Education Technology Analysis

Some of the technologies that I would be most likely to use in my classroom would be Polldaddy, Quizlet, Smartboard, and MathBoard.  Polldaddy would be a great way to take inventory of students opinions, as well as checks for understanding on subjects that you are teaching.  Quizlet could be a great tool for students to practice with content.  Flashcards are my key way of studying so I think I could use this program to help my students easily.  Smartboard has such a wide variety of uses across subjects and I know that student will benefit from the interactive layout.  And finally, I think Mathboard would be a great tool for students who are struggling in math.  It’s a subject that can be easily regarded as boring or too hard, so an interactive tool like MathBoard can be a great way to get students involved.

Some of the technologies that I would be less likely to use in my classroom would be Flixtime, and Slimber.  Of all the technologies I learned about these two seemed to be the least beneficial (not that they were bad, just not as resourceful as the others).  The main issue with flextime is that you can only create 60 second videos.  If I wanted to create a presentation to teach about something 60 seconds would not be long enough to make it worthwhile.  As for Slimber, I think that it is nice that you can watch your drawing played back to you stroke by stroke, but that is the only feature that would make choosing Slimber, over a simple program like paint, worth it. 

Some instructional strategies that I learned about from this experience include making choices that allow interactive experiences for students, and providing lots of room for creativity.   I think these ideas are connected and are both important in education.  When students are able to interact with the content they are learning they are much more likely to take it in and remember it.  Also, if they are given the opportunity to be creative they can apply what they already know to the new things they are learning in imaginative ways that are not only helpful for them but for their peers, who may be influenced by their work.

The most interesting thing I learned from my peers today was an overall sense of how many options there are for educators when it comes to using technology in the classroom.  It’s not a matter of trying to find a way to integrate technology into education, but more about how do pick the best, of all the options there are out there, for the needs of your students.