Blog Post 5

            As the ELA standards continue to change annually requiring more and more usage of technology within the classroom, I believe that is it important to keep in mind the many purpose for using technology within the classroom. Technology should be used to maintain Critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity the four C’s. With the increase of technology Web 2.0, flipped classrooms are becoming more common which require a large amount of technology to be successful. Using technology allows for students to receive a more personal and interactive learning plan. Students can use a PLE or personal learning environment to individualize their learning and education programs such as Moodle to create and use the skills they have learned inside of the classroom.  Gamification within a classroom could be viewed as helpful, but others may see it as a distraction if used incorrectly.  By adding games to an educational lesson, the children may be more inclined to be engaged and interact with the lesson; however, there is also a chance that by adding gamification it may be used as a distraction for the students. The use of gamification is adding or creating smart toys that can be used inside of a classroom for educational purposes but also for fun. From a teacher’s standpoint the use of cloud computing can be very helpful, as it is a network of resources that can be accessed for free and used inside of a classroom. This online network can be used from a business, personal and educational level for all subscribers for free. As the world of education is evolving it is important that teachers stay on top of these changes and don’t get to overwhelmed.  as mentioned in the Podcast if teachers use their new sources of education to bring together their peers and students there is really no way for them to go wrong.

The educational WEB 2.0 tool that I am reviewing is called Triptico, is a collection of interactive resources that allow educators to create engaging learning experience for both their classroom and the workplace. Teachers can create, save, adapt and share interactive content very easily using Triptico. Personally, I believe that Triptico will be extremely useful as I hope to teach Elementary school and the software will help me find new and interactive ways to teach a lesson to my students. It is software’s like this one that excite me to use WEB 2.0 tools in the future. Triptico is available in every language and can be used for every subject or level of the learner. It is easily accessible and educators can sign up for a free account if a teacher chooses to there is also a Triptico Plus version that has additional resources for a small price. Everything on the Triptico website is easy to use and navigate and if by chance a teacher is having difficultly working on the website there are tutorials and blog posts running that are available to help and offer support. If this is not enough there are also supportive Tripitco groups that can provide additional help.

https://www.tripticoplus.com/faq

I personally believe that the idea of having a school in the “clouds” holds the biggest promise for the future of education using cloud computing software such as drop box or google apps to bring your own personal device to a school-wide setting. With this software, students can access collections of instructional videos, online modules and even collaborative assignments all from their own personal devices. These devices could be as inexpensive or expensive as the child or school can afford but it opens the door for a fully functional, self-directed school via a “cloud”. Students can access this instruction from anywhere and are able to expand their knowledge in more ways than ever before. The application is easily and readily available and requires only a small amount of maintenance not very often. This database is safe, secure and available whenever the student needs it from various devices all they need to know is their login information and they are good to go. I think that the ideology behind having a school in the “clouds” is the next big thing for technology.