End-of-Term Reflection

1. Have you opinions about technology integration in education changed since the beginning of the term? Why or why not?
   My opinions about technology integrated into the classroom have certainly changed. I guess I had always thought that technology was used more so to hold students interest in whatever subject was being taught but now I understand it's importance on multiple levels. Aside from retaining interest of students, technology is a way to give our students a higher education. Because the majority of future jobs appear to be based around technology, it is important to give our students early practice with state of the art technology and materials. Technology in the class can also reflect how the school feels about the student. If schools continue to provide inadequate technological materials to students it will send a message to the students that they are not good enough to use those types of materials. Most of this information I learned through course videos and articles.

2. Identify one or more programs/web apps introduced this term you believe you'll use in your future classroom. Why will you use these programs/apps?
   I feel that I will use the program Wikispaces in the future. It is an easy to use site which allows the teacher to set up a web page with links, perfect as a home page for a class project. Wikispaces is also a great way to get students designing pages within the website. This site brings student and teacher collaboration together as they all work on these Wikipages. Another program I would use in the classroom is Prezi. A Prezi slide show  is also easy and fun to construct. This slide show utilized a zoom effect which helps "pull" students into the presentation. It is easier to learn how to use than power point (in my opinion) and would be a great class project to have students create their own Prezi and presenting it. Print Page in IE