Class Reflection

IT 365 was a fun class, although I can honestly say I did struggle with it at times. I did learn about so many things that are available online to make sites and presentations. I also learned about some awesome free tools that are available. Some of my strong points were the test, website, and blog. It is weird to say, but I liked studying for the test because it made me do research and read my textbook. I learned more from studying for my test than on any other project we did in class. The website was fun and simple to make. The website was my favorite project because it was nice to get familiar with something that I will definitely be using in the future. I also liked the blog because I can use it now for things I enjoy like hobbies, rather than just for education.

Some things I thought were my weak points were the assistive technology and the Window’s Movie Maker assignments. The assistive technology assignment was sort of confusing at first, but I finally got the hang of it. To me, the Window’s Movie Maker assignment was the most difficult assignment we had in this class. I liked the end product, but it was terrible making the movie, I had the worst experience making the movie.

I know I will have to improve my skills in using assistive technology. This will be of up most importance to my future classroom. I can improve my skills by practicing at my house every so often. I do not think that I will have to use Window’s Movie Maker much in the future, but if I do decide to use it, I will need much more practice.  

Depending on the grade I end up teaching, I plan on using lots of technology in my classroom. I can use concept maps to present things to children of all ages. Concept maps are even used in some nursing schools. I can use classroom websites and blogs to help parents and students keep up with what is going on in my classroom. Web tools 2.0 will also be great to use in my future classroom for things such as rubrics, puzzles, and worksheets.

All in all IT365 was an interesting, semi-fun class. I wish that I had known more coming into the class, but I have managed to get decent grades so far and plan to do well on the rest of my assignments!

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is extremely helpful and important in the classroom and in life in general. Assistive technology can be anything that helps a person function better in life or while using technology. On the computer there are so many things one can do to use assistive technology. You are able to enlarge the text on the screen. You can change the colors of the text on a computer to make words on the screen easier to read. One can highlight words of a text for them to be read to a person who cannot read or cannot see. The person can also have paragraphs summarized for them so they do not have to read so much. You can use sounds for deaf people. You can search on Windows Help page for more information.

This promotes the following NETS-T Standard:

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.

b. address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.

Using assistive technology addresses the diverse needs of each student.  

TurnItIn

Turn it in is an online site that students and teachers can use to check for plagiarism. It is fairly accurate and gives a percentage of plagiarism. It seems scary at first because it make you double think about what you write, but it is actually very helpful! Most papers or assignments should be under 25% plagiarized. It is not 0% because sometimes people have the same ideas and publish them. This is where the hard part comes in, because if you unknowingly have the same ideas as someone that previously published something, how is it your fault?
This addresses the following NETS-T Standard:
 Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers:
a. advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources. 
I think this is a good standard to teach because students will need to know how to properly use materials for the rest of their lives, especially if they are future teachers. 


www.turnitin.com  
^^ click here to go to the Turnitin website! 

Plagiarized- 90% 
Own Words- 0%