DabbleBoard

DabbleBoard is a collaborative/communication tool. It works like a whiteboard but instead of just typing or drawing things on the blank screen, you can also include images on it. I think it can be useful when students are trying to work on a project together, they can show each other what kind of images they want to use/they find interesting and such. There is also a chatting function on the side, they can also do video/audio conversation over this chatbox.

My Portfolio Site

Here is a link to my Portfolio site:

Loretta's EDST 211 Portfolio

Finale

So here we are, the last week of winter term, finale of every class. It is time to reflect back to what we did, what we like and what we do not like about everything. EDST 211 class has been a very interesting class for me, especially the part where our daily assignments are to blog, we showed what we did through blogging (even now?). But the way our class structured is the foreshadow of the future classrooms in many other schools, or maybe it has been the intention all along : let us experience what it is like to be in a technological setting classroom. The past decade has been a turning point for all the educators and students in the education world. The education expectations of the new generation is going to be different. Technology has taken a big role in education. Aside from the fun students could have from playing computer games, Internet has provided educators and students different tools to use, and to take the learning to a next level. Making such change like this isn’t easy, it takes each and every one of us to make it happen. In our class, our PLN groups work as motivators, an inspiration, encouraging each of us to take a step to learn the newest technological tools. To experience, and hopefully to use it in future classrooms. I believe the future classrooms would be a hybrid that involves both traditional lectures and the use of technology. The use of technology allow us all the be creative, to think outside the box, because there seem to be no limit in World Wide Web! It has all kinds of tools that we have yet to discover. Us, future educators, have to be prepare for such a change and ready for the students whose expectations are going to be very different. They grow up as digital natives, computers and cellphones are not new vocabularies to them. We look outside the classroom and see a world that cannot live without Internet and other advancing technology tools. Then we look at the young students who are eager to learn more about the computers. It is time for all educators to understand that they are the bridge between the young generation and the reality world. What we want for our students is for them to be well prepared for what they are about to face after they get out of school! It is very important to break the traditional-sit-in-the-classroom-and-just-listen setting for students. After this class, I have thoroughly thought about what do I want to do with my future classroom. And I expect by then, computers would be widely used in schools. I think the best approach to blend traditional teaching and technology together is to teach the students the basics about certain topics in classrooms in a traditional setting, or maybe with SmartBoard lessons, then allow them to create projects out of the various technological tools. It is a vision of how I picture a future classroom would be, which I don’t think it’s impossible with such an accelerated growth of technology. Overall, my class experience have broaden my old views towards education, and has definitely prepared me to investigate more different new tools for future classrooms and lead the students towards a new world of technology.

eBistro

eBistro was a very creative website that showed viewers a restaurant with a menu in the middle. There are various types of educational technology tips provided on the menu for "customers" to feast on. I really enjoyed clicking around the menu. This type of website is definitely better than the boring formal detailed websites. It is appealing to the eye and more interesting than it looked like. The tips under each category (Appetizers, Specials, Desserts etc) are somewhat related. For example for the Desserts part, the tips are more of the fun side of technological tools. Like Photostory, they are the "icing on the cake".

Lists of things!

Technology Projects to Enhance Classrooms

1. Powerpoint Projects: Easy, formal for various kinds of presentation
2. Movie Projects: For an English project? Act out the stories they read
3. Photos Project: Take pictures of different living things in nature for Science
4. SmartBoard: They can create their own lessons for peers
5. Game making websites: They can have fun creating crosswords and learn at the same time!
6. Make their own website/blog: Make it like a journal every week, enhance writing skills

10 Projects Ideas Throughout School year

1. September: Mixbook - Introducing themselves to their peers using Mixbook
2. October: Blogger - Start a blog to type journal every week.
3. November: Glogster - Create a poster on history of Thanksgiving.
4. December: SmartBoard - Create a math lesson out with the topic of Christmas
5. January: Google Earth - Geography lessons and projects
6. February: Photo Story - About the people they love
7. March: Yola.com - Create a website about a state
8. April: Puzzlemaker - Make a puzzle on any subjects they like, and give out to peers
9. May: Quizlet - Create a quiz that they can test each other on, either spelling or math
10. June: Fotobabble: Reflecting on their school year

Google Site Rubric

This is the rubric we came out as a group. The general category that we would look into for each Google site is Interest, Spelling, Images, Navigation, Content and Appearance. We think that these are the qualities that a website should have. Interest means that if the viewers can be interested in this website by first sight. Spelling is very self explanatory, limited or none spelling or grammatical errors considered the best. Images, how each image goes with the topic of the page itself. Navigation, does the link take the viewers to the page they want to go? Content, is there a fully informative page or just a few lines jotted down. Last but not least, the appearance, the overall neatness and appeal of the website.

Fotobabble

I felt like I used this photo a lot, but I really liked it... Fotobabble is a tool that allow us to make talking photos. I like to experience this because this is a tool that students are more likely to use in their learning experience. They can embed their Fotobabble into their digital projects, or just presentations in any other subjects. Fotobabble has made it convenient for educators and students, to avoid the trouble of purchasing recording systems for each computer in school. There are also a lot of websites out there for teachers to create podcasts either to revise spelling words with students, or simply an introduction in the beginning of class.