Blog Journal 4

          Using Twitter in this course has definitely been beneficial to me. I have been interacting with Twitter profiles like Education Nation, Education Week, and U.S. News Education. These accounts post information daily about new tools for teachers, technological advances and how teachers can use them, education news globally and locally, and information on helping students apply and even excel in college. I have found that interacting with these profiles has been beneficial to me because I have read a lot of articles on how to succeed as a teacher, how to be a role model for your students, and how you can make your classroom environment a learning and fun one. Twitter might be helpful in my future career because I could use it to:

-tweet homework and assignments

-use it for student collaboration (projects, class discussions, etc.)

-network through hashtag chats

-share interesting topics

The list goes on and on, but these are a few ways a future educator could use a handy application like Twitter.

          Podcasts affect student success in schools because for example, podcasts are not a good resrouce in attempting to teach a subject like mathmematics. Podcasts are also usually only effective for short topics because if not, students will lose focus and not stay on track. Podcasts take a lot of storage on computers and having multiple ones could take up almost all space available in a teachers computer. Lastly, podcasts do not allow for multiple representations of the material you are teaching. Usually when educators are teaching about a certain topic, they use more than one resource or way to present and teach the information. In a podcast, you are only learning through audit. 

          Types of student softwares I expect to use the most are graphics, educational games, and stimulations. As a future educator, I will use graphics because these softwares enable teachers and students to support teaching and learning through the creation and enhancement of visuals that through this, can be used into a lesson or posted to an online learning environment. Educational games are also beneficial to the students learning, especially in elementary education, because games present material in a way that engages students while also providing practice. Lastly, I would use stimulations. They provide students an opportunity to interact with model environments and experiences to promote discovery learning. Two softwares I read about that I probably would not use in my classroom are tutorials and drill-and-practice and desktop publishing. Tutorials and drill-and-practice gives students one-on-one learning. I would not like to teach this way. As a student myself, I feel learning through graphics, presentations and in groups is the most effective way, especially as an elementary student to learn the given material. Desktop publishing enables teachers to create professional-looking study materials, worksheets, flyers, etc. Teaching elementary students, I do not believe that showing "professional-looking material" will help them learn. Young students like to see pops of colors, they like to learn through groups and games, therefore, I believe my students would not benfit with this type of learning software.