Technology in the Classroom Research

This week I have been doing a lot of research through reading different blogs on my Google Reader, paying attention to different uses for technology in my observations I am doing for one of my classes, and also attending a Registered Student Organization on campus call SUITE that focuses on using technology in the classroom. It's been a lot of work but I am excited to share some of my findings!

I began my reading with the iLearn Technology blog by Kelly Tenkley. She has so many great tips and ideas for integrating new technologies in the classroom. One post I came across this week was their post titled "BBC Bitesize: Converting Fractions to Decimals." I was instantly interested as my dream is to be a upper elementary/middle school math teacher and really wanted to learn about something that would make math fun and exciting for my students. I went on to play the game for a little while and quickly realized how exciting and engaging it could be. I was also pleased with the positive reinforcement that it is full of. Whenever I got an answer correct it would say something like, "Recruit this is amazing!" or when I got something wrong it would say, "With a little more practice, you'd have it right!" I will definitely keep this entire site in mind when coming up with lesson plans later on.

Another great piece of technology is SpiderScribe which I found on Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teachers blog. His post is titled "SpiderScribe Leaves Beta, Adds Features, Stays free for Schools." This is a great tool for mind mapping and brainstorming. In Byrne's post he states that a teacher in one of his workshops said she uses SpiderScribe to have her students create webs about books they were reading. I just had to learn what all the buzz was about, especially since it was free to teachers, so I watched the demo video for SpiderScribe. It was very interesting and looked extremely easy to use! I would love to use this in my classroom and especially with the integration of SMART boards this would be a great tool to project in front of the class and map concepts together.

I have seen technology included in my observations at the Thomas Metcalf School and University High School at Illinois State University. There are SMART boards in about every classroom that I have seen teachers use frequently, document cameras where teachers can show the entire class just what they want them to do on a worksheet they are given, but the most striking thing I have noticed is the fact that all of the students at U-High have netbooks. I observed a Freshman English class and as the students walked in they began to pull their laptops out of their book bags. The teacher later stated that they wouldn't need them that day but I was surprised that they were so available that each student carried one around all day. I know we are moving in this direction, where textbooks may no longer be actual books but downloaded on netbooks or Kindles, but I had not seen this process in action yet.

At SUITE this week I learned how to make digital books in Powerpoint. This make the books accessible to every learner whether they are blind or deaf even. Brian Wojcik gave a great presentation walking us through the steps as we completed them on our very own laptops. He first would scan in a book, insert text boxes that included the text from the book, add in video and audio clips and integrate action buttons. The video he would insert in was students or teachers signing to provide translation for deaf students. The audio clips were a teacher reading what the text said so that blind students could participate. Action buttons made flipping from slide to slide and back to the beginning or quitting the slideshow possible. This is especially important for students with physical disabilities who are unable to turn pages of a book. We also learned how to turn this into a learning experience activity. Students would take part in a learning experiences such as making a cake or going on a field trip and then they would work together to create this slideshow. They would have assimilated text or text with pictures above each word for easy reading, audio of students talking about the project, video with either sign language or students doing the activity, and also pictures of them during the experience. I can only begin to think about all the possibilities there are with these types of projects and presentations. I can't wait to use them in a classroom setting or even just create my own digital book! If you would like the steps and instructions as to how to complete a book/learning experience slideshow like this just comment on this blog and I will set it up. It's very easy and fun to do!

Thanks for reading! More research, learning, development and creativity to come!