with the smartboard, that she was not even aware of at the time. All I remember my teacher saying was how much she missed the over head transparencies and powerpoint, because she knew how to use those. I would love to go back into that high school classroom today and see what amazing things they must be using that smartboard for now. Three years later, I'm sure the smartboard in that classroom can do many things with images, equations, and numbers for math lessons. Although at first it seemed to be trouble-some, it gave me a positive educational experience in my pre-calculus math classroom. I think that the use of technology is very beneficial in the every day classroom. It enables the minds of students more and more. Looking at a powerpoint presentation gets to be very boring, but when the teacher can play around and add things (like on the smartboard) to the powerpoint, the lesson becomes interactive. I can remember everybody in my senior year pre calculus class listening and paying attention, so we could all get our chance to use the silly little interactive markers on the board. Using technology makes students interested in the lesson because it usually makes things less boring! Technology gives the students a chance to become interactive with the lesson, and interested to pay attention. I hope that when I become a teacher I am given the chance to work with up to date technology. This past semester, working at a sturggling Baltimore City elementary school, I learned how technology can be hard to work with at times. My teacher always used the ELMO overhead projector, and many times it did not work correctly, and/or would distort the images and words. Right away the students would start fooling around, because they saw how caught up the teacher would be with having the projector work correctly. Even though sometimes technology can mess up, I beleive that the use of technology is a key ingredient when establishing an effective classroom. I have learned through it, and I hope my future students can learn through it at as well.

Integration of Technology in My Classroom

Technology has been a major part of many of my classrooms. After thinking back to many of those experiences I think that one experience where technology made the most impact on my learning was in a college history course that dealt with U.S. history from 1912 to about 1980s. Past history courses from high school, never really excited me or made me want to learn. I feel the reason for this was a lot of my learning was text book based and I also did a lot of teaching myself the material for the course from the textbook and from the Internet. Technology was used in the high school history course but it mostly was over heads on a projector that the teacher would go over word for word and have the students take notes. However, once I enrolled in the U.S. history course at Towson my thought on History changed forever. The class was made up of college students from all different majors and there were about 35-40 students in the class. The professor integrated many different types of technology into his classroom teaching. The different types of technology included PowerPoint presentations, video clips from YouTube, video clips from actual movies, podcast, recordings of famous (historical) people talking and famous speeches, and pictures of different art from the time period we were studying. The way that the professor taught was very different than I was used to, because I was enthralled with the material and so fascinated, and I couldn't help but pay attention. His lessons never had the students staring at one same type of media for a long period of time. For example, for a lesson he would have a PowerPoint set up and within the PowerPoint he set up links that would take the class to a podcast, or a video clip, or he would show us part of a movie, or take us to an art gallery online. He changed my thoughts on just a plain PowerPoint presentation with just words, and opened my thoughts to PowerPoint that include links, and sounds, and many pictures. What my professor did with the technology in the classroom allowed me to really relate to the material and internalize the information because I was able to create memories based on the technology used that day. Because I was able to internalize all the information from the course I feel that all the effort and time that the professor put into his lessons was well worth it for the students, at least I know it was for me. I don't feel that I would have done as well as I did in the course if so many different technologies were not used.

The Integration of Technology into a Classroom

I feel that technology is an important tool that can enhance students’ learning and understanding of a new concept. For as long as I can remember, technology has been used in some way in all of my classroom experiences. From elementary to high school, the most used technologies were overhead projectors, televisions, computers and possibly PowerPoint. Throughout my college experience, the most widely used technology has been PowerPoint, and I’ve only recently been introduced to the Elmo. However, there is only one real experience that I will always remember where a professor’s use of technology completely changed my view on history.
About a year ago, I had to take a winter cram course on colonial history, which was a requirement for my A.A.T. degree. Before taking this class, I really hated the idea of history. I didn’t understand any of it, nor did I care to understand it. This ignorance was the result of past teachers and professors who succeeded in making history seem boring and confusing with their monotone and unorganized lectures. Very little technology was used and if it was used, it was used inappropriately (i.e. playing videos recorded from the history channel for an entire class). Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to my 2 week long cram course, with a 4 hour history lesson every day. Fortunately, to my surprise, this professor found a new, intriguing way of using technology to enhance his history lectures. Every day, our class of about 30 would come into class and sit in our seats, all facing the front of the classroom. The professor would lecture the entire class using PowerPoint to enhance his lecture. However, the difference between how this professor used PowerPoint compared to how other professors use PowerPoint is that he used it for visual purposes only. There were no notes on his PowerPoints; only pictures. This professor would use his own notes to lecture from, along with the many MANY pictures that he had compiled into a PowerPoint. This technique really worked for me because usually when professors provide notes on a PowerPoint, I get compulsive and have to write down every word verbatim, causing me to miss anything that the professor is lecturing. Therefore, by not providing any notes, I was forced to actively listen and only write down the information that I felt was important to know for the test, which would make sense to me when studying the notes later since they were in my own words, and not the professor’s. Also, considering that I’m a visual learner, using pictures really enhanced my understanding of history. In the past, history teachers and professors have used a lecture only approach, which obviously has been ineffective in my case. By adding the use of visuals, I was able to create a mental image of the parts of history that were taught. This really helped me to remember the information and allow me to recall the information when it came to his written tests. Not only that, but for once I was able to find myself having intelligent conversations with friends and family about history because of my new found understanding of it. I can’t possibly put into words the impact this professor made on my views of history by his unique use of technology, but I can say that if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t have an appreciation for the past, which is actually really important because history is what shaped the country we know as America, today.

Technology in my Classroom

To be perfectly honest, I haven't really thought about the technology my teachers have used in the classroom until now. I have watched many videos during my years in school and I have seen a number of Power Point presentations. I haven't really ever thought about how these things have affected my learning, but now that I think about it, there have been a couple of times that my teachers have used to technology to enhance my learning experience.
Last semester my Foundations of Education teacher used a Power Point presentation to teach the class about the history of education. He lectured on the history of schools and school houses and then broke the class into groups to do a short group assignment. While we were completing the assignment the teacher left the pictures of old school houses cycling through on the Power Point. While I was doing the assignment, I looked at the pictures cycling over and over again. After the class was over I continued to remember those pictures on the screen in front of the classroom. I still remember them and they remind me of what the school houses of long ago looked like. The pictures even helped me to do better on my test. I really enjoyed those pictures and they really helped me to remember what I learned in class that evening.
Another time that I remember a teacher using technology that helped me to learn, was when I was in High School. My biology teacher used to show the class videos that went into more detail about what he had lectured on that week. We would watch the videos every Friday. They were usually related to animals or whatever else we learned that week. Not only were the videos enjoyable, but I still remember the things the videos covered. That visual stimulation really imprinted on my brain what my teacher was trying to teach me and my other classmates. To this day I really think that videos are a great way to enforce something students have learned, or even a great way to introduce a new subject.

Technology in classroom

One way, and the most recent way that I remember using technology effectively for a class was in my Childrens' Lit class last semester here at Towson. We had a textbook for that class that was very thorough and well written. It was so thorough that there was a website that "accompanied" the book. Every so often there would be a "listen here" marker printed in italics. What one had to do was go to the website and find the code that matches up to the place in the book to listen to sound clips/interviews, watch videos or read articles--all expanding on the text. Our teacher would assign what she called on "read and listen" every week, so that we could discuss our findings the very next week in class. I know this is using very basic technologies, but I think it is ingenious how the textbook incorporated a very thorough website to act as a bridge to help connect and expand/elaborate upon the written text. And I can see using books like these in the future with my students. It is far more engaging than only reading dull texts.

Classroom Technology

One class that i used technology to learn was in my physical science class. Everyday 75% of the class was time for us to do hands on activities. Sometimes we had to use computers for simulations. We were able to use the computer to demonstrate what we would be doing if we were doing it as an experiment. It allowed me to change the values and see what would happen in different situations. One time we learned about gases and used the simulation to learn that. It was worth while to use because you cant see gas molecules changing in any real life experiment. We were able to use the simulation for that. We looked at things being heated and cooled and what happens to their molecules. It really helped everyone to visualize what it looks like when something is heated rather than just writing it down in notes. Everyone in the class enjoyed using the simulations and used them as a way to remember it. We were able to write down the answers to what was going on in a workbook. As well, our teacher made drawings on the chalk board and each group drew what it looked like in the glass on the board. It was a fun lesson and I still remember everything that I did it in.

Technology in my classroom.

Technology in the classroom is a great idea. It gives teachers and students the chance to go beyond the boring textbooks and put their own creativity to learning. I don't recall my teachers using technology in the classrooms until my sophomore year in high school. Then, I was able to take computer classes that taught us how to type correctly. The rest of my years in high school didn't involve too much technology. Every now and then we'd get to use computers for research, but that was it.
When I started to attend Cecil Community College, there was more and more technology available in the classrooms. One teacher that I had at Cecil used technology every class. During my first two years of college I had this teacher for Educational Psychology and Child Growth and Development. These classes had about 15-20 students in it. For every class meeting she had a PowerPoint presentation created to explain the chapter we were studying. She also gave everyone a print out of the presentation so we could take notes on it. I enjoyed this technology because it gave a me a visual view of the material [and not just an old textbook view] plus space to take notes myself. Also during these classes we had many chances to make PowerPoint presentations for different projects, as well as time to research on the school computers.
Without this technology in the classroom, I think the class would have been less interesting because we would have been reading out of the textbook everyday. With the computer in the classroom we were able to see her input on the chapters through the PowerPoint, plus we were able to view videos from the internet. Technology is a great benefit for the classroom and I feel the more technology available for students and teachers, the better.

How technology was integrated into my classroom

As far as I can remember technology has been integrated into my classrooms. There is a vast amount of technology that my teacher's have used to share information with their students. Starting with computers to do research, an overhead projector and elmo to communicate with the class, powerpoint presentations to share information and television to show movies or t.v. clips.
There is a specific time when I can remember one of my teachers sharing their information with my class via a powerpoint presentation to help my peers and I learn. After the presentation my teacher then brought in the television for us to view a movie about the discussed topic. I was in my 11th grade, AP environmental science class. At the time my teacher was introducing the topic of pollution and how if humans continue to pollute the earth it could result in serious measures, such as global warming. My teacher introduced to us the basic information about pollution, erosion, and serious world disasters caused by pollution through a powerpoint presentation. The powerpoint was extremely effective because on the slides there were only a few words and my teacher went into more detail about each bullet point to elaborate on the topics. He also incorporated many eye catching pictures that held the class's attention and interest. I thought by integrating this form of technology into the classroom it was extremely beneficial. My reasoning for this is, rather then my teacher simply lecturing to the class he found a way to incorporate technology to make the topic more appealing. The inclusion of the pictures really helped the lesson go smoother over all. Rather then the students asking questions such as, what does pollution look like, or what did some of the natural disasters look like, the pictures the teacher provided on the powerpoint slides answered our questions for us. Furthermore, after my teacher presented us with the written information via powerpoint he allowed us to watch a video on the television that was in the class. The movie he let us view was, The Day After Tomorrow. After viewing this movie I had a better understanding of how important it is to keep our earth clean and free of pollution. I thought his approach towards furthering our understanding of the topic by using technology in the classroom was a fantastic idea. I can truly say that both my classmates and I enjoyed listening to our teacher's powerpoint presentation and viewing the video. This lesson left such an impact on my learning that I can still remember it to this day. Without the technology that my teacher used to get his information across, the lesson would have been less interesting, ordinary, and less creative. I greatly feel that technology has a postive impact on education. -Jenna S.

Blog Assignment #1

Technology has been used by my teachers throughout my entire educational experience. I can remember working on computers since the early grades of Elementary school and my professors currently use various forms of technology to teach my classes today. These include using computers for powerpoint presentations, word processing, and the internet for research or communication. My teachers have also used videos, DVDs, and electronic devices that allowed us to respond to the teacher's questions in class. Although I have found these technologies to be interesting and helpful, I can only think of a few instances where technology really helped me understand a concept.
One time that this happened was in my middle school science classes when we would always watch the Bill Nye the Science Guy videos. This helped my classmates and me to understand and learn about scientific concepts that we could not experiment with ourselves. The way that these specific videos are set up allows the audience (the students) to make predictions along the way about what is going to happen when Bill does his experiment and why that would occur, then to watch the actual results and get an explanation of why the experiment went that way. Since this allowed us to visually see the experiment rather than just hear about it, it was a great way to create a deeper understanding of the concepts. It was integrated into the instruction because my teacher would then have us discuss what we thought of the experiment, relate it to previous knowledge, and sometimes have us perform a related experiment.
Another example of technology in the classroom was in high school English, where we were reading The Iliad. Our teacher found a great website where you could quiz yourself on your knowledge and understanding of the characters and events. You could not move on to the next set of trivia questions until you answered the first ones correctly. This encouraged us to go back to the book and look for the correct answers, which led to a very strong understanding of the story. Our teacher would use the game as a discussion point in class where we could talk about what different parts of the book symbolized. This integration of technology allowed us to assess and increase our own learning while having fun, which is always a positive way to engage students. The only problem with this was that the game was assigned as homework, so any students without internet access would have trouble completing the questions. This is something to take into consideration when using technology as an outside assignment.
-Chrissy C

My Teachnobiography

I would say that I have some experience with technology. I was introduced to computers while in elementary school. When I was in the third grade, all the students in third grade were given a free dell computer. Dell workers came to all of our houses and installed computers and many of the classes had computer based work and homework. I was able to create homework and send it to my teachers. Since, I have used technology for school and for recreation. I am familiar with powerpoint and word documents, and researching on the internet. I am also familiar with music technologies like using CD players and radios and I can use and Ipod. I am really not that familiar with using technology to create new things, like websites or digital editing. Technology plays an important role in my life because I feel like I use it everyday and depend on it everyday. I feel like researching items for school would be completely different if I had to go and find hard copies in books of the items I needed to be familiar with, because of how technology has made the task much quicker and easier.