renae’s blogs

Below is a mind map that I completed in class about the different learning technologies used within a classroom setting.

renae

This is a podcast describing my greatest passion in education, which is dealing with students with special needs. I hope you enjoy it!

• content based on fundamental ideas
• Incorporating different cognitive levels
• High degree of interactivity.

I agree with the authors when they talk about the good characteristics of interactive software. There is no use in implementing interactive software activities if they do not have a specific purpose or are not interactive and fun for the students to use. The teacher’s teaching pedagogy must reflected within the lesson for it to be worthwhile. These software tools are not cheap so if they are bought they need to be used effectively!

I am writing in relation to Sarah’s post about how to use podcasts at your school. I too am extremley nervous about the use of technology in the classroom, especially podcasting, as I have never been exposed to it myself. Sarah’s post has made me want to take a closer look at the art of podcasting in the classroom as she seems to have made a 360 degree turn around in her views, which is great!

I also agree with sarah in that this type of technology will increase the level of verbal and listening styles and can also be used for students of all abilities. This is especially beneficial for me as I am aiming to teach in a special education setting.

I look forward to exploring this concept further….

I have recently read an article that looks into whether or not Assistive Technologies help us as teachers to not leave any child behind (Found in UTS online under the heading ‘assistive technologies’). This article is primarily talking about students with special needs.

The article makes reference to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and states that assistive computer technologies should be provided to these students from birth to 21 years of age. As a result of this, several researchers are studying the affect of technology on learning with younger children who have special needs. Researchers have found that mant different skills can be obtained and enahnced through the use of assistive technologies within special needs classrooms. Some of these include;

• Ability to make choices e.g. ‘I want…’
• Improvement of social interaction.

The article suggests that although the benefits of these technologies are present, there is a lack of awareness by parents.

I believe that if the parents of special needs students were made aware of the overall benefits of using this technology, then there would be greater learning opportunities for these students. Having been in a few special education settings over my 4 years at university I Have personally found that the use of computers is very beneficial to the successful learning of most special needs students.

I have just read Emily’s post on Internet use in Schools and I completely agree with the statement that Internet use should not replace books and library use. Children can benefit greatly from the knowledge that researching in a library can provide. Also there may be some information within a book that may not be present on the Internet.

I have a real issue with Internet safety and children and it sounds as though webquests are a great tool for students to use as well as staying safe in the cyber world.

Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70321513@N00/95757299

This is a picture of a student using a computer that I found through the flickr website. I believe that this photo shows that although the room that the student is working in is dull and uninspiring, she is still engaged in her computer task. This photo, I believe opitimises the power of computers and/or technology in a classroom in regards to student engagement in activities.

I have recently read a journal article written by Steven Downes (2004)  entitled “Educational Blogging.” This article gave an insight into the ‘new’ world of blogging in schools for an educational purpose. I found through reading this article that not only is blogging used as means for students to communicate with other students (although it is extremley useful for this also) but it is widely used by teachers to communicate with their students and also the parents of their students.

As a beginning teacher that is not overly confident with the new generation of students that have been described as ‘digital natives’, I feel very threatened by the use of computers within the classroom, especially blogging. Upon reading this article by Downes (2004) my understanding of the term blogging has improved, yet I still feel as though I would need a lot more exposure to it within the classroom setting. Computers and technology are apart of our students every day lives and therefore it makes sense that they should be used in our classrooms in order to facilitate their learning. 90% of learning occurs in informal settings therefore I believe that we should teach students to incorporate their learning into everyday activities, and that may very well be through the use of blogging.

I agreee with Downes when he states that blogs offer a new and powerful toolkit for the support of collaborative and individual learning that can occur outside formal education settings. Students today are more inclined to learn more away from the old pen and paper methods, so it is great that there is a tool such as blogging that the students can use as an alternate method for learning.