SMART board is similar to a white board and was released in 1991. It has a touch control screen that can be used with either the digital pens provided or a person’s finger. There are three types of SMART boards: Front projection (used with projector that is in class), rear projection (mobile and his projected from behind the screen), and flat-panel displays (fits over a plasma television).
To read more about SMART board click here.
The Nintendo Wii, which was released November 19, 2006, is a video game system in which players have the ability to move like the characters they are playing. For example, I am playing a tennis game. Instead of pushing a button, I know have the ability to swing my arms like a normal racquet. Studies have shown that students studying to become a doctor have shown a 48% improvement on their surgical-techniques if they played the Wii. In addition, last year my physic class studied the movement of the ball, the resistance with the grass, and so forth on the WiiGolf. We would calculate data based off what we observed. At the end of the experiment, we then compared and contrasted the Wii Golf to real life.
Read more about the doctor information here.
In the podcast, “It’s Elementary #15-Video in the Classroom,” Alice Mercer, Mathew Needleman, Jose Rodriguez, Lisa Durff, and Mathew Needleman (all teachers) discuss why it is important to make videos in an elementary classroom. The podcast began with Alice Mercer asking Mathew Needleman questions about video projects in the classroom. Video projects are projects where the students work in small groups or as a class to create a video related to what they are learning in class. One example that was given in the podcast was of a class learning about astronomy. To help the students learn about the planets, the class was divided into groups and they had to make a commercial advertising a planet, such as Jupiter.
The first question asked by Mercer was, “Why should elementary teachers bother to use video?” Needleman’s response was that students are dropping out of school. By engaging students in enjoyable projects, like the video project, in elementary school, they are more likely to remember the positive experiences of school. If they remember these experiences they will decrease their chances of dropping out of school later on. Also, it gives the students and opportunity to work on their reading and writing skills in a fun way.
The second question was, “Where should we (first year teachers) start?” Needleman’s response was to do one video project a year. Also, do a format that is familiar, such as a commercial.
The third question was, “Why is it so important to have instructional objectives?” Needleman’s exact response was, “to cover your butt!” Many teachers try this project but do not relate it to what they are teaching. This can get a teacher in trouble. Also, an instructional objective gives a person an idea of what skills this project is going to work on.
The fourth question was, “what do you do with a Mac Computer?” Needleman discussed the program that he used called “I-Movie.” Mercer then explained that she uses two programs, Photo Story and Movie Maker, on her PC computer.
The rest of the podcast was just troubleshooting questions, such as audio, video cameras, and still images. No new information, in my opnion, was discussed. This podcast more or less explained why it is important to use video projects in elementary school.
To listen to this Podcast click here.
It is “It’s Elmentary #15- Video in the Classroom”
Creative Commons license is what a person can get that is between a “full copyright” and “the public domain.” Full copyright is where all “rights are reserved” and that no one can use another person’s work, where as public domain is the complete opposite (“no rights reserved” and work can be used). Creative Commons license allows “some rights reserved.” What this license does is allow the person to copyright their own work and allow the public to use parts of it as well. For example, I write a book called “Sandy’s First Day of Teaching” and I want to post it on the Internet. Of course I do not want someone to claim the material as their own so I decide to get it copyrighted but I still want people to use parts of it. I decide to apply a Creative Commons license on the book and also make it acceptable for others to copy a page or two out of my book. Creative Commons license allows this, unlike copyright and public domain.
Creative Commons license are valuable to society for many reasons. Looking at it as a future teacher, it gives teachers the ability to legally copy or print important papers for class to help explain a difficult topic. It also allows students to quote information in their essays or homework. Say a class is learning about a volcano and instead of the teacher putting him/herself in danger to take a picture of one, now he/she can get on the Internet and show the class a picture of one. With Creative Commons licenses, students’ (who are our society’s future) knowledge will be able to expand to new lengths then ever before.
For more information about Creative Commons click here.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
The Wow-Pen was introduced to the world in the IT Channel USA conference in 2007. The Wow-Pen serves as both a wireless digital pen and mouse. It has many functions , such as the capability to capture and display on a person’s computer handwritten notes or signature. Also, when it comes to e-mails or instant messaging, people can draw or write notes to one another using the pen. In addition, the notes written with the Wow-Pen can be transferred to text.
The Wow-Pen can really help in teaching a class or in education in general. Now, teachers can use PowerPoint notes or internet information and have the capability to write on it while lecturing. For example, a teacher is teaching his/her class about volcanoes. The teacher had created a PowerPoint slide about the parts of the volcano and was projecting it onto a screen for the class to see. As he/she talks about the magma flowing up towards the top of the volcano he/she draws arrows to show the movement. Once at the top of the volcano, he/she writes on the screen that the magma is now called lava.
Besides the practical uses in the classroom lectures, teachers can use the Wow-Pen to transfer their handwritten notes to text on the computer for future use. The Wow-Pen also presents another way that teachers can record grades.
Students themselves can use the Wow-Pen as well. Not only can they transfer their own notes from handwritten to text, but they can also use it to write an essay or homework assignment if they are not very good at typing.
Click here for more information about the conference and why it was created.
To learn more about the functions of the Wow-Pen or to purchase one click here.
The iPod was introduced to the world on October 3, 2001. There are verities of different things that the iPod does, such as the ability to listen to books, record voices, hold pictures, listen to music, transfer digital media, use basically as a computer, and translate different languages. Also, people are discovering that iPods can be used in education for more than just a distraction. In 2004, Duke University issued over 1600 20GB Apple iPod to their incoming freshman to see if there were any educational uses for the iPod. According to Duke iPod First Year Experience, students and teachers tested out the educational uses for the iPod and found that they could use it for the following tools:
· Course content dissemination tool-portable access to course contents
· Classroom recording tool- recording people talking (lectures)
· Field recording tool- record field notes and interviews
· Study support tool- the ability to look back at recordings and notes for studying
· File storage and transfer-the ability to backup other files
For more information about the Duke iPod First Year Experience click here.
To learn more about the iPod click here.
To purchase an iPod click here.
Calculators have changed the lives of many people, including students and teachers. They can do almost anything in the mathematical world, except prevent a student’s dog from eating his/her homework. Calculators have been helping people in the mathematical world since as far back as the 1600s. Although the devices back then were not battery operated nor had buttons to push, both did similar things. Just like in the past, calculators today can be used to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Nowadays, however, calculators can do even more, such as statistics, trigonometry, logarithms, graphing, and much more. This has helped students and teachers reduce homework and lecture time, focus more on the task at hand, and decrease the amount of mathematical errors. Instead of working out complicated problems that have large numbers, decimals, and fractions on a piece of paper a person can type in the information into their calculator. They receive their answer in a matter of seconds instead of minutes. Also, the students and teachers reduce the risk of getting an incorrect answer due to them forgetting to carry a number or a sign. In addition, if the student is new at solving a specific problem, such as a quadratic equation, they can focus more on the steps in solving the problem instead of adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing the numbers in it. Lastly, calculators are great for teachers because it reduces the time and errors when grading and recording papers. Calculators have and will continue to make a big difference in not only mathematics but in almost every study imaginable.
For more information about calculators click here. To purchase a calculator click here.
To get a better understanding of this blog, please read me first.
It can be quite a difficult choice when it comes to whether teachers should or should not be allowed to have their own MySpace or Facebook accounts. If allowed, teachers could become friends with their students and possibly become aware of a child who is thinking about suicide or killing another person. By using these sites it might lead to a decrease in school shootings or deaths in general. If the teacher is not allowed to use these accounts, it removes the risk of them losing their license, getting suspended, or even being incarcerated because of inappropriate actions on the sites. In my opinion, the O.E.A. (Ohio Education Association) is doing the right thing by strongly urging teacher to have neither the MySpace nor Facebook accounts. I am a member of both sites and have seen what people post in their blogs. All it takes is a couple words to ruin a person’s, or in this case a teacher’s, life forever. Yes, these sites are enjoyable, and I am not looking forward to the day I get rid of them, but we all know that we live in a world where there are some people who are not nice and who will try to hurt a person’s reputation. I do think it is great that teachers want to become more involved in helping their students. Maybe, instead of MySpace or Facebook, the O.E.A. should have schools create their own chat rooms. This site would be monitored at all times by the school. This way, students have a way of talking with their teacher about a homework problem or a problem at home. This would also protect their teacher’s reputation and job because teachers and students would be less likely to get on to an inappropriate topic while the schools are monitoring them. It is sad to say but we live in a world where no one is fully protected from the verbal, mental, or physical abuse that others inflict. By not allowing teachers to have MySpace and Facebook accounts, these abuses could be lowered.
