Petcha Kutcha

The end has finally come.. a little bitter sweet I must say!
Here is what i have learned in ICT!

What Does the Future Hold

I remember when I first started school, We had one computer in the classroom and we were still using floppy disks! Hahaha! I cannot believe how much technology has changed over the last decade and some. I have a strong feeling that it will continue to change, grow, and expand beyond what we can imagine. Seeing students without some sort of device will be rare and when we do, you can be sure to see it in the news (maybe?).

The K-12 Horizon Report is a report that examines emerging technologies and what their impact will be on teaching, learning, inquiry based learning, and higher education. It looks to answer questions such as:

• What key technologies will be most important for teaching, learning, and inquiry based learning over the next five years?
• What technologies are missing from our list? What established technologies should all educational institutions be using?
• What kinds of challenges related to teaching, learning, and inquiry based learning will arise over the next five years?

Some Key Trends:

• Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning, and collaborative models
• Social media is changing the way people interact, present ideas and information, communicate with one another.
• Making online learning natural

Some Challenges:

• There needs to be a greater emphasis on professional development in technology
• The push to have more students enter undergraduate education is placing pressure across the system.

Edublog (Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching)

I have been following Kirsten Thompson since she skyped in with us a while back! I decided to follow her blog because she is a first year teacher and it is neat to see how she has established herself. I love how she has incorporated technology into her classroom, even though she has been limited in some ways, using Symbaloo to organizer her units, teaching students how to use Symballo, creating plns, and I am sure much more.  I have also enjoyed reading her classroom blog and seeing what her students are learning. I especially like the Coke and Mentos experiment :)! Hope that went well! I also like that she has shared resources that she has found in her blog and what her favorite websites are for different subject areas. I will definitely be checking out some of these resources.

Anyways you should totally check out her blog, her classroom blog and her website!

Whole Brain Teaching
http://misslwholebrainteaching.blogspot.ca/p/contact-miss-l.html
Website
http://thompsonclassroom.weebly.com/
Classroom Blog
http://www.mrstsclassroom.blogspot.ca/

Show & Tell

I haven't used apps very much, other than playing candy crush on my sisters iPhone. But I like the idea of using different apps (with appropriate technology) to enhance student learning as well as using apps as a practice tool. One app that I found is called Pocket Anatomy. I think it would be a great app to use when teaching about the human body, both in middle years and high school.

Another great app that I found is called Math 42. It is an app for students from grade 5 to grade 12. It can help with homework to preparing for tests. It also gives students step by step solutions.

Internet: Good OR Bad? That is the Question

Last week in ICT, Mike had us get into groups and discuss what our views were on the internet. Is the internet good or bad? Listed below is what we came up with in our groups.

Pros

• Information is easily accessible
• It is fast
• You can make connections with people all over the world.
• Great for sharing opportunities
• Great for creating communities
• Social Networking
• It makes live easier
• Have all the information at our finger tips

Cons

• Once something is posted, it is always it can never be truly deleted
• It can make us intellectually lazy (Who needs to think of their own ideas when there is google?
•  It can be dangerous if students don't have a background knowledge in the topics that they are looking up
• Hoax websites
• Creates shorter attention span in students

Our class conclusion was that the internet is good and can be used in so many great ways. Mike also made the point that the internet is not neutral. The internet and technology changes the way we do things, the way we learn. I thought that was a great point. It was argued previously in our group discussion that the internet in itself is neutral and it depends how you use it. We also need to however make students aware of the dangers of using the internet and we need to teach them how to use it properly!

Videos in the Classroom

I really like the idea of using videos in the classroom. Videos can enhance a student's learning by engaging them, re-enforcing what they have already learning, getting their attention, and getting them interested in ideas/topics. Videos are also great for reaching students with a variety of learning styles. Students get the visual as well as the audio. Videos are also great for staying connected with the world. You can view different parts of the world at anytime. Not only that but you can also skype with people from all over the place and have them talk to students about what they are learning. Video can also help explain concepts in such a way that makes it easier for students to understand.

I haven't used videos very much in my student teaching placements but that is something that I want to start doing because I think that it makes learning more engaging for students. The first video is a Bill Nye the Science Guy video on Electricity. I would show this either at the beginning of the unit to get students interested in the topic or I would show it at the end to reinforce students' learning.

The second video is on the quadratic formula and it is a song! I would use this in high school pre-calculus. I remember my teacher showing us this video and I remembered the quadratic formula for a long long time because it was a tune that was stuck in my brain! Watch it if you get a chance, its a catchy tune and funny.

I would also have my students create videos. I think creating videos would be a great way for students to show their learning and it is also a fun and engaging way to do it! If the school allowed it, I would have students upload their videos on Youtube because that is where their work will get noticed and not only that, they are able to share with the world the work that they are proud of. Students can also get positive feedback from people they don't know. I think that this is a good way to boost student confidence in school.

PLN's

What are PLN's?

PLN is an acronym for Professional Learning Network. Teachers (and people in general) have always had professional learning networks whether they were aware of it or not.  It is how we connect with other educators/people in real time or outside of it and gather resources in order to make ourselves become better teachers. The ability for our professional learning networks to grow was limited before technology came into play but has expanded immensely since then. We have the ability to connect with people anytime, anywhere and talk about our interests and build a plethora of resources for ourselves. My PLN seems pretty basic right now but I know as years come and go, my PLN will change dramatically as will the PLN's of our students.

I used mindmeister to create both of these PLN's