Final Thoughts

As the semester is over I come to realize how fast it went! So many things crammed into my head in just my first year of this career! It has been a very good start to it since many peers have turned into friends as well. We have shared funny and maybe even stupid moments inside and outside the classroom walls. Those are memories that will not fade away easily.
Well, after talking about the whole social aspect of the semester, I would like to mention how it has been a very good one education wise. First of all because after seeing theories of how languages are acquired and how we can teach it better. Also because through my Educational Technology class I have been seeing many ways to promote learning in a necessary way for what awaits. It is very cool to have learned how to create interaction based activities with technologies people see as basic things such as a cell phone or even audio files. Those things will be very useful later on in the future so it is good to keep them in mind for when its my turn to teach.
A semester gone but many more to go. Many memories and hopefully a lot of cool experiences that will help us become proffesional individuals in this field will come up.

In-class debates!

We had some fun in class with some debates that were done. The topic had to do with implementing technology in a class. We were divided into defending and opposing the usage of it in a classroom. I took the defensive side stating that if used in an adequate manner and with a certain control, it could be very useful for teachers and students. A lot of people agreed as well as dis-agreed, but in the end the main objective was to have some fun. Debates can sometimes lead to a bit of competition, yet they are very fun!

Teaching through social media

Something viewed in class was about teaching through social media. It was very interesting since we saw different ways to use social networks we already use, but this time to teach. A clever way to make internet based platforms for teaching was analyzed and it really caught my attention since it seems to be simple. We can perfect certain things we do as we go along since at the beginning we might need guidance in using certain programs or making lesson plans. The positive view of it is that it can be used as a second job or a full-time job at home since it mainly requires an internet connection and a computer.

Technology in cars

This is a video that I found interesting. It does not have to do with teaching but we can create programs that implement learning while being in the car. It makes it interesting since I remember as a child making figures on the car window on cold days. It can be seen as an opportunity or atleast as something that will make traveling a lot more fun for our children in the future!

Finals!

Well the reason for this post is just to share a bit of what is going on in school at the moment. A lot of things are going on since we are getting overwhelmed in most classes by finals. For some teachers we have to do essays that are quite demanding and for others we have to prepare very precise oral presentations. It is all taking up everyones time and making us sleep less. Guess its part of university life so we should not complain since there will be a reward for all of these efforts in the future! :)

Using ¨Mobile¨ Learning

After seeing and talking about how a class can be structured, we say a video which was quite interesting. It was about mobile devices being used in a classroom to make everything more interactive. A few teachers gave their opinion on the dyanmics and proved it to be effective while there was a few remarks on it. Some school sytems in the videos we saw were completely against mobile phone usage since they said it causes distractions and such. Others showed through different activities how it can be very useful for the teacher and fun for the students to implement the usage of cell phones in a class. I believe we should use it with adequate measures since it can be a good way to teach if it is used in the correct manner.

Pay Attention!

This is a video seen in a forum I attended this past weekend. The main focus is to make people come to realize how us as students are being affected by things changing in society and sometimes not being helped. It makes for a good reflection and also to help us keep those things in mind when teaching. Hope you enjoy!

Study Skills and Online Learning

At the moment, we are wrapping up a class we are taking which is called Study Skills and Online Learning. It is a class that is really setting us for what we will have to face later on as we go on in the career and as teachers some day as well. The reason is because it helps us with time management and it helps us become active learners. We are doing things such as researching a topic that we will talk about for our final paper. My paper will be about learning styles with my main focus on the visual learning style.

Study of Civilizations

In these moments, we are going through the final stages of our class that is based on the study of civilizations. What we are learning at the moment is about the Middle Ages. It is an interesting era since many movies are based on it and after reading how it was like, we can relate to how it is explained in the movies. Proves that the whole knight and tournament things of a movie are real. It really is fun to learn about the past and how it has formed the future for people living in those areas.

Skills that define 21st century students

We may ask ourselves what makes a 21st century student apt for technology based learning environments. Some are quite basic since learning will always have a certain basis, but we will look into some in a moment. An examples can be the ability to use a computer to make homeworks on different formats. Another example may be able to acquire information through seeing things being explained in class such as powerpoint presentations or videos since those are technologies that are very common nowadays. Common skills are abilities such as comprehension and being able to apply what is learned.

Teaching Ethics

Today in class, we discussed a bit about what ethics are and the importance of them. We came to the conclusion that they are things that form us as individuals and applying them can help us be better people. After having covered that, we applied that topic in the teaching world and discussed of what makes up an ethical teacher. We suggested that the teacher must be fair and be just with our students. The reason is because if we do things with passion, there will not be room for corruption or doing things that may affect what is learned.

21st Century Tools Podcast

Hello everyone! Today I will share with a project in which we created a podcast based on what we have learned recently. Hope you enjoy!

Technology Advances Over Time

Hello everyone! Just made this post to give a brief example of how technology has changed over time and how it has changed society with it. Most things are for the better, lets hope they continue to be so.

Google Glasses

Saw these new glasses Google is creating and thought they were quite interesting. Not sure how they can be applied to teaching, but it does make things a lot simpler in our daily lives.

Reflection on A Day Made of Glass

Truly in awe after watching technologies not thought possible a few decades ago being applied in our daily lives. The video we saw had to do with different types of glass used to create a very technologically advanced society. It shows how we create a society that uses it for most things and through that make life easier for everyone. We must take into consideration that it is very advanced and costly as well. I think that it would be very good to live in a society like the one showed in the video. It is possible, maybe not in the near future due to the little money invested in our country, but it is something we can hope for later on. Lets hope for the best and that we may use it as a basic thing for carrying out our daily duties in the future as we saw in the two videos.

Did you know? My thoughts

So many things going on in this world without knowing sometimes. So many facts that we are unaware of. Its amazing how the internet is causing so many things in us as human beings, just by the statistics that were shared in the video we saw in class. I think that there could be a downside to all of this. The downside would be that we are depending too much on technology and we are becoming vulnerable to an event that would leave us short of it. The positive way to view things is that its application in our daily lives makes things easier and more efficient. I think that since everything is changing, we must keep up and be prepared for anything.

Gadget's Galore Reflection

Todays class consisted in viewing teaching through the technological perspective. We did so by reading an article named Gadgets Galore. It was about ways to make lessons more technological and interactive. By doing so, the students learn more by having fun and done with more efficiency. I think it is very interesting since it gives us a different perspective on how to teach using things we use daily or that we are very familiar with. One of the ideas I liked the most was an activity that required for the students to take pictures around town of English signs and showing them later to see if they used correct grammar or not. It really impulsed me to think of different applications for traching through technology and to consider them in my future teaching!

What macro-businesses are doing for education

If you are visiting this blog you are most likely aware of three macro companies that will be mentioned. They are Apple, Telmex and Microsoft. The company owners or CEO's are some of the richest men in the world, many of us aspire to one day be like them, but we are here to discuss a different topic. In our class we wondered what it is that they are doing for education. Some things may be relevant since we are just getting to know certain technologies and how they can be applied to teach.

Better Learning Strategies Through Usage of Tech.

I was amazed by the story of a young entrepreneur that has already become a successful individual at a very young age. His name is Michael Furdyk, a young millionaire that has not just become rich through the usage of technology, but has also helped many lives in the process. It was interesting how he first became rich by doing what very few people dared to do, then decided to continue with technology to create web pages to help out people all around the world. Him being so young and already getting the chance to work with people such as Bill Gates motivated me to want to do innovative things in this country, as suggested by our tutor, Edgar K. Audelo. Another thing discussed is how it can be implemented in our educational system to promote a technologically involved culture. If technology is something Mexico lacks in its infrastructure, we should be the ones to apply its use to teach others and make major advances like the young visionary we talked about today.

Thoughts about 50x15 vision.

I was interested in Hector Ruiz's plan named 50x15 after having watched a conference in which he explained its purpose. It was intriguing since I agree with point of view in the usage of technology in the right way so that we can get the best out of it. He explained how he wants as most people as possible to have internet access because by doing so, the world will be connected. I believe it is a positive thing because that way we will enrich ourselves with knowledge and also be connected to the rest of the world, therefore making it a mutual experience in innovation. The phrase that really caught my attention in his speech was when he said that a civilization has to be better than the past one in order to make progress, something I strongly agree with.

Class Reflection

Todays class consisted in reading about how technology has become a part of our society and how it has influenced the educational system. It was up to us to decide if it is a good thing or bad thing, for which I think it is a good thing. I take into consideration how certain people or institutes are not prepared for the application of certain technologies in education, but I think that if it is used correctly, we can take a lot from it. Technology is innovating the way society is set so I think we should adapt to it and use it in a correct manner so we can take the best out of it instead of falling behind even more!

Just a brief video explaining how technology has influences in teaching. Hope you like it!

Definition of Educational Technology

In my perspective Educational Technology is defined as the process of using technology to make learning easier for pupils. It is very essential to create simple procedures so that students can get the best out of it and not just follow precise steps. Using a constructive approach to educational technology will benefit the student because it will prepare him or her for usage of it in the "real world". In my opinion, if we learn to use it correctly, we will learn how to use new technologies and be up to date of what is going on around us! 

Examples of Educational Tech.