Post 7

I am a firm believer in using presentation software in the classroom. I believe that reinforcing the material being taught via. PowerPoint is extremely beneficial. PowerPoint allows the instructor to highlight what they believe is the most important information out of the lecture. However, on the negative side of using a PowerPoint it does allow the students to focus less on the lecture because they have the opportuinity to write down essential information and then "zone-out". To use PowerPoint to support student learning dimension I would: Create a flowchart or outline with key points and helpful tricks to help students remember the material. To help students understand and apply, I would have multiple slides on a PowerPoint giving different examples of the concept being executed in everyday life or situations that my students could directly relate to. And finally to have students analyze, evaluate, and create I would require that my students be able to either write a paper or correctly create a project directly related to the material taught. Since technology is a fairly recent phenonemon schools seem to be some of the first places to gain access to new pieces of technology. However, as the technology phenonemon has grown the economy has failed therefore, the amount of money for schools to purchase equipment has also declined. Unfortunately, students in some school districts are way behind others in learning basic skills that have now become a necessity in life.

Post 6

I believe that the use of web 2.0 technology in classrooms has greatly changed the way teachers teach. In todays society the internet has become a necessity for communicating. Teachers use the web to post announcements, assignments, grades, and send emails to students and parents. Web 2.0 allows for this to occur safely and securly. I believe Wikipedia is not a responsible learning resource. Generally, wikipedia is one of the first websites that a search engine returns as a match for websites containing search words. Overall wikipedia contains a lot of factual information however, there are cases where the information posted is incorrect because the information posted on wikipedia can be edited by anyone to say anything. Although some of the most obscene information gets removed from the site not all of it does making it overall a noncrediable resource. Over the past week I have become more familiar with Powerpoint. I have learned how to download different templets from websites inorder to keep my students intregued. I have also learned how to successfully develop a powerpoint slide show so that the amount of information on it is not overwhelming to my students.