My Experience in Educational Media

Over the past 6 weeks, I have been taking a summer class called Educational Media. Throughout the class, I have been researching technology, the benefits of it, and how to incorporate it into the classroom. It really has been an eye-opening experience. I never realized how dependent our society is on technology and how much technology enhances learning.

I participated in a "power down day" where I did not use any electronic devices for 24 hours. It was very hard not being able to listen to the radio in the car, text, and go on facebook. I never realized how much I depended on technology until I had to go a day without it.

Although I use technology on an everyday basis for socialization, technology has also become very useful in the classroom. More and more teachers are using technology to improve the quality of learning for visual, spatial, kinesthetic, and auditory learners. Technology has the ability to capture the attention of students with all abilities, interests, and ages. Also, technology is interactive, colorful, captive, and entertaining for the students.

Throughout the class I learned many things:

• how to use the SmartBoard
• what an E.L.M.O. is
• what a screencast is and how to create one
• Copyright laws for teachers
• how to tweet
• what my Philosophy of Technology is and how I will integrate technology into my own classroom

I really enjoyed taking the summer class and learning about technology. The knowledge I gained will be beneficial to my career as an elementary teacher.

Screencasts!

A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output often containing audio narration. Screencasts are useful for demonstrating and teaching software features. Educators are now using screencasts as another means of integrating technology into the curriculum. Students can record video and audio as they demonstrate the proper procedure to solve a problem on an interactive whiteboard.

When I first heard about screencasts, I thought they had no significant benefit. For a school project, I had to create a screencast. I made my first screencast this week about an interesting article I found. My first experience changed my mind about screencasts! It took me awhile to figure it out, but I found it very useful. I believe screencasts are a great way to show students how to do an assignment or how to find something online. They appeal to both the visual and auditory learners. Screencasts allow students to replay the important information as many times as necessary, which helps the teachers not have to repeat themselves over and over.

I used http://screenr.com/ to create my screencast. I like Screenr because it has a 1-minute tour, which is very helpful and made the process easier. Screenr only allows each screencast to be 5 minutes, so each screencast is fairly short.

Technology in the Classroom

Many people are afraid of the possible harmful effects of using technology in the classroom. Will children lose their ability to relate to other people? Will children become dependent on technology? Although these are valid questions, educators believe technology enhances learning. Technology is recognized as a highly regarded instructional tool in the classroom. Whether a teacher requires a student to use technology or not, most students use technology for their projects. The technology tool used most often for students’ projects is the internet. Word, Powerpoint, and Excel are also student and teacher favorites. These programs allow teachers and students to present material in a captive and easily understanding way. Teachers can use multimedia technology to give more colorful, stimulating lectures. SmartBoards and the E.L.M.O. are becoming very popular and taking the place of standard projectors. Technology adds an edge to the classroom that helps students pay attention and get excited about learning.

I believe technology should play a significant role in teaching and be integrated into the classroom. I will use technology when it enhances learning and makes learning easier for the students. I will incorporate technology into mathematics, language arts, social studies, and science. Teachers today are at an advantage with all of the new technology they have at their disposal. They should take advantage of every opportunity given to them, whether it is a SmartBoard, E.L.M.O. or any other technological device.

E.L.M.O Is Popular With All Ages

When I first heard of the E.L.M.O., I immediately thought of the character from Sesame Street. I thought, how could Elmo help teach students of all ages? After doing some research, I found that the E.L.M.O. could be very valuable in the classroom.

The E.L.M.O (Electric Light Magnifying Object) is a popular document camera used in education.It is much more advanced than an overhead projector that used to be popular for classroom instruction. Document cameras are the latest electronic imaging devices which can be used to display real three dimensional objects, pages from a book, artwork, etc. They can be very useful for stimulating students and keeping them engaged in lessons. The E.L.M.O. helps teachers deliver visually enticing lessons that keep all eyes firmly fixed on learning. It is especially helpful when grouping objects or concepts into categories such as parts of speech.

One of the benefits of using a document camera is that it can effectively allow students to easily view details of two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects which would otherwise be very difficult for the students to see. The E.L.M.O. can display three-dimensional objects from any angel.

The E.L.M.O. has a portable remote referred to as "Frosty" because it is white and shaped like a snowman. The remote allows the teacher to highlight important details, shade, zoom, brighten or dim the screen from anywhere in the classroom.

I think the E.L.M.O. is a very useful instructional aid and presentation aid in education.