Reflecting

Reflecting on this class, I have learned an immense amount of beneficial technology skills and techniques to use in my future classrooms. From working with Wed 2.0 Tools, to Digital Diagrams, Digital Stories, Flipcharts, Wikis, and creating my own website, I have developed better computer skills throughout the semester. At the beginning of the semester I was fairly confident with my knowledge and skills using computers but my abilities have definitely grown and improved. This course has introduced me to several useful tools for teaching and for daily life to improve accessibility and productivity.

My favorite thing that I produced this semester has been the Google Sites website. This tool is such a great way to stay in contact with both students and parents through out the school year. It is also a great central place to keep things stored in different sections and somewhere easy to get to. I am proud of my website and am glad I can easily go look at each project we did this semester, all with just a click of a button. I certainly plan on using a classroom website in my future career as a teacher and I may even change around the content on the website I created in this class to use for my class, which just shows how effective and useful this class has been for me.

This semester has flown by and I have not  come to terms with the fact that I have only one semester left of my undergraduate college career. TPTE 486 has been such an enjoyable and useful class in my education and I hope to continue to stay up to date on technology techniques and different uses. I plan to use technology in my classroom very often!

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

Digital Storytelling can be implemented in the classroom using several techniques and strategies. There are a number of uses for utilizing these computer-based skills, and University of Houston's website is very helpful in demonstrating some of these new and intriguing ideas. For starters, there are "7 Elements of Digital Storytelling":
     1. Point of View
     2. A Dramatic Question
     3. Emotional Content
     4. The Gift of Your Voice
     5. The Power of the Soundtrack
     6. Economy
     7. Pacing
These 7 elements help to ensure the maximum benefits of using Digital Storytelling in the classroom and serve as a guideline of the formation. When using digital stories in the class, lessons can be taught by either the teacher making it and presenting it to the class, or having students create their own stories, and learn and develop knew knowledge about a topic as they go. Each way is a creative tool to teach students new information in an innovative and engaging way, rather than standing at the front of the classroom lecturing. Having students create their own stories would likely generate the interest and motivation for the "digital generation" students in classrooms today. This tool would also help students improve communication skills because they must learn to organize their ideas, ask questions, express opinions and construct narratives, in order to develop and working and beneficial digital story. Research has proven that using multimedia in teaching helps students retain new information and aids in better comprehension of difficult material. Digital Storytelling is just one simple way to add multimedia in the classroom.