Technology in the Classroom

A common theme I’ve seen in my education classes is how we as teachers can incorporate technology into our classrooms.

Most recently this past semester, we discussed this in two of my classes with a particular focus on specific apps that students can download.

Image I took of my cell phone. Students can use their cell
phones, iPods, or iPads to download apps that can assist
them in the classroom.

In my EDT 246A class, Foundations of Language and Literacy, we had a special focus on apps that would help English Language Learners (ELLs). Some of the apps that my group found for this project focused on grammar lessons so students could learn basic grammar rules.

My group also found an app that would allow students to interact with a piece of text by marking it up, highlighting it, using virtual sticky notes, and the app also allows students to draw on the text. This would benefit students as it is a way for them to write on their textbooks without making a mark in the actual book.

In this class, we also had a project on how we can utilize social media in the classroom. Many of the articles that my group found dealt with how to use Facebook, Twitter, and blogs in the classroom.

An example of a project that would use Facebook/Twitter is having students create profiles for fictional characters. As for blogs, students can create informative blogs on a specific topic or blogs can be used as discussion boards for students to share ideas.

For this project, my group and I also found an interesting article on using graphic novels in the classroom. Graphic novels are a different type of interactive media and students are provided with a visual aid so when they’re struggling to understand the story, they can use the visuals to figure out what is happening.

This semester I also took EDP 256, Psychology of the Exceptional Learner. In this class, we focused on apps that could be used as assistive technology for students. The majority of the apps my group discovered had to do with voice recognition software.