Technology is growing to be more accessible, more affordable, and more necessary for the common teenager. This is a good and bad thing. Technology can definitely come in handy and as a future educator, I enjoy the fact that it makes work easier for me. But it can also be dangerous for those who don't know the full potential harms it can bring with its use.
I'd want to encourage my students to use technology to their advantage and at their disposal. More information at the convenience of a button isn't entirely a bad thing for them. But if they aren't given the proper warnings on what could happen when using technology or programs that aren't familiar to them, bad things are likely to happen.
Phishing, farming and copy rights are more school-centered whereas cyberbullying, sexting and textual harassment apply to all teenagers and even adults. They didn't work as cohesively for me when you put all the topics together. I'm more likely to warn my students about phishing, farming and copy rights rather than to discuss cyberbullying, sexting and textual harassment mainly because I believe that the issues of sexting, textual harassment and cyberbullying are more so morality issues and start at home. I also consider it common sense that people would know the dangers of those topics, which is probably why people don't discuss the issue as much as they should. In an article by The Sydney Morning Herald, Katrina Baum who conducted a survey on textual harassment states that "technology has become a quick and easy way for stalkers to monitor and harass their victims." I believe that parents need to be more involved in their teens technological habits. As a future educator, I want to reiterate these issues, but moral values start at home.
Wiggo wasn't useful in this project. Our group members divided the work and compiled it onto a google document so we are able to individually make changes at the same time. We then decided what presentation tool to use and inputted our information according to how our presentation was organized. As a matter of fact, Wiggio wasn't used at all for this presentation. I believe the google document proved to be more useful because we were all able to work simultaneously without having to meet up.
I think the only thing I'd want to change about the presentation, is the time limit. I believe that every group had to seriously condense their information to ensure that it fits the time allotted. If were were given maybe another 10 minutes, each group would be capable of giving a more detailed presentation and more information that can only teach the audience more about their respective topic. I would also like to add the dangers of too much technology. Like I mentioned earlier, I'd want my future students to use technology to their advantage and disposal, but a survey conducted worldwide in countries such as Japan, India, Brazil and China reported by The Times of India shows that "tech-obsession can make us less human". The report shows that we rely heavily on technology and prefer to google topics instead of reading about them in encyclopedias. Times are changing and technology is affecting the world more and more everyday. Educators need to keep up with the technological trends and it isn't as easy as it would be for teens nowadays.
Sources:
Ahseen, I. (2013 October 22) How Dependent are we on Technology Retrieved from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/man-woman/How-dependent-are-we-on-technology/articleshow/24491279.cms
Baum,K (2009 March 6) Textual Harassment on the Rise Retrieved from:
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/textual-harassment-on-the-rise-20090407-9x5m.html
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Monday, 17 March 2014
Open Doors
It's easy to say that assistive technology is opening doors for everyone. Indeed people take advantage and under appreciate the things laptops and computers do for them. For people with disabilities, technology has provided lee way for pursuing their dreams. I've had personal experience with people with disabilities with the privilege of being able to oversee a special education class for ED192. I was able to learn about how to teach special education and saw the difficulty of having to go back and forth with the lesson because students aren't always on the same level of learning. I can definitely see how technology can play a major role in a student's education and for student's with disabilities, communication can be accomplished. During my observation of the special education class, and throughout my experience in public school, students with disabilities are given one-to-one aides. Those aides are there to of course, help the student. Now, because some students with disabilities are unable to write or draw or talk, we can't really tell if the student is learning or not. The aide would then do the work for them or hold their hand and move it for them. With the technology we have now, wouldn't it be nice to implement it into schools and further the learning process. If we can have the student progress academically and show their work, it would be a amazing improvement for them. I suppose, the next problem would be the cost of all these updates. As written in an online article, "schools are forever playing technological catch up as digital innovations emerge that require upgrading schools' technological infrastructure and building new professional development programs." I'm certain that the government would be able to see how well students do with the new technology and can't resist providing the funds needed for the equipment. If this is already being utilized in the states, I believe Guam needs to jump on that bandwagon and implement it in our public schools.*This blog is in response to this video
Online sources:
(2011 September 1) Technology in Education edweek.org Retrieved 21 March 2014 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/
Photos:
Jordan, Brandi (2013 June 29) 11 Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom [Graphic] Retrieved from http://blog.reallygoodstuff.com/11-ways-to-use-technology-in-the-classroom-infographic/
Johnson, Hans (n.d.) Technology is Awesome [graphic comic] Retrieved from http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=5131
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Educational Game Reflection
For our online educational game, the most helpful technology would of course be our presentation tool. Our group used wix.com to create a website that definitely helped present our game more efficiently. We structured our website and organized our information the way we thought best provided by easy access of wix.com.
Another use of technology that we utilized was wiggio. Although we found wiggio useful at times, we still referred to our emails. If a group member were to start a conversation on wiggio, our smartphones would get a notification on our email accounts. So I think that wiggio is only useful for online group meetings, but in this case for our educational game, our group preferred to meet in person to better discuss the different aspects of the game that we wanted to acknowledge in our presentation. In a sense, we weren't utilizing wiggio to its full potential.
Although pizza isn't a source of technology, it served as a bonus for our audience. As aspiring teachers, we understand that some students need more motivation to get their attention. Because we don't want to bribe our students, reward systems can only be utilized to an extent. But in my experience, reward systems acknowledges students and make them feel like their hard work and dedication is appreciated and will motivate them to do better. Of course, we can't always use food to get students to excel in class. But I believe it can definitely bring more interested students to class. It doesn't always have to be food as well. It can be a point system that can lead to a better prize.
Overall, I think the website proved to be most useful for our group in my opinion. Wiggio wasn't useful for this group project because group members mainly referred to our emails. Pizza was just a motivator for our audience. but didn't enhance the academics of our game.
Online Sources:
http://www.wix.com/
http://www.abcya.com/fraction_fling.htm
Another use of technology that we utilized was wiggio. Although we found wiggio useful at times, we still referred to our emails. If a group member were to start a conversation on wiggio, our smartphones would get a notification on our email accounts. So I think that wiggio is only useful for online group meetings, but in this case for our educational game, our group preferred to meet in person to better discuss the different aspects of the game that we wanted to acknowledge in our presentation. In a sense, we weren't utilizing wiggio to its full potential.
Although pizza isn't a source of technology, it served as a bonus for our audience. As aspiring teachers, we understand that some students need more motivation to get their attention. Because we don't want to bribe our students, reward systems can only be utilized to an extent. But in my experience, reward systems acknowledges students and make them feel like their hard work and dedication is appreciated and will motivate them to do better. Of course, we can't always use food to get students to excel in class. But I believe it can definitely bring more interested students to class. It doesn't always have to be food as well. It can be a point system that can lead to a better prize.
Overall, I think the website proved to be most useful for our group in my opinion. Wiggio wasn't useful for this group project because group members mainly referred to our emails. Pizza was just a motivator for our audience. but didn't enhance the academics of our game.
Online Sources:
http://www.wix.com/
http://www.abcya.com/fraction_fling.htm
Monday, 3 February 2014
Summer 2014 Vacation
I cannot wait for vacation this summer. Just one more semester until I get to go to Washington with my family and boyfriend. Going to Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse and all my Disney friends. I'm excited! But I just need to get through this one semester. Sigh, wish me luck!
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