Technology of Choice - 30 Boxes

             30 boxes is an online calendar program that allows you to keep your work and social life organized all on the same calendar.  30 Boxes gives you the ability to add friends and set certain events to private so that you can keep more personal events to yourself.  When you add friends and put them into groups, those people will then be able to see all of the events related to that group.  For example, your 4^th period English class will be able to see all events and assignments for their specific class, however they will not be able to see the schedule for your 5^th period English class.   30 Boxes gives you the ability to put everything from the first day of school to drinks with friends all in one place.

As it is shown this tool is very valuable for teachers in the new technological age we live in. Even though 30 boxes really is not a tool that will enhance a student’s knowledge in the classroom it is more to help keep them organized and up to date on assignments and tests. It is very easy for both teachers and students to operate. It is free and you just need to make a login, which requires an email and password. You just click on the boxes and input various events and can specifically put due dates or times for events. Example: you can post when a reading assignment need to be completed or you can post when people are giving their oral presentations.

            There is so much that teachers can do with this program that can benefit them in the classroom. We are interested in maybe coaching in High School. With this source you can post practices, games, and events to help out your players and coaches.

            Having the use of 30 Boxes allows teachers to be constantly connected to students and their parents. The ability for everyone to be informed is paramount. Instead of worry about if an assignment is due, or when a test is, or what lesson plan is next the accessibility of 30 Boxes allows for there to be no issues or surprises to all these individuals. As a student the fact that I can always be prepared and know what is coming up and what is due is an awesome tool. As a teacher, being able to connect and also send out updates with 30 Boxes is very helpful. For parents, the idea that they can monitor and also see what their children should be working on or working towards is very important and very helpful.

Journal 8

Zdrojewski, R. (2009). Smile, you’re on SchoolTube. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(4), 33-34.

Safe and Approved Video Sharing

This article discusses the fact that students are more attentive and engaged when information is presented to them in a familiar medium, in this case online media.  SchoolTube is a website where teachers and other school administrators can go to to submit videos that they want to play in their class.  Often times, teachers run into problems when they want to play a certain video from YouTube or other sites because their respective school district may block that site from their campus.  This creates an issue, as the video may be completely appropriate and applicable to class content, however it cannot be accessed.  Rob Zdrojewski writes that the answer to this problem is a website called SchoolTube.com.  

Videos and other multi-media content can be submitted to SchoolTube and the website will then upload it to their site where it can be accessed by all teachers with Internet access.  SchoolTube is not blocked by campus Internet connections, so that video you wanted to show your ninth grade science class can now be viewed once it has been submitted to SchoolTube.  Not only is this a great way for students to learn through technology, but it relates to NETS-S standard 2: Communication and Collaboration, “Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.”  Zdrojewski is success in presenting his idea because he cites a current problem teachers face and then provides a solution to that problem.

I will implement SchoolTube in my classroom whenever there is a relevant video that I want to show my students because I know I will always have access to that video.  Additionally, I could film individual or group presentations and then submit them to SchoolTube, so that parents can digitally see how their kids’ presentations turned out.  This is a great resource for teachers to have going forward, as the Internet will remain a dangerous too if not navigated safely.

Journal 7

Digital Animation in the Classroom

Ponton, R. (2010). Animation brings lessons to life. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(4), 32.

This article focuses on the idea that students remain engaged and more focused in class when what they are learning is digitally animated for them to see in class.  For example, Ponton notes that a fifth grade science class used a program called DrawPlus to actually show them how neutrons and electrons swirl around atoms.  Allowing students to see firsthand what they are learning not only gives them a better understanding, but also keeps them more interested in class content as it is more interactive.  Ponton notes that using computer animation in K-12 levels is a great way to supplement any course content.  

Ponton concludes his thoughts by noting that bridging art and technology with core subject topics help make lackluster subject matter interesting.  Ponton is successful in laying out his argument for animation in the classroom because he gives clear examples of how it has been successful.  Not only is it successful, but it relates to NETS-S standard 1 C.: “Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. C. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.”  Bringing to life scientific laws or important events from history in a history class will keep students more engaged because it has more meaning to them.  

In using animation as in my English class, I think a perfect opportunity lies in the drama aspect of English literature in allowing students to digitally create their own plays with actual characters and settings on a computer.  Drama is such a critical aspect of English that giving students an opportunity to a create a scene of their own will allow their imagination to open up and allow them to use elements of a play such as the rising action, climax, protagonist vs. antagonist, etc.  I think digital animation definitely has a place in English classes today.

PLN

Personal Learning Network

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a combination of a variety education applications and technologies that allow both teachers and students to have constant accessibility to each other and to class content.  A PLN allows students to better communicate as they can respond and give feedback to their peers through blogs, twitter accounts, forums, etc.  As a teacher, I will use a PLN in many of the same ways we have used a PLN in this 422 course.  I plan on having a class blog where students and parents have access to the class 24/7.  I also believe that a course module, like our Cougar Courses, is very effective in that it allows students to communicate in a protected forum about what they are learning.  This will be very effective for me to use as an english teacher because students can then discuss reading assignments together and communicate about aspects of the plot.  Also, as a coach, I think the 30 Boxes application I researched will be a great way to keep players and parents on schedule at all times.

My use of RSS Feeds consisted mostly of subscribing to Education communities from online newspapers throughout the country, including the LA Times, NY Times, and The NY Post.  Subscribing to these features through newspapers gave me the ability to see what is happening in education in our country.  This is important, especially in the state of California as teaching jobs are at a premium.  Staying abreast of our country’s education news is certainly important as we near another election this November.

For Twitter, I chose to follow Susan Kerr Jenkins, who frequently posts about educational technology tips (one of her latest being 21 apps for digital age learning that she acquired at the ISTE 2012 Conference), EdTechTalk, a community of people that talk about educational technology, Education News, a discussion of education throughout the world, and finally the U.S. Department of Education, which has all the latest news regarding education for the U.S.   Having these people and organizations in my network allows me to stay at the forefront of ways to incorporate technology into the classroom.

My use of Diigo consisted mostly following my group members, Matt and Ryan, for our shared network, but I also found a vast amount of information for PLN’s when I searched it in the community network.  What I found was tremendous resources and guides for how to go about constructing my very own PLN.  From researching PLN’s on Diigo, I learned that PLN’s allow teachers who share the same passions anywhere in the world to connect their classrooms and allow students from different cultures to communicate and learn from each other.  Also, it is important that we as educators teach students that there is a lot to learn on Facebook and Twitter other than just for social means.  There are several ways that these social sites can be used to aide education, students just need to be made aware of these features.  

The article I read on The Educators PLN had to do with the importance of making sure teachers who implement technology into the classroom are fully trained.  This is crucial because if teachers are not properly trained, it can lead to faulty data that says a particular technology does not work in the classroom, when really it is just faulty teaching.  The author noted that teachers must not only be fully trained but confident and enthusiastic when they are implementing new technology in the classroom.  

Overall, my first experience with a PLN was outstanding.  I would say that there is really only one con with PLN’s, in that it does not allow for face to face communication, which is why the classroom will always be a fundamental part of education.  In this digital world, one of the biggest challenges going forward for educators will be to help their students develop their social skills in face to face settings because every year there is less and less of it.  

Visit Classroom 2.0

Visit The Educator's PLN

Journal 6

Video Conferencing Around the World

McDermon, L. (2010) Bring the world into your classroom. Learning & Leading with Technology, (36)2, 34-35. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx

In this article, Linda McDermon examines how video conferencing not only can bring the entire world into your classroom, but it can also be more cost and time effective by not having to leave the classroom to take a field trip.  McDermon noted two programs that her school had used, “Read Around the World” and “Megaconference Jr.”, in which students were able to engage and interact with students from different cities, states, and even countries.  Video conferencing gives students the ability to talk with a historian at a museum and even talk with a librarian at a college.  These endless opportunities allow students to go as far as they want in subjects they are interested in, allowing them to pursue their passion.  

Another key point that McDermon also points out is that through video conferencing, students are exposed to different cultures and are able to interact with peers who are from different soceo-economic backgrounds.  This extremely important because as McDermon notes, when students graduate from college today they are no longer just competing for jobs with other students form nearby cities, they are competing with people from around the world.  Therefore, it is paramount that students become exposed to different cultures as the must learn to communicate, compete and interact with a global workforce.  

Overall, I believe McDermon does a good job of showing how video conferencing can be a great way to bring the classroom into the world.  I maybe would have liked to see a more specific example of a class field trip through video conferencing, but overall I think she did a great job.  In using this in my classroom, I think a great way would be to allow my students to be in touch with librarians from local colleges.  One thing I learned in my undergraduate studies is that university librarians have an abundance of knowledge in their fields.  Developing a rapport with a local university library would be a great way to engage in video conferencing on a class project. 

In terms of the NETS-S, this article relates to standard 2: “Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.”