Technology

Today’s technology is consistently changing and growing every day. There are a lot of positive aspects from technology that is helping people in their everyday lives. Technology is able to help doctors, teachers, students and even grandparents with everyday tasks. It is becoming an important role in schools. More and more teachers are turning to technology to help them teach their classes in different ways that will grab their student’s attentions. It is a great way to get the students involved in their leaning and to connect with other students around the world. One technology making its way into the classroom is “Prezi” this technology is fairly new and is slowly making its way into schools around the United States. A Prezi allows “anyone to create interactive presentations and promote visual literacy. It gives teachers and students the ability to upload, create, edit, and share interactive and engaging presentations at any time from any place. (Tammy p. 1) Prezi is a great way for students to actually pay attention to the teacher’s notes during class. It can make the notes come to life through the colors, fonts, backgrounds, and even sounds. “Prezi shows tremendous promise for enhancing the presentation of ideas in social work research and educational settings, is also important for educational purposes, particularly in promoting collaboration among students on joint projects.  Another technology that is making its way into the classroom is Google Doc. “Google Doc is a free, web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form, and data storage service offered by Google.” (Harper-Smith T p. 1) This application allows students to continue working on class assignments and group projects at home, or library, anywhere that has a computer. It also gives the students an opportunity to work in a group setting and learn responsibilities, time management and communication. “Google Docs includes four major options: Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentations, and Google Drawing.” (Harper-Smith p.2) These technologies are a great tool to use in the classroom to enhance the students on new technologies because these technologies are newer and they are a great advantage for anyone of all ages, they will continue to be used for most of their education, and these tools are taking a great interest in college level courses they will most likely use them in their college classes. Most of these tools are free for anyone with a computer. I think it is great that these technologies are making their way into the classroom. My phonics teacher showed us once a presentation on Prezi and I thought it was really cool; I never really looked into the program until this assignment. After taking a closer look, I think I would be able and willing to use it in my own classroom one day. I think I would use it mostly if I was teaching a history class; I really liked all the settings and backgrounds that were available for use. For Google Doc, I was really impressed at how much I actually liked the set up and how easy it was to follow the instructions. As for Google Doc I think I would use the document in my classroom to have students work together on a project, but instead of having the students work in groups at school I would want them to work in a group outside of school. I think having them work outside of school in a group would be more beneficial to their learning of the topic.

Story, Tammy1, trstory@mail.com Source: Library Media Connection; Nov/Dec2012, Vol. 31 Issue 3, p38-39, 2p, 2 Color Photographs. Subjects: Visual literacy; Reading -- Aids & devices; Educational resources; Reading disability -- Treatment; Web 2.0; Online social networks Abstract: The article examines how Web 2.0 tools can be used to help students with reading disabilities. Particular attention is given to presentation tools such as Prezi and Glogster that allow users to develop interactive presentations, promote visual literacy, and create word walls, a literacy tool used in reading instruction. Other topics covered include creating videos and photograph stories, audio resources such as Audacity that create sound files, and online social networking. Author Affiliations: 1Library media specialist at Norris Elementary School in Thomson, Georgia 1273 ISSN: 15424715 Accession Number: 82981874. Database: Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson) Research on Social Work Practice 000(00) 1-2 ª The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav. DOI: 10.1177/1049731510390700. [] Haring-Smith, T. (1994). Writing together: Collaborative learning in the writing classroom. New York, NY: HarperCollins College Publishers. Lamy, M. & Hampel, R. (2007). Online communication in language learning and teaching. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. MacDonald, J. (2006). Blended learning and online tutoring: A good practice guide. Aldershot, UK: Gower. Sharp, V. (2009). Computer education for teachers: Integrating technology into classroom teaching (6th ed). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley. Thompson, J. (2008). Don’t be afraid to explore Web 2.0. Education Digest, 74(4), 19-22. []. David W. Denton, Seattle Pacific University- []

Another technology that has been on the rise for quite some time is the iPad. iPads are used in offices, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and homes. They are a great tool for reading, games, internet, they are basically a computer just mini sized and easier to carry around with you. “For example, using the iPad provides practice and refinement of skills for students with poor fine motor skills and is highly motivating, so students are more likely to stick with the activity.” (Sara Aronin and Kim K. Floyd p. 39) iPads are also useful to download games for students to use and it gives the teachers the opportunity to walk around the classroom and look check how the students are progressing on a lesson and they do not have to stand behind a podium the whole time and have to stop the lesson to walk around the room. There are a lot of games already made for teachers who have iPads to use with their classroom that are not available to teachers with only computers. Some games are even able to get students to work together around the screen. Getting your students attention and trying to bring out their creativity is becoming harder each day. One subject that can be hard to get your students attention is writing. Some students are enjoying writing while others are not willing or wanting to write a paper or story at all. One technology that is not very well known is Story Kit. Story Kit is for “users create electronic storybooks with StoryKit by entering text, recording and attaching sounds, taking photographs, drawing illustrations on the device's touchscreen, or drawing pictures on paper and then photographing that.” (Alexander J. Quinn1, Benjamin B. Bederson1, Elizabeth M. Bonsignore2, Allison Druin2 p. 2)

iPads in the classroom are great for teachers to use. There are so many apps, games and it is more convenient for teachers to walk around the room with their iPad then with a computer. They also come in handy if you are playing a game with the students, and instead of having the students get up to touch the smart board you would just pass around the iPad. I went to a first grade classroom where the teacher had an ipad, she used it to play a math game with her students. She had a math game of fill in the blank; she had the students sit in a circle on the floor. It was like hot potatoes and the students were learning but having fun. I really like the thought of having my own iPad in the classroom. I would probably use it for my students use and games than my own use. Story Kit sounds like it would be a great tool to get students to really think about their writing and how fun it could be to come up with a story, especially if they were able to add pictures and sounds to really make their story alive. I would love to try this with my future class one day.

Using an iPad in Inclusive Classrooms, Sara Aronin and Kim K. Floyd- [] iTeaching and Learning Collegiate Instruction Incorporating Mobile Tablets: Willie Miller- [] StoryKit: Designing a Mobile Application for Story Creation By Children And Older Adults Alexander J. Quinn1, Benjamin B. Bederson1, Elizabeth M. Bonsignore2, Allison Druin2-http://www.aq.gs/papers/StoryKit,%20Designing%20a%20Mobile%20Application%20for%20Story%20Creation%20By%20Children%20And%20Older%20Adults.pdf <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Use of StoryKit: Design Implications for Intergenerational Mobile Storytelling Integrative Paper Elizabeth M. Bonsignore- []