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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Reflecting on Technology

So far in class, we have worked with Smart technology, Google Earth, Flickr, and Podcasts. Some of these technologies I had been aware of previously, but others are completely new to me. Flickr is one I had never heard of before. I think there are some really cool opportunities there to manipulate and create with images that students can find about different subject areas, or even for art in general. I think it can really provide a hands on experience--which would be very beneficial for kinesthetic learners in particular. Plus, it would make projects in any area more fun. Flickr can also provide some good tools and activities for us to use in our future classrooms.

This past week I worked a lot with Google Earth, since I am focusing on Geography for my SmartBoard lesson (at the Elementary school level). I think that Google Earth can really come in handy for geography and science lessons. I was able to record a virtual tour of the U.S. looking at various land forms, such as deserts, mountains, forests, and wetlands. In my lesson in particular it came in handy to give students a visual on how many different climates and landforms with have just in our own country and where they are in relation to each other. It is more exiciting than simply looking at a map with texture because the students know that they are looking at actual satellite images.

All in all, my experience with all these technology has really opened my eyes to the endless learning tools that we have at our fingers. There are so many more options now to create activites that hold interest and present material in new, unique ways. I think that education can really benefit from all these different tools we have learned about in the past few weeks.

1 comment:

Kari said...

I had never heard of flickr before last week either. I think the presentation was really interesting and I would have never thought of being able to use it in education. I think that as a Spanish teacher, I can definitely use flickr in my lessons. It would be a great addition to any lessons where I could use pictures to demonstrate vocabulary or just show cultural images. Also, I agree that it would be a great tool for kinesthetic learners because they can manipulate the images and create new images. Overall, I think flickr can be utilized in my classroom in both a fun and educational way.