Conclusion

This semester I have delved much deeper into technology topics I was aware of, but not clear on.  Podcasts, quick response codes, wikis, online collaboration documents and programs, as well as this blog, have all been seen with new eyes and a better understanding. 

After completing this class I have plans for using QR codes and podcasts specifically in my classroom next year.  This summer I will work on integrating these two technologies into my language arts curriculum.  My plan is to use them for book reports and to collaborate with my school librarian to make them available to anyone in the school who is looking for book recommendations.  I would like to have both the podcasts and QR codes uploaded to my school web page and/or the library’s page for easy access by students, teachers, and parents.  I’m excited about this plan, and really think it is going to be a fun and invigorating way to integrate technology next year.

By planning and modeling these activities with my class, I hope to expand it to a grade wide norm so that our book reports get away from simple pencil and paper, and become valid information available to all who seek it!

The Job of Organizing

While social bookmarking sites like Diigo, Delicious, and Google Bookmarks are great for the individual user.  Your information is cataloged in a way that makes sense and works for you.  I like to go to my Diigo account and see if I have found anything along the way that will aid my current search, but this list is limited, no matter its worth to the user.  These services lend themselves to finding others with common interests and ideal for small groups of people searching for related information, but I do not feel that this is going to replace the universal information cataloging system.  Librarians can certainly send their patrons along this path of personal organization, but in no way can this substitute for Mr. Dewey’s tried and true method.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

After viewing this video, http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g, I was in a bit of sensory overload.  This, after some time to synthesize, seemed entirely adequate.  Everything done on the web all day long contributes to its growth, which contributes to the need for more capacity and capability, which feeds the human need to create, and then the web grows more, and we create more, and  the cycle continues.  Will it ever end?  Will the internet ever have enough?  As humans learn and evolve, so will the web, if we become stagnant, then its capabilities will as well.  We generate more as we need it, so I’m not entirely sure how a climax will ever be reached.  We are definitely the machine that is driving the advancement of Web 2.0, and when our grandchildren are producing for Web 97.0, will someone have realized that the incessant growth is never going to stop until we are stopped?  What will our future society look like if we do not continue to expand digitally?  What will it look like if we never stop expanding?  I feel like I’m in the middle of a script for an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

Quick Response Codes

When thinking of how I would use Quick Response Codes in my library, this wonderful (in my opinion) idea began to form.  I would designate a section of the library’s or school’s website for student created book reviews.  Any time students completed a book I would ask them to write a review and add it to the list.  Students would then create a QR Tag that would be placed on the book.  Others possibly interested in the book could scan the tag and be directed to an immediate peer review.  Of course, the library would need to be in possession of handheld technology that would allow students to scan the codes, but that’s for another blog.

A second idea would help a classroom or school “go green”.  Student work could be completed and uploaded online, and then a QR Tag could be made for teachers to scan and be directly taken to that student’s work.  No paper needed, just an email with an attached Quick Response code.  Once a student has a code made for their section of the website, they would not need to create another, freeing up time for everyone involved!

I believe that once students were introduced and subsequently mastered the tags, they, as well as teachers, would continue to create new possibilities for using Quick Response Codes. 



If you are so inclined, save the tag pictured to be taken back to this amazing blog of awesomeness anytime you feel the need.  You will need to download the app to your cell phone.



Individual Technology Assessment

I use technology every day in my fourth grade classroom.  Basic items like student computers, my laptop, and the television, are accessed without a second thought.  All of these communicate needed information to me and my class, and our school environment would be greatly different without the ease of transmission they provide.  The daily use of these tools, the simple and seamless integration in to my everyday classroom is a strength I possess, although very elementary in the technological hierarchy.  This is to be the foundation for my future success in creating a classroom that is integrated with all of the technology available!

Also at my everyday disposal are an interactive whiteboard, document camera, and projector.  These are not utilized daily, and that is my greatest weakness.  I have amazing technology that I had to test for and write a grant to have in my room, but there it sits some days, lonely and sometimes a little dusty.  I am perfectly capable of using these items, have taught several other teachers how they work and little things that make learning more fun, but the effort to use them myself comes across as a greater hassle than the benefit of their functions.

I am more than aware that I need to step up my use of this technology that so many others would love to have.  I've already started the process of integrating them more efficiently by rearranging my room so that it is more user friendly, and the cords and paraphernalia that come with the components are not an impediment to us all.  Through the course of this semester I will use what I learn in my new graduate classes to create a more technologically innovative and productive classroom...to boldly go where, well, many people have already gone.