Lesson Presentation With Audio!

This presentation was made with Voice Thread. I really enjoyed this program because it was easy to use. I was able to start the program and follow the steps without the need to consult a FAQ or tutorial. I can really imagine myself utilizing this application in my future career as a teacher.

Lesson Presentation Without Audio!

This presentation was made without audio on Google Docs. I really enjoyed using this website because it is very easy to navigate and use. I also like how it can be integrated with other Google applications and how I it allows you to collaborate with other people in composing and editing documents.

SmartBoards

SmartBoards is a revolutionary technology that creates interactive learning. It allows the user to execute the normal mouse functions on a computer with your fingers on the SmartBoard. The Digital Pens that are used collaboratively with the SmartBoard technology allows you to write on the screen and erase with the Digital Eraser. The best use for the teacher may be the ability to collaboratively use with Microsoft Office products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat.
I can see myself using this in my future classroom if the resource is available. I think that in a classroom with students who are deaf, the visual interactive learning will be very useful. It will motivate the students to learn and will let them interact with what they are learning. In my experience, I had the opportunity to visit the Michigan School for the Deaf and each classroom that I was in had a SmartBoard. I was able to observe the usage in the classroom and saw the benefits of the technology. The students were very interested and were happy to write using the Digital Pens and use their fingers to move items. The teacher was also able to edit and add items to the agenda that was viewed on the board via her computer at her desk.

Photo Attribution
Original Image: Interactive Interactive - Laura
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danzen/105653250/sizes/s/
By: Dan Zen

Released under an Attribution 2.0 Generic license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Twitter

When I first learned that we were using Twitter.com in this class, my thoughts were less than enthusiastic to say the least. From what I heard, I thought it was just a bunch of celeb obsessed fans that read updates about Sarah Jessica Parker's trip to Starbucks or Orlando Bloom's BLT sandwich that he ate for lunch. So at the beginning of this class, I held my breath and took a dive into the world of Twitter. Surprisingly, it was refreshing! I soon discovered the great benefits that can come from a website such as Twitter and the endless possibilities of learning. I have found that an educational community exists within the world of Twitter. It does keep me updated about the news that interests me most as well as allowing me to be able to communicate with my friends via Twitter. Professionally, I could see myself using Twitter as a means to communicate with students about homework assignments and other classroom related activities. In one of my previous classes, my teacher had once told us that the most effective way to connect with students is using their interests in order to complete your tasks. I can imagine this website to be used for many years to come and I can also imagine it being a website that stays popular within the younger generations. As a combination of these two elements, I can see a potential communicative tool between teacher and student! All in all, I think many times Twitter gets bogged down by its celebrity-obsessed image, but underneath, there is a large educational world that can be utilized within the classroom.Original Image: "Logo of Twitter"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/topgold/3341034811/
By: topgold

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

My Creative Commons

This is a photo I licensed with Creative Commons.

Photo Attribution

Original Image: "West Palm Beach"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vandema3/4689214713/sizes/s/
By: vandema3

Released under an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

This Copyright Lab was really a new concept to me. I have always thought of using photos in presentations and such but never once thought about any copyright laws. I thought that adding the source was the only thing I needed to do if I was to use the picture. Now I have a firm grasp of what needs to be done and what needs to be shown to properly attribute a photo's source and to make sure that my own photos are being used properly through CreativeCommons.org.

I can definitely see myself using this in my classroom in the future. I find that visual elements to a lesson is very important, especially as a Deaf Education major. I also think that using your own photos is a great way to get creative and to give importance to the student's work. Publishing the picture and having an actual copyright law for it makes the work meaningful and it recognizes the student for their work. Personally, I felt really important having my own copyright license and I hope that my future students will too!

Creative Commons in the Classroom

The Creative Commons portion of the class was very intriguing. I found myself looking back at my past assignments and wondering if I even considered copyrights such as the one discussed in the Copyright lab. I have always believed that the potential of a student depends on the student's accessibility to the material through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning. Since I have started working with students who are deaf or hard of hearing, I have heavily relied upon the visual aspect of learning, so photographs that support a subject become of greater importance for comprehension. Images give knowledge that cannot be expressed through words and somehow make certain topics seem more real if you can connect the words with a visual representation. I think that they can also be used as "attention getters" that can introduce a topic and can act as a basis for discussion. The following photo represents a topic that I remember learning about in my elementary school days, and has really stuck with me through the years. As you can see, it could be used as an "attention getter" and it could also be used as a visual during a lecture.

Photo Attribution
Original Image: "Thailand Hill Tribes"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/babasteve/351227116/sizes/s/in/set-72157594557343323/
By: babasteve

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en