Final Project
Discuss the two tools that were your personal favorites from the semester and why.
My favorite app that we used in Educational Technology is Canva. I like it so much because it is an easy way to create. I am not your average artsy person. I draw stick people and steal all ideas from pintrest. When I used canva for the first time, it was not in this class, but for a barbeque invitation this fall. I loved scrolling through the templates, backrounds, fonts styles, you name it! I happily spent more hourse on it than I like to admit! It was a blast and a half. I think that canva is useful because it creates an appealing image that captures the audience's attention. Scrolling through twitter, pinterest, facebook, or instagram, our soicety is obsessed with images. The more appealing the invitation looks, they greater response will follow. I think this is also applicable to the classroom. Students will see a creative canva image (whether it is announcing an after-school club, or an assignment) and see me as the teacher, as one who is living in the same world as they do. It is so small, but an effective method of reaching students through the use of technology.
The second app that I prefer is Adobe Spark. This tool is something that I have never seen before being exposed in Ed Tech. I did not know that there was a program that could be used to present material in fun, exciting ways like Spark. It is comparable to a power point only in the fact that there are facts and images on display. But that is precisely where it begins and where it ends. The spark is interactive, giving short pieces of information that come and go with a scroll of your finger. The presentation is controlled by its audience, so the learning becomes responsibility of the students. It will be a phenomenal resource to use in my classroom. I can see myself making an adobe spark for each main charcter that we discuss in my history classes. It is so simple to use, that this would be more effective than a lecture and a better use of the student's time. I did my project for this class on Isaac Goodnow. He was the founder of Kansas State Agricultural College, which is now Kansas State University. I learned about Goodnow as I created the Spark Page, and I think the students would do the same. They will have the option, when doing presentations to use Adobe Spark. Then I will ask them to present their findings to the class. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn how to implement this into the classroom.
My favorite app that we used in Educational Technology is Canva. I like it so much because it is an easy way to create. I am not your average artsy person. I draw stick people and steal all ideas from pintrest. When I used canva for the first time, it was not in this class, but for a barbeque invitation this fall. I loved scrolling through the templates, backrounds, fonts styles, you name it! I happily spent more hourse on it than I like to admit! It was a blast and a half. I think that canva is useful because it creates an appealing image that captures the audience's attention. Scrolling through twitter, pinterest, facebook, or instagram, our soicety is obsessed with images. The more appealing the invitation looks, they greater response will follow. I think this is also applicable to the classroom. Students will see a creative canva image (whether it is announcing an after-school club, or an assignment) and see me as the teacher, as one who is living in the same world as they do. It is so small, but an effective method of reaching students through the use of technology.
The second app that I prefer is Adobe Spark. This tool is something that I have never seen before being exposed in Ed Tech. I did not know that there was a program that could be used to present material in fun, exciting ways like Spark. It is comparable to a power point only in the fact that there are facts and images on display. But that is precisely where it begins and where it ends. The spark is interactive, giving short pieces of information that come and go with a scroll of your finger. The presentation is controlled by its audience, so the learning becomes responsibility of the students. It will be a phenomenal resource to use in my classroom. I can see myself making an adobe spark for each main charcter that we discuss in my history classes. It is so simple to use, that this would be more effective than a lecture and a better use of the student's time. I did my project for this class on Isaac Goodnow. He was the founder of Kansas State Agricultural College, which is now Kansas State University. I learned about Goodnow as I created the Spark Page, and I think the students would do the same. They will have the option, when doing presentations to use Adobe Spark. Then I will ask them to present their findings to the class. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn how to implement this into the classroom.
Look back through your website and reflect on what you have accomplished and learned this semester.
Reflecting on the website that I have created, I am shocked by all the content that fills it. I see the early reviews and compare them to the newer reviews from the past couple weeks. The projects that we have sumbitted are incredible. I have been able to incorporate my other classes and my areas of expertise to this class. I am surprised by the constancy of the website, how it is always being improved and expanded. I am confident in using weebly, twitter(I did not have an account previously), youtube capture, and many many more. I know how to use these and I am confindent in their purposes in the classroom.
I have been thinking about how to be more open to technology. I am the kind of person who is usually difficult to reach via phone or email. For example, friends will text the friend that I am with at the time to tell me to look at my phone. My sister freaks out if I immediately reply to her text. I always find myself calling people back because their call went straight to voicemail. This is something that I am trying to work on. But like all things in life, a balance is needed. I want to be more open to technology because this is how I will reach many students and their parents. I am willing to continue learning, finding conducive purposes for technology and be inspired by the incredible possibilites that technology can offer a learning experience.
The WOW moment that I had this semester is when I finally conceded to the fact that I need to get excited about tech in the classroom. I am waving the white flag in surrender. Students need the stimulus and it creates a fun and exciting lesson. I am going to be a teacher, and that means that I need to access the minds and hearts of my students. I need to meet them wherever they are at and cater to their learning styles. This is technology.
Reflecting on the website that I have created, I am shocked by all the content that fills it. I see the early reviews and compare them to the newer reviews from the past couple weeks. The projects that we have sumbitted are incredible. I have been able to incorporate my other classes and my areas of expertise to this class. I am surprised by the constancy of the website, how it is always being improved and expanded. I am confident in using weebly, twitter(I did not have an account previously), youtube capture, and many many more. I know how to use these and I am confindent in their purposes in the classroom.
I have been thinking about how to be more open to technology. I am the kind of person who is usually difficult to reach via phone or email. For example, friends will text the friend that I am with at the time to tell me to look at my phone. My sister freaks out if I immediately reply to her text. I always find myself calling people back because their call went straight to voicemail. This is something that I am trying to work on. But like all things in life, a balance is needed. I want to be more open to technology because this is how I will reach many students and their parents. I am willing to continue learning, finding conducive purposes for technology and be inspired by the incredible possibilites that technology can offer a learning experience.
The WOW moment that I had this semester is when I finally conceded to the fact that I need to get excited about tech in the classroom. I am waving the white flag in surrender. Students need the stimulus and it creates a fun and exciting lesson. I am going to be a teacher, and that means that I need to access the minds and hearts of my students. I need to meet them wherever they are at and cater to their learning styles. This is technology.