Educational Technology
1: Projecting Google Slides
The photo displays an image of a tool used in a Grade 6 classroom to display written instructions for a language period. The tool of use is Google Slides and a projector to display the information onto the white board. I completed a lesson after reading a book with them called "Mr. Peabody's Apples" and asked the students to reflect on each question in groups. Once the students had the opportunity to complete the in-class task, the post was displayed in their Google classroom language folder for those who were not able to complete the activity during the work period. This allowed the students to open the file at home or with any internet-based device.
According to the article by Azhar & Iqbal (2018), teachers main use of Google Classroom was related to assignments of the class or used for purposes such as uploading, announcing and assessing. Some teachers in the article also pointed out that they were able to interact with the students even outside the classroom which
facilitated the overall teacher-student interaction.
Overall Google Classroom, in my experience
really benefited the overall learning of my students
during my practicum experience.
Abid Azhar, K., & Iqbal, N. (2018). Effectiveness of google classroom: Teachers’ perceptions. Prizren Social Science Journal, 2(2), 52-66.
2: Smart Board
This picture displays a snapshot of a technological tool used in a Kindergarten classroom called a Smart Board. With the class, I was able to teach the students about the process of harvesting foods, collecting them and selling them in stores around the world. This lesson particularly allows for the students to identify crops that are harvested along with integrating patterning from the Kindergarten Program. The students would interact with the Smart Board by touching the crop, either the corn or carrot within the picture, and dragging it along the board after determining the core of the pattern.
According to an article written by Gürbüztürk (2018), Smart Boards can make teaching more effective by being suitable for usage of three major senses such as seeing, hearing and touching as its rich visual presentation allows teachers to use photos, flash animations, videos and sound effects. Especially at such a young age in the student’s development these important factors allow the students to enjoy learning and explore their interest.
Gürbüztürk, O. (2018). Investigation of elementary education students’ attitudes towards the use of smart boards. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 11(1), 55-62.
In the picture to the right the image displays a student after completing the in-class activities for the work period, on the iPad with a number of educational apps. The iPad in the classroom is used for students to either document their work and enter the virtual environment while engage in educational apps once in class work is finished. A few of the apps that are of use within this picture is ClassDojo, Quick Maths, Science360, Crossword Puzzles and Spelling Stage.
In an article written by Minicozzi (2018), he states that the intuitive nature of the iPad provides students with an opportunity for independent learning because of the ease with which they become familiar with the tool. In order for the students to become familiar with th tool, teachers must feel comfortable introducing technology in their classroom. In a few of my practicums, I have seen iPads being used as ‘filler’ just because a student has finished their work faster than others. iPads are truly a great resource in the classroom when used properly because research indicates that when early childhood teachers are actively involved (asking questions, prompting, fostering collaboration) with classroom technology integration, students make gains in cognitive, literacy, math, and language domains.
3: Ipad
Minicozzi, L. L. (2018). iPads and pre-service teaching: Exploring the use of iPads in k-2 classrooms. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 35(3), 160-180.
4: Makey Makey
The image to the right shows an picture of the assistive technology called Makey Makey in use. This tool uses a small circuit board that turns everyday physical objects into buttons for a computer. It works using electrical circuits with a small amount of electricity flowing through the computer to the object. With this experience being my first time, I was introduced to this tool during one of my technology courses at OISE. I found it very interesting and frustrating at the same time because I have never seen anything like it before, where one can control their computer with any object such as banana or even playdough! However, there were challenges and with this technology because some wires were not connected properly or pieces were missing so I was not able to get the full effect of this tool.
As I conducted some research based on this tool, I found it interesting that Makey Makey is commonly used for students with limited mobility as they are able to use objects to operate a game. This experience, according to an elementary school teacher, “empowers students since the students are directly involved in the design and manufacturing of the
Makey Makey interface”. According to an article written in 2018 by Maich, Keith, Henning and Mallabar they stated the importance of always keeping in mind the voice and interest of the Makey Makey user in mind. This tool is a great use to interact students to allow them to become a part of the computer as it is a lower-cost alternative to other custom assistive technologies.
Maich, K., Keith, E. Henning, N. M., & Mallabar, S. (2018). Makey Makey as an Assitive Resource. EdCan Network. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/makey-makey-assistive-resource/
The image to the right displays the beginning of the game Kahoot. It is one of the go-to technological activities many teachers resource to in order to motivate and encourage students to participate. I had taken this image when I was teaching my Grade 5 students as we were reaching the mid-point for our math unit on multiplication. As I created the game, many of the students to my surprise did not know that you can create your own. They had said all their teachers have used games that were already pre-made from the site, so they were even more excited to see what I made. Even though the content was based on math, the students really enjoyed playing and made it into a competition! According to an article written by Wang & Tahir in 2020, Kahoot “is among the most popular game-based learning platforms with 70 million monthly unique users”.
5: Kahoot
Many teachers acknowledge that it is a challenge to keep their students’ motivated and engaged during a lesson. When Kahoot is incorporated into the lesson, either as an assessment tool for learning or as learning because it can assist the educator in understanding which students need more assistance or if you need to change the lessons to meet the needs of the student. It is important for student engagement during lessons and participating in Kahoot game encourages a class to interact and improve their understanding and academic results.
Wang, A. I., & Tahir, R. (2020). The effect of using kahoot! for learning - A literature review. Computers & Education, 149. doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103818
6: Arduino Robot
The image to the left displays a picture of an Arduino Robot that I was able to get the chance of using in one of my science courses taken at OISE. It uses the coding and programming process in order to move! According to the document of Geist (2016), keeping coding and programming developmentally appropriate for young children is to ensure the process is creative and a constructive one. When the class was introduced to this robot, we were instructed to code the robot to move on top of rocks and stop when it nears an obstacle. It then Consisted of a number of coding blocks to engage the robot and move it to where we wanted the robot to move. The coding involves a number of basic functions of different components in order to perform a basic task such as going straight, stopping or turning. According to the article once children have these basic skills, they should be allowed to experiment with the components to see what they can create and this is exactly what we did in our class. We were given an objective and using these functions we needed to accomplish the task at hand.
Geist, E. (2016). Robots, programming and coding, oh my! Childhood Education, 92(4), 298-304. doi:10.1080/00094056.2016.1208008