Week 4 Reflection

a) I strongly believe that the internet and Web will have a major impact in K – 12 education. I know that I use the internet in my classroom all of the time. I use the projector every day (it was down today and though I was able to teach my lesson, it slowed me down) and while I know that isn’t web based technology necessarily, it is still beyond teacher and textbook. I have students asking questions and commenting on things that we are learning about in class that I can simply Google and give them the answer on-the-spot. I have also been able to find many useful tools to help aid in my math presentation, especially in working with fractions. These web sites allow students to interact with fractions in such a way that they don’t actually have to know how to produce the fractions themselves, but they can still compare different fractions and begin to understand how they relate to one another. I also use Discovery Education to play streaming video for my students. There is no way that our library could afford to stock all of the videos that are available. Finally, I have to say that research is much easier with the internet. Once students learn how to sort the quality information from the static, they find that there is so much more information than was available in their public libraries.

b) This class is an excellent example of the impact the web has had on education. While I would be able to attend these classes in a classroom, the fact that I can access this information when it fits best in my schedule, whether it be from 5 – 7 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, during my kids nap time, or during my lunch at school, makes it much easier for me to pursue my education. What about students who can’t make it to class due to injury or illness, imagine listening to a lecture on a podcast - sure it might not always be the same as being there but it sure beats borrowing your friends notes.

c) Adult education? I was in the military and it is amazing how much educational offerings they have. I an imagine a soldier stationed in another country pursuing his bachelors degree. I have an uncle who was recently laid off who is taking classes from the community college and I’m sure that it would help to be able to take your class around the time when you are out doing interviews and working on your resume. Think about the professional development that is available to us now at the touch of a button. In the past we would have to travel to get our training but now we have more possibilities available to us at the touch of a button.

2) Since our students are our customers, HPI can help us find ways to better reach those students who don’t necessarily fit the mold or learning style that we often find in our classrooms. How do we increase student performance without simply teaching the lessons over and over until ALL students understand the material? Is there a way that we can alter our teaching methods so that we’re meeting all of our students needs? It seems like a lot of HPI can be boiled down to the old axiom “work smarter, not harder”. This chapter talked a lot about how HPI relies a lot on behavioral psychology, as does education, and how we need to figure out what the root problem is for our students not grasping the material so that we can make subtle changes to our methods and achieve our desired outcomes.

3) The Podcast that I started listening to is from The Education Podcast Network, it is called The Technology Teacher. Here is the blurb from the site: "This podcast is all about Technology Education, what it is, why it's important, and plenty of best practices. Look for classroom gadget reviews, software reviews, plus, we'll also have several student podcast episodes as the year progresses."It is done by Ron Kroetz, technology education teacher at El Cerrito Middle School in Corona, CA. Each week, Ron gives a 2-3 min. podcast about some new technology that can be used in school. Since I have a short attention span and don't really know what to look for as far as the new and exciting technology yet, this is really what I need...check it out.

4) To me, podcasting is a great tool to use to help preserve your lessons so that others may hear it, absent students, or students who need more time to go over the information. I can also see it used to keep parents in the loop over what is going on in your classroom. I don’t necessarily see how this works any better than a webpage will, however, it could be a pretty neat way to get kids involved in teaching or reviewing the materials that they learned, a type of reinforcement as it were.