Technology Mini Course for Educators

My mini course has a couple of skills used in the W531 class. I decided to give information on digital natives, digital citizenship, blogs, apps, and games. This course is set up for 4th to 6th graders.  I thought if the teacher and students had a little taste of what their classroom could have available to them they would become more interested. Hopefully it is not too overwhelming for them, but I figured if I could handle it, they could handle it:) Click on the link down below to open my mini course website!
  
   

http://sfentonkids.wix.com/mini-course

Book Talk 2

Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World written by Tony Wagner

This book is wonderful!!! This book is about creating innovators in our classroom. It is very motivating for parents, teachers and bosses out there. It is a very easy read and it keeps you wanting to read more. I hope you take the time to listen to my book talk! Click on the link below:)

https://voicethread.com/share/4764444/

Mobile Learning: Using Apps in the Classroom

Down below is a link to view 10 different learning Apps for children who struggle with phonics, writing, and organization. I chose these apps, because I work with Dyslexic children ages 5 to 10. I believe some of the apps could even help children who are 5 and under. The apps I chose are also all free apps, which is a bonus:) There is also an explanation as to why I think mobile devices are a good learning tool to have in schools and at home. I hope after looking at the apps and reading some of my reflections you will want to look more into using mobile devices too.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/156216967/Apps

What is a Digital Citizen?

 

 

 

A digital citizen is someone who treats the Internet with respect, follows rules, and has responsibility online in order to stay safe while using the computer or other technical devices. Down below are two presentations that describe how to put a technology plan into a school. I made up a private elementary school as an example of a private school in Indiana that does not have technology in place. My resource came from the State Education website that shows what states have a technology plan for their public schools. I also had to do a little research about what schools use to keep their Internet safe.  The outline is first and the power point presentation is second. Enjoy:) 

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/154970067/Being-A-Digital-Citizen

 

http://www.slideshare.net/sfentonkids21/slideshelf

Book Talk 1

I read the book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How Can They Change Our World? written by: Jane McGonigal This book is all about virtual games and what we can do with them. It is very inspirational for educators and a real eye opener if you knew nothing about being a gamer. Check out the book talk on the link below. Hope you enjoy getting to know a little bit about this book!!!


https://voicethread.com/share/4740556/

The Digital Divide: Are There Too Many Choices?

After listening to some of my classmates talk about their experiences in the classroom or in their work environment, it got me thinking about all different communities and where are divide problem might be. I myself have had digital divide moments, because I taught at a private school where the kids had more access to technology at home then they did at school. The technology we had available was old donated computers that were outdated. It took outsiders and volunteers to update them and grants to get some new technology going, such as smart boards for upper elementary grades. This lead me to thinking about our schools more and where our focus should be centered on.

My voice thread message about the Digital Divide was about there possibly being too many choices for digital devices to choose from for our schools. Most of my opinions came from all three articles we read in our module this week and a little video my son watches called "Wall-E". The two questions I answered in my voice thread message are:

What is the Digital Divide and why is it changing?
What impact will Digital Divide have on today's learners ( solutions can be offered)?

Listen to my voice thread link to find out more! My slide is number 9:)


https://voicethread.com/share/4729105/

Literacy in the 21st Century

 

• Link to a document is down below explaining in depth how these 7 types of Literacy are changing the way we think about education.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/151768143/Literacy-in-the-21st-Century