Digital Literacy
I didn't chart my digital technology usage over a week, I think if I did it would depress me. And make me feel lazy. And dependant on my computer. Like I already know I am. And my phone, and iPod, and tv.... You get the idea.
SO! My uses of technology:
1. My Phone: I use it to communicate with my husband, my family, my friends, my work, to take pictures, keep short notes for myself, and to try to keep my sanity while bored.
2. My IPod: is my baby. I cannot leave the house without it. I just have an iPod Classic so its not a terribly fancy thing, but I love it. I use it to listen to my music, watch some movies, and MOST DEF to keep my sanity.
3. My Computer: its my second laptop, my other one got really old, really fast. I use it to surf, write, keep tract of photos, communicate, the uze (usual).
Its pretty often that I have my eyes fixed on a screen, maybe multiple. At this second I am watching netflix on tv and writing my blog post, can you say multi-task? I like to read blogs, I'll read top stories on Yahoo! if they catch my interest, and I try to stay updated on the nonsensical things that happen on facebook and pinterest.... yeah.
I'm in a history course right now in which we have an online textbook. It offers chapters on different pages and you can access quizzes through different windows. Pretty legit.
With social studies in mind, I really enjoyed the Glogger that we were introduced to the other day. You can create online posters that can be interactive with videos, images, text, documents, links, etc. Also pretty cool. These glogs can be accessed by specific classes and used for outside media brought into class. Another great resource online are primary and secondary documents, you can find practically anything online.
When we started to use Glogger the other day, it was hard to get started cause we didn't know what to do or how to do it. Eventually we figured out what we needed and then it got fun. Giving students access to these texts and letting them create them is an awesome activity. Be sure to give instruction on how to use a specific site, and allow time for experiments and questions. Anything that the students come up with can be exciting.
Thoroughly enjoy technology. Awesome.
I'm not on Pinterest, but I wonder if you could ask your students to make a pretend "Pinterest" page...not necessarily online, but on paper, kind of like the Facebook thing. Are there subjects that would lend themselves to representation through a Pinterest format? I'm thinking that this use of digital technology would really appeal to a lot of students.
ReplyDeleteJust thinking out loud here...thanks for your posting.
By the way--your pumpkin carving skills are AMAZING. I might have to ask you a few questions about your technique in class .
ReplyDeleteLove that you are tech savvy while I am just barely getting on the band wagon. At the beginning of the semester I only touched the computer for school purposes and other than that it was just my 4 year old cell phone. But now Gary got me a smartphone and I'm slowly seeing myself becoming dependent on it too. It's really nice to basically have the world at your finger tips.
ReplyDeleteI liked your idea with the Glogger. It may take me a few weeks, but I think I could get into it and use it in the classroom. Thanks for the idea.