C4T
Summary: http://www.trailsoptional.com/
My
assigned educator was Jen Deyenberg.
Ms. Deyeberg has been teaching for 10 years. She has taught in both Alberta (Canada) and Scotland. Ms. Deyenberg is currently the Learning
Services Coordinator for Education Technology in Whitecourt, Alberta in Canada.
She seems very knowledgeable in technology and the capabilities it can bring to
the classroom.
My
first comment on Ms. Deyenberg’s blog was her post on video games in the
classroom. Her paper was very well written. I enjoyed her idea on how video games can equalize learning
for kids with disabilities and provide them the ability to achieve goals
similar to the other students.
Additionally, this is the first educator that commented on my
comment. Below is the
conversation:
Brantley Spillman says:
My name is
Brantley Spillman, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. Your
post on ‘video games in the classroom’ was an interesting read. Obviously,
technology is changing the face of education worldwide including the popularity
of video games. As an educator, we have many technological options to
supplement our school year. I do believe integrating educational video games
can bring a sense of excitement to our classroom that would attract many
students that would otherwise be uninterested in learning. However, like
anything, moderation should be a concern as video games have been well
documented to have an addictive nature for many children. I would like to see
my kids embrace these options to enhance learning, but simultaneously promote
hands-on tasks. Students will encounter many difficult life challenges that
will be hard to correlate to conquering level II of a video game. Thanks for
sharing.
- jdeyenberg says:
Moderation is definitely key, but I see passing level 2 as very much
real life. How many times do we set a goal and then overcome challenges to get
to a place where we earn a reward or pause to celebrate. Video games allow
students to progress at a level that they are functioning in and scaffold with
hints, clues, and assistance right when they need it. There are also more
serious games that can help with life challenges. Super Better https://www.superbetter.com/ comes to mind as a game where you can set targets to
help move forward in life.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
It
is clear that Ms. Deyenber is a passionate supporter of technology in the
classroom. We need more educators
like her to defend the direction of modern day education.
Ms.
Deyenberg’s more recent blog post is titled “Assistive Technology Toolkit –
Read&Write For Google”. I was
a bit confused with this read. It was well written, but most of the terminology
was unknown to me. Luckily, I am a “student scholar” and looked up the
terminology for a better understanding of her post. Once I read up on these
terms, I realized I was more familiar with them than I originally thought. I
was just unaware of the technology language. This was a great learning
experience for me.
Ms.
Deyenberg began her post by introducing “GAFE” (Google Apps For
Education). Ms. Deyenberg defined
GAFE as, “ a program that provides a delivery platform for cloud based tools.” Terminology such as “cloud based tools”
is new to me. After researching, I learned that she is referring to computer
learning programs that are not limited to the computer they are installed.
Meaning, these tools are downloadable from the internet.
As
I continued to read, Ms. Deyenberg explains the benefits of yet another tool, Read&Write. One of
its beneficial qualities is that this tool offers students the ability to hear
what they have written. Not only
will the students be able to listen for their mistakes, but this tool will
pause for punctuation errors as well.
This feature will allow students to solve punctuation issues with a
hands-on approach. Read&Write will also help students to learn how to properly
pronounce numbers as words. Larger
numbers are difficult for young students to pronounce. This tool can provide a hands-on approach
to learning how to pronounce these large complicated numbers. Furthermore, Read&Write will help students with mathematic problems. The numbers from a math problem will be
read out loud. This will allow
students to not only see the problem, but hear it as well. By hearing the math
problem, the student will gain a more in depth understanding.
I
enjoyed my C4T #2 assignment more than my C4T #1 assignment. I gained a better understanding on what
technology has to offer in the classroom for any level of education from Ms.
Deyenberg’s blog. Her knowledge of
technology is what I am striving to achieve at some point in my career. I enjoyed this assignment and will
continue to check in on her blog for new ideas and learning opportunities.
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