Medica Ecology, Technology Planning, And Technology Integration

Yesterday in my media, technology and education class we discussed chapters 4&5 in the book Rethinking Thinking Technology in Schools. In these chapters it discusses media ecology, technology planning, and technology integration, which I found to be very interesting. I think it is very important to understand the impact technology has on families, government and education.  Technology is never used without it having some kind of negative or positive impact on people.  As a teacher you need to be aware that of all the consequences of using technology in the classroom and parents also need to be aware of the consequences technology can have on your children. Media ecology looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human opinions, understandings, feelings, and values. Technology planning is crucial because this process will help minimize technology-related problems, and by planning you avoid wasting time in the classroom on figuring out how to use the technology and what to do with it. The last topic I am going to discuss in this blog is integrating technology into the classroom. This means to use technology successfully and efficiently in the classroom.  As a teacher you need to educate your students on the proper ways to use computers in the classroom and ways to use it to it benefits them.  As well, when teaching a lesson you need to use PowerPoint or smart boards in a way that is useful for the class to learn. When your integrating technology you need to make sure it is being used in the best way possible and that the lesson runs smoothly.  

Power Point and Smart Boards

Today in class we discussed how to use smart boards and how to make PowerPoint presentations. We went through how to use them and the different features on both programs. Smart boards are a really good technological advancement for the classroom because it's an interactive whiteboard which allows the students to be more involved and more engaged in the lesson.  The smart boards work on projectors and computers so any one that is capable of using a computer can use a smart board.  You can use the smart board for teaching geometry lessons because it is really easy to draw shapes and you can get students to come up and measure them or draw their own. PowerPoint presentations is also a good tool to use for a lesson however, the teacher needs to make sure they don't put too much writing on the slides because then the students get bored and unfocused when the teacher is just reading right off the slides.  Also, you can upload videos from youtube onto the PowerPoint and use cool transitions to keep the students focused and engaged. 

 

Talk Shows

Oprah

In a recent class we talked about different talk shows on television. The main talk show that we discussed was Oprah and how she influences many people all over world. Oprah has a lot of power to do good things with her money and often uses it to help people. Unlike on other talk shows, Oprah doesn't only have celebrities on her show who are trying to promote their movies, she also has real people come and educate her audience on real issues. In her spare time she's been helping children in poverty get an education by building and opening a school for young children to attend. I think Oprah does a lot to help people and she is really making and difference and an impact in many lives all over the world. She is a role model for people to look up to because she is constantly helping others out and drawing attention to important social issues that many people may not be familiar with.