My Robotics Club

My Robotics Club

Monday, November 8, 2010

Personal Reflection

Personal Reflection
Sharlene Kroneck
CEP-810
What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?
I have learned that cloud computing is a less expensive and easy to share documents
or projects. Learning about google docs, google presenter, prezi and other technologies have helped me to see what options are available to us. Blogger and twitter are great ways to communicate with the students. I plan to start a blog next week in one of my classes. One of the problems with teachers being able to integrate these technologies is
the cost of training, time, support and administration not allowing our students to use cell phones in class.

How did integrating the internet help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?
Using the internet to utilize the tools was the most important tool. Without the internet we could not be taking this class or be in this program. The communication would not be available and we would not be able to communicate with our classmates or teachers. The cloud computing is a newer technology which is in the infant stage. I believe this will be the new direction in technology. I was excited to see the micro-soft commercials on television advertising cloud computing.  Was happy that I understood what they were talking about. I asked my daughter if she knew what cloud computing was…. She did not. I explained it to her and felt good that I knew what it was.

Which of the assignments that you turned in do you feel really exemplifies good teaching and technology?
The SIG project was my favorite project it displayed good teaching and use of new technologies. Our group worked on the “video lessons” we demonstrated the use of chat, google presenter, google docs, animation and screenflow. During our time spent on this project we collaborated in chats in our google docs. As a group we set up times that best fit our schedules, one of our group members was from California and two of us were from Michigan. Being able to communicate through chats made it easier and much quicker than through email or discussion boards. This was a great learning experience for me. Being able to design a video for my students will be very helpful for a substitute and my students. It will also help keep the students up to date on their work if I am absent.

How have you met your goals established in your Personal Growth Plan?
 At the beginning of this class I was freaked out at the amount I needed to learn in such a short amount of time. When I learn something I need to take my time and learn it inside and out or I do not feel good about it. As the class continued and I was able to use these tools more often I became more comfortable with the tools. Using some of these tools in my SIG project and posting assignments to my blog, visiting my RSS to check my sites gave me a better understanding. After getting through the initial shock I am happy I have learned and had the opportunity was available to me.


 Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?
 My goals are to implement video lessons to my classes. I plan to use animation and screenflow to demonstrate my lessons. I would like to have my students make a blog to post and questions and answers about assignments. Another assignment I plan on implementing is having my student’s research tools to make a presentation. I will have them research google docs, google presenter, prezi, animation and videos. I will have them present what they have learned from the research to the class. I will video the presentations and send to other teachers so they are aware of these technologies. Then I will give the students options on which tools they would like to use for their presentations.