Digital Blog Post #A Chapter 1

Digital Blog Post #A Chapter 1 to demonstrate the use of tech tools, TPACK, and use of your digital identity.

Technology has grown at such a rapid pace in the last decade that it is incorporated into every aspect of today's daily life. So utilizing such technology, like smart phones, tablets and laptops just makes sense for success in the classroom. As I become a teacher on this new era of learning I know that use of these tech tools will help me and my students immensely. Tablets can easily replace blackboards, creating a setting where every student has their own mini blackboard right in front of them. Ensuring a better interactive learning experience. Along with tablets, smart phones can be used inside the classroom, as well as outside the classroom. Perhaps field trips? Students could easily document such outings with quick note taking and snapping pictures with smart phones. Laptops can be used outside of the classroom. Students can access research information in the comfort of their own home instead of going to the library, in hopes that they had the correct literature available or even a desktop computer available to do that research paper due next week. I, myself would use laptops for the administrative duties of a teacher. I could prep lesson plans, utilizing the vast information of the internet to gather new ideas for future lesson plans. I could also use it to grade student's assignments on the go and not always in a classroom setting. As a college student, I have all three tech tools and all three have been used in my success as a college student. Note taking in the classroom. online testing, research papers and especially group projects were all done using all of the tech tools mentioned. As technology grows, so will the advancement of these tools in the classroom. I can only hope that more educators will embrace the technological advancements being made in the educational field. Here is a link that shows the successful integration of tablets into the classroom.

6 sucessful tablet integrations.

TPACK (technological pedagogical content knowledge) refers to how teachers use three different knowledge types together to create new and exciting learning experiences for students. Combining  all three of this different techniques widens the reach a teacher has to his/her students. It has become increasing known that not all students learn the same way nor learn at the same pace. I, myself, have never had a problem with picking things up quick. In fact, I have always accelerated in school, getting moved into honors classes and advanced placement classes. So I never really thought about others having issues grasping new knowledge until deciding to become a teacher and really looked at my surroundings. Take my niece and nephew for example. Both come from the same household and were given the same learning opportunities, yet my nephew excels in school while my niece has trouble understanding and retaining new information in school. I have learned that these children while come from the same background have different learning styles. I believe utilizing TPACK will not only help me become a successful educator but, in turn, will help my students, all my students, learn and grow. TPACK will help me educate every learning style.

Acknowledging and creating your digital identity as a teacher is very important in the 21st century as this will showcase your ability to navigate through the digital world. Your digital identity refers to what you know how to do with computers and other various forms of technologies. From basic word documents and spreadsheets to creating and maintaining blogs and websites, these all contribute to your digital identity. It is important to me as a future educator to make sure my digital identity is known to future employers. The more I contribute to my digital identity, the more skill sets I show case, ensuring many job offerings. Once hired, my digital identity will be just as important because then I must actually put these skills to use. I will now need to display these skills to students through interactive assignments and lessons. Using my skills of creating websites/blogs, I can create a place to post assignments for students, that way they can have access to them at all times, never stopping the learning cycle. Just as we are in this class now, looking up our assignments and using our skill set of technology by reviewing assignments, researching them  and submitting a finished product. Either as future teachers or present students, we have already established and continue to grow our digital identities, showing everyone around us the importance of not only having a digital identity but also an advanced digital identity at that.

Resources:


Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

6 Examples Of Successful Classroom Tablet Integration. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2016, from http://emergingtech.tbr.edu/6-examples-successful-classroom-tablet-integration

Introduction to the TPACK Model. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2016, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/introduction-to-the-tpack-model