Week 5 Post

1. If I’m being honest, the statistics that Dr. Roberts did not surprise me. I am not much older than that generation in the study (especially taking into account that the study was done in 2009), so I am familiar with how people in that generation interact with the media. There are very few moments of life that are not somehow involved with the media. I think that the most relevant part of his presentation was when he broke down the age groups and their media use. It was useful to see exactly how the 8-10 year olds that I will be working with interact with media. I still have questions about how his data varies based on socio-economic status. I would also be interested to know what the implications for education were. He touched on how this study affects the classroom, but I would like to hear more about it.
2. First of all, being a teacher, this article does frighten me a little bit. Not only for my own job security, but also because I believe online education for students previous to college is detrimental for their education. One of the main things that teachers do is individualize instruction and differentiate based on individual students’ needs. Online education simply can’t do that. Online education is one-size-fits-all because the teacher doesn’t know their students. This is especially important in elementary education. However, I can’t really see online elementary education becoming a real thing. I think it is something that is more geared to high school students. One thing that the article pointed out is that many students taking online courses emailed their teacher when they didn’t understand something or needed help. That is great, but I have to imagine that those are the motivate students who are seeking help. Unmotivated students are not likely to do that, and the teacher is less likely to seek them out because the teacher doesn’t know them. In addition, online courses really encourage cheating and slacking. I know this because I took an undergrad course online, and I didn’t work as hard as I would have in a real class, simply because I didn’t have to. The students might pass the class, but are they learning? That is really the most important part of education!
3. Glogster.com- I had never heard of this website before, and I spent quite a bit of time exploring it. I think it is really cool how you can make your own online posters that are educational and fun. I could see myself using this technology in my classroom both as a presentation tool, and giving it to students to have them make their own presentations as part of a research project.

Quizlet.com- This is a great website as well. I like that it’s free, and it is super easy to use. It would be a great resource to use before a big unit test in the classroom, because you can project your own flashcards onto the board. It’s also a great way to encourage independent studying in my students, because this is a tool that they can use on their own to study.

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com- I knew that there were ways online to make your own puzzles online, but this one is much better than the ones I usually use, in terms of how easy it is. These could be used for almost any occasion. The math puzzles would be great brainteasers, any puzzle could be good for early finishers, and I could also design puzzles based on units and use them as an introduction to the unit.

Tubechop.com- This is a really interesting website. Sometimes I want to show a youtube video in class, but I hesitate because the comments are inappropriate, the ads are annoying, and you never know what links will pop up when the video is over. I had no idea that sites like this existed, and I have a feeling I will be using them fairly often.