Educ 630: Blog 2

Blog 2 Topic

Please reflect on the following question in your blog:

Reflect on your own participation in online communities (where do you go? what do you do? what does your family do?)

If I can recall correctly I was introduced to my first online community in 2005.  I was a freshman in college and became a member of facebook.  It was through facebook that I stayed connected with some friends and family members.  Facebook was also a way for me to meet new friends that shared similiar interests, went to my college or were from my hometown.  I was constantly on facebook talking with others, viewing their posts and posting my own post.  I was truly convinced that facebook was a great means to stay connected to people; even so much so that it became addicting.

Currently,I have family members that are members of facebook as well.  Facebook has become a widespread social network that is used an an online community.  I also have family members that are on twitter and myspace as well.  Due to courses at Liberty, I have also joined the Skype community to participate in group projects.  Family members of mine use Skype as well but they use it more for social purposes; especially some of family members that have loved ones in the military overseas.  Overall I feel that online communities are used alot in my family, and moreso for social purposes.

educ 630: Blog 1

If you are currently a classroom teacher, please reflect on the nature of technology adoption in schools. Are there barriers in your school? Teacher-related? Resource related? Is there anything that can be done? If you are not currently in the classroom, please take an armchair quarterback approach here and judge local school districts, local educational institutions, etc.

I am currently a kindergarten teacher.  This is my second year teaching.  In my school district there is a constant push towards technology integration in the classroom.  Even at the kindergarten level my students are being introduced to a variety of technology forms, especially due to the new Common Core Standards that our district adopted this year.  My students are now learning how to type on microsoft word, explore microsoft paint and do simple searches online to complete research projects.  I feel that all of these things are helping to build a foundation for my students in technology education.

On a school level there are still barriers in technology.  The teachers are not all adequately informed about various modes of technology that can be implemented into the classroom.  There may be brief mentions of technology integration concepts and ideas but there are not any guides to help the teachers implement the technology in such a way that the students are can obtain the most from the lessons and the material also be relevant.  There is also a shortage of resources because a lot of the technology resources in our school are shared.

In order for things to change for the positive my school district needs to establish more professional development sessions where teachers are trained on various technology resources.  Also we need more grants or technology resources in the classroom and in the school as a whole