Sunday, July 20, 2014

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking creates new and exciting ways to organize information. Social bookmarking allows the public to use resources that someone might have book marked and can be helpful, It enhances the learning experience and encourage group work within the classroom. social bookmarking can allow a shy student to develop potential for learning and may help the student get involved in classroom participation. Using social bookmarking in a classroom can be very resourceful for student and teachers, making it easier for one to find information. Pintrest is one of the popular social bookmarking sites. With an unlimited amount of resources for recipes, research papers, or even just for someone being curious, compared to normal bookmarking browsers which are limited. I myself have yet to social bookmark but I find it very interesting. Social bookmarking is a remarkable resource for students and teachers all over, so I encourage the use of this particular classroom aid.

Visual Learning

Some people are visual learners, some are audio learners. I was always one of those people who better understood a lesson that was being lectured. Over the years I have found my self learning and understanding a lesson better with hands on material. In a classroom I think that visual learning would be better for most of the kids because you not only need the lecture part to get instilled into their minds but you also need to create some type of visual canvas for them to get a visual of the knowledge they are attaining. You know the "bigger picture"! One of the most popular visual learning aids today is YouTube. YouTube plays a huge role in my college career, from helping me with homework to using a sample of a video included in my projects. Bottom line visual learning tools can be great but it can also be a bad thing because of the fact that we as educators and even regular people do not have control of what gets uploaded.

Reflection

I really enjoyed retaking EDTC 245! I am comfortable and enjoy working with technology and I feel as though I have obtained knowledge I lacked at the beginning of this class. I would use all the projects that i have completed while in this class. I thank everyone for their feedback and comments that helped me better understand. I am also very thankful for my instructor for always helping me when needed and lord knows it was often in that short time!

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Collaborative Learning Tools

It has taken me a while to comprehend what collaborative learning consist of but I think I understand it better now. "Bubbl.us" is one of the easiest web tools that I have seen thus far. Its practical brainstorming but on the computer, using bubble maps or a thinking web. "Polleverywhere" is a website sort of like posting several survey question and it allows anyone to give feedback. I would use this website for maybe a mathematics and or science class. If I were assigned a research topic were I had to gather information  in groups and populations. "Wikispaces" is a great learning tool for any student who has a hard time with assessing their own essays and research papers. I think this would be an awesome asset to me academic career. This learning tool allows other students and peers to assess, peer edit, and make changes to your papers. while these are all helpful and creative tools, being that they are all three web based I imagine that one might encounter some web glitches. 
[Brainstorming Web]    http://oneextradegree.blogspot.com/2012/09/nose-to-grindstone-mode.html
                                            

Sunday, July 6, 2014

virtual learning tools

Virtual tools are somewhat of the "it" thing in classrooms across the nation. I am all for virtual learning tools whether it be live web homework sessions, interactive whiteboards, or even learning apps. I think if you incorporate them in the lesson plans they can be an advantage not only for the teacher but also for the student. When implementing virtual learning tools into a lesson it can be a big help for an educator, These tools can allow a teaching to have more of an Interactive role in maybe a homework assignment while using interactive web teaching strategies allowing the student live help. Interactive whiteboards in classrooms allow students to be able to not only mentally understand the lesson at hand but also physically solve the problems, making learning fun, creative and hands on. Kids now days are more comfortable with technology, take advantage of their likes and dislikes, using learning apps can be really fun to. Learning apps give kids a different way of understanding problems whether it be math, spelling, science or just playing games and having fun. either way the student walks away knowing something new. All these tools at hand in or out of classrooms can aid students in becoming successful!