Digital Badge #J

Learning assessments are what teachers use to evaluate a student’s knowledge and understanding before, during, and after teaching a lesson. The book mentions a variety of different assessment tools that teachers may use. Some were multiple choice and short answer tests, oral discussions, and student projects (Maloy,77). Some technology tools that could be used to evaluate could be electronic tests and quizzes, digital portfolios, and online surveys (Maloy,77). Having so many different assessment and technology tools makes assessing more creative. Teachers are able to switch up on how they want to evaluate their students. Students are also able to experience different assessments and engage in other ways to show that they are learning. Below is a sample learning assessment that I created on FlipQuiz. 

I believe that performance assessments are great ways to measure students learning. With performance assessments, students are assessed through presentations, projects, or class participation. Teachers are actually able to see what the student knows with performance assessments. It also allows them to see where the student may be struggling at. I think that using performance assessments makes it easier for the students than by just giving them a traditional assessment. They don’t have to be so uptight about testing and are able to become more engaged. Below is a sample performance assessment that a student might create. 

Student performance rubrics are what teachers use to evaluate a students work on assignments and activities. Teachers use rubrics so that students know exactly how they will be graded and what activities or accomplishments that they need to complete to achieve a learning level or grade (Maloy,90). I think that using student performance rubrics is good for both teachers and students. Teachers are able to provide descriptive expectations of what they want of their students and students are able to get a clear understanding of what the teacher expects of them ahead of time. I think that using student performance rubrics are a way for the teacher and students to communicate with one another. I created a rubric to go along with my performance assessment sample. 

Flamingo/Ostrich assessment Rubric
CREATIVITY	No pictures 0 pts	Unrelated pictures 1 pt	1 related picture per slide 3 pts	At least 2 related pictures per slide 5 pts
RESEARCH	No facts 0 pts	1 unrelated fact per slide 1 pt	1 related fact per slide/per bird 3 pts	At least two facts per slide/per bird 5 pts
GRAMMAR	More than 1 misspelled / misused word 0 pts	At least 1 misused or misspelled word 1 pt	Incorrect use of words, but correct spelling 3 pts	Words spelled correctly and used correctly 5 pts

reference: Maloy, R. W. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Digital Badge #I

One/Two/Three time is an instructional mode that uses technology as a central element of classroom learning (Maloy, 309). Students are split into two or three smaller groups and rotate, every twenty to twenty five minutes, through different learning experiences, sometimes called small-group rotation. At least one or two of the groups will use the computer for their activity. They call one/two/three time learning centers in elementary school, but it can also be used in upper level classes. What I liked about this instructional mode was that it helps large classes become more manageable and students are able to get individualized instruction or extra practice. Using one/two/three time is more effective than whole class instruction because it doesn't leave students detached from learning activities. I think that small-group rotation is a good and useful instructional mode because students are involved more in what they are learning. I created three small group activities that would be an example of one/two/three time when working with sight words.

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Activity 1: Students will be in a group of three or four and will use their sight words to play bingo. Each student will take a turn choosing a word and will say the word aloud and use it in a sentence. (Students will rotate to next activity)	Activity 2: Students will work in pairs or a group of three on the computer and create a story on Storybird using their sight words.  (Students will rotate to next activity)	Activity 3: Students, in groups of two or three, will go on a scavenger hunt around the classroom, and find their given sight words, using the clues they have.  (Students will rotate to next activity)

What I found interesting in chapter twelve was the concept Crowd Funding; using the internet to do educational fundraising (Maloy, 318). The two websites that the book mentioned were kickstarter and PeerBacker. Teachers and school are able to go on and create profiles and post what they want to fund. Many teachers have found ways to build small-scale partnerships with local businesses, service agencies, and charities (Maloy, 319). What I liked about crowd funding was that teachers and schools are so interested in supporting education. I feel like it is important that they are given these many resources to support their interests and help them.

As a way of integrating more technology in the classroom, the B.Y.O.T program has been launched at some schools (Maloy, 309). B.Y.O.T stands for Bring Your Own Technology, and is sometimes called bring your own device. With this program, students are allowed to bring any technology device that can be used for educational learning purposes. I believe that this program can either be a good idea, or a bad one. I say a bad idea because some students may have some of the newest or latest devices, while others may only have older devices. Another way B.Y.O.T could be a bad idea is if a teacher is not up to date with the new technologies that students are bringing to class. In order for this program to be beneficial, I think that schools should provide those with no technology devices with devices that they will be able to use in the class and not be left out. The book mentioned that students can buy or rent laptops for schools that can’t afford it for them. Teachers would also have to have a good amount of knowledge on the latest technologies being used. They need to be familiar with these technologies and how they work.

photo credit to googleimages

reference: Maloy, R. W. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Digital Badge #H

Digital projector, photo credit to William Hartz on flickr

Chapter nine shared a lot of multimedia technologies for teachers to use. Some teachers may use a digital projector or a document camera in the classroom. Both of these tools expand how PowerPoint can be used as a student-engaging form of information presentation (Maloy, 220). A digital projector can be used to project images from a computer to a large screen. A document camera projects images from books and other materials onto a large screen, or whiteboard (Maloy, 326). I think that these technologies make it easier for teachers to present a lesson more effectively. Before these multimedia technologies were introduced, teachers used an overhead projector and photocopies of material to expand their lessons. Now they are able to use the digital projector and camera. What I liked about the digital projector and camera is that they can transform the computer screen into a “theater-like learning environment.” (Maloy, 220) 

Next-generation presentation tools are tools that encourage nonlinear, dynamic presentations that expand how students think about topics (Maloy, 224). Teachers and students use next-generation presentation tools to expand how information can be shared in the classroom. Prezi, Animoto, and Glogster are some presentation tools that are used. Prezi allows teachers and students to create visual displays online using nonlinear approaches to information and edit slides. Animoto allows teachers to expand how information is presented and received through video clips, pictures, sound, and text (Maloy, 224). With this tool students can create digital storytelling projects. Glogster lets teachers and students create digital posters, glogs, which combines the use of images, sound, and graphics with text. What I liked about glogster is that the students and teachers are able to share their posters through email, on a website or a blog. I liked the fact that both teachers and students are given a variety of tools to help them expand the information.  I feel that it makes teaching and learning more creative and engaging. Below is a sample Prezi PowerPoint. 

credit to Prezi

references: Maloy, R. W. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Digital Badge #G

                Differentiated instruction is an instructional approach that teachers use to create different educational experiences that meets the learning of individual students (Maloy, 248). With this instruction teachers create different learning styles that benefit the students individually. Also, students are given the option to work on task according to their interest. What I like about differentiated instruction is that all of the students are learning from the same curriculum, but just in ways suited for them individually. The book gives an example on how students are split up into groups to learn about probability. Even though each group is doing different tasks, they all are still learning about probability. I think that differentiated instruction is good for both teachers and students because it gives them a sense of being comfortable when teaching and learning.The Differentiated Classroom is a book that I found that helps teachers with differentiated instruction. 

                I've learned about word clouds during this course, and find them to be fun and creative. A word cloud is a visual representation of text (Maloy, 253). Teachers and students can display written words visually on the computer. Word clouds can be effective when focusing on discussion openers and graphic organizers for students. What I liked about word cloud is that it gives an idea of what the topic will be about. I also like this because it interests those students who learn better visually. Tagxedo, a word cloud site, stood out to me the most because of its creativity. It lets you create cloud patterns in shapes of animals, famous people, and geographical maps. I liked that idea because not only does it interest the students, it enhances what they are learning about. I created an educational word map on Tagxedo.     

                Some students have a difficult time spelling words or understanding concepts. What’s good about electronic spellers and dictionaries is that they provide students with accurate spelling and meanings of words. Another good thing about these devices is that students that have hearing impairments, or are just learning English can use headphones to help benefit them. The Speaking Homework Wiz was a cool device I found in the book. It contains a 46,000 word dictionary and a spell checker with word pronunciation Maloy, 256). What I liked about this device was that you could also look up words within your definition of a word. I think that electronic speller and dictionaries are helpful to students. They are given the ability to learn how to spell correctly and know the meanings of words. 

photo credit to googleimages

                
















References Maloy, R. W. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.
             

Digital Badge #F

Many teachers are now engaging in educational networking (Maloy, 189). Educational networking is a social networking technology that teachers use to communicate about educational and professional purposes. What I like about this network is that teachers can use it for many purposes: group editing of projects and writing, exchanging educational research information (Maloy, 189). This website makes it easier for teachers to be able to work together and collaborate all of their ideas. Ning is an online service that I found in the book that’s good for teachers to use. This network allows people to create their own social network. What I liked about this was that you could make your network private. This is good for teachers because they are able to control their network and what goes on on it.

Collaborative learning environments involve students working together to solve academic problems. The role of the teacher is to support peer-to-peer interaction, social learning and technical use (Maloy, 204). I like the idea of having collaborative learning because it gives students the ability to work in teams, make hypothesis, mistakes, and hear other perspectives. Wikis is a good collaborative network for students to use, and it’s something that’s new to me. Wikis requires students to work as a group in order to create a page. I like this network because we get to work with each other and help one another put together a page. What’s also good about wikis is that were able to help revise our peers work. This collaborative learning website gives students the ability to understand how we can process knowledge and generate and revise it through group work. I would recommend wiki for classroom use of collaborative learning. The picture below is a group of students working together on a project.

Photo credit to UF InfoCommons on Flickr

Computer-mediated communication is an electronic communication used to exchange information. What I like about computer-mediated communication is that teachers are given a variety of ways to communicate inside and outside of the classroom. Communication technologies that teachers use to communicate are through email, teacher or classroom websites, blogs, and online discussions. Teachers could use e-mail to communicate among other teachers. Teacher or classroom websites could be used to inform families and students of their work. Blogs and online discussion could be used by teachers when sharing ideas or information about topics. I used canvas to create a design on blogging and emailing.

references: Maloy, R. W. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.