Facebook

In a couple of my University classes my professors had their classes on Facebook. I think that this is a good idea. My first class that had it was my Intro to Geology. This class was really interactive. By this I mean we went on a lot of field trips and did a lot of out-of-class events. By being on Facebook, the events and assignments came across our Newsfeed to remind us. Also if anyone ever had any questions they could always just go to the Facebook Group page for the class and have our questions answered there. I liked having this class accessible through Facebook. For myself and several others that have a Facebook account, it was very easy to access and beneficial to our learning.

Here is how, You, as a teacher, can get set up to have your class on Facebook.

Image retrieved from Google Images.

Laptops in the Classroom

Today, laptop computers in the classroom are very controversial. Are they beneficial or do they just cause harm? There are several pros and cons, but in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons. In today’s society and school systems, most everything is going online such as resources, teacher notes, and class information. I think that it is beneficial to be able to use laptops in the classroom. The reason for this is because it is much easier to write your notes and thoughts down when typing rather than shuffling through papers. Also by typing your notes on a computer you are saving the environment and also the costs of printing.
Although I believe that laptops are good in the classroom I don’t think that they should be allowed until your junior year of high school. The reason for this is because by your junior year you are an upperclassman and also most likely taking college prep classes. Before your junior year in high school you are working on your required classes for graduation, and still in the emergence of adolescent. I think that freshman and sophomores are too young yet to be privileged with a laptop. The reason for this is because they are more likely to get distracted by using this piece of technology in the classroom. I don’t think that any classroom in a college should deny you the access of using a personal laptop. By this age, I think that you are capable of realizing what you need to be focused on and if you are off task than that will be your problem to deal with the consequences later on. Also in some of my college classes now I have lectures that consist over 30 pages of slides. It would be much easier to download the slides rather than printing them all out. After downloading them from the class webpage online, I would be able to type my notes directly on the slides and save it to my computer so I would not have to worry about misplacing it.

What are your views on having laptops in the classroom? If you were a teacher would you allow it? Followed,is a Pro Article that a student wrote of why he likes using his laptop in the classroom. Also, a Con Article from a Professor of why he banned the use of laptops in his classroom.

Image retrieved from Google images.

The Promethean Board

Another addition in technology in the classroom is something called a Promethean Board. A Promethean Board is an interactive whiteboard or IWB. It has a large, interactive display that combines the simplicity of a whiteboard, power of a computer, and the look of a projection. These boards engage students with vivid images, video and audio.


There are also several accessories that can be purchased separately that go along with the Promethean Board to promote student involvement. One of these accessories is an egg shaped clicker that students can use to send answers in the form of A, B, C,D to the board. This is called ACTIVOTE. Once the answers are sent to the board it puts in a graph so you can compare and contrast. Each clicker has a number, and if you keep track when distributing them , you will be able to know who has what clicker and what answer they are submitting, but to the students, everything is anonymous. Along with the clickers, you can also text an answer. This tool may be controversial because many schools don’t allow cell phones, or it may be that the student doesn’t have a cell phone.

The first time that I have ever even heard of or seen one of these boards was in my third semester here at UNI. I was in a Math and Technology class and we visited a local school that that had a selected number of boards that they put in their classrooms. After the introduction of the board was completed I knew instantly that I wanted one for my classroom.

Here is video of an introduction of the board.

Promethean Whiteboard Demo - Verbots English Part 1



For more information on how you can use a Promethean Board in your classroom click here.

Pictures from Google Images.

The Elmo Projector

Technology in the classroom is vastly growing. I remember when I was in elementary and middle school, my teachers used chalk on the blackboard to write. At the end of your day, after using chalk to write all day, you were bound to have chalk all over you; from your dried-out-hands, to your clothes, where you wiped your hands off, to your face, where you scratched that itch. Nonetheless, it was messy, it squeaked, and it made people sneeze, but it worked.

Then I got to high school and the majority had white boards with dry erase makers. This was fun. Growing up I enjoyed writing with a whiteboard and marker. A fall back to this though was that it could also be messy. When my teacher was in the middle of teacher his/her lesson and had to erase, they would just wipe off the unwanted text with their hand instead of the eraser. The change from the ordinary chalkboard to a white board seemed to be more effective. It helped with the allergies to chalk, but yet, the markers never did smell the best.

Now I’m in college. I walk into my classes and there is a projection screen that hangs from the ceiling and a projector that is mounted to the ceiling. This was the first big difference I noticed. When I was in high school the projector sat on a stack of books on a rolling cart. It was very stationary. In the front of my college classrooms is an Elmo. I remember when I first saw an Elmo. I had no idea, what-so-ever, what this machine was. But I soon found out, as it is the only thing that a lot of my professors use.

An Elmo is the latest and greatest version of an overhead projector. With an Elmo you are able to put a worksheet, or a blank sheet of paper, as my professors do, and write on it and it appears on the screen; whereas with the overhead projector it would black out the screen. Using an Elmo prevents the allergies of chalk and the smells of the dry erase markers. All you need now is pen and paper. Another way that I have seen an Elmo in my classroom is presenting work to the the rest of the class. There is an Elmo projector in the Math class, my professor has had students come up to the front of the class and had students just set their spiral under the lens and explain how they worked through a certain problem.

I think that an Elmo is a great thing to have in a classroom. It is another way to bring the group together and another technique of collaboration. Here is an article published by Kristen Wilkerson that goes along with the changing in technology over the years.

Images retrieved from Flickr.