E Books are Awesome

I like ebooks in every aspect. Ebooks are easy to use and very convenient. I like to have access to my books without carrying a stack of them around with me. Travel is much better without the stack of books. When my family and I go on vacation, I can take the books with minimal work in the area of packing. I also don’t get to the destination to realize that I have forgotten that book I have been waiting a month to read. Having ebooks as a student is equally convenient. Prior to ebooks, I have forgotten my textbook at work or home and actually found time to study at a different location. That was very frustrating. Now, I can study anytime I have a free moment and many times a moment is all I have these days.

I have many students who do all their personal reading on ebooks as well. They seem to enjoy the convenience and use of technology in an unexpected area. I would like to have ebooks for all academic areas too. Having ebooks would make it easier to get updated versions of our classroom text. It would also prevent the drawing and destroying the class set of textbooks located in my classroom. Students would enjoy the easy access and use of the tools available just as the search feature on key words.

I hope that in the near future we can all go to ebooks completely, I find them more environmentally friendly, easy to use, and more convenient for life in general.

Technology Makes Life Easier

I use technology in all parts of my life.  In the morning I am awakened by my alarm on my cell phone. I roll over, turn it off and press the Face book application to check on any new occurrences since I went to bed. I have family in other states so this is a means of keeping up with their daily lives between phone calls.  I make any possible comments on there then go downstairs to have a cup of coffee. Technology is also a part of this ritual as well. I preset the coffee pot each night so to have it hot and ready when I come downstairs each day.  I check email and then exercise. At times I use the X-box Kinect to zumba as my cardio but not always. I sometimes use the recumbent bike or the rowing machine because I can program resistance and record my progress.   Then it is off to work. As a teacher, I use technology in my instruction, as a means of supporting the instruction, communication, grading, and to take attendance. In the evenings, I work on my online classes and social network prior to bed. I often watch You Tube videos for entertainment or news situations.  My husband and three boys (20, 19, and 16) use technology much in the way I do, but they actually use it more than I do. My three boys are all talented musicians and use advanced recording software to record music they write. My youngest son has a job at a store that also has an online store. He runs that for them in addition to his duties as a clerk.

In my life, I feel that technology makes the day easier. I personally don’t feel that it creates other demands on me. I can see however, how it helps me to manage my life. For example, prior to cell phones, there were many times I would go to the store and return home to realize there was something else we needed. Now, my husband can text me while I am there and tell me what we need while I am still at the store. No extra trips are required. Many people talk about how overwhelmed they are because of extra communication. Personally when I feel I need some quiet, I turn the phone off and let the voice mail do the job it was intended to do.  I can also remember the days before my GPS. I have a terrible sense of direction so find myself lost any time I travel to a new area. Now, the GPS keeps me on track so I don’t lose time riding in a circle. I still talk with my family on the phone and spend time around my kitchen table every night with my family. Technology to me is a tool that I use to make life easier. I am able to save time, record memories, and keep up with family I never get to see.  Technology has been a welcomed blessing into my life.

Social Networking

Is it possible to join social networking with education? It is completely possible. In my classes, I have used blogs and Skype effectively for my personal learning. There are other possibilities such as twitter and Facebook as well. While social networking can have limitations and glitches that go along with the software involved, when well-planned there can be benefits involved. I have most appreciated Skype. I have found Skype to be limited with groups larger than two, but I have attended Skype lectures and had face to face time with professors. Both of these occurrences have proved extremely helpful.

On a college level, social networking for educational purposes would be much easier than using it for middle and high school. I do think it could work, but my school district would not allow that to happen. Our school does not have access to You Tube because of things that can be found there. Social networking for education would not be allowed because of potential problems that could be associated because of inappropriate use.  We have Blackboard blogging and discussion that we can use so the other would not be allowed. At another school district where I taught, they allowed Facebook interaction. There were teachers who set up class pages and communicated through that page. They would post pictures of various class activities and posted assignments also.  It worked well for them and there were no problems with inappropriate use. After putting firm ground rules in place, the teachers there found social networking a great support of education.

Learning Environments

I have participated in both asynchronous and synchronous environments during my online education experiences. Both situations have value in supporting learning, but I prefer the asynchronous environment as a student. I like to have topics given and then time to reflect. After reflection, it is much easier to form my personal opinion and share it through text on the discussion board or other means as assigned. I enjoy the time to quietly reflect when integrating new material into the context of my own education. When I am working in professional context, I prefer to have a synchronous environment. I prefer to talk with someone in real time when I am part of a committee or in a conference to problem solve something concerned with my job. I like to give and get immediate feedback so to get the job done quickly and efficiently. I had situations when I was in the textile industry as a manager that required a synchronous environment, and I worked very well under those conditions. Both have value, but I prefer each in a different situation.

Presentations

As a student, I learn better when a blend of presentation activities are part of the curriculum. Power points work well as long as the instructor is not reading to me. If the instructor is going to give some notes using power point, I learn more from the experience if it is loaded onto Black Board and I read it myself. Usually I will take the information and arrange it into meaningful notes. It is equally helpful when the power point is on Black Board with voice over. I also benefit from the power point presentation when it is used for pictures or tables and graphs to emphasize the information. It can be a powerful tool for helping me to visualize what is said during a lecture.

In addition to some small amount of direct instruction, I benefit as a learner from interactive opportunities using technology. As an undergraduate student taking chemistry I was required to complete a certain number of chemistry problems every week using the computer lab. It was an interactive program that helped me to visualize the problems being asked and required me to work the problems. I also enjoyed an interactive computer program that allowed me to perform physics labs. We could then use the program to graph the data gathered through the computer. The interactive nature that technology offers helps me to learn material and commit it to long term memory quickly.  

Online Communities

I spend most of my online community time on Facebook. I do not engage in the games or applications though.  I live in Virginia and have family in South Carolina and Georgia.  I have also been able to reconnect with some high school friends and friends that served with me when I was in the Navy.  Facebook is a way for me to peak into the lives of those I love each day when I have a few minutes to spare. I have the application on my phone so it is easy to access the information.  I stay connected without a tremendous amount of time devoted to the task.  

I also have maintained a blog at various times. I enjoy freely writing and recording my thoughts of different topics. I have used blogs as part of the curriculum at Liberty University also. I have found that to be a positive experience as part of the learning. I enjoy getting feedback from my class on my thoughts and implementing others’ ideas into my educational philosophy.  Online learning communities continue to help me to grow as an educator. Thanks everyone!

Technology Thoughts

I have taught for three different counties now in my education career, and each county had their strong and weak areas in technology. The county that I am now in has a general expectation that teachers will use technology as a means of documenting attendance, grades, and assessing data after major test.  They also provide smart boards, response systems, and laptop carts for our classes. It is a general expectation that technology will be used to support student learning and assessing that learning in formative and summative testing.

The only teacher barrier I have noticed is the reluctance to use the technology available. Some teachers fear using it due to a low comfort level.  The only way to overcome that is for training to be provided consistently.  Training sessions should also be relevant to lessons and should give time for teachers to practice task rather than just watching or receiving  a sheet on how to perform task. Our school needs to incorporate more scheduled training to support teachers using technology in lessons.  Allotting time for relevant training will increase teacher comfort level with the hardware and software and encourage more widespread use of the many resources available to our county schools.

Reading Response

Being a teacher who philosophically follows the constructivist theory of learning, I liked the part of the reading assignment that alluded to constructivist theory and higher order thinking skills.  I feel that our students need to learn how to think on their own and feel confident in expressing their thoughts to others with whom they work. Many of my students do not really understand the concept of cooperative learning and the need to contribute their thoughts to the group. Most times students feel that they have no good ideas or that they are the only one who has good ideas. The idea of listening and sharing don’t always go together in the mind of my classes. I try to break that mold and help them to realize that everyone has something to learn and something to teach.  When this lesson is learned they can reap the benefits of problem solving and inquiry based learning. Coupling this with computer technology gives students limitless opportunities to learn.  “Computers allow students to process a great deal of information in complex ways that were not available to them before the advent of computing” (Thorsen, 2009, p. 5)

Reference

Thorsen, C. (2009). TechTactics: technology for teachers (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.