Week 1: Introduction Forum

My earliest memory of utilizing any type of technology is the old Nintendo 64, dial-up
internet, and the different Gameboys that would come out every other year. My first cellphone
was a flip phone and my first "smartphone" was a sidekick. It had a screen that swiveled up and a
full keyboard to go with it. I was in middle school when I first got a smart phone and I was
amazed that I was able to use the internet on it. Fast forward to my modern day technologies, I
can either be found on my MacBook or my iPhone. These are the two technologies that I use
everyday for school and socialization. I grew up using PC's most of the time, now that I'm
familiar with the Mac format, I realize that it takes me forever and a day sometimes to navigate
through a PC. Besides that, I enjoy trying out new technology because there is so much that I
don't know. Luckily, I felt like I grew up around the time where these technologies where
advancing and progressing and because of that, Ive never experienced technology anxiety.
Looking back at my education experience, it has been mostly positive. I was fortunate
enough to have more good teachers than bad. The subjects that I struggled with the most was
anything science or math. It wasnt until high school that I did poorly in these subjects. I realized
that the reason why I did poorly was because of how un-invested my high school math teacher
was in his students. When I started college, my math and science anxiety still persisted. I took a
statistics course, when I knew absolutely nothing about statistics. I ended up passing the course
with a B because I had a professor who truly wanted his students to learn the content. My
favorite teacher is Ms. Fink, I had her for an expository class for my senior year of high school. I
thoroughly enjoyed that class and her overall personality as a teacher. She is one of my
inspirations to become a teacher. Ive observed elementary, middle school, high school, and
special education as a requirement for EDUC350 last semester. I helped second graders with
reading comprehension and I absolutely loved it. I am a Liberal Studies major with a minor in
Literature. This is my senior year and Im planning to apply to UCR, UCI, and UCSB for my
credentialing.
Since Im planning to teach elementary, Im hoping to use technology to further engage
my students in the content that they learn. I know that iPads are now being utilized in the
classroom in some districts, so I would love to be able to use that for certain math lessons or
reading comprehension. Ive gotten a glimpse of how teachers are using technology as an
effective communication method with the parents. I also feel like students would enjoy utilizing
technology in the classroom because it gives the traditional classroom setting an added element
of excitement.

Week 2: Web 2.0

Web 2.0 allows the users to incorporate their own thoughts and share their knowledge
with the world. Since Web 1.0 seems like an old and linear concept of the internet, Web 2.0
seems like a resourceful and familiar method of internet use for the current generation. This is an
extremely useful resource for classes that are delivered completely online (i.e EDUC422)
because it maximizes the interaction level between the student amongst their peers as well as the
teacher and student role. Of course the usage of Web 2.0 should probably be modified depending
on the grade level. Overall, the major benefit of Web 2.0 is the ability to interact and integrate.
Teachers should integrate Web 2.0 technologies into their teaching practices in
moderation. I think that it would be great for teachers to use Web 2.0 when a new unit or section
is being introduced because it will be a good attention grabber. Perhaps certain subjects that may
be dull or difficult to understand in the classroom, will be easier for students to understand when
they are being taught in an alternative method that is delivered or shown through the web. I
definitely see Web 2.0 as being a useful resource for current and future educators because our
society is already reliant on technology.
The great thing about technology is that teachers can virtually integrate that into any of
their lessons. Ive seen teachers who would download content appropriate games for the entire
class which allows them to explore, but limits them to what they can and cannot access. I think
teachers are always able to include some sort of technology into their students education. When
it comes to math and reading comprehension, I have seen that delivered through the internet.
From my personal experience with online classes in college, a creative way to incorporate
technology into the sciences is requiring students to go on a virtual fieldtrip through search
engines such as Google or Yahoo. Ive seen blogs created for a certain class, so it involves
students in the same community to engage with one another. The possibilities are endless when it
comes to creatively incorporating technology into education.

Week 3: Digital Citizenship

Teachers should address the appropriateness of technology usage by asking them how
they would like their online experience to be. Whether it be online games, online assignments,
personal usage, or communication; students should treat the online world as they want to be
treated. Just like in the Digital Citizenship article, students should know the nine general rules
and abide by them whenever they are online. Depending in the age of the students, the rules
should be stated and modified for their understanding. For example, give them a scenario of
appropriate digital use and then follow up with inappropriate digital use to compare and contrast
the situations. Teachers can also provide activities where students identify the violations of
technology usage, so they know what to do when they are online on their own.
I think students should be introduced to appropriate technology use around third grade
because the students reading and comprehension skills are slightly above the foundation level.
They are able to compose adequate sentences with their own opinions at that point. Since most
children are exposed to technology at an early age, digital citizenship should be modified,
reinforced, and strengthened every school year. Simply because each year that goes by, they are
exposed to and are able to understand more complex areas and issues on the internet. Their issues
may change or new forms of social medias may emerge. The evolution and expansion of the
digital world seems limitless. Which is why I think that it is important reinforce students to
maintain their awareness of digital citizenship.
Digital citizenship should be taught in schools because it is for the students own
protection and benefit because I do not see the decline in technology use within our society
anytime soon. Ignoring the issue is how technology gets misused which will cause the issue to
grow. So rather than just assuming that students know how to proctor appropriate digital
behavior, it should be the responsibility of the teachers and the parents to show the new
generation on proper digital interaction.

Week 4: Assessing Instructional Apps

After reading the article A Comprehensive Evaluation Rubric for Assessing Instructional
Apps I feel like the characteristics that make a well-produced and educationally effective app
includes the ease of use, affordability, and giving feedback to the teacher. Since I am planning to
teach students at the elementary level, I do not want to have my students and their parents
spending hours on just figuring out how to navigate through an app. If I were to receive countless
emails from parents with concerns and confusion, then I have failed to do my research on finding
an efficient app. For apps that are downloaded in schools, I think that it is important to always
remain budget conscience because most schools stress about their budgets. I would never want to
require my students to download an app with the assumption that they are able to afford it,
because every students home-life varies. The last feature that I think is useful is the feedback to
the teacher. I think that this is important because teachers need to see how their students are
either progressing or struggling, that way teachers can focus on the students weaknesses to help
them strengthen their abilities.
An app that I use the most in my daily life is Twitter. I enjoy using Twitter because it
allows me to choose who I follow, who follows me, and displays current trending topics (by
using the hashtag #). Best of all, Twitter allows its users to compose tweets, which is basically
like a status update, of 140 characters or less. This limits to how much my friends can say in one
tweet, so its not like I will ever see an entire novel whenever I go on Twitter. This also restricts
me on how much I want to say sometimes, so I would have to be creative by cutting out words,
finding shorter words, deleting punctuations, or just turning words like you to u. The best
part about Twitter is that you can favorite another persons post if you like what they said or you
can retweet a post to share it with your followers. Overall, Twitter is a simply designed
interactive app that allows me to update daily events in my life as well as seeing the updates on
those that I follow.

Week 5: Digital Portfolio

Teachers can utilize digital portfolios in their classroom to showcase the students
strengths on open house night to show the parents what their child has been doing in the
classroom. Also, some districts require their teachers to submit a portfolio at the end of the year
to prove what they did. The assignments that the teachers would include usually shows that they
followed the standards of the common core, as well as documenting that the student is where
they should be for their grade level. Since I am taking EDUC364 this semester, I think that
digital portfolios would be extremely useful for students in the foster care system. Students who
are in foster care, on average, move about six times throughout their K-12 education. Digital
portfolios would help teachers see where the student is from their own school, so they can
understand where the student needs the extra help. Usually the main issue of a new student is that
they will not tell the teacher what they have and have not learned. With the digital portfolio, it
would benefit the student and the teacher when it comes to progressing on their content.
The challenges of integrating digital portfolios is the need to have access to the internet. I
know that not all households have internet access, which would be problematic for the teacher
that wants to go with the digital portfolio. For this challenge, I feel like teachers should send
home a paper survey on internet access to the parents to get an idea on whether or not the digital
portfolio would be a success for the classroom. If the students household does not have internet
access, then I do not think that it would be fair to implement it in the classroom. The other option
is that it could be fully done by the teacher. Which means that at the elementary level, the teacher
would take full responsibility for creating 25+ portfolios. Not to mention single subject teachers
who have to keep track with at least 5 classes with roughly around 30 students or more in each
class. I think as college students that it is easy to be pro-digital because we have to have internet
access. As we become teachers, we are going to see how much or how little resources that we
will have and I think that is when we will truly know how to accommodate to these challenges.

Week 6: Innovative Project Based Learning

A valuable characteristic of PBL is the aspect that allows student success in structured
collaboration. From high school until college, I actually hate group work for two reasons. One of
them was because it occurred at the end of whatever topic we were learning so I already knew
the content and being required to do a group project was just tedious and unnecessary to me.
Like the video mentioned, teachers would use group projects as fluff rather than using at as
content itself. The second reason is that I felt like the amount of group work is always split
unevenly within the group. I liked the example that the video had where the teachers would
effectively facilitate the project such as providing roles, guided questions, and then allow the
students to do the rest. When students are able to collaborate and effectively, it shows that they
are able to take the initiative to perform a task, which means that they will be more likely to have
a positive experience when it comes to working with others.
As I read the question, Im sitting here thinking to myself I dont think Ive ever had any
class in my K-12 education that approached PBL in the classroom which is sad because I
graduated high school in 2013. The only thing I can think of is maybe a group poster that I had to
do for a health class my senior year of high school. We got in a group of four and the teacher told
us to pick a chapter in our health book and make a poster about it. The subject of human health is
relatable, but the way my teacher proctored the group project was unorganized and ineffective.
The K-12 education that I received is completely different from the PBL approach.
I think integrating blogger into the classroom instead of the formal assessment that we
have been accustomed to, would be a great alternative to seeing how much students have
learned. Of course the teacher still needs to provide guided and structured questions to target
specific aspects of the PBL classroom. I feel like blogging is less intimidating than the paper and
pencil exam because it allows students to have more freedom. Blogging at the beginning, middle,
and end in a PBL class will accurately measure how much the student has learned because they
are able to freely express themselves.

Week 7: Online Gradebook

My first exposure to the online gradebook was in middle school which was in 2006-2009
and I thought it was convenient because I was use to waiting to see my grades via snail mail.
From the articles that discussed the teachers perspective of online gradebook, I did not realize
how problematic that the online gradebook can be. Yes, it is convenient but there are flaws that
can happen on the teachers end. For example, the Online Grade Books Provide Transparency,
Accountability article mentioned how only 28.1 percent of students had access to their online
grades which leaves a huge majority uninformed about their grades. Its easy to type in grades
because the system calculates the rest, that there is a lot of room for grade errors.
From the same article, I was surprised to see how much feedback the teacher received
from his students regarding online grading and how that interaction improved the teacher-student
relationship. Since students always outnumber teachers, it is hard for teachers to create a
connection on a personal level. I never thought of the online gradebook as a method of positive
interaction between a teacher and student. The constant reminders and updates that students do
have access to their grades and that they are aware of their progress shows that the teacher does
care about their academic success.
I believe that online gradebooks are required in the majority of K-12 classrooms. I am
looking forward to using the online gradebook for my future students. I am sure that it will give
them a peace of mind that they are able to see their grades as well as their classroom progress at
their convenience. Knowing the errors that may occur with online gradebooks, I will be sure to
encourage my students to check their grades at least once a week or whenever they receive a
graded assignment.

Week 8: Game Based Learning

When teachers integrate video games into their teaching, it can truly enhance the
students learning experience through trial-and-error. Like the article mentioned, students are
able to learn through interaction and the outcomes of their choices. I can truly see the value in
learning through video games because it will be a new and probably enjoyable learning
experience for students at any level. Game-based learning will bring the lesson to life instead of
having the student read from the textbook. This method will virtually place the student into that
context whatever the scenario may be. Also, I feel like students would be much more motivated
to learn if the teacher were to integrate video games for a lesson or homework assignment.
As a future teacher, I would want to try and use a video game that has a similar concept
to the Prometheus game that was mentioned in the article. The concept that I am about to suggest
is completely hypothetical and if you are not a literature person then I am sorry, but here I go. I
am sure that most of us were introduced to Shakespeares famous Romeo and Juliet in high
school. So, using a video game to make this story come to life, a video game where students
experience their life as a Capulet or a Montague can be truly insightful for them to understand
this forbidden love that ends in a tragedy. They can maneuver through the game by choosing a
character and choose their path of life in the game. Depending on their character choice, they
will be presented with a series of events where they are required to make decisions that will
effect their outcome.
This would be something I would present after reading the text because students are
going to say that they understand Romeo and Juliet, when they really dont unless they partake
in a simulation activity such as a video game. Also, no one truly understands Shakespearean
language their first try. This would be beneficial in furthering their content comprehension by
reviewing the material in a fun and interactive way.

Week 9: Coding in the Classroom

Coding should be taught in the K-12 classroom because this will be a life skill that
students can find to be useful when they enter their early adulthood. One of the biggest issues of
our education system is preparation for the real world and I think coding would be a step towards
that preparation. In the article titled Kids should code: why computational thinking needs to be
taught in schools the two authors Jim Chalmers and Jim Watts describe why it is a necessity for
students to learn how to code. The authors prose a valid argument when they state In an age
where kids can use iPads before they can read books, its never too soon to teach kids to be
technologically literate (Chalmers, 2014). For this reason, I do believe that coding in the
classroom will be a necessity for the future generations when it comes to job opportunities and
an overall preparation for their future.
The concerns that I have with coding in the classroom is similar to Dvoraks argument in
his article Teaching Coding to Kids is A Scam. Since I'm planning on teaching at the
elementary level, I feel like over emphasizing on coding could affect their development in basic
human skills. His concern is that second graders should be outside playing and not hunched over
a computer to code. Since technology is already being introduced to children at an early age, I
think coding would be an appropriate skill that is introduced for students in middle/high school.
Coding will challenge students to viewing technology in a different light. It is a life skill
that students should have a basic understanding of because there is a growing expectation for
people to have coding skills as they find a career. They will also be able to effectively think
computationally, which is another level of approaching technology that students are not typically
familiar with. Coding will enhance the lives of students. However, I feel like this skill should be
introduced when students are at an appropriate age. I do not feel like coding should be done
simultaneously while children are still cognitively and physically developing at the K-5 level.

Week 10: Mobile Learning

When I think of mobile learning I automatically associate that with education and my
cell phone. The article provides both the pros and cons of using smartphones as a classroom tool.
One of the pros that was mentioned in the article when it comes to using smartphones in the class
is convenience. Smartphones allows the user to communicate and computate in the palm of their
hand. There are some benefits to allowing smartphones in the classroom. For example, if there is
an in-class research project, the teacher would not have to rely on reserving a computer lab for
their class if all students have smartphones. Also, teachers would not have to worry about
conflicting schedules with other teachers who are planning to reserve the computer lab for their
students as well. It would also save a lot of time for the teachers because they would not have
line everyone up, walk them over to the computer lab, and wait for them to log on.
Research on a smartphone can be extremely time efficient if it is done correctly. The
challenge of allowing smartphone research is data access. I would not want to require my
students to use their own data because I understand that phone plans/mobile data rates can be
costly for the parents. The biggest challenge is making sure that students are staying on task.
Simply because it is so easy for them be off task by clicking away to social media and clicking
back once they see the teacher hovering over their shoulder. However, to make sure that the
student does not spend their given time on anything other than research, I would include some
sort of worksheet with guided questions. This would be due at the end of class to make sure that
they are using their phones for research and finding relevant information.
An assignment that I would have liked for it to be a completely mobile learning
experience is the Animoto project. As I am writing this forum, I checked the app store and there
actually is an Animoto app. If I would have done this project on my phone, I felt like my project
could have been completed much quicker. The reason being is that I already have all of my
photos and videos on my phone. Completing the Animoto project from my phone would have
been less steps, and it would have been much more efficient for me to achieve the same final
product as doing the project on Animotos website.

Week 11: Flipped Classroom

To me, flipping the classroom means engaging with education at home and critically
contributing at school in the classroom. I think screencasting would be extremely helpful for
students because it makes them feel like the teacher is actually with them, instructing.
Screencasting provides more of a personal connection in the virtual setting instead of just
sending the student home with a video to watch and a worksheet to complete. Screencasting
would literally allow me to demonstrate my students with a step-by-step instruction. This would
be useful for math lessons because math is not a one step subject. It requires multiple steps to get
to the solution, therefore screencasting would be an exceptional tool for a subject like math.
The pros of the flipped classroom model is something that the article mentioned which is
allowing more time for interaction with each student. This would help with understanding where
they are in their comprehension and how they interpret the lessons. It would also allow me to
have more time to have individual focus on their strengths and weaknesses. Also, if the student is
not a fast learner, they can always re-watch the lesson which will be extremely beneficial for
their comprehension. The cons of the flipped classroom is the inability to actively interact with
the student during the lesson or being able to stop for questions. Another issue is definitely
internet access. If I were to create an entire school years worth of flipped lessons, and I had a
student who does not have internet access or access to a computer or tablet, then I am unable to
use this model because it is unfair to the student.
Since I am planning to teach at the elementary level, I would not want to use the flipped
model as a primary instructing method in my classroom. However, I would integrate it
occasionally just to give my students a variety in teaching instruction. I think an appropriate
integration of the flipped model in the classroom for the elementary level is basic math or
spelling lessons. This way I would be able to use screencast and students can see and hear my
instruction which would make it feel like an in class lesson.