ILP 2: Digitech

For my second Independent Learning Project I attended the FSU DIGITECH exhibition event. There were so many amazing projects that blew my mind. A lot of departments that utilize technology were there like the Information Systems Department and the Computer Science Department. They were able to show me some of their software and technology they use to analyze things like WiFi use. I also went to a booth that was about assisted learning for children that have trouble communicating. There was a variety of technology that uses pictures of items or letters that children can point to and use to communicate. What was really fascinating is that this booth had really old technology and newer tools so you could see the gradual development. I also went to a booth that uses a 3D printer to recreate artifacts in museums for blind children. I never really thought about the fact that museums are primarily visual experiences. Printing out replications of artifacts lets visually impaired individuals hold the items and feel them. One presenter actually created his own Iron Man suit from trash he found in a dumpster. It took him three years to complete and it was extremely detailed. He even had a flame thrower attached to it and he wasn't even a STEM major in college, he was a drama major. He really emphasized through his presentation that anyone can create anything with technology you just have to try. Overall, I was stunned and really impressed by all of the tools and technology at this event. It was well organized and super interesting!

Blog 10

I would like to teach high school English if I become a teacher and honestly I don't really see an implication for Excel in my subject area. However, I suppose that Excel would help me keep track of student grades or attendance. I could also conduct surveys about novels to see what my students enjoy and I could log that data into Excel to analyze it.

The most interesting topics for me when reviewing my classmates' blogs were their opinions on flipped classrooms,  the use of twitter in educational settings, and their IPLs. There were many different opinions on flipped classrooms and my classmates all had different experiences with them. Twitter was also an interesting thing to read about because a lot of students have never used twitter in a class before. I liked reading what people learned through their IPLs and it gave me a lot of ideas for learning in the future.

I really want to learn how to code in Python. There is a lot of application of the program in the humanities field and I really think that it would benefit me to learn it. I learned a little bit of it before but I want to be proficient in it. A lot of professionals in academia are using Python for linguistic and structural analysis of texts. It would be in my best interest to learn Python well and be ahead of the game for graduate school. I think I am going to find lessons online, maybe through Ted X, YouTube, or Khan Academy.

Blog 9

The flipped classroom is when students watch information lectures or read chapters for homework and then do instructional activities to reinforce the material with their instructor at school. I personally had a history flipped classroom in high school and loved it. Our homework each night was to watch 10 minute lecture videos my teacher recorded with powerpoint and take notes. Then in class we would debate contemporary issues or do writing activities to reinforce the material. Here is a link to world history lectures that could be used for a class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_w7pfulsn8&list=PL81BE1C0BAFD092AD

Open education is using technology to reach audiences that you might not be able to reach. It is the collectivization of education. Instructors can use any information that is open source to help them in their instruction, but they cannot access any software at anytime unless is it open source. Khan Academy is an example of an open source website. It contains instructional videos that anyone can learn from. https://www.khanacademy.org

In the new assignments I learned the seven points per slide rule and how to use actions to guide people through presentations. I didn't really know the limit to putting material not the slides before I learned the seven point rule. I like my design of the powerpoint but I wish I had picked better pictures. Next time I will spend more time looking for relevant pictures to help my presentation.  

Blog 8

PowerPoints are examples of creative visual content. Students have to create their own design and figure out how it will be presented. They also serve to evaluate and analyze an idea, as a student has to thoroughly research a topic and come to a conclusion about it before they can present it well. With this research comes the application of new content and understanding to put it into another context for their audience. Finally, students must memorize key points in their presentation to contribute to the overall performance.

I think technological professional development is crucial for teachers to stay ahead of advancement. Teachers need resources to attend conferences where they can collaborate and learn together about technology. This will motivate them as professional and give them the tools they need to stay ahead of technology for their students. This website, http://www.techlearning.com, is an excellent resource for teachers to find out what new tools they can use and how to efficiently operate them.

Blog 7

• Adative technologies are extremely useful to learners with any form of disability. There are many apps that are used for blind chilren that read text out loud and help them understand readings despite their inability to read. Language learners, although language isn't a disability, can also use technology to help with language learning like Rosetta Stone. These apps help enforce grammar rules and aid in learning vocabulary in fun ways. I have used technologies that help with language learning when I was abroad and I know many ELLs that use apps to help learn English. I think adaptive technologies are difficult because some students might not have access to them at home. So they can only use this technology at school. For a language learner this is hard because only half of the day will be spent learning the language and then they won't be around it at home. 
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• I learned a lot about forming a website when working on the Web Page Design assignment. I liked how easy Weebly was to operate. I had to create a website a few semesters ago for another class and I used Wix instead which was much harder. I like how my website is formatted but I had a hard time thinking of a theme. I with the parts blended together better. I also didn't have great pictures because I am not actually teaching a class. If I was teaching a class I would put pictures up of assignments to make it more personable. I learned how to create a basic website and further in my career I can make it more specific to my class. 
• http://mssheltonclasspage.weebly.com 

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Diigo is really neat and I will definitely use it in my classroom. Through Diigo I learned how to collaborate and interact on a Web 2.0 software system. I learned how to bookmark pages, tag words related to pages, highlight text, and post public notes. This application can be used to critique articles with students and share interesting studies with colleagues. I think its good to interact with others while learning and sharing ideas online about the same piece of information.

IPL "Design" - Prezi

For my first Independent Learning Project, I designed a lecture Prezi on the Avant-Garde movements of the early 20th century. I have always likes Prezi presentations in class because they are typically more artistic and engaging, but I have never taken the time to learn the Prezi software to create one. This project helped me familiarize myself with the tool itself and feel comfortable using it for future presentations. My topic is directly related to my research interests for English Literature, but for my presentation I focused on the study of visual art instead of literature from the beginning of the 1900s until 1945. These movements, collected to make up the Avant-Garde, are extremely political and have a lot of energy behind them which is what I particularly like. In my presentation, I go through each movement and outline the basic principles of each one. Most people think of Modern Art as meaningless or impossible to interpret. I hope through my presentation you can find that Modern Art is valuable because the meaning lies in the artist's intent rather than the actual piece of art you are observing.

https://prezi.com/67slxzoyiamv/modern-art-with-a-focus-on-the-avant-garde/

Blog 6

• I went to The Walker School's website and found a First Grade class page.  In the page you could see articles about presentations, celebrations, and changes being made to the classroom. The teachers also posted a lot of photos so it felt like you were actually involved. I imagine this is very nice for parents and helps them feel like they actually know what is going on in the child's school life. 

For my professional responsibilities as a teacher I would use Microsoft Word to create news letters and a class blog to increase parent, student, and teacher communication. I think I will be moderately involved with technology in my classroom. Word and Excel are really what I need to accomplish my activity tasks, but I like the idea of a blog to inform parents about my classroom. I also like that the blog allows students to interact. I think younger students especially need to develop social and literacy skills from an early stage in their academic career. 

In the technology sandbox we tried a new piece of technology called the Apple pencil. Writing notes on an iPad has always seemed harder than writing notes on paper because the pens usually don't work well. However, the Apple pencil is probably the nicest iPad tool I have ever used. It was smooth and it made note-taking fun. I think this could be used as an excellent resource in a classroom. In a math class for example a math teacher could project her or her iPad on the screen for students to see and use the pen as they write their notes. Then the teacher could save the notes on the iPad and put them on a class blog for students to have access to. This would help students because they will be doing math at the same time as their teacher, but they will also have the teacher's notes to help them at home.