Chapters 8 and 9 demonstrated to me the various ways that teachers can use technology to get their students actively involved in learning. Additionally, technology has changed the way that teachers can reach their students even when they are not in the classroom. Hosting an online discussion about a particular topic allows a teacher to respond in real time to their students commentary. Using a website or a blog can allow a teacher to communicate changes in assignments, hold online office hours (which I thought was a great idea), publish student work so that they can share it with everyone, and even share information for parents about assignments their children are doing.
Use of e-mail has changed the ways teachers interact with their students as well. Teachers can now be reached via e-mail if a student has a question about a specific assignment, if they are going to be late handing in an assignment, etc. E-mail is also a way in which teachers can have online office hours. However, while reading the chapter I couldn't help but think to myself that there needs to a be a limit somewhere. Teachers should not be expected to be able to respond to e-mails at every hour of the day and on weekends. Therefore, the teacher needs to set limits on when they will answer e-mails. For instance, I teacher can say that they will answer student e-mails at five o'clock on Monday and Wednesday, and any night before exams. This way, students have a clear idea as to when they should expect their questions to be answered. Otherwise, they will have to ask them in class.
Reading in chapter 9 about how video is a popular and effective multimedia teaching tool of course made me think of the video I made for this class. I like the idea of making videos with iMovie and posting them on a teacher website so that my students can get primers on various topics. Perhaps that is something I will try in my classroom at some point in my career. I think that video is a great medium for students because it can appeal to both visual and auditory learners depending on how the video is made. The more students you can reach, the better, and technology can help us teachers do that in an effective way.
I also like the section on PowerPoint because it gave some good ideas on how to make a presentation more interesting. Instead of just putting what you would write on the board in a PowerPoint format, you can use the program as an additive to your teaching. That is, simply reading off of a PowerPoint may cause students to tune out. However, if you use slides as a guideline and use anecdotes and insightful information to add to them, you are more likely to reach your students.
Two questions arose from the readings:
1. How would you limit the amount of time you spend answering questions online so that you could "leave work at work?"
2. Do you see yourself using PowerPoint in the future? Why or why not?
Alexa thoughts
10 years ago
Yes I see myself using PowerPoint in the future. I think it's an excellent tool to use for visual learners. In the classroom I'm observing the teacher uses PowerPoint in in her classroom and she adds videos and other art clips in her PowerPoints. I think it's a great tool to get students more engaged and involved.
ReplyDeleteI see my self using powerpoint in the future because I learned that there is so much more that can be done on PowerPoint besides just having basic slides for students. I would use powerpoint in the future to build an educational game for students to review content for an upcoming quiz or test. i would also use powerpoint to post visuals, audio, and text for all the different learners inside of the classroom. There are many things that I can control using powerpoint such as time management. I can give a timed quiz using powerpoint slides by providing students with 2-3 minutes per slide. There are many lessons that powerpoint can help me with in the near future and I'm enjoying the process of improving my current skills in building slides that are attention-teeters for my future students.
ReplyDelete