Blog #9

     My first distance learning experience was in high school when I took a Florida Virtual course. My second experience as a distance learner was in my freshman year at FSU due to COVID-19. This unplanned distance learning is known as Emergent Remote Learning. I liked how I could do my classes anywhere I wanted, and I also enjoyed going my own pace in some of them. However, I did not like the experience in general. I prefer face-to-face classes as they keep me more engaged. When I am a teacher, I can help improve the experience of distance learners by reviewing the sources to make sure they are high quality.

     Open educational resources are free to use and repurpose due to the fact that they are in the public domain or are released on an open license. OER’s include teaching, learning, and research materials. OER Project is a website that provides curricula for social studies courses that are aligned to state standard and created by various teachers and scholars. There are several lessons to each topic, and they include free materials such as videos, texts, and activities. Check it out here.

     There are three main skills I learned from working on the two PowerPoint assignments. The first skill was creating my own slide layout in the slide master. The second skill I learned was how to record one voice over throughout the entire presentation; essentially recording a presentation. Lastly, I learned how to disable to linear navigation which is something I did not even know was possible. Below are screenshots of each title page from my PowerPoint assignments. 

 

Blog #8

     Listening to Re’s presentation and learning about assistive technologies made me realize how small things can really increase inclusivity. As someone who does not struggle with any sort of disability, I find myself taking for granted many things, such as PowerPoints from professors. It is important to make sure your class material is accessible and usable for everyone. This means taking the extra steps to make sure someone who may use a screen reader can use it. One example is including alt text and another example is making sure you are not using scanned documents that screen readers cannot read. I have also included alt text on my assignment 5 PowerPoint navigation buttons to make it accessible for everyone!

     As I have stated before, I do not like Diigo. However, I can see how this application can be useful in my classroom and other professional efforts. I have learned how to share websites, annotate those website, and reply to others. This would be useful for class activities, especially when learning about finding key details in stories and taking notes. The students would be able to share amongst each other to see how their peers are doing it or what they found important. Similarly, teachers can share helpful websites with each other for various things such as teaching techniques, activity ideas, and professional development. 

     One site that you could use to stay informed of technology trends in education is the blog Free Technology for Teachers. This blog is written by Richard Byrne and he is a high school computer science teacher. He also has experience in helping teachers across the globe utilize technology in the classroom. On his blog, he not only shares different educational technologies, but also provides links to tutorials. Along with new trends, he also includes how to make older trends more effective and relevant.