Project #8: Reflections on the Learning Journey of Technology

    Before taking EDU 314 I had a great deal of knowledge about computers. In highschool I took a computer course where I was taught how to use most of the Microsoft programs so I was familiar with them. I also had to make a webpage a few years ago for one of my classes. However, we made the website by typing in the source information and codes. I definately enjoyed using Nvu more, it made the process so much easier! Additionally, I learned a lot more about making a website in this course. In the previous class I took we just made the site to post our work on, spending only a week or so on it. I now have the skills and knowledge to create a professional looking website.

     I believe that taking this class will benefit me greatly in the future as a teacher. I learned a wide variety of applications with computers that can be useful to me as a teacher. I learned about programs that I hadn't used before such as Nvu, WS_FTP, and Photo Story 3 for Windows. I feel like I have become very comfortable and confident in using these new programs and could do so in the future as well. One program that I think will be especially useful to me as a teacher in Microsoft Publisher.  I 'm now able to create professional looking brochures and handouts that can be used in a classroom or sent home to parents.

    My favorite project was making the Web Quest with my group from our science class. I thought it was a great idea to arrange the project in this way since we were using the information we already were gathering for the unit plan that we were creating. It would be a great way to share the information with students when learning about a topic. It also allows you as a teacher to switch things up and have the students go through a Web Quest instead of just reading worksheets. The students may really enjoy the change and being able to work with the computers. I also really enjoyed creating the digital story. I had never done something like that before and thought it was great to be able to share pictures and my friends and family. I believe students would really love to do this activity too. It would be a great way for students to get to know each other and share their experiences.

    Throughout the process of creating my website I did encounter various problems. The biggest frustration came when copying and pasting things. I soon realized that when copying and pasting I needed to make sure that I went back and saved all of the pictures in my folder otherwise they wouldn't show up on the page. I ran into this problem again when I was copying and pasting my links at the bottom of the page. I thought this was easier so I didn't have to re-type them everytime I created a new page. It worked well on most of my pages but I soon found out that some of them didn't when I looked at my website on someone else's computer. To fix this I need to go back and re-link all of the links that were not done correctly.

    Overall, I think this is a great course in our Block I classes. Technology is very important in today's world and it's popularity and uses are rapidly increasing. Being knowledgable in ways to incorporate technology into my teaching will be beneficial to me in the future. 


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