I listen to podcasts almost every week about things that I am interested in. However, I have never considered using podcasts as a learning strategy for students. In the article linked below Brent Coley uses podcasts to his classes advantage. Having all of the students make podcasts of what they have learned helps not only the students by reviewing, but also helps other students in his classroom, and around the world learn as well. Because of the amount of hits these podcasts get the students feel like they are involved in something important. I think that this is a great idea as a teacher. Students are getting a sense of self worth all while learning and helping others learn.

Article used for this blog - Listening to Themselves: Podcasting Takes Lessons Beyond the Classroom


Image by Flickr Creative Commons

Cell phones in school are a growing problem. Even I find it hard not to check my cell phone in class when I am not completely interested in the lecture. The article I have provided gives pros and cons of having cell phones in a school. The pros are mainly stating that you can get a hold of your kids at any time of day. However, I do not see the point of this argument. If a parent needed to get a hold of their kids they could call the school and have them get the child from class. The cons outweigh the pros by far. Students forget to turn their phones off during class or decide to respond to text messages, which is distracting for the other students as well as the one texting. Students think they are good at hiding their texting. However, it is more obvious than they think.

Cell Phones at School: Should They Be Allowed?

photo by flickr.com

The Smartboard 600 is an interactive board that is used like a white board in class but can also be an interactive computer screen. On this screen you are able to zoom and adjust the screen as they need to. Writing on the screen with the pen provided for the board is convenient because the words can be erased by simply wiping your hand across the words. objects on the screen can be moved from one place to the other by placing your hand on the object and dragging it across the screen. Using this in the classroom would be so convenient when it came to making presentations to the class. There would be no need to walk back and forth from computer to screen when you could just run the screen by running your hands across it.

Learn more about the Smart Board in this article: Board Get Brains, Chalk Vanishes!

photo by iClipart.com

After hearing about the Kindle in our lecture a couple of weeks ago I have done a little research on it. I have come to the conclusion that having a Kindle in the classroom could be a very positive addition to the learning environment. Though they may not be a cheap purchase, being priced at 399.99, the use of Kindles could cut down on the cost of purchasing text books or books for reading. This could be the classrooms way of teaching the students to "go green!"
The use of a kindle could help certain students with different learning strategies. They can follow along with the words on the screen while hearing the words out loud. Because the students can set the pace of the reading, it makes it easy for students to follow along in their reading. Black and white pictures also can appear on the screen which is great for visual learners.
You can read more about this technology at http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/k/kindle/index.html .

Take a look!

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I am blogging about the University of Northern Iowa

I just created a blog! I am going to be using this site to share some things I explore related to educational technology.