This year in EDU 3110 I was exposed to many new ways to use technology in my future classroom. In my opinion the most useful tool we learned about would be the virtual field trip. A virtual field trip is a great use of technology to use in any classroom. I really enjoyed making the virtual field trip and was able to see how I could incorporate it into my classroom. Virtual field trips are a different way of using PowerPoint. It is a fun, easy way for kids to learn. I did my virtual field trip on food and nutrition. I had the veggie tales characters be the tour guides taking the students through the grocery store and teaching them about food groups and keeping a healthy diet. The field trip also taught the kids about which foods go in which groups and some examples of healthy meals to make in the kitchen. I was also able to include links and embed videos within the virtual field trip. I could definitely use this in my future classroom. I think that all students would be interested and have fun with this.
Another most useful tool that I learned about this semester in 3110 was Glogster. This was the project that I had the most fun working on. I really enjoyed making my glogster about our solar system. I will definitely be using glogster in my future classroom. I was able to create multiple different pages about the planets, the sun, moons, asteroids, comets, and much more. I included many helpful links as well as related videos. Glogster is a wonderful way for students to get engaged in the lesson. I showed my grandpa and my dad the glogster I made and they both said that they learned more about the solar system through my glogster than they had in their whole lives! That may be an overstatement, but it goes to show that glogster is a great way to teach kids (or anyone for that matter!) I will definitely be using glogster in my future classroom for lessons such as the solar system or learning the writing process, etc.
The third most useful technology project I did this year was ActivInspire. I really liked how it was very engaging. I can definitely see myself using this in my future classroom for lessons in which I want to get my students really involved, such as math or science. This is a great way for all types of learners to get engaged and excited. It is also a great hands on activity that will get the students up and active in the classroom. I liked how it was comparable to PowerPoint, which I am very familiar with, so I was able to catch on easily. I also liked how there were already pages you could use as examples or incorporate into your slides. I will definitely use this in my classroom.
There are so many useful tools we learned this semester that I will be using in my future classroom. The Virtual Field trip and Glogster were definitely my top favorites, but I was able to learn a lot from all of our other projects! I liked learning how to make a video through Animoto. It is something that is quick and easy to do, and can be used in the classroom at any time. I even incorporated my Animoto video into my Glogster site. This shows how we can incorporate different types of technology into one lesson. I really enjoyed each technology project we did this semester and will be able to use many of them in my future classroom.
