Well, as a part of my TECH3008 course assignment, I was asked to write 5 reflections regarding 5
...topics associated to what we took in the course. So I hope you'll enjoy and benefit too Blogger Nouf Said Al-Ghafri Course TECH3008 instructor Khalid
Al-Saadi
The reflections in my blog covers 5 main topics
Technology in education:
-Reflection P.1:
It's not a secret that technology plays an
effective role in the process of learning and education. It infuses classrooms
with digital learning tools, such as hand held devices and computers. Moreover,
technology expands course productivity, students' experiences, learning
materials and supports learning. And as point that educators strive to take
advantage of, it builds 21st century skills, increases students'
engagement and motivation and accelerates learning.
As a student in the course TECH3008, I was able
to wetness and learn about the use of technology in education more than other
coursers I've been to. Besides, I was able to trace its benefits. Trough
TECH3008 course and other, many technologies were used such as PowerPoint,
prezi, Google apps and
others.
These
technologies were mostly used to Liven up the traditional lesson and make it
even more interesting by incorporating photos, texts, diagrams, music, sounds, or
video clips.It's even effective to students who have shown much less initiative or
facility with more conventional academic tasks. Moreover, this use of
technology had provided students with a greater chance of learning by
presenting the data visually, auditory and even by touch sometimes. That way,
information stays longer in the long-term memory in the learner's mind.
Also in most of these classes, teachers asks
their students to use these technologies to represent their understanding of a
certain topic or to play the role of a teacher to explain something for their
classmates in order to provide them with the needed information, presentation
and speaking skills. That's why students are able to acquire an impressive
level of skill with varies set of computer software and a confidence about
being able to learn to use new tools that will support their learning of new
software applications. One other thing that I noticed is that in our classes
that use a varies set of technologies, students were more able to generate data
from different resources especially the online ones, have better designing
skills and creative thinking.
Technology were also used to transform educating
by ushering in a model of connected teaching. The model links teachers and
students to a professional content to help in improving their own instruction
and to personalize learning. Generally, the use of these technologies in class
is enhancing the rate of learning, reducing costs associated with programs
delivery, instructional materials and utilizing teacher's time in a better way.
-Reflection P.2:
There are things that I liked and didn't like
when it comes to the use of technology in class. What I liked Is that we used
varies technologies, so it was interesting and we were able to know many types
of programs that will help us in the educational process as students and teachers.
But the thing I didn't like is that in each topic we studied, it would have
been better if we studied even more examples and applied them in class. For
example, the story telling topic. It would be better if we could experience
more programs at class. All in all, I think the use of technology in education
is so effective, but I believe it would be so overwhelming if the class was
over occupied with it. And if it was used in a wrong way, it would turn into a
disappointment tool instead of an educational one.
As a future teacher, I'm confident that I'll be
using technology in my teaching later
on. Instead of the usual cramming and dull way in teaching a subject, I
can use multiple technologies to create a lesson plan while using visuals,
audio and even touching to attract students and enhance their understanding. I
can use movie maker to tell a story, presentation to explain a certain role and
web quest to test my students' level of understanding and performance. I think it's hard to list all the ways I'll
be able to use technology since there are many programs, software, devices and
apps. But for sure whatever I want to teach my students, for sure there'll be a
technology that will suite my needs.
There many ways and theories that exist in the
world of education. So as educators, it's our duty to find out what's the best
for our learners. Should we make them learn everything by cramming or should we
teach them the logical steps wise thinking beside the ways of accessing data, deducing
from references gathered and make observations?!!
Since we cannot learn
everything by rote and cramming, we need to find and device a course structure
that provides the required technology that helps in smooth processing of
collection of information. Moreover this structure needs to promote learning by
tending to a learner's natural curiosity. All you need is an IWB!!!
What is a Smart-board? And Can a board actually
be smart and interactive? We can define Smart-board as a new highly interactive
tool that is commonly found in schools,
universities and other educational institutions. Simply, it is touch screen that is composed of a
projector, a white board and a computer.
-Reflection P.1:
In TECH3008 course, we used "Active
inspire" which is an IWB software and even used it to design our own
lesson, which was about environments. It helped us to design a lesson that can be presented through
IWB with rich, powerful activities that
are able to grab learners' attention, while blending the use of practical
experience and presented data. It represents a ready to use activities and a
wide range of tools in order to create various activities that suite different
types of students. And it was wonderful to be able to use multiple media in
order to represent our lesson.
Trough search and what I've learned in classes,
I came to learn many things about IWB and its use as an educational tool. This magnificent
technology is used to enhance the class or presentation's quality with varies
types of pedagogical tools such as pictures, videos, audio and so on. That's
how it saves the teacher's and the student's precious time. Moreover, it helps
the students pick up the information easily and have it in their long term
memory for so long. If an information is presented in more than one way, then
the chances of its being connected with other data and being remembered are
higher. Also since it can include or be attached to many other technologies,
apps…ect, Students can access or contribute to the presentation or lesson
easily.
Another important usage is that students with
Asperger’s syndrome, autism, attention deficit disorder and other behavioral or
mental issues, can benefit from IWB since it provides a stimulating focal point
for lessons and can therefore be a tremendous asset. Ana since lots of those
students have a problem with expressive communication, IWB enable them to
manipulate data and answer questions new avenues for sharing
knowledge.
I think there is this use which is ''the immediate
access to online resources'' that is considered one of the most important uses
of IWB, at least from what I observed trough class. Using this technology
enables high teachers to enrich the lesson with a variety of instructional
modalities quickly and easily. A teacher can access a segment of an online
video or news in order to provide the student with farther information or to
support a specific point in a lesson. A virtual field trip becomes possible.
Higher level math teachers can use a IWB graphing calculator to not only solve
a problem, but also to demonstrate graphing the process.
On top of what I mentioned previously, Interactive
whiteboards provide an instant feed-back and make easy for the data gathered
during the class lesson to be stored and later on retrieved for review or to email to an absent student.
Everything that is done in a high school class, whether student or teacher
generated, can be saved. Portions of the data can be redacted, that's how
during review, students can test their understanding by replacing the missing
data. And through the use of this technology, Instruction becomes comprehensive
across classes, and material can be downloaded, printed and so on. Moreover, a Teacher
can share examples generated in his class with the next class. Ofcorse, IWBs
can be used in many other ways depending on the teacher and the students.
Through my journey to learn about IWB, there
were things I didn't like or concerned about regarding it. It costs a lot of
money and it can be a problem for school districts that are low on funds or for
smaller or rural school districts. Basic Smart Board models cost just under
£650 as of 2010, but many models cost more now. So I think not all students
will be able to have an
access to it.
Moreover, as a student myself I find it difficult
a bit to depend on IWBs completely hence as any other electronic device, it may
face a break down at any moment for some reasons. That will be problematic
since the lesson material will be online or stored there and even if the
teacher always makes a back-up teaching plane in cases of break-downs, it's a
waste of his/her time to double their efforts always. Another thing I'm
concerned about regarding the use of IWBs is that it requires a constant
maintenance which needs a professional and again that can be a problem to
schools with low funds. Moreover, to be able to use IWB, a teacher must be
trained which some teachers , especially the old fashioned ones, may find
difficult. And eventually they will abandon the use of it even after spending
lots of money on it. I liked active inspire software very much after practicing
it in class and personally I liked that I was able to be creative in presented
information instead of using cramming. But
I wish if it contains even a wider range of tools, pictures or maybe sample
videos related to different topics. But even with these concerns, I still think
a good use of this technology is essential and I've to admit that I come to
like IWB even more.
As a future teacher, I think I will be using
IWB and active inspire software to teach my class. An important point is that
IWB makes the teacher able to create customized learning objects and tasks from
a set of existing content and change it to suit the students' needs. Because
I'm majoring in English, I'll be able to make my own activities using the
provided tools to make the class more interesting especially if I want to teach
my students a new rule. Besides what I've mentioned previously about the use of
IWBs, I think there are other things that I personally want to try.
Nowadays as
there's plans to allow students with special needs and some types of disorders
to blend with other students in normal schools, I think I can use IWB to teach
them. For instance, I can adapt material for students with visual challenges
and use it in different and suitable ways.
They can adjust brightness or
contrast controls as they wish and resize text and graphics. Since the scale
and brightness is greater than that of a pen and paper or traditional chalkboard,
Students with limited vision can mostly write on the surface of the board . Moreover,
students can enlarge images or videos so that they can view details they
wouldn't be able to see on a smaller computer screen.
All this can help students
with visual challenges to not only view data that would be otherwise
inaccessible, but also to participate more fully in the lesson and to interact
with objects on-screen. I can use this technology in the future also with deaf
students. As a future teacher, I'll be able to keep my hands free of pen tools because
of finger-touch capabilities
provided by IWBs, which can interfere with
signing.
Also, I plan
to not use the spoon feeding or cramming way with my students, so
through IWB I'll be sending them some materials and sources to look at or
search about to prepare foe next class. Moreover, I'll use it to provide them
with their marks and give the feed-back regarding their performance. Another
thing is that I heard that IWB can be attached to clickers, so maybe I'll use
that to give them multiple choice questions or to get their opinions in a topic easily instead of wasting time. All
in all, The use of IWBs depends on how you use it. Yes, it's so helpful, but
nothing is perfect.
Digital Storytelling is basically an art that
portraits real or fictional events, and adding the multimedia elements of voice,
imagery, and music to create a visual story. Stories are more often told to
entertain, but for sure it makes a great tool to teach Lessons and provide
morals. Storytelling is mostly considered to be a essential aspect of humanity.
So, many apps and software were found to serve the purpose of storytelling and
through years people used this technology for various reasons including
education.
-Reflection P.1:
Generally not many courses used digital storytelling
in teaching *according to my own experience in university*, but I believe in
the importance of using it in order to be able to portray many things that
would be hard to be understood if we used a dull and normal way to explain it.
Usually students and teachers use programs like Movie maker, Animoto or cameras
in digital storytelling. Through TECH3008 course and others, I found that digital
storytelling can play an important role in educating at class.
It can be used in class to get the information
stuck easily and mostly in the students' mind. I've always noticed that when we
are being crammed with facts and data, only a certain amount sticks in our
brain and the rest just disappears. However, when we are told a story with the data
in context blended with the use of multimedia, more information is actually
retained. This could easily be attached to the fact that just like our
emotions, human minds are “hard wired” for stories.
Ofcorse the use of digital storytelling in
class can be by students and teachers too. Teachers tend to ask their students
to do digital storytelling in order to provide them with needed the digital and
presentation skills. The process can capitalize on the creative skills of
students as they research and tell stories of their own as they learn to
use the library and the Internet to research rich, deep content while
analyzing and guarantee a wide range of content. In addition, learners who
participate digital stories' creation may develop their
communications skills by getting to learn how to organize their own ideas,
ask questions, express their point of view, and construct narratives. Moreover,
it helps students to be able to convey their own thoughts and emotions in a
more creative way. Some teachers create their own digital stories and show them
to their students as a way to represent new material and information. An
engaging, multimedia-rich digital stories can sever as an anticipatory set
or hook to guaranty the attention of students and make them more
interested in exploring new ideas.
Students with diverse learning styles tend to
be attracted to digital Storytelling which can foster collaboration when
students are able to work in groups. Moreover, through personal ownership and
accomplishment, digital storytelling enhances the student's experience. In
addition, when digital stories are being published online, students will have
the opportunity to share their own work with others and gain valuable experience
in critiquing their own and other students’ work. which can results in
social learning and gaining emotional intelligence. And according to what
I've learned, the more we used digital efficiently, the more students are able
to tell what the presenter is trying to tell.
Another important point I want to mention is
that digital storytelling encourages students to write more effectively trough
permitting the visualization of the writing which leads in an additional level
of perception. Moreover, since digital story telling include managing many
multimedia, texts, arranging and linking many things together in an appropriate
way, students will be able be more organized and
will get to be more focused
through the process.
Through the TECH3008 course we applied the
concept of digital storytelling through learning about and using Animoto which
is a cloud-based video creating service that
produces video from video clips, photos and music into video slideshows. It
includes many interesting features like using a very beautiful themes that goes
well many aspects. In addition, it got ready to use images and videos. In class
we practiced on it to create our own digital story while experiencing its many
features and it was really worth the try.
-Reflection P.2:
I totally liked the digital storytelling. I
liked the fact that as students we are no longer restricted to the cramming way
of learning and that we can be as creative in presenting the content of our
study. While practicing on Animoto, I found it so useful and I liked its
features, but I only wish for even more themes to be added. Aside from that,
I've no objections regarding it, it's a wonderful program.
Even with the obvious benefits of digital
storytelling, there are thing that I don't like regarding it. That fact that lots of teachers don't seem to
know how to use this technology well reflecting in poor understanding to the
content the teacher is trying to communicate through it. In addition, some
teachers have a difficult time figuring out how to assess digital storytelling
assignments.
Moreover, not all students will be able to deal
with this technology the same. Some may take longer time to grab the idea and
some will be fast so managing a certain time to finish their storytelling is
hard to set. digital storytelling usually take longer to create than a
“traditional” story. Just like what I said with IWB, using digital storytelling
can have technical break downs too which
can be a problem in the advance of class. If time is a
factor.
One thing I want to point out and I don’t like
is that learners may have problems during the digital storytelling. For
example, formulating a sound, may only have limited access to the resources needed,
there is limited ability to save from the internet could be time consuming, and
there could be copyright and intellectual property issues. But even with these
things that I don’t seem to like, the good use out shine the negative ones so
I'll be only happy to use digital storytelling as a future teacher.
As a future teacher, I think I'll be using
digital storytelling quiet well. I would like to use it to ask my students to
portray a personal experience or something else in English since as I mentioned
before I'm majoring in English. I would like to do that since I know it will
help them improve the way the express themselves and for sure they will be more
interested in learning. Moreover, as a teacher, I'll be using it to spark
classroom discussions in topics that I think their opinion is being essential.
Because, in the usual cramming way, students may see thing from one view, but
because digital storytelling with the use of images for example, students get
to understand more, then with the voice being added, they will understand even
more and get an idea on what emotion is portrayed. In addition, I would like to
use digital storytelling to create an emotional learner that connects his
emotions and own experience to what he's learning. That's how I'm making sure
that the information I want to convey will be engraved in their mind for so
long. At the end, I'll be more than happy to use this technology, but I think a
proper training is needed in order to achieve that.
Although I really enjoy
using presentation technology, still there
are times where I question why I
keep using them. Not that I feel not like using them, but there are thing that
I don't like. For example, because this technology is so beneficial, lots of
students and teachers depend on it completely to give a lesson and present all
the information without inquiring the student to think and challenge himself .Even
though its interesting, but the absence of the human element and discussion,
steals that feature. In addition, as I mentioned before, technology can face
break downs any moment and if the teacher is depending on it to convey the
information, then it's a waste of time to not have a class. That's what I don't
like, but generally if the teacher and students are well trained and aware of
how this technology works, then I suppose there will be no problem. I already
like prezi so much, but as for powerpoint, I wish for more interesting set of
themes.
In future, I'm planning to
also use presentation technology in teaching practice. I want to use it to
create quizzes to my student and display for all to see so I can generate their
attention and interaction. Also I would like to use it to provide a summery for
what I will teach them so they will be able to discuss it with me in class and
then go back to it whenever they feel so. In addition since lots of students
are not well organized, I will use presentation technology to ask my student to
do some reflections over a project they will do. That will help them organize
their thoughts, time and to think of what are the most important points they
need to portray in their presentation. One last thing is that I'll ask them to
create their own lesson regarding one of the topics in the curriculum in order
to test their understanding and encourage them to search.
All in all, as a
student myself, I find it important to use presentation technology, but always
with the condition of proper training and well understanding of the technology and the
roles of both teachers and students.
Nowadays, mobile learning is creeping steadily through
the educational process. Mobile learning is "learning across multiple
contexts, through social and content interactions, using personal electronic
devices” (Crompton, 2013 p. 4). In other words, with the use of
mobile devices, learners can learn
anywhere and at any time.
M-learning technologies
include handheld computers, MP3 players,
notebooks, mobile phones and
tablets. It focuses on the mobility of the student
or learner, interacting with portable technologies, and learning which reflects
a focus on how society and its institutions can attach to and support an
increasingly mobile population. I didn't really use this kind of education in one of my
courses except TECH3008. In this course we applied mobile learning through
using mobile phone phones and the apps it holds. For example, whatsapp and play
store. We were being able to discover set of apps that we can use as future
teachers. In addition, we used whatsapp to organize a discussion group without
being required to attend class. Moreover, since nowadays mobile devices
includes internet connection, it became even easier to use for learning.
Lots of teachers and
students are starting to use it more often now is that it's inexpensive since
the cost of mobile devices are significantly less than PCs and laptops. They
also encourage using it in classroom for its multimedia content delivery and
creation options. Since it's always with the user, it provide continuous learning
support when it's being needed. Moreover, teachers tend to use it to make the
lesson more interesting and to make it easier on their students.
Mobile-learning technology
offers educators and students a more flexible approach to learning. Computer
labs are so useful, but can students use it in classrooms, school's garden, study
hall, the gym,
and on field trips? With mobile learning, students can.
The educational system we
work in is not known for its speed at catching up new ideas, but with
mobile-learning it is catching up in a fast way. This technology is easy for kids
to use, and comes with built-in Wi-Fi to access the Internet. In addition, Instructional
designers of classroom materials are always looking for ways to liven-up the
instructor-led training experience since people tend to find it boarding listening
to a dull lecture. Incorporating video provides students a moment to focus on
something else, and it can be effective in catching their attention through
visual ways, for example; videos. In addition, it provides an easy access to
online sources and apps which gives the student the chance to get whatever
information he/she wants in a fast way. Students and teachers can be pretty
creative with the basic tools provided on most desktop of mobile devices. They
can ,for example; create a video using a camera, mic, and the video editing
tool
Another thing is that now
schools and educators plan on using mobile learning since the creating books
can cost a lot and using it guarantees a huge online storage place instead of
using real storing places. With low priced mobile devices such as: tablets, and cell phones in the hands of kids in resource challenged societies,
many children will get the opportunity to skip past outdated formal school
systems. This is especially relevant in the case of kids who are poor and may not
have an opportunity to improve their condition through education since they work
early so they can sustain their families. That can apply on students who live
very far away from schools.
Moreover, mobile learning devices
provides the ability to access educational content during pauses
throughout the daily routine. Also educators can use mobile devices to share
educational materials with their students and even ask them to giver their
opinion on a topic through a special apps. Ofcorse, these are not all the ways
an educator or teacher may use mobile learning in
class, but these are the
well-known and most important ones.
Reflection P.2:
Well to start with, I believe that mobile learning can play
an important role in educating people. I like the fact that I can access data
and get the lesson without being required to attend class. In case I couldn't
attend it, I can always find the materials online. I also liked that we can to
use many apps that are interesting and are related to what we are studying.
Mobile learning is really interesting that it can energize me and make me more
engaged in class. But what I don't like is that too much use of this technology
can cause students to be distracted during class. Moreover, in case of these
devices got no energy left, we cannot use it nor access to the lesson data. In
addition, sometimes because of whatever reason, the data stored in these
devices can be lost.
As a future educator, I
think I'll use this technology to teach students in needs. For example,
students who are deaf can use these devices to touch and use it's visuals. It
help them to feels more like their normal peers.
Moreover, I'll apply it by
creating Polls or
quizzes in real time.Instead of asking the students to raise their hands if they agree or
disagree with something, I can use a service like "Poll
Everywhere" and students'
cell phones. I can set up the poll or quiz, and then track instant
answers sent via text, Twitter, or web browsers. I can also use whatsapp to
hold a discussion with them or send them some kind of educational materials
such as videos, asking them to analyze it. I'll definitely make sure that I'll
take advantage of this technology.
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