Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Digital Badge #E
Chapter 7 Exploring Problem Solving with Software, Apps, and Games
While I was reading this chapter I was having hard time thinking whether computer games as resource learning is effective at all. I have a kindergarten who owns an ipad and I recently deleted the ABC Mouse app because I didn't feel that it was helping my son at all. He was more worried about winning and going to the next level then actually paying attention and learning the words. It was quite interesting when I found out that my son's school is actually using ABC Mouse for computer lab time. Maybe it was just the educational program game that we as parents and future teachers must evaluate and consider if its effective. The three concepts that I found very useful from this chapter is Computer Games as Learning Resources, Evaluating Computer and Video Games and Strategies for using Games with Students.
https://flic.kr/p/ia19zP
1)Computer Games as Learning Resources:
"Computer games are computer, video, and web-based game software applications that are immensely popular among children and adolescents today" (Maloy, 3013). Since technology is taking over each following year and we see that now children starting from young age own a smart phone or tablet or any digital device this idea of computer games is starting to be added in the school system. Its nice to see that school is keeping up with their students with technology but is it really more effective as just traditional ways of teaching? When I was in high school my government teacher had this jeopardy game involving questions about presidents and law system and many other government related questions and it was very effective and fun. We did in groups of four and we actually learned while we were having fun and socializing. When it came to test most of the class passed accept those who were absent most of the time. I guess since in the future everything is going to be mostly done in computer its good that children start practicing their computer skills at a young age.
2) Evaluating Computer and Video Games is the most important concept that I found because like I mentioned at the beginning we need to evaluate this educational games and see how effective they are because I believe that some might not be effective. The textbook gives a good way to make the evaluation by using a game continuum chart. "You can place computer and video games as well as phone and tablet apps on the chart based on their learning goals and the thinking skills they emphasize as part of the game play" (Maloy, 2013). The games are placed on top of three game type which is Entertainment, Edutainment and Educational. I believe way to evaluate a game is having the student test it and the teacher supervising it and testing the student on what she/he learned.
3) Strategies for using Games with students:
Its not easy finding an educational game which will keep the students motivated and not get bored out of it which is something likely to happen with children. The textbook give strategies that can help teachers with the use of effective games for their students. It mentions four strategies which are to minimize the use of games that teach isolated skills, scrutinize games that functions solely on points won or lost, discuss games and their content and last is to play games together. The most trouble kind of games that I find is those that function on points won or lost. I had that problem with my son. He was more worried about not losing and since he is very competitive he would get so obsessed in winning that he wasn't learning the important stuff.
The above picture is my 5 year old kindergarten with his ipad playing ABC mouse. At first he was excited but then he got bored out of it.
Resources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HTS2nxpRqM
While I was reading this chapter I was having hard time thinking whether computer games as resource learning is effective at all. I have a kindergarten who owns an ipad and I recently deleted the ABC Mouse app because I didn't feel that it was helping my son at all. He was more worried about winning and going to the next level then actually paying attention and learning the words. It was quite interesting when I found out that my son's school is actually using ABC Mouse for computer lab time. Maybe it was just the educational program game that we as parents and future teachers must evaluate and consider if its effective. The three concepts that I found very useful from this chapter is Computer Games as Learning Resources, Evaluating Computer and Video Games and Strategies for using Games with Students.
https://flic.kr/p/ia19zP
1)Computer Games as Learning Resources:
"Computer games are computer, video, and web-based game software applications that are immensely popular among children and adolescents today" (Maloy, 3013). Since technology is taking over each following year and we see that now children starting from young age own a smart phone or tablet or any digital device this idea of computer games is starting to be added in the school system. Its nice to see that school is keeping up with their students with technology but is it really more effective as just traditional ways of teaching? When I was in high school my government teacher had this jeopardy game involving questions about presidents and law system and many other government related questions and it was very effective and fun. We did in groups of four and we actually learned while we were having fun and socializing. When it came to test most of the class passed accept those who were absent most of the time. I guess since in the future everything is going to be mostly done in computer its good that children start practicing their computer skills at a young age.
2) Evaluating Computer and Video Games is the most important concept that I found because like I mentioned at the beginning we need to evaluate this educational games and see how effective they are because I believe that some might not be effective. The textbook gives a good way to make the evaluation by using a game continuum chart. "You can place computer and video games as well as phone and tablet apps on the chart based on their learning goals and the thinking skills they emphasize as part of the game play" (Maloy, 2013). The games are placed on top of three game type which is Entertainment, Edutainment and Educational. I believe way to evaluate a game is having the student test it and the teacher supervising it and testing the student on what she/he learned.
3) Strategies for using Games with students:
Its not easy finding an educational game which will keep the students motivated and not get bored out of it which is something likely to happen with children. The textbook give strategies that can help teachers with the use of effective games for their students. It mentions four strategies which are to minimize the use of games that teach isolated skills, scrutinize games that functions solely on points won or lost, discuss games and their content and last is to play games together. The most trouble kind of games that I find is those that function on points won or lost. I had that problem with my son. He was more worried about not losing and since he is very competitive he would get so obsessed in winning that he wasn't learning the important stuff.
Resources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HTS2nxpRqM
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Digital Badge #D
Chapter 5
The three concepts that caught my attention in this chapter is Electronic note-taking, Teaching Students About Internet Searching and Evaluating Online Information.
Electronic note-taking is my favorite thing to do in class. I use either my phone or my ipad to take notes in class or while I am reading and I find something important I highlight it and paste it on my notes. Back in High School I had to carry around my bookbag with a notebook for each class and I hated carrying so much stuff around. I had a locker but there was time that my classes were far apart and I didn't had time to go to my locker. The textbook states that "the ability to access notes from multiple devices is very valuable for teachers who spend so much of the day moving quickly from class to class" (Maloy, 2013). So it is not just for students that this is useful it is also for the teachers.
Teaching students about internet searching is a very important concept in this chapter. Students need to learn that not everything they see online is true. They need to be careful who they share their information and how to look up information. "Google is now one of the most visited Internet Sites worldwide". I use google and youtube to search everything" (Maloy, 2013).
Another important concept that I found very useful is Evaluating Online Information. There is so much information available online and since anything can be easily created students have to check the validation of the information they are going to use because sometimes it is misinformation, malinformation, messed-up information and useless information. I was taught in high school in computer class on the different kinds of URLs and how to recognize them. "Teaching students clear web research guidelines is essential to creating a classroom community of well-informed, thoughtful web users" (Maloy, 2013).
Comic created on toondoo.com
Resources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
The three concepts that caught my attention in this chapter is Electronic note-taking, Teaching Students About Internet Searching and Evaluating Online Information.
Electronic note-taking is my favorite thing to do in class. I use either my phone or my ipad to take notes in class or while I am reading and I find something important I highlight it and paste it on my notes. Back in High School I had to carry around my bookbag with a notebook for each class and I hated carrying so much stuff around. I had a locker but there was time that my classes were far apart and I didn't had time to go to my locker. The textbook states that "the ability to access notes from multiple devices is very valuable for teachers who spend so much of the day moving quickly from class to class" (Maloy, 2013). So it is not just for students that this is useful it is also for the teachers.
Teaching students about internet searching is a very important concept in this chapter. Students need to learn that not everything they see online is true. They need to be careful who they share their information and how to look up information. "Google is now one of the most visited Internet Sites worldwide". I use google and youtube to search everything" (Maloy, 2013).
Another important concept that I found very useful is Evaluating Online Information. There is so much information available online and since anything can be easily created students have to check the validation of the information they are going to use because sometimes it is misinformation, malinformation, messed-up information and useless information. I was taught in high school in computer class on the different kinds of URLs and how to recognize them. "Teaching students clear web research guidelines is essential to creating a classroom community of well-informed, thoughtful web users" (Maloy, 2013).
Comic created on toondoo.com
Resources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Digital Badge #B
Chapter 2: Understanding Educational Technology Issues and Trends
The three concepts that I found interesting and most important to me as a future teacher is
1) Teaching Choices and Student Engagement
2) Barriers To Technology Use and
3) Technology Use by Teachers
The first concept points out how technology can be used by teacher to get their students motivated to stay in school and get them engaged in the lectures to learn the material. When I observed a 1st grade class at my son's school I saw most of the kids yawning and falling asleep during class and even I was finding a hard time to keep myself awake when the teacher was lecturing. Although the teacher was using the projector to teach each assignment she was failing in keeping the kids engaged in the activities. I noticed that not much has change from when I was in 1st grade. I strongly believe that changing the traditional way of teaching to other modern ways that involves technology will be very helpful. Motivating the students to learn, providing them feedback and providing them with new or needed academic skills is very important to their success in school. Like the textbook states "To stay in school, these youngsters wanted better teachers, smaller classes, individualized assistance, a school climate fostering achievement, and a strong relationship with at least one adult in the school believing in them and seeing their potential for educational success" (Maloy, 2013).
The second concept describes the barriers teachers and students face to technology use. The teachers' schedules is so different in elementary, middle and high school. In elementary I noticed that the same teacher teach each subject in one day while in middle school and high school students have different class periods with different teachers for each subject. I still see no difference from all these teachers because they still have limited time to teach each subject and less time to use technology in their lessons. Also another obstacle for integrating technology in the classroom is the curriculum requirements. Preparing students for the state and national education exams keeps teachers from being able to do any computer related activities. As I was mentioning the 1st grade class I observed I also noticed that the teacher forgot to take her class to the computer lab because she ran out of time. The school administrator plays the most important role of deciding whether to integrate technology in the classrooms.
The last concept is about the technology use by teachers. The teachers are using technology more than ever. It used to be the grading book were they used to write the students' grades for each assignment and mark if they were absent and now they do it all by computer. I also notice that most teachers provide their emails and even their phone numbers so the students can text or email them. When I was in high school I had all my teachers in my contacts in my cell phone and every time I needed help with an homework I would just text them and have a reply right away. I even have most of them as friends on my facebook. Most of the lessons are now in powerpoint or displayed online so the students can access them at home. I will for sure take advantage of this technology tools when I become a teacher.
I believe that schools should take in consideration the need of computer related activities in their curriculum. They need to give some time for teachers make use of technology in their classrooms because very soon everything will be digital. It will make life more simple for both students and teachers.
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| Comic created at Bitstrips.com |
Resources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
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