Hayley’s Blog

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Use second link and click on download to listen to my podcast. Houndbite is no longer working so had to improvise and learn to use another website sorry:)

[URL=http://www.zshare.net/download/13684178fa1ef0c0/]16-06-08_1406.amr – 0.23MB[/URL]

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Take Back the Afternoon:

Preserving the Landscape of Childhood In Spite of Computers

by David Sobel

After watching this short youtube clip “Educ 511 Technology in Education” I have learnt some true benefits of technology as well as viewing a new way of expressing yourselves, or making a point on a topic that brings a new twist to simply producing a written or oral piece of work. The video talks about how much paper we can waste in schools that results in damaging our precious environment, it makes a point that rather than filling our land with waste we could do more activities online that will help students learn and will save paper.

Moreover the clip makes a vital point about how a student does research for school, ever since I had a computer I looked online or on computer encyclopedias to get information, I never looked over textbooks as they were such a hassle to get my hands on. I think the most affective quote in this clip was “textbooks are outdated as soon as they are printed,” this made me think long and hard about what I want for my students, after all I want them to have access to the most relevant information as possible don’t I? Therefore why would I buy them a textbook with which I could use the money to buy other resources when as soon as I buy them the information will be out of date. At least with computers programs can be upgraded, and information on the internet is constantly upgraded by the creators. Not only did this provide valuable insight into how important and beneficial computers are, but it showed a short digital story that was very effective in getting it’s point across, that I could implement into my classroom rather than simply getting students to do a written report.

“It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, concept mapping can greatly enrich teacher and student efforts to communicate in our predominantly text-based world.”(Anderson-Inman, Horney, Knox-Quinn, Corrigan & Ditson, 1996). In the article Computer-based study strategies, concept mapping is portrayed as a brilliant source for students and teachers to make their knowledge and understanding of a topic explicit. Computer-based concept mapping is growing in popularity in classrooms as it allows students to correct mistakes and change their minds without wrecking their final work with messy erasing.

By creating a concept map on the computer it encourages students to proof-read their work by correcting errors and making alterations. Concept mapping is a great way to encourage visual expression from students, and helps those students who learn best through visual means. Computer-based concept mapping provides students with an environment for visual thinking that has “great potential for enhancing reading, writing and studying.” (Anderson-Inman, Horney, Knox-Quinn, Corrigan & Ditson, 1996).

Image Source: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lsi/images/kids%20working%20with%20Betty.jpg