Tech 290 Final Project

VIDEOS:
All the video's I watched were very informative. Harrison Cental High School video was probably the most interesting to me. The idea of students being able to go on a field trip virtualing is a great idea. Most school districts do not allow many trips due to the cost and liability, but when you do it virtually the students can still have a visual of what they just learned about.
As I watched this video I decided to show it to Mr. Bernard at Maize High School. Mr. Bernard is a German foreign language teacher and this will help his students experience Germany with out actually traveling there. I spoke with Mr. Bernard and he stated it would be nice for the students to see what they are learning about. He did say he takes kids on a trip to Germany every other year to explore, but for the students who are unable to go it would be a great way for them to be involved.

1. Read all the articles posted and reflect
a) Us Schools lag Behind in use of Technology
Teachers are in great need of technical education. I believe this article really brought this issue to life. It is amazing how many teachers lack technology training and the students could teach the teachers how to use it. Isn't there something wrong with that? Why are our teachers no being trained? I believe there should be a change in the curriculum and it should be mandatory for undergraduate education students to take a technology course that involves their content. Also for the ones who are already teaching it should be a mandatory in-service training for them.
b) National Technology Plan
The plan seems simple, just increase access to technology in schools and hire tech support to make sure help is there when needed. Its a great plan, but I believe it is harder than they make it sound. The schools need funding for this type of transistion and it is up to the federal and state government to support the transistion in each and every school. I just don't feel that this is something that will happen anytime soon.
c) NETS:for students, teachers, and administrators
It is great to have standards to follow and I feel that the standard that were given in this article is something we can follow in the future. Once teachers are trained they will be able understand the technology concepts and how to apply it to their classrooms.
c)Don't just Adapt Technology, Adopt it!!
Most of us find different ways to do our "old things" instead of trying something new. In this article we were given many different ways to do things. It seems that the barrier for us to move forward with technology is not enough access or training. I again believe once we are trained better to use the new technology we will not be comfortable to incorporate these new processes into our usual routine.
d) Apple Learning Interchange
This website seems like it would be very useful for educators. The ability to ichat, message and search for items is a great resource for teachers. This is definitely something I will pass on to teachers and other students.
e) ALTEC
This website is another resourceful tool for teachers. It focuses on web based resources and professional development for teachers. This site lists many websites such as Edlines, Rubistar, Casa Notes, etc.

2. Apple Learning Interchange Reflection:
see above under video...
3. ALTEC:
see above under e)ALTEC
4. Videos- see above please.
5. Thoughts about the course...
This technology course was very informative, but it was to much information cramed into a short amount of time. I have kept notes on each lesson so I can go back and review the great resources we briefly touched. The one thing that I had no clue how to do was podcasts. I have seen them in itunes, but never explored to see what I could use it for. I think it would be great to use for my students so they can listen to a lecture at a later time if they were sick or studying. Also I want to thank you for giving us so many resources to use on the internet. It is hard to know which ones are liable and user friendly. I really appreciate that.