Week 3

Ever since late elementary I have used Microsoft Word pretty regularly in school. The majority of the time I have used MS word to write papers. But I also have used it a lot to type up and print out labels to cut out and glue on science fair posters. I have used MS word for various projects and assignments consistently over the years. I even use it in my free time sometimes to create to do lists and agendas. I have seen my teachers make everything from work sheets, to hand outs, to news letters, etc on MS Word. But I have used it pretty basically. However it has been very prominent in both student and teachers materials throughout my years in school.

Many of my teachers have always had us buy the books we use in class. But I have had many teachers who have scanned chapters or even the entire book and put it online for us to access. It would be hard as a teacher, especially as a college professor, to not want to provide all of the materials for my students. When it comes to college, students spend so much money (often borrowed money) just to take the classes, it can be quite difficult for students to spend an extra hundred or so per class on materials on top of course cost. However it is very important to follow university and copyright laws in what is allowed to be scanned and posted and I do understand when I have to buy my textbooks. Having students create their own work should be fairly easy I would think. Especially if it was a heavy writing course.

Cyberbulling is a major issue when it comes to technology. Many people will say things they wouldn't usually say to someones face because they can hide behind a computer screen and feel as if their is no repercussions. As a teacher I would help solve this issue by encouraging my students to tell me about anything that makes them feel unhappy. I would also encourage my students to save all data that indicated cyberbullying to take it to a person in higher position. Lastly when dealing with the bully I think it would be very important to hold the bully accountable for their actions. Involve the school, involve all students impacted, and all parents. Communication with all parties is the best way to stop cyberbullying in its tracks. When it comes to decreased productivity I would encourage my students to use their technology intentionally. As much as it might be tempting for younger students to want to play games and older students to maybe get on social media, I would point out that spending too much time on those things could very negatively impact school performance. I also would implement rules in my classroom that students must stay on task with what we are using the technology for or I will find them a not technology option. 

I commented on Mallory's and Evelyn's post!

Week 2 
Pretty much everyone uses technology everyday in many ways in todays world. In the classroom there are countless reasons to use technology. Technology allows use to express our ideas and teach others things with little effort. Students can use technolgy like cellphones to research something in seconds. Teachers can search up new ways to teach things they might be struggling with. Technology allows teachers to make a powerpoint to lead their discussion and give a visual representation to students to follow along to. Technology makes learning faster and flow much smoother.

The most meaningful educator standard to me is the learner standard. I think it is really important for teachers to be constantly learning and improving. It is really important to stay up to date because if you stick to the one way of teaching that you learned your first year of teaching your not doing your students justice. They need to be taught in a way that will help them in the always changing world.  I think the standard that is most outside my current skill set would be the leader standard. Being a model and leader and advocating for things can be difficult when your more on the follower side of the leader-follower spectrum. 

I would agree with the term digital native for todays youth. We were born into this. Technology is are daily life and it is advancing while we are growing and learning too. Its not like we have ever lived any time in our educational life without it. I have definitely seen differences in how teachers and I use technology. They are much more hesitant and become frustrated with it. Also many of my teachers prohibited technology because of the ability to cheat easier and they didn't know about ways to keep us from being able to open google search whenever we wanted. I have a feeling that my future students will still be more advanced than me with technology because they're going to get to grow up and learn with the even more advanced technology than I did. But I think the gap will be a lot less dramatic. 

I commented on Edda's and Erika's posts!

Week 1
Prior uses of technology:

I have used technology very basically in my years of school. Such as writing papers, doing research, and some powerpoint/projects. I had a computer class in high school that taught us about all of Microsoft and how to do more in depth things on your computer. Since that class however, I have not really used technology for much more than very basic things. 

What I hope to learn:

I hope to learn about educational technology and the approaches, strategies, and techniques that can increase the effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal of instruction. I have never used a blog so this is a new interesting way for me to use technology. I am very interested to see what other ways I can use technology that I may have never thought of before!

My learning style:

This questionnaire showed me that I don't really have a specific learning style. It said because I was a one or a three I only had slight preferences. Which I think is probably good because that means I can learn in many different ways. I do kind of wish I found a specific style that worked for me really well but throughout all of my life they have all been about the same for me.