Blog Post 3

I feel like I am pretty prepared to teach the W/WHST.8 "Use Multiple Sources" standards. I have had to evaluate sources for credibility and include information found in these sources properly without plagiarizing them almost on a daily basis for my college classes. I feel like a have practiced the content of these standards enough that I would have no problem teaching them. I feel that the SL.5 "Use Digital Media" standards will be the hardest for me to teach because I do not know how to do any advanced functions with the different digital media. For example, I am unaware of how to add an audio recording to a presentation and according to the standards, that is something that should be taught in the fourth grade.

I would like to learn how to use and create more graphics on any program such as powerpoint in order to help teach younger students around the 1st grade age group. Children often need hands on experience/practice or a visual representation to help them grasp certain information and I would love you use technology to help aid in that process. I would also love to use a class website that would link to other useful and educational game websites that the students could use during their free time. The digital citizenship guidelines I would be most likely to address are "Students can demonstrate the technology skills necessary to use and participate on the web" and "Students can demonstrate "netiquette in their web interaction." These are more likely to be addressed because the children in that age group would still need a lot of help and guidance on the internet and with technology so their web interaction would be very monitored and quite limited.

I had so much fun creating the newsletter. I had no idea how to do the continuous page break to make the columns start after the title. That trick could have helped me with a lot of projects in high school. I really like that this assignment is something that is so useful to future teachers. Newsletters are a part of school during most of your life. I still get honors program newsletters today in college. I think practicing using these tools will result in a better familiarity with the program and a better finished product. I will hopefully be able to send out aesthetically pleasing and informative newsletters to get various information across in my future career.

Blog Post 2

Microsoft Word is something that I have had to use as a student for as long as I can remember. It is an essential tool when writing papers and completing most assignments. I know most of the basics such as creating a very simple outline, typing a paper, changing the margins/indentation/font, and adding an image. Most of my teachers use Microsoft Word to create handouts, syllabi, the guidelines/ rubrics for assignments, and tests and assessments. It seems that many of my teachers in the past have had a good understanding of Word and are at least at the same skill level as myself.

Copyright and fair use are important concepts that influence educators and education. When I was in high school, I was in a graphic design program. We used Adobe Photoshop daily. I was, and I still am, a perfectionist so I often had extra edits I wanted to finish outside of class. The big issue was that Photoshop is a very expensive program to purchase. The school had legally purchased and owned the software license to use Photoshop, but I would have to purchase this as well if I wanted to download the software on my personal computer. This was a common problem for the educators that taught us because we had big projects and only a limited class time to do them. Many of us cannot just afford to buy Photoshop on our personal computers so the solution that the school administrators and teachers came up with was to have an open computer lab after school for some students to utilize the program. If i was an educator, I would agree with this solution to the problem at hand. I would explain to my students why I could not just copy the program to a flash drive for them. I would explain that it is a crime to do such things and that it is not fair and could get me and them into trouble.  I would also explain that proper citation should be in place if you use someone else's research or work and I would use simple assignments such as building a bibliography to get my point across and assess the students understanding. 

The types of issues technology implementation in education can cause are as follows: legal issues, social issues, and ethical issues. One of the main legal issues of education technology implementation is acceptable use. This is what is appropriate and inappropriate for students to access and use on the internet when at school. A solution to this issue is monitoring the students carefully and making sure they only use approved websites by installing filtering software onto classroom computers as an extra precaution.  Another legal issue presented is student privacy. I would protect my students privacy by only posting pictures of my class if approved by parents and by never posting any information about my students online. I would also be sure that I am the only one looking at students work. A social issue that can come up is cyberbullying. Most of cyberbullying will happen outside of the classroom; however, I would help prevent it by raising awareness with my students and helping them learn the best ways to deal with cyberbullying when they see it. I would let my students know how harmful their actions and words can be. Technology can be a great tool in education, but only if the right precautions are used and implemented. 

Blog Post 1

Technology can be a useful tool in the classroom and is an essential tool for today's students to learn to be better prepared for modern day life. Teaching students the basic functions of technology ensures that they can succeed in life outside of the classroom. Today, technology is used for communication, administrative tasks, presentations, lesson planning, etc.; however, technology can also have some setbacks. Finances are something to keep in mind when incorporating technology into the classroom. Not every student will have the resources to use this technology at home to practice and not every school can afford to buy various technologies. It is also time consuming to teach and integrate technology into an already established school environment. These are just some setbacks to consider when deciding if technology should be integrated and used in schools.

The ISTE standards are the technical skills and information that students, teachers, and people need to have and use to be successful and thrive in modern society. It makes me happy that the standard "Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity"  is included because creativity is often lost in many school assignments. It is important for teachers to help students creatively problem solve using digital means. "Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments" is one standard that is outside of my current skill set. I am able to use basic functions of programs and technology as a whole; however, I am not confident enough in my skills to come up with effective activities to promote learning and assessment.

I agree with calling today's youth "digital natives." This term means that they just assume technology as a basic part of life and do not generally remember a life without it. I have seen many of my teachers (digital immigrants) struggle to use advanced technology and I have even seen them be taught how to use said technology by their students. Digital natives tend to pick up how to use new technology faster than digital immigrants and in my experience are much more exited and willing to use new technology when it is released. This has made my learning experience less technology based. When we were assigned an assignment regarding the use of technology it was often not helpful to go to our teachers with questions. Due to this, much of my learning was "old school" book and paper learning. I believe that my future students, having grown up with such advanced technology as well as having parents and teachers who are also well versed in technology will be even more comfortable with advanced technology and use it more frequently than previous generations.

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I am not very experienced using technology. I can comfortably use Word, Power Point, Adobe Photoshop and various social media platforms. It takes me a while to be comfortable using new technology and new programs; however, I can learn the basics of a program relatively quickly.

I hope to learn how to more efficiently use Microsoft Excel during my time in the class because it is a commonly used program in my work office. I have used Excel to make charts and documents for my coworkers; however, it usually takes me a long time to figure out how to create the document the way my boss wants me to set it up. I hope that taking this class will make me a more efficient employee.

I was very interested to see the results for the learning style test because I had taken the same test in high school. It was interesting to see that I have somewhat the same results because I feel that I learn in a very different way since starting college. I have always been a reflective and verbal learner and I was very excited to see that taking notes and summarizing them in my own words is helpful to me because I often use that study technique when preparing for a test. This reassures me that I am studying in the best ways for my learning style.