The future of technology in education

I read the article entitled, Education and Technology: The Future of Handheld Learning. This article was posted on Tech News World.

This article is all about how handhelds will be useful in a classroom setting. While most people seem to think that every student will have their own laptop in the classroom, it is more likely for each student to have a handheld computer. Technology-related educational research at the University of Michigan has shown how handhelds would be more practical in education. Firstly, handhelds are less expensive. While laptops usually have 3-digit price tags, handhelds can be bought in bulk for under $100 dollars each. Handheld computers are more cost effective, and they are easier to transport. It is much easier for a student to put a handheld computer in a backpack than carry around a laptop.

Some people might think that handhelds are too small. However, children do not have a problem with them being small. It is usually only adults who have trouble using small buttons and seeing small screens. Handhelds can be used to help students conduct research, write sentences, check the stock market, etc. Special education classes would also benefit from handhelds because some have difficulty writing. Someday, every student in a classroom might have a handheld computer on which to work.

Features of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Word
Font size/style
Tables
Copy and Paste
Borders
Bullets
Page numbers/Headers/Footers
Spell Check
Margins
Columns
Line Spacing

Excel
speadsheets
tables
lists
graphs

PowerPoint
New slides
Inserting pictures
Bullets/Numbered lists
font settings
copy and paste

3 Project ideas:
1) Make a table in excel in order to store information that was found when conducting an experiment
2) Make a flier on word in order to advertise a country that the students studied
3) Make a powerpoint presentation which can be presented to the class that highlights a topic that the students researched.

Online session

The online learning experience that I listened to was The iPod Touch in the Classroom by Kern Kelley. I was curious as to how an iPod could be used in a classroom. One way they can be used is to download educational podcasts for students to watch. The tutorial goes through, step by step, how to use iTunes in order to put podcasts on the ipods. Also, there is not a tab on itunes that has only educational resources. iPods can be plugged into a tv so that the entire class can see what is on it. You can also download applications to your ipod that are educational. The website iear.org lists different reviews and lists of ipod applications that can be used for educational purposes.

Kelley details a few applications that he has found useful in a classroom. One application is called stanze. This application allows you to read newspapers, ebooks, and blogs online. You can also load information to the application. There is also an application for creating a story book. Students can use a microphone, draw, and write a story. These stories can be uploaded to the internet. The ipod can also be a quick way to add grades, participation, and attendance. The ipods can be plugged into car radios, projectors, computers, or tvs.

I think that there were several good ideas for using ipods in the classroom. However, I think that I would only use an ipod myself, if I even used one. I do not think that I would allow students to use their own ipods because it would be difficult to monitor what they are looking at. I think that ipods could be handy for inputting grades and attendance, though.

Reflection #8

Today, the pastor at my church used skype in order to talk to a missionary from Haiti during the church service. Its pretty cool that we have the technology to talk to and see other people who are half way across the world. It made me think that skype could be useful in a classroom as well. If students have pen pals, it is possible to bothe write to them, talk to them, and see them. I have seen advertisements where different classes can interact with each other using skype. I also have a friend who goes to school at Georgia Tech. She is in a lot of engineering classes, and her class regularly interacts with people from all across the world using skype. Sometimes, her class will be part of a a class that is happening in other countries. I think that is pretty amazing that we have the technology to do this now. I think that I could use this technology in my own classroom to help students see what other cultures are like and interact with people from other cultures.

Educational Blog

I read a comment on a blog entitled Teach42. The blog that I read was called "Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK." This blog was all about how a school in the UK is now allowing students to use cell phones in the classroom. It talked about how cell phones can be beneficial to students: they have internet and take photos. The blog was pretty neutral. It just reported the facts and asked people to give their thoughts about it. There were many comments on the blog since it was kind of a controversial topic. There were arguments for both sides of the debate.

My comment was on the side that argued that cell phones should not be used in class. I think that it would be hard to monitor what students are actually using the phones to do. The screens are so small on cell phones, teachers wouldn't be able to see whether a student is using a phone for an educational purpose or not.

Reflection #7

Today in chapel, a group from Invisible Children came. They showed a video about the problems in Uganda with child soldiers. They used a video to show a recap of the story and what is happening in Africa. This is a good way to get a message across to millions of people. The entire project started with three guys who made a documentary about the problem. They came back to the US and spread the documentary around. This documentary started the entire Invisible Children movement and caused millions of people to try to stop what is happening in Africa. It is crazy that just one video could be used to bring so much awareness to people. Videos are such a good way to inform people. They can be used to show things that many people would not know about without videos. Without the use of technology, I do not think that as much would be happening to prevent this tragedy from continuing.

Assignment #4 Part 1

For my technology project, I will be creating a smart board presentation. I will use several features of the smart board in order to make my presentation more interactive. I will also be creating my own video which I can use as the anticipatory set for my presentation. I think that this presentation would be useful because it could be presented in front of a class. Also, a video is interesting for students to watch. I plan on making this project for a 6th grade science class.

Podcast