Digital Badge #B- Chapter 2

In reading the second chapter to our book, I found several topics I want to touch on.

  The first part that I want to talk about is the part about apps for teaching and learning. I find it to be really incredible that apps can now be used in the classroom. Teachers can use these to help the students to be more engaged on what they are learning about. It is cool that apps are not just being made for games and social media, now you can find apps for science, math, history, and a lot of other topics. Students today are lucky for the technology that they have at their fingertips, they have so many resources for finding information and it only takes seconds. Before all of this students had to look up information in books which could sometimes take a while.

  The section on teaching philosophy was interesting to read about, I have read about teaching philosophies in previous classes but it is always a topic that grabs my attention. This section just briefly described the teacher-centered and student-centered philosophies.  Teacher-centered teaching is when the teacher is the only person talking.  Teachers who use this was of teaching use student scores from tests to determine which students have learned and which have not. Student-centered teaching is where teachers are solely there to ask questions and challenge their students.  Teachers who use this way of teaching create puzzles, ask questions and engage in conversations with their students. After reading this part I got to thinking about which philosophy I would go by in my classroom and I came to the conclusion that I would go with the student-centered one, I feel students would thrive more if taught this way.

 
Another thing that caught my attention while reading were the terms "digital natives" and "Digital immigrants" I have never heard of these terms. A digital native is a person who has grown up using instant and interactive computer and wireless technologies.  The book states that an average college grad has spent some 10,000 hours playing video games and 20,000 hours watching television, this statistic astonishes me, I find that hard to believe. This definitely proves that technology is taking over in this world it makes me wonder how many hours are spent on the internet on social media.

In conclusion, this chapter was very informative. It is information that is not just going to be read and forgotten like a lot of text book information, this is stuff that will be implemented when I become a teacher.

Resources-

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Barnes, A (2015, January 24). School,theres an app for that. Created with
Bitstrips http;//www.bitstrips.com

Digital Badge #A - Chapter 1

First I want to reflect on the term "iGeneration" I never really thought of myself as a part of this generation because I was never some 8 year old with a tablet or cell phone, but with reading the definition I do technically fit into this generation. I did grow up with technology all around me and I use it in my everyday life. I feel that the term "iGeneration" is interesting, it is strange to think that technology has taken over so much that it has claimed a whole generation. Children have become so tech savvy. Parents use tablets to distract their toddlers and to keep them behaved. So with technology becoming more and more vital in everyday life it is no surprise that teachers should start becoming well equipped with information on technology.


Something that I also found interesting in this chapter was the list of "must-have" technologies for the classroom. A teacher of the year had listed the technologies he thought were must-haves that he had used in his classroom, those being; A laptop, an interactive white board, a student participation system with clickers, and iPod and a smart phone. This definitely threw me off. When I was in elementary school the best technology I had to use a computer. I did not get to see a smart board or use a iPod in class. I did not know That some of these things could be used effectively in the class room. This leads me to believe that I have a lot to learn about using technology in the classroom.

It was also interesting to read the strategies for learning new technologies. Things like expanding your technology categories and creating small technology groups are good ways to become better at knowing the different technologies in the classroom. I found it interesting when I read " The rapid pace of technological change means that learning about and using must-have technologies will be ongoing as long as you teach." This shows that technology is not going away, new technologies are always going to arise and teachers need to realize this. Getting to know technologies and having them in your classroom is what teachers now have to do.

After reading this chapter I have now realized that I need to become more informed on the different technologies that are now being used in classrooms.

Citations

1. Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
2. "Technology in the Classroom: Digital Media." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2015.
3. Whittaker, Zack. "Defining the 'iGeneration': Not Just a Geeky Bunch of Kids | ZDNet." ZDNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.