Comprehensive List of Technologies in Education

Technology in the classroom is versatile. As I contemplated the essential questions for our course this week, I reflected deeply on what exactly I was being assessed on. I wanted to answer the question in a way that shows I truly understand the concept and have a plethora of ideas to use in my classroom (that I will hopefully have one day). I wanted to rack my brain deeply for the different technologies that we have discussed in class, small groups, from previous classes, from my teaching friends, through my research, and what I have stumbled over in my journeys. I wanted to bring all of that together and create a little list of general pedagogical technologies and technologies that are more content specific.

General Pedagogical Technologies:

Computer

Projector

Doc-camera

SmartBoard

TV

1-1 devices

Mobile labs

Microsoft - Word, PowerPoint, Excel

Apple - Garageband, iTunes, iStation

Adobe - Photoshop, 

Social Media - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

Google - Drive, Blogger, YouTube

Websites - Edutopia, Tedtalks, Netsmartz, Brainpop

Apps - Edmoto, Animoto, Socrative, Noise volume, (I found a TON on Scholastic's website!)

Thinglink

Prezi

Glogster

digital stories

podcasts

infographics

interactive whiteboards

Webquests

Content-specific Technologies:

Language: Infographics, apps and websites

Math: Smartboard manipulatives, websites, and drill kill apps

Science: telescopes, webquests, and digitial stories

Reading; ebooks, head phones, itunes and apps 

Writing this blog definitely gave me a comprehensive look at the different type of general pedagogical technologies that could be used, but as I was putting together my content specific technologies list, I realized they are intertwined. Ebooks work well to teach reading, but they can also be used in a science course. Webquests seem ideal for Social Studies, but why not used it to teach a math concept? I feel that technology is used in multiple ways across many dimensions of the curriculum. Unless I'm completely off course ... then I don't really know what type of content-specific technologies there are...

 

 

Practice What You Teach

Wednesday night we had an opportunity to participate in an excellent example of technology being used to present content, but also to assess the learning after the content had been covered. The best way to use technology in this way is project – based assessments that give the students an opportunity to learn throughout the project and then the project is used as the final assessment as well. The best example I can think of in this regard is the horny-toad lesson that we learned about a few weeks ago in class. This is the perfect project based assessment! The teacher was able to teach the student the content in various ways (direct instruction, group work, outside experts, etc.) and then use the authentic technology and resources to help the students implement knowledge. After such extensive work towards this project, it would not be necessary to test the students with a bubble sheet, or a fill in the blank test, because at this point the students have reached deep understanding – and the evidence is clear based on the project.

Yet the question must be addressed, how do we still prepare students for those standardized tests that will need to be taken? The answer?  Balance. The students need to be given opportunities to learn how to take a test, because unfortunately that is the reality of the American education system. This concept became clear to me when Archer asked Dr. Cox if she followed this same pattern with her own students. I reflected on my time as an undergrad student in Dr. Cox’s Ed Psych class. I remember vividly the time I had to go to the testing center and take a test about psychology theorists. I remember Dr. Cox’s rationale was that we needed to have the experience of the testing center. I remember this clearly because I’m pretty sure I didn’t completely agree with her logic (Sorry, Dr. Cox!). I have since come to a see what she was really trying to tell us. In essence, we were being prepared for the Praxis test. There would be a time (when we were to take the Praxis) that we would not be given the option to create a Prezi, or do a research project on Piaget, but we would need to know how to face a standardized test. I am grateful for wise professors that practice what they teach.

The lesson and activity in class was very beneficial in helping me create my scope and sequence. I felt that it gave me practical tools I could use to create real, meaningful assessment and content presentation using technology to weave into my scope and sequence. I had been feeling pretty overwhelmed by the task, but with this class session I felt more confident in my scope and sequence.