Google Tour
The tour that I created is a brief example of using it to create for my 5th period. I am really excited to get to use it in the classroom.
Out of all the modules, we have discussed this is my least favorite because it was not as useful except for the Google tours. Google tours is something that I can definitely use in my classroom today and I did use it. While I need to continue to work on creating my resources, it was neat to see the distance from one area to the next. Another observation is that some of the virtual worlds where a person can become another person is very creepy. The assigned readings were great because they make you think about and reflect on your own teaching in the classroom.
Chris Dede shared in his article that his job is to ensure that our students not only succeed in the classroom but as well as the real-world applications, which is so true when understanding how to use virtual reality/environments in the classroom. Students deserve every opportunity to achieve their goals by being taught how to use the technology and to crave more then just completing a fun math game on the computer.
Based on one of the videos we had to watch in the classroom module, these tools are need for students to be able to complete their classwork and homework. By having the use of technology, the students are able to collaborate via social media or Google docs. Students are able to use their creativity by creating field trips and creating new ideas that teachers may not even be aware of for lessons and it does provide a chance to use critical thinking/communication because of the impact of using all their information from different resource to get a goal accomplished. The video we watched describe the difficulties for students who are not able to have access to the technology and it does make a difference in their education because we want out students to be challenged.
These tools are used to help students especially those who have difficulty maintaining prior knowledge because of being able to experience things through virtual field trips. This tool can be used greatly in the classroom as long as there is adequate training available for the teachers.
Up until this past year, our technology consisted of several old school laptop carts and some computers in the classroom , along with two computer labs. This seems to be true for several school systems in our area. We have become a one to one school with the ChromeBook and it has become an adjustment with both the students and teachers because of the training and expectation. The students are very used to use phones and such for research purposes that it can seem somewhat intimidating to use different programs such as Padlet or Nearod for instruction.