Brief Introduction of Martin Luther King Jr: Using YouTube as an educational tool

This is a video I made for a class that wanted to incorporate technology into the classroom. As I was making this video, it made me realize how I could help my students with their learning even beyond the classroom. Using YouTube, I could record my lectures for students who weren't able to join the classroom for the day, or for students who did not catch everything in class. I would say that this better than something like Khan Academy for the main benefit of being able to talk to the narrator. A student can't ask the narrator of a Khan Academy teacher, but they can ask their teacher if there is something they don't get.

Technology shouldn't be gimmicks

Even though our society is becoming more connected, more technologically advanced, there are still gonna be some companies that are going to be modern day snake oil sellers. These salesman have not died, but have thrived at the rise of the technological age.

Example of a tech gimmick: Curved Edges! Virtually useless though

 I have had my fair share of little gimmicks when it came to education and technology. When I was still in school, we would sometimes, emphasis on sometimes, use these chunky remote controller looking things that we would connect to the teacher's computer, and then we would answer multiple choice questions or give short sentences. I would say it was an incredible waste of resources, especially since they did so little. I'm sure they could have used those funds towards more laptops, pushing towards 1-1, but decided to just settle on these quirky little pieces of plastic. 

But it is not all bad! One technological addition that my high school did do was buy some very advanced calculators that were great! They were simple calculators, graphing calculators, and many other additions. This was a great addition because while it was simple at the bottom level, it could do a lot more specific and complicated tasks, and it was used almost all the time. All in all, I think the difference between gimmicks and actual good ideas is that gimmicks only have one goal, do it kind of badly, and then just stop at doing anything else. 

Image Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/gimmicks-will-not-bring-samsung-back-to-powerhouse-status/

Gaming and Education: The journey is the goal, not the ending

As a gamer, it feels wonderful to see that the field of education is finally dipping its toes into the world of gaming as a way of education, but I am also scared of how educators will use games in their classrooms.

This is a great video that explains why video games are so captivating to such a large audience. It is because it taps on the part of our brain that was curious, wants to know more, and says "Have a crack at me." To add to their points, you can't treat video games like homework or tests. Imagine you're watching someone playing a game, they show the player the tutorial, have given the player all the mechanics that are important at the time, and then they give the player a chance to actually use the mechanics.

And they lose. They die at the first chance of using the mechanics of the game to pass this first obstacle! But, the game suddenly stops and says "Sorry, I guess you're not right for the game if you didn't get it on the first time," and then shuts off. That's no game! A game still lets fail, or else there's no consequence and in turn no reason to try, but it lets you pick up the pieces of your failure and try again. Homework and tests don't work like that. No teacher has ever explained to me "If you fail, come tomorrow and do the test over again for another try!" The problem lies where I feel like educators will bring in that type of thinking to a video game, and then will be puzzled when the kids are not enjoying the game. A player at the start of a game is ignorant and weak, but by the end, they are strong and all-knowing. That is because they were allowed to fail multiple times, but also explore different options of what they can do to beat the obstacle that has been stopping them. Teachers need to tap into the curiosity of students by looking at progression through exploration and failure rather than just keeping with the same ol' "You failed once, that means you'll never get it."

Video Source: Extra Credits

Google Drive has leveled the playing field for students of all statuses.

Google Drive Logo

Google Drive has been with students since 2012, giving everyone a cloud drive to dump all of their essential documents on to the fluffy puffballs of memory for free. While this seems like such a normal thing for students now, I think we take for granted how awesome Google Drive is for everyone. With the slow expansion of 1-1 computers, we are effectively bringing all of our students on the same field of accessibility within the classroom. Before 1-1 computers, I am assuming that some students were given the luxury of owning a computer, only being able to use the computer lab at school, and some resorted to the good ol' paper and pencil; the latter having the most problems with things like transportation, keeping it clean, and the ease of misplacing it.

This amazing service has not just helped students, but it has also helped teachers as well. The ease of having tabs on a computer screen, rather than having stacks of papers, as well as being able to give a student as much feedback as you want and not having to worry about the margins of a paper impeding you.

Connect all of these positives, and you have an environment where students are able to share all of their works with their teacher without worry, any amount of their classmates can leave feedback, and without leaving a paper trail. Let's see where drive.google.com takes us next.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_of_Google_Drive.png)

Google Earth and its integration into education

Within this year, Google has unveiled a new perspective with their Google Earth program. https://www.google.com/earth/ has been updated to allow even further exploration of wherever you want to search for. As an example, I searched my house.

Picture of my house in Google Earth

While it is not 4k, high quality polygons, but it is certainly something that has not been done before  and I think it could lead to more engaged classes in school. When thinking about what I could do with this as an English teacher, I could show my students the historical places that famous authors have been connected to. When teaching about Shakespeare, I could show them the Globe Theater and educate them on the history of the place. History teachers could use it in the same way, showcasing routes and places that are important to the lecture. The best part about this is that Google does not plan on just stopping here. I have no doubts that they will continue to refine this resource into something even greater! Or at least better polygons.

Image Source: www.google.com/earth/

My PLN at the end

Updated PLN Map

This is my PLN map now, and upon reflection, I did not realize just how many resources I found through the internet. Maybe it is because I grew up with the internet my whole life, but I never realized until now that I was almost always going online to try and find new resources for myself. I never went to a teacher and asked for books that would broaden my vision, or asked my parents for anything. My first instinct was to go to Google, or Youtube, or just the internet in general because I was taught that it had almost everything that I needed. I think that is interesting in a sense, because I do not see that changing throughout the next couple of years. With the rise of technology, I believe we as a people will become more dependent on it for the simple fact that it is able to give us the information that we want, and sometimes do not want, at the speed of how fast their router can handle. This is both a great thing, and a bad thing based on how you look at it. Personally, I believe the era of the Internet and technology is just beginning, and the students of today are in the middle of it, absorbing it all up. With this, we as educators need to steer them away from the pitfalls of the Internet, so they can continue growing their own PLN map.

Ninth and Tenth PLN

Khan Academy front page

9. Khan Academy

When thinking about khanacademy.org, I think of it as a second teacher. It is a wonderful resource for everyone because of its ease of access and resources.





How did you find/create/use this resource? It was given to my classmate and I during our high school math classes. It was for the students who did not catch all of the information, or they needed another perspective on how to do something.

What prompted you to find/create/use this resource? What prompted me was the fact that I was not doing so hot in math classes. I needed to put extra effort into those studies or else I would have failed. Khan Academy gave me another perspective on the concepts.

What did you learn from this resource? I learned that schools do not teach everything in a way that everyone gets. Sometimes, a student needs to be taught in ways that are not within the teaching guides that teachers get.

How will you benefit from this resource in your future teaching? I would offer it to my students, giving it to them as another perspective on the lessons that I teach them. I would rather have a student understand the concept from another source than to say "I failed the student because he wasn't understanding me."

My Group (Me, Dan, and Scott all the way over)

10. My INSTTECH 1020-01 Group

At the start of the semester, I was uncertain about this rag tag group of guys. I have trouble in groups a lot of the time, because I enjoy having all of the responsibility on my shoulders. If I do something wrong on a personal assignment, then it is all on me, but if I am in a group, then my mistake hurts everyone. At the end of this semester, I have become more open to groups because of the benefits that I saw within our group.










How did you find/create/use this resource? I saw that Dan wasn't following anybody, just standing there, and asked "Hey, you want be a group?" He said yeah, and then we saw Scott standing by himself and we asked him as well.

What prompted you to find/create/use this resource? Our professor told us to group up.

What did you learn from this resource? I learned that having a group makes an assignment much easier. It allows each person to take chunks of the assignment, and in turn makes it a smaller challenge. Also, if someone cannot do their part of the job at the specific time, because life happens, the other group members can come in and help them out.

How will you benefit from this resource in your future teaching? In both my life as a student now, and as a teacher, I will be more into groups than I was before. I will not come into groups as a sort of hostage, having to be in one because someone told me, but because I realize the benefits of being in one.