Links of the blogs I read during this week

Here are the links of the blogs that mention how students benefit from the use of technology!

http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/2012/02/24/our-schools-cultivating-the-skills-to-succeed/a45sfia/  

http://www.coronadonewsca.com/news/article_0e9d2694-5e6c-11e1-a4cd-001871e3ce6c.html

Blogs about how technology benefits students

One of the blogs I read during this week was about an Elementary school that integrates technology into teaching and describes all the benefits that it gets from doing so. They mention how communication to students, parents and staff members has improved and how students have progress because of the use of different technologies such as, SMART boards, iPods, laptops and Blackboard.

The other blog I read talks about how The Coronado Unified School District has benefited from the use of technology and it describes the impact that it had in students learning. They mention the tools used by the district, which are, Web 2.0 tools, doc cams, interactive whiteboards, and wireless slate technology. They also refer to the importance of getting all the teachers and staff trained in the use of different software tools. 

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Inquiring with technologies

One of the benefits that technology offers to students of every grade level is that it gives them access to much information. There are so many websites that are so helpful to for students to learn, in which they can find innumerous data and they also have public access to various online dictionaries and encyclopedias. By using the Internet students get many benefits because they have the opportunity to access the most updated facts and data.

Educators agree on the fact that if students search for information by themselves they are going to be able to understand better what they are learning. But research has shown that if we ask our student to search for the answer for close-ended questions is not going to help them learn effectively. We need to find ways in which students benefit from conducting their own research and make them learn from this experience. We need to ask them open-ended questions, to look for information that is going to help them answer a certain question, evaluate an idea or comment of someone else or to work on a student directed research project.

Educators also need to teach our student how to look for reliable information in the Internet, the different type of search tools available for them and how to use the Internet correctly. One of the things about knowing how to use the Internet appropriately is learn how to navigate it safely. Students can be exposed to pornography, images portraying violence, obscene vocabulary or they can provide private information to strangers. We can overcome this problem by taking the right measures, so they can take advantage of the all the data, activities and information that is available for them.

Also mobile devices can be used by students to collect data or to do different activities. Students are amazed by technology and like to use it. So we as educators should take advantage of this and help students identify technology as a learning tool.

Two of the tools that I would like to explore from this chapter are Google and iPads.

Links of the blogs

http://itselementary.edublogs.org/

http://technologylessons.blogspot.com/

About the blogs I during this week

One of the blogs I read this week was about different ways to support elementary education. They mention that we need to use technology as an integral part of our teaching and not as something separate, and also about how technology allows helping kids make connections to the rest of the world.

The other blog I read is written by Karen Ogen, she used to teach with technology in elementary classrooms, so she dedicates this blog to share different activities in which children use technology while learning.  For example she shows and activity in which students use Google Earth to learn geography skills. She also mentions different fun activities elementary kids can do by using Word and PowerPoint.     

Links of the blogs I read during the week

http://www.cityschools.com/msmith/

http://www.schooltechnology.org/2011/12/29/educational-technology-bill-of-rights-for-students/

What I learned from the Blogs I read this week

I read two blogs this week and one of them was about how to really understand the concept of integrating technology in the classroom What I liked about this blog is that it explains the real concept of integrating technology into the classroom, because many teacher believe that is just to learn how to use computers and technology and sometimes use a powerpoint presentation to give a lesson, and that is not it. And here is a quote from this blog of Mary Smith that I really liked “Integration is when classroom teachers use technology to introduce, reinforce, extend, enrich, assess, and remediate student mastery of curricular targets.”

The other blog that I read was about the rights that students should have when using computers at school it is called Educational Technology Bill of Rights for Students. They mention that it is important that students are able to use technology at school, but also they talked about the right to be protected from technology.   

Chapter#1 Meaningful Learning Model

How to use technology to promote two characteristics from the model of meaningful learning 

The authentic characteristic from the model of meaningful learning can be promoted with technology by many different ways. Nowadays the Internet allows us to develop real life activities and exercises about real-life situations. An excellent way to do this is by using Web 2.0 tools that are websites that include blogs, wikis, and social networks. When I tutored students in math I used Web 2.0 tools with my students and they were able to realize that without noticing they use math every day. Suddenly they started to comprehend many of the concepts that they did not understand before. By using real life examples, students are able to relate what they are learning with daily activities and that help them understand all the concepts better and retain the information.

Another characteristic from the model of meaningful learning is the cooperative and this characteristic can be promoted with technology because by using technology we can all work together and cooperate in order to accomplish a task. Students and teachers can collaborate so they can find information and come up with more accurate results and a better final product. Also with web 2.0 tools teachers can engage students while learning, and it is very interesting and fun for students because web 2.0 tools elements of interaction like conversation with cooperative learning experts while they are working online can be used. Also, like I mentioned in another post communication and cooperation can be reinforced with the creation of a website in which students are able to post comments and questions about the class and in which teachers review the work of the students in a timely manner to provide feedback. Furthermore through the Internet children have the opportunity to get different opinions and ideas from experts and specialists all over the world.

How to teach with ipads blog

I just read a blog about how to teach children using ipads. It mentions how many teachers are reluctant to use ipads while their teaching because they believe that children are not able to work in a collaborative manner. It also describes how teachers think that children are just going to learn how to work by themselves if they start using ipads. But actually if teacher integrate ipads into teaching is very beneficial, because students get engaged with the content and also they can work in a collaborative manner, because as an educator you can find activities in which students need to work in groups and then you can give one ipad to the whole group so that they are able to collaborate with each other. Children are amazed with the ipads, so it is a great way to get their attention, to get them interested in the content, and also to make them understand all the concepts better.