Technology in Teaching

Sharing ideas on how to use technology in the classroom is a great way to broaden application of the various learning styles of the students. Each teacher may have her own way in which she uses technology to motivate and teach her students, thus, by sharing ideas, it gives the students the best chance at successful learning. Staying up to date on the technology available is essential in keeping student interest—as the children of today are technologically advanced. Even though a new technology may seem complex to a teacher, allowing the students to use it will oftentimes prove much more simple than expected. While the already-established teachers typically have a solid teaching style established (with solid curriculum to match), they often lack the technology aspect of learning. With that being said, it is critical that the technologically-informed teacher shares her technology-friendly curriculum ideas with the already-established teacher that relies heavily on older techniques and vice versa—this will ultimately prove most beneficial to gain insight on both new and old teaching styles so that incorporation of a solid curriculum will be prevalent. 

Discovery Education: Video Streaming

Discovery Education Video Streaming (DEVS) online provides an excellent resource to enhance typical curricular units for any grade level. The website is a subscription-only based site that has a large variety of videos (and video segments) that cover practically any topic being taught. These videos are not only educationally sound but they are also interesting to watch—for teachers and students alike. Most of the videos have real-life application of content that links what may seem like abstract lessons to not-so-abstract realizations. Overall, utilizing this site for classroom curriculum enrichment is not only a good idea but also quite smart in order to maintain student attention and interaction with lessons (in addition to providing an alternative learning experience to those students who are visual learners).

SMART Notebook

Creating interactive SMART board activities using the SMART Notebook software is an essential part of the interactive white board technology. This allows students to take an active role in their learning process which in turn provides a platform for full student attention. Creating activities is not only easy but also limitless—activities such as matching, scratch and reveal, spelling practices, and vocabulary review are just a few examples of the variety of lessons that can be created. By individualizing each activity, it allows for the creator to alter anything and everything to fit the content that is desired. Incorporating the newest technologies—especially when they are interactive—is essential in the continued growth in our education system.

TeacherTube

Since YouTube is banned in most schools, it makes it hard to find accessible videos for the classroom setting—that was until TeacherTube came about. TeacherTube is a site that allows access to videos that can be used in the classroom with a strict set of rules so that the site remains unblocked by the institutions. They are ever-growing and have a video for practically any subject matter—however, the quality of many of the videos is minimal so it can be quite time consuming finding useable ones for the classroom.

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Above is one video that has an educational value in a cute way… it would benefit those children learning the continents—Virginia History SOL 3.5.

Above is a video teaching of season changes… this is a good quality video and would compliment Virginia Science SOL 3.8.

SMART Board

SMART Board is perhaps the most useful newer technology available to teachers—and businessmen—nowadays. This interactive projector-type setup—that is synced with the classroom computer—allows students (and teachers) to interact using their finger in place of the mouse on the projected computer screen. This ensures easy navigation of all the typical computer software; but more importantly, SMART Board has a variety of distinct software available to create interactive lessons (or presentations) to help aide in student understandings of an unlimited curricular base. All in all, the SMART Board is the first major step in a more technologically based teaching approach that will not only open many doors academically but also provide the students with a more intriguing approach to learning. While educational facilities make use of this SMART Board, it is important to note that it is not solely an educational tool.

Google Custom Search Engine

Google has a feature that allows users to create custom search engines. The user can add as few or as many websites they desire and the CSE can be edited at any time. Google CSE will prove a useful tool for classrooms across the world as the teacher preselects websites which they feel most relevant to the subject matter they are teaching in order to narrow the search basin and thus allow the students an opportunity to search websites that are highly relative and informative to their topic(s) at hand. Incorporating Google CSE into a classroom environment is not only easy but it will also save valuable classroom time when the students are researching—since the websites being searched have been personally selected by the teacher (and checked for authenticity). With that being said, there is no downside to incorporating Google CSE into research based classroom assignments—it is even a promising tool for personal use as well.

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To the left is an example of a Google CSE about American Indians. It is very basic, but allows a quick preview of what Google CSE looks like and is capable of doing.

Flickr

Flickr—a site that allows users to upload and share images—can be a useful resource for practically any aspect of life. The many features of Flickr provide a great variety of possibilities; some of the features include tagging images, creating groups, embedding images into personal blogs, chatting via FlickrLive, e-mailing via FlickrMail, commenting pictures, etc. Flickr also provides a secure place to decide whether pictures can be viewed privately (including friends only for group purposes) or publicly with personalized copyright privileges.

In the classroom, Flickr can prove useful as a tool to allow students to see something in addition to a description being given—various geographical places, animals, plants, people, etc. This ensures students have the best opportunity to learn by allowing visual representations of practically any topic (visual learners would perhaps benefit the most). Also, Flickr provides the ability to create groups that can be set to public or private where members can upload personal images and discuss them via comments, chat, or e-mail. This could prove beneficial in the upper level curriculum (secondary and collegiate) more so than the elementary, however, it would be possible to incorporate it into some unit plans to allow access whether the child is at school or at home (assuming Flickr is not blocked at the school).

Allowing for various technologies to be incorporated into classroom instruction is essential in student engagement in the 21^st century. Flickr provides a safe and secure place for photos to be shared for personal and professional use.

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To the right there is a picture that is embedded from Flickr. It is purely an example of how to insert a photo into a blog—one of the many ways in which Flickr can be used in the classroom and personal life.