Week #1

Well my blogging experience has begun, and surprisingly it is a lot easier than I thought it would be! I have created this blog for a course I am currently enrolled in at Brandon University. The course title is Using Information & Communication Technology in Education. Through using my blog, I will update you on what I am currently learning about, and my thoughts with regards to my learning experience. I will also post photos, videos, and links that I feel will enhance the purpose of my blog.  I will use this blog to discuss and reflect on different technology and applications I have learned about in class, and provide examples of how I could use or implement these ideas in my future classroom.  I am super excited to learn about different applications I could use in the classroom to enhance and revive learning for my students.

                This first week of class was an introduction and summary of the course. Our instructors suggested that we set up a Dropbox account or some form of ‘cloud’ storage. Using ‘cloud’ storage is very useful because as long as you have internet access, you can use Dropbox to obtain any document you have saved, using any computer or device you wish.  I have not used it very much yet, but I feel I will take advantage of this program because I cannot keep track of all my flash drives! 

                I also created my own YouTube channel to keep track of all the videos I feel will be useful  for the classroom. In doing this, it will save myself time instead of constantly searching for a video I have seen, but cannot seem to find.  I feel YouTube is a necessity in today’s classroom because of the interactive experience it provides for the audience. Students live in a time where technology is a large part of their lives, therefore, I feel if students are interested in technology we should incorporate it in our lessons when appropriate. I also feel that a video, at times, can go beyond what one teacher can teach in a class. Educational videos have the ability to describe a topic in depth, while providing real life footage to further explain the topic.

                A neat website we learned about this week was called Wordle. Wordle allows you to create a word splash, and format it in any way you wish. To use Wordle you type any words you wish to have in your word splash into the text box. The more times you type the word, the bigger it appears in the word splash. I feel a teacher could use Wordle in a variety of ways in the classroom. At the beginning of the year a student could create a Wordle using words that describes his or her personality, interests, name, interesting facts, likes, dislikes, etc. This allows the teacher to learn more about his or her students, while introducing them to Wordle, a website you may choose to use  later on in the course. In any course I feel a teacher could use Wordle for students to create a title page for a unit they will be studying. The teacher could have the students predict what they think the unit may be about, and create a word splash for the title page. Then to follow up with this activity, at the end of the unit the teacher could have his or her students create another Wordle to demonstrate their knowledge on that specific topic. This could also act as a final project to conclude the unit, in which the students could present their Wordle and discuss different key concepts they chose to include in their Wordle. They could also explain and give reasons for the significance of the size they chose to have each word. Other websites similar to Wordle are worditout, tagul, and tagexedo.

               One last website I learned about is called Padlet, in which the teacher can create a "wall," and students can type the desired response on a sticky note. The whole class is able to see what is typed on this stick note, so it is a great resource to use when sharing ideas. In my future classroom, I feel I could also use Padlet to get to know my students during the first week of school. The teacher could prepare a list of questions the students should answer, and each student can type in their response. Padlet could also be used for a KWL type of response. Each student could type what they know about a specific topic, what they want to know, and then what they learned. It would be a great way to revive the traditional pencil and paper KWL worksheet, and the students could help each other and share what they've learned by just looking at their screens. However, for this to be useful I feel the teacher must have the students type their name on the top of the sticky note, so the teacher and fellow students know who is typing what. 

              This week I have already learned about some excellent websites that I will be able to use in my classroom. I have shared only a few ideas about the possible usages, but I know there are many more. I am excited to use these websites and applications when I go out for my next field experience placement. I am also looking forward to learning more about integrating technology into the classroom!
          ~Jenna :)