Journal #2

Tech Tools

In the chapter two of our text I found several very interesting tech tool sections. But I decided to look over Tech Tool 2.1; Web resources for visual learning. Although many of the hyperlinks had been deactivated, the few I was able to access were a lot of fun. Molecular workbench is one website that I accessed that I found really intriguing. It is a scientific resource that has a great number of simulations at the students’ disposal. It has everything from biology to physics shown in a way that even someone that isn’t interested in science, like me, can enjoy and learn something from. I hope that I am able to find some of these great web resources for my students to utilize. I know that when teachers introduce new web sites to me I was always very excited to learn how to use the tools given and find new and fun ways to incorporate them in my educational and sometimes even home life. For example, the Wordle sight that was shown to us in our last class gave me a great idea for a humanities presentation I am working on. I have already incorporated it into my power point.

Summary

This chapter was all about utilizing technology for all of its benefits in a learning environment. As you will see in my response to the focus question below, Technology is a great tool to aid in the use of visual learning. But, although that is a wonderful was technology has helped with the educational system it does not begin to explain its immense impact. Whether you are a behaviorist, scientific cognitivist, or constructivist- technology can be an instrumental tool in taking your lessons and teachings to the next level. Teacher centered lesson plans can be devised using a number of different tech tools- whether it is something as simple as a power point made available online to help students study to something as complicated as organized online quiz where the teacher designs the questions and the student completes the exam. There are many ways to use technology to develop student centered lessons as well. You can assign children into groups and let them design their own blogs based on a book that they have read as a group- possibly having each student pose as a different character from that book. Although you set lose parameters it is up to the students to really take it to the next level. This is a great way to encourage collaborative learning for students to take part in outside of class from the comfort of their own home. The uses of technology are endless in a classroom, from online grade books to blogs for homework- it is something that can be constantly integrated into out educational world of the future.

Focus Question

How do students use technology for learning visually?

As we all know as future teachers and current students, everyone learns in different forms. Some are auditory learners that thrive best when listening to lectures and lessons read and explained aloud. Others need a much more hands on approach. And other still find that visualizing the objects of our lessons are the best way to absorb the knowledge. Technology is a great way to help those visual learning students you may have. I think we all know that teachers are almost always on a very limited budget. So, we can all safely assume that when a science teacher is doing a unit on the ocean- it is impossible for them to travel to the nearest ocean with their class and scuba dive down to the ocean depths to show them what creatures and plant systems lurk beneath the water. Technology makes this possible. You can use websites and or movies shot with high tech underwater camera equipment to show your students the real ocean life without taking them directly to it. All monetary costs aside there are some things that without technology even a very fortunate teacher with unlimited resources would find challenging to show her students. What if you were doing a lesson on outer space? Without the uses of telescopes and satellites and other high tech equipment the scientific community would know so little about the mysteries of our galaxies. Without those technologies we could not only visually show our students these marvels but we may not be able to explain them at all.

 

Same source as journal posting 1, "Transforming Learning with New Technologies"