This blogfolio is created for IT645, Computers in Education, during the summer semester 2016. It's composed of one blog page in which you'll be able to see my weekly course reflections and some artifacts, and other five standard pages as well. The standard pages are for reflecting on my experiences and thoughts towards each standard in the ISTE Standards, presenting related artifacts and showing my future learning goals. The course reflection may not be all inclusive, but at least you’ll get a basic idea of some certain aspects, such as what I have learned in the course, my experiences and reflections towards each tool, my strong and weak points as well as the future learning goals.
What I’ve learned in this class
Based on what I’ve read and accomplished in the course, I consider myself as being more knowledgeable of various educational technologies and the meaning of teacher’s role in the education. The textbook, Teaching & Learning with Technology, provides me, as a future teacher or instructional designer, the fundamental understanding of the relationship between technology and education. From the book, I’ve known that there are several standards set for aligning teaching and learning with the entire nation's level, tools for different learning objectives are quite abundant, learners’ various learning styles have significant influence on the teaching effects, DID models can be the guides for integration of technology in classroom, teachers should be familiar with technologies, foster their leadership and promote own professional development to better prepare students for the new era, etc. Except for the conceptual and cognitive learning through the textbook and the videos, working on the hands-on projects ensured me to test the functions of each tool and be more aware of the possible difficulties that my future students may encounter. The reflections towards each tool are depicted as following.
Reflections on the tools
Google Apps (Google Form, Google Slides & Google Docs). We first made the decision on our course topic and for the beginning projects, we used Google Form to create a technology background survey and applied Google Slides & Docs to create the presentation as well as a word document. For the last two projects, collaboration work among group members was required. I can imagine teachers using Google Apps to promote the collaboration among students and let them experience how to work together with your peers. Students are supposed to be aware of the importance of getting along well with their peers since this is one of the key components for their future academic life, especially in a world that easy communication happens everywhere with available technologies.
Podcast. The tool I used for this assignment is Audacity. Audacity is a free-download program for audio recording and audio editing. I’d like to use it in my future teaching practices by its advantage in reaching much more audiences and being able to satisfy different learning styles. Teachers can record course contents and then add other audio clips such as a piece of background music. Students with vision disabilities or auditory learners thus have the opportunity to choose the audio clip as their source of course content and fulfill their intellectual potential.
Movie Story. This project was done with iMovie. I used to edit videos in Windows Movie Maker, but iMovie became my first choice after I transferred to the MacBook. For a teacher, attracting learners’ attention throughout the whole class is essential but at the same time, challenging. Sometimes, embedding engaging elements can be a good choice. Movie story, being a combination of graphics, motion pictures, audio, and text, can match each learner’s needs even they are in different learning styles. Thus I’ll integrate iMovie in my future teaching.
EDpuzzle. EDpuzzle was applied to create interactive videos in which the video, either uploaded by the teacher or searched from other open platforms, such as YouTube, was split by questions. Students are supposed to watch videos first during which answer the questions in various types as well. The function of preventing learners from skipping video content ensures students' attention entirely focus on the topic. I’m going to use the tool in my future teaching since I want my course to be fun. Students who are used to the new fancy technologies need stimulating elements to maintain their learning passion. In response to that situation, EDpuzzle may be a good one in your teaching toolbox.
Blog & Forum. The similar functions of posting one’s reflections and replying to others bring these two tools together. During the course, students are in need of reflecting on several aspects, such as the course contents, the learning obstacles they met and how they solved it, self-explorations of the course topic, and any other learning activities. Usually, the process of writing reflections in blogs or forums enables learners to be aware of unfounded new angles and deep thoughts except for what they've already known about the course topics. Weebly.com and Nabble Forum are great tools to be embedded in the course for posting blogs and build forums.
Rubistar. In my opinion, the most obvious advantage of using Rubistar is that numerous templates of different topics are available. Based on the experiences gained from the project, I found that the program enables users to choose ideal subjects then the system would offer them a suggesting template. Users then could add or delete any sentences and certain rubrics in the template to customize it for the course activity needs. Being downloaded as the Microsoft Excel format, the rubrics can be easily altered if needed.
Quizizz. Although being similar to Kahoot, Quizizz has its unique values such as the function of creating asynchronous interactive quizzes. I’d like to integrate the tool in my future teaching since the quiz, both synchronous and asynchronous, allows me to assign it as homework for learners finishing it off-campus or to gather students in class and conduct a quiz game together. The ranking in the game encourages students' desire to get higher grades and thus, the learning effects can be improved.
Thinglink. Personally, I think Thinglink is more appropriate for explaining concepts using a concept map as the background image or illustrating extra information with a geographical map at the bottom. Map images are reasonable for me since if I were the student, I would not want to see the pictures, texts, websites, videos are linked together but without stable logics or are difficult for me to comprehend the intention of the creator. Also, to me, Thinglink would be more acceptable if viewing images off-line was allowed.
Scoopit. I’d like to regard Scoopit as an online bookmark program since the primary characteristic of the application is to collect websites of similar topics and then give them related tags. I can imagine that being used in class, Scoopit will help teachers with building the learning community among the whole class in which students have the chance to collect information, share thoughts and expand their visions outside of the course contents.
Electronic Portfolio. We still adhere to Weebly.com for building the electronic portfolios. The project conveys several meanings, such as it presents what we’ve learned and accomplished in the course, our development and progress, the teaching philosophy and our compatibility as a future teacher. The portfolio is not a platform to show off achievements but can be seen as a summarization of the semester.
My strong and weak points
I’ve mentioned several times before that learning new technologies is not challenging for me, which is the most advantageous strong point of me (as far as I know). However at the same time, my weak point is quite evident. For example, since English is not my first language, I always make mistakes in the grammar use and sometimes in the word choice. What annoys me most is even I check and proofread for two or three times, unfounded misuses are still there. I tried to use some online programs to help me with the grammar check, such as Grammarly.com. It is useful but not always does. I’m going to read more and keep reflecting on my writing pieces to be a better writer.
Future learning goals
I’ve explained my attitudes towards each tool in the above paragraphs, and most of the applications are listed in my ideal list for the future teaching. No matter known from the textbook or our real life, it’s a fact that technology is marching at a high speed on the road of evolvement. More and more technologies will be embedded in education thus I’ll try to keep up with the trend. Attending local and international conferences will help me to get familiar with the new tools and attached teaching philosophies. I would also be active in the teaching and learning community to exchange ideas with my peers and get inspired anytime.
What I’ve learned in this class
Based on what I’ve read and accomplished in the course, I consider myself as being more knowledgeable of various educational technologies and the meaning of teacher’s role in the education. The textbook, Teaching & Learning with Technology, provides me, as a future teacher or instructional designer, the fundamental understanding of the relationship between technology and education. From the book, I’ve known that there are several standards set for aligning teaching and learning with the entire nation's level, tools for different learning objectives are quite abundant, learners’ various learning styles have significant influence on the teaching effects, DID models can be the guides for integration of technology in classroom, teachers should be familiar with technologies, foster their leadership and promote own professional development to better prepare students for the new era, etc. Except for the conceptual and cognitive learning through the textbook and the videos, working on the hands-on projects ensured me to test the functions of each tool and be more aware of the possible difficulties that my future students may encounter. The reflections towards each tool are depicted as following.
Reflections on the tools
Google Apps (Google Form, Google Slides & Google Docs). We first made the decision on our course topic and for the beginning projects, we used Google Form to create a technology background survey and applied Google Slides & Docs to create the presentation as well as a word document. For the last two projects, collaboration work among group members was required. I can imagine teachers using Google Apps to promote the collaboration among students and let them experience how to work together with your peers. Students are supposed to be aware of the importance of getting along well with their peers since this is one of the key components for their future academic life, especially in a world that easy communication happens everywhere with available technologies.
Podcast. The tool I used for this assignment is Audacity. Audacity is a free-download program for audio recording and audio editing. I’d like to use it in my future teaching practices by its advantage in reaching much more audiences and being able to satisfy different learning styles. Teachers can record course contents and then add other audio clips such as a piece of background music. Students with vision disabilities or auditory learners thus have the opportunity to choose the audio clip as their source of course content and fulfill their intellectual potential.
Movie Story. This project was done with iMovie. I used to edit videos in Windows Movie Maker, but iMovie became my first choice after I transferred to the MacBook. For a teacher, attracting learners’ attention throughout the whole class is essential but at the same time, challenging. Sometimes, embedding engaging elements can be a good choice. Movie story, being a combination of graphics, motion pictures, audio, and text, can match each learner’s needs even they are in different learning styles. Thus I’ll integrate iMovie in my future teaching.
EDpuzzle. EDpuzzle was applied to create interactive videos in which the video, either uploaded by the teacher or searched from other open platforms, such as YouTube, was split by questions. Students are supposed to watch videos first during which answer the questions in various types as well. The function of preventing learners from skipping video content ensures students' attention entirely focus on the topic. I’m going to use the tool in my future teaching since I want my course to be fun. Students who are used to the new fancy technologies need stimulating elements to maintain their learning passion. In response to that situation, EDpuzzle may be a good one in your teaching toolbox.
Blog & Forum. The similar functions of posting one’s reflections and replying to others bring these two tools together. During the course, students are in need of reflecting on several aspects, such as the course contents, the learning obstacles they met and how they solved it, self-explorations of the course topic, and any other learning activities. Usually, the process of writing reflections in blogs or forums enables learners to be aware of unfounded new angles and deep thoughts except for what they've already known about the course topics. Weebly.com and Nabble Forum are great tools to be embedded in the course for posting blogs and build forums.
Rubistar. In my opinion, the most obvious advantage of using Rubistar is that numerous templates of different topics are available. Based on the experiences gained from the project, I found that the program enables users to choose ideal subjects then the system would offer them a suggesting template. Users then could add or delete any sentences and certain rubrics in the template to customize it for the course activity needs. Being downloaded as the Microsoft Excel format, the rubrics can be easily altered if needed.
Quizizz. Although being similar to Kahoot, Quizizz has its unique values such as the function of creating asynchronous interactive quizzes. I’d like to integrate the tool in my future teaching since the quiz, both synchronous and asynchronous, allows me to assign it as homework for learners finishing it off-campus or to gather students in class and conduct a quiz game together. The ranking in the game encourages students' desire to get higher grades and thus, the learning effects can be improved.
Thinglink. Personally, I think Thinglink is more appropriate for explaining concepts using a concept map as the background image or illustrating extra information with a geographical map at the bottom. Map images are reasonable for me since if I were the student, I would not want to see the pictures, texts, websites, videos are linked together but without stable logics or are difficult for me to comprehend the intention of the creator. Also, to me, Thinglink would be more acceptable if viewing images off-line was allowed.
Scoopit. I’d like to regard Scoopit as an online bookmark program since the primary characteristic of the application is to collect websites of similar topics and then give them related tags. I can imagine that being used in class, Scoopit will help teachers with building the learning community among the whole class in which students have the chance to collect information, share thoughts and expand their visions outside of the course contents.
Electronic Portfolio. We still adhere to Weebly.com for building the electronic portfolios. The project conveys several meanings, such as it presents what we’ve learned and accomplished in the course, our development and progress, the teaching philosophy and our compatibility as a future teacher. The portfolio is not a platform to show off achievements but can be seen as a summarization of the semester.
My strong and weak points
I’ve mentioned several times before that learning new technologies is not challenging for me, which is the most advantageous strong point of me (as far as I know). However at the same time, my weak point is quite evident. For example, since English is not my first language, I always make mistakes in the grammar use and sometimes in the word choice. What annoys me most is even I check and proofread for two or three times, unfounded misuses are still there. I tried to use some online programs to help me with the grammar check, such as Grammarly.com. It is useful but not always does. I’m going to read more and keep reflecting on my writing pieces to be a better writer.
Future learning goals
I’ve explained my attitudes towards each tool in the above paragraphs, and most of the applications are listed in my ideal list for the future teaching. No matter known from the textbook or our real life, it’s a fact that technology is marching at a high speed on the road of evolvement. More and more technologies will be embedded in education thus I’ll try to keep up with the trend. Attending local and international conferences will help me to get familiar with the new tools and attached teaching philosophies. I would also be active in the teaching and learning community to exchange ideas with my peers and get inspired anytime.