Electronic Portfolio

Throughout this class I have leaned a lot about using technology to inhance the learning of myself and my students. I had always been somewhat nervous about using different technologies and websites in the classroom and for my everyday use. After taking EDC 505 I am much more confident and comfortable in my abilities to navigate the internet. I really enjoyed doing the revies of different websites. I really want to integrate ePals into my classroom when I become a teacher because I think it is so important for students to know about and be connected to others around the world. I also think my Electronic portfolio will be important in the future so that I can look back on project I did and get ideas for new ones. I also will enjoy looking at everyone in our class' portfolios for new ideas as well.

Movie Maker

I have really enjoyed learning how to use the program moviemaker. I didn't even know that the program was available on my computer. I feel that this feature could be very useful in the classroom, especially when introducing a new topic to get students excited about learning something new. I also was amazed at how user friendly it was as well. I watched one short tutorial on it but was able to figure out most of it simply by working with it. I will definitely use this program in my classroom.

Google Docs

I really enjoyed using and learning about google docs and tools. I feel that this would be especially helpful for an English class when students are writing, editing, outlining, and getting feedback for their papers. I especially like that you can share the documents with everyone or a certain number of people. This could be helpful for peer editing or if there is a personal essay that the student only wants the teacher to read. I also like that the grade book is interactive and students could access their grades at anytime if the students were identified by something other than their name. I also explored the google site a little more and saw the interactive calender, which could be useful in the classroom as well so students know what is coming up. Students could also take advantage of the reader to monitor which articles they read or if there is a reading that they should do it could be put up there. I feel that there are many different aspects to google that could be helpful within the classroom of simply to keep teachers more organized.

Social Netowrks

After reading the article Too Much Information on social networking sites, you may be giving away more than you think I feel that it brings up a lot of very valid points that teachers and students may not realize.

I agree that social networking sites can be harmful to children who have a profile on the internet. While I was teaching at a Middle School many of the students had MySpace and Facebook pages. A majority of the students were unaware of privacy setting or did not even bother to put them up. Many of the students had very provocative and inappropriate pictures. I am sure that the parents were unaware of this. Furthermore, their pages could make it easier for child predators to target them. I think it is important to educate parents on how to navigate these sites and to educate their children on the dangers of cyberspace.

I do feel that social networking sites can be very beneficial in many ways. I know I have kept in touch with people that I would usually never talk to by using social networks. Social networks are also very useful in the home, workplace, and schools. If used for the right reasons they can be a great tool.