Movie for Instructional Technology Fall 2009

Technology to Help the Teaching and Learning Process in the Classroom

So far in this semester I have learned a lot about using different aspects of technology to help the teaching and learning process in the classroom. By using a teacher web page I will be more accessible to my students and their parents, and also this will help in keeping track of assignments for the students sake. They would simply have to just get on my teacher web page and check what would be due the next day. Another aspect of using technology in the classroom is the use of web quests. By using these online tools I would help students to be able to look up accurate information for the web quest, be an autonomous learner, and help them for the future in finding information online, instead of using Wikipedia or another sight that might give them the wrong information. The web quest gives students an opportunity to look for the correct information on legitimate websites. Another tool that I was so excited to learn about was the Windows Movie Maker! I loved getting to find things online to use at Creative Commons, or use my own videos and pictures, to make movies. I could definitely use these in the classroom to show my students different ways to do something, or even use a video online to instruct my students in how to do something. The final thing that I learned would help me in the classroom a lot is blogging. By having my students use blogs I can get their feedback on readings from class and how certain lessons affected them personally. These blogs would also be great for the students to use personally in their lives, especially after they have been through my class. I feel that I can successfully use these, and many more, technological tools in the teaching and learning process in my classroom thanks to the Instructional Technology class here at Malone University. This class has helped me to be more comfortable with using technology in the classroom, and to have a better understanding of how it can reach all the different types of learners that will pass through my classroom door when I become a teacher.

Podcasting

Podcasting is a great way for anyone to make a recording for any reason. Podcasts can be a variety of things: music, an explanation of how to do something, or a report given by someone. Anyone can make and use a podcast because they are easy to do and listen to! As a teacher I would use podcasts to help students listen to certain speeches (such as a Lincoln impersonator giving the Gettysburg Address), let my students hear different languages used during different periods in time, or make a podcast to explain a project that I might want them to do by following certain explanations (this would be easy for students to access at home on the internet, that way they can't lose it as with a piece of paper). There are some pros and cons of podcasting that are important for teachers to understand when using them. Pros are evident in having things more accessible to students outside of the classroom. A teacher could use any kind of podcast online, or use their own podcast on their teacher website. This helps students to be able go online and listen to the podcast at their leisure, instead of having to do it in the class itself. This helps especially so that students could do projects at home and give time for instruction in the classroom, instead of having them work on projects during instructional time. Cons of podcasts would be that the students would need the initiative to listen to the podcasts and do the work required from the podcasts. Another con of using a podcast would be that not all students have access to the internet, or even to a computer sometimes, so it would also be important to offer students time to go to the media center and use the facilities there, since they do not have any at home.

Ethics in Teaching

Ethics is an important topic when it comes to teaching. The definition of ethics that I follow in my life is whether something is morally wrong or right to do. This definition of ethics that I follow also depends on the virtue of the person. A virtuous person would know that something is morally wrong, not want to do the moral wrong, and not do that moral wrong. Someone that would not do the moral wrong, but still want to would not be considered a virtuous person.

As a teacher it is important that I think ethically on all decisions. Without the ability to think ethically on things, and determine whether something is ethically right or wrong, then I won't be acting as, or being, a virtuous person. Through acting in an ethically moral way my relationships with my students and colleagues will benefit because I would be a dependable person to rely on for them in many ways. Colleagues would know that I am dependable in matters dealing with students, curriculum, administration, and rules. Students would know that I am dependable so that they can come to me to help them and that I would be fair to them all, having no favorites and treating everyone the same.

Being concerned with ethics has many pros and cons dealing with it. Some pros are that it helps in relations with students, parents, and colleagues. Another pro would be that it helps with a persons self-morality. If a teacher practices moral ethics in all ways of life, not just in the schools, then they would become an all-around morally ethical, and virtuous, person. Cons of being concerned with ethics is that it might cause a teacher to make a decision that could hurt someone because they might have to break confidence because it goes against what is morally right. This could hurt relationships with students or colleagues. Being morally ethical is a difficult thing to work towards, but it is important when being a teacher to know what is right or wrong, to want to do what is right, and to do what is morally right in life.

Virtual Tours

A virtual tour is either a presentation of pictures, video, or a model. Virtual tours can be of anything, educational or not. Many that would be good for the educational process and in lessons are tours of museums or exhibits, historical sites, zoos, geographical landmarks, and things all over the world. I could use a virtual tour in my classroom when teaching on the Civil War and show the students different battlegrounds from the war. I could also use one when teaching on ancient Greece or Roman history. Virtual tours of the ruins left from that time gives the students a look at what they look like now in the modern world. These virtual tours are great for letting students get a different look on something involved in a lesson. Many students like to watch movies or videos so the use of a virtual tour would grab the students' attention and get them interested in the topic. One bad thing that virtual tours have on them is that there are not always virtual tours of the information you are looking for to present. Another problem that the virtual tours have is that they do not always have the information on them that a teacher is looking for in their lesson plans.

Teacher Web Pages

A teacher Web page is an online site that a teacher uses for many reasons. These reasons could be to have a different form of contact with students and their parents. Students that are absent from class may stay up-to-date on assignments and lessons. For a teacher to have a teacher Web page it is opening up to the community so that there is an involvement and relationship between the community, classroom, teacher, and students. When I am a teacher and have a Web page I will most likely use it for communication between students, their parents, and myself. This communication will be great for instruction on assignments and keeping track of grades for the students. Having a teacher Web page can have many pros and cons. Some pros are that it is another form of communication between parents, students, administrators, and the teacher. Another pro for a teacher Web page is that it allows students, whether they missed class or not, to keep track of assignments and whether they have them done or not. Students can contact teacher for anything dealing with an assignment and grading. Cons of having a teacher Web page are that it does take up a lot of time to maintain and keep up-to-date. A teacher already has a packed schedule so finding the time to have a teacher Web page and work on it everyday is hard for a teacher sometimes. Another con of having a teacher Web page is that sometimes students and parents don't use it because they never have time to check or anything. Because of this the teacher would be wasting time doing something on the page when no one would even be using it, instead of focusing more on the classroom.

WebQuests

A WebQuest is an activity that is web-based and asks students to search online for answers to questions pertaining to the lesson in the classroom being taught. The students go to the WebQuest and click on the link hot-list to search for the answers to questions provided about a lesson from the classroom, therefore integrating the use of technology in the classroom. It is important for teachers to understand and have knowledge of using WebQuests in the classroom, that way students are experiencing different techniques in the process of learning about a topic.
The WebQuests would be good for me to use in the classroom when i become a high school history teacher because students of that age group are very interested in the technological world. Using this technology will help them to become more interested and involved in the learning process. An example of something I would use a WebQuest for in the classroom is to answer questions dealing with a history lesson on the Great Depression. The students could find out more information on the Internet than in the textbook about the causes of the Great Depression, the culture during that time, and how America was brought out of such a slump. This would be a great opportunity for students that have trouble with learning through lecture or other teaching strategies to excel at something that truly interests them.
Some pros of using a WebQuest would be that it integrates a new way of learning into the classroom through technology. The generation of today is one that was practically born at a computer. At an even younger age than before students are excelling at mastering technology so WebQuests are a great tool to use in the classroom in bringing this skill to use. Another pro would be that students would learn more about information on the subject from the Internet than what is presented in the textbooks.
Cons of WebQuests is that as a teacher one must make sure to check that the WebQuest and its resources are valid. Another con is that there are not WebQuests for all areas that students should learn about, so a teacher must choose carefully what they will be using WebQuests for in their lessons. A con that might make teachers not want to use WebQuests for their lessons is the amount of time that they take to complete. Varying versions of WebQuests could take from a single week up to a whole month, therefore taking up valuable time in the classroom for other lessons and learning.