I have learned...

1) I have already greatly improved my skills with technology and can better use them for educational purposes in my future classrooms. I have created multiple slides of informal assessment and used that knowledge to make a lesson using the Smartboard application. I have learned special functions on GoogleEarth (functions other than finding my own house) and can use them for differentiation in my lesson plans. I have learned more about the blogging world and understand better the convenience that is having an online resource in which students and teachers alike can post and comment on the same page. Xtranormal is an online movie maker that I have personally used to make a quick and easy educational short film. We are beginning an iMovie project where I am learning how to use short videos in the classroom.

2) We have discussed and encountered several challenges of teaching and learning with technology. We have talked about the cost of incorporating technology in schools; some schools simply do not have the funds for the technologies some schools can afford. Sometimes, as we have experienced in the classroom, technology can be finicky and difficult to work with. Some of the problems stem from ignorance, for technology does take some education and practice before it can be utilized to its fullest extent. Teachers must be able to troubleshoot quickly and effectively in order to react to different problems that may occur in the classroom.