I feel that social bookmarking would benefit both teachers and students. For teachers, social bookmarking is a great way to organize key websites for future use with thematic units. Tags are useful to organize each unit into categories to easily locate. Most websites can be used throughout different units thus multiple tags are used to identify each unit the website is associated with. Another benefit to teachers is the ability to access your “favorites” from home. I already started compiling all my “favorites” from my work computer into Delicious.com. I have a student intern this semester that can also access useful websites from her home to help with preparing lessons. Furthermore, social bookmarking allows teachers to share significant websites with other teachers. Teachers from all subjects can create a place to visit for ideas as well as developing lesson plans that span across the curriculum. Each added website would need a tag(s) to identify what subject it belonged to. Not only could teachers create one social bookmarking account, but each teacher could create their own and connect to other teachers through adding a new user to the network by clicking on PEOPLE. This allows you to view everyone at a glance or one user at a time. Teachers would have an endless resource of information. In addition, social bookmarking would benefit students. Teachers can demonstrate how to create a social bookmarking site for specific projects for students. As students research, they can continue to add related websites for others to view. Teachers can monitor the social bookmarking site to make sure students are using it appropriately. Students will build a valuable resource site they can all use. Social bookmarking is a wonderful way to build an internet resource foundation that can be shared by both students and teachers.
As I read Trends and Issues, I thought the definition for educational technology kept evolving along with technological growth throughout time. The last definition from AECT was short and to the point. “Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007) I feel ethics is a large portion of educational technology. One negative aspect of educational technology is the issue of plagiarism. My students will often use the cut and paste feature to complete assignments that should be their own thoughts. As a teacher I am responsible to teach students right from wrong not only with plagiarism but all negative aspects technology brings. Also technology enhances how teachers facilitate learning in the classroom. So many students need visuals to distinguish correlations between academic ideas. Technology enables teachers to use the internet, LCD projectors, and overheads to allow students to make correct correlations. Last, students are able to improve their performance through technology. For example, the student with the illegible handwriting can type out assignments on a computer with spell-check. This will build the student’s confidence knowing the teacher can read the work and spelling is no longer an issue. Taking advantage of the appropriate technological resources can help students be more effective learners.
I love my job teaching middle school science and I will always continue to work with children whether I am a teacher or not. Technology will also be a big part of my teaching style. I feel technology goes hand-in-hand with science. I hope to stay knowledgeable with new technologies in the classroom as well as outside in the real world. My goal is to improve student’s learning as well as my performance as a facilitator through continually advancing with the world of technology.
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I have very similar visions of the first chapter of Trends and Issues. I like the point that you brought up about plagiarism and students using the cut and paste feature. That seems to be a problem that is growing almost out of hand. Also, you mentioned that "students are able to improve their performance through technology." I agree, but you mentioned the spell-check and I wanted to pose a question. I am curious if you feel that students (and teachers) rely on spell-check so much that they fail to learn to use proper spelling and grammar? I am not sure as to what my feelings are in this matter because I have seen students, teachers, and administrators use spell-check in place of proof reading and a dictionary, leading to some terrible documents.
I agree with you about technology use in the classroom and how it can help students to be more confident with their work. I also teach middle school kids. I find that there are always a few kids who have some kind of printer malfunction the night before a final paper is due and they can't save a copy to a disk for one reason or another. I them my e-mail address at the beginning of the year and every time a typed paper is due so they can e-mail it to me. I will print it off at home or school for them. It really keeps the kids honest. As for the spell checker being over used be students. I find that students must have some knowledge of spelling and grammar to use spell check correctly. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but the spell checker gets the grammar rules messed up about 1/4 of the time. Also, seeing a word spelled correctly with spell checker can help teach the student how to spell it. As for social bookmarking, I agree with you there as well. I even got a chance to use it in my study skills class. It was very easy. Finally, your favorite definition was also mine. I liked that I could understand it better than the others and it seemed to cover my expectations of educational technology. "Short and to the point." good call.
Again on the topic of Plagiarism, teaching several college courses, I too see this cut and paste problem happening far too often. I see this problem on the upswing as well. I think that the ethics statemenet in the the later definitions is very necessary, not only to apply to the professionals within the field, but also those that befenit from the further development of instructional design and technology.
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