Using Technology in schools

We have had a lot of conversations concerning using technology in schools. As the months go by, I start paying more attention to what my daughter is doing in school. I am truly impressed with what her school is doing to use technology. The funny part is that my daughter also uses Moodle in school and a lot of homework and projects are done on Moodle. They also use Google docs to upload or share projects, essays or collaborate with other students. I know that not all schools are working toward using technology, such as her school. Hopefully as teachers learn the benefits of using technology to help students learn, the quicker it will catch on and we can really help our students to learn.

It's a Social World

I am learning more and more about the world of social media. If you want to watch a video of your favorite music artist or tell the world your political views, go to Youtube. If you want to talk to friends and family members from miles away, join Facebook. If you want to video chat with others, hangout out at Google +.

We have access to the world at our fingertips. So, since we have this access, do we use it not only for socializing, do we add in education also? My feelings on this is mixed. I can truly see the positives, such as instant access to study partners just about anytime. The negative is that it would be hard to monitor activity of all of your students.

Since this is relatively new to the world of education, only time will tell if it is a blessing or a curse to education.

It's been a while

I know that it has been a while since I posted. To be truthful, I totally forgot about it. It has been so hetic at work I believe that my mind has shut down on me!

Technology can be a wonderful tool (I say that half laughing/half crying due to the fact my work computer died this morning. Luckly, IT was able to revive it, somewhat). I am currently working on an online training for work, using Adobe Captivate CS5. I love Captivate. Everytime I use it, I find out new uses for it, for example, for our podcasts I used it to record myself then added in a screenshot of my tool that I discussed.

It is a great tool to use for 21st Century Learning since you can develop online training with captions, highlight areas of interest, or whatever you would like to focus on. It also does popcasts, as mentioned above. And your work is fairly easy to publish to a website.

The only downside to Captivate is the cost. However, if you can get a budget for it, it is worth the cost.

Got to go for now, but more will come later....

World of Technology

As I am creating my blog, I think about all of the technology around us. Do we even realize the amount of technology we use in a day? From automatic coffee makers that dispense our lattes to our smartphones, technology is a constant in day to day living.

Since children are also exposed to such things, why shouldnt they use technology in school as well? Last week, we learned about podcasting. This should be a rather easy tool for most students, considering they own either an iPod, iPad or iPhone, or may have access to one via school. Even if they do not own on of the "i" items, podcasts can still be played or produced on a Mac or PC.

Podcasts can be used by teachers to reinforce the subjects they are teaching, give direction/instruction for projects, or basically anything that you can think of to reinforce a students learning. We may find that most students like learning this way, since they are already comfortable using iTunes or similar MP3 software, that house podcasts.

So the next time you are looking for a different tool that will put a fun spin on learning, think about doing a podcast.