TPTE 486

TPTE 486 has been a very educational class for me this semester. Learning more about Excel was particularly helpful to me because I have already used it in other settings. I also enjoyed using Windows Movie Maker to create a video. While Inspiration and the Curriculum Connection were interesting to me, they are not as useful outside of an educational setting. I learned a lot from this class, but I would have enjoyed it more if I were planning to teach my own classroom. However, I believe it was helpful in educating me about the types of technology that are available and are continuing to develop, and it has given me more awareness about the field of technology as a whole.

Blackboard

Blackboard is a tool that the University of Tennessee uses to allow students to receive information electronically from their teachers. It also gives students a way to contact their class members. While this is a good idea in theory, Blackboard is not the easiest site to navigate, and many teachers are unwilling to use it because it causes so many problems for them. I would encourage UT to look for other options that would accomplish the same purpose, or to work to make Blackboard more acessible. However, it is nice to be able to look at grades and syllabi online instead of having to keep paper copies of everything. Just a few adjustments and this could be a great resource.

Safe Assign

Safe assign is a great tool for teachers to use. Students submit their papers and projects through this system, and it automatically checks for plagiarism. This is a really cool process, because it sifts through thousands of websites and papers online looking for similarities. It saves teachers a lot of time and lets them focus on the content of the student's work instead of having to try and search for plagiarism. I really encourage teachers to make use of this tool in their classrooms, especially those whose students will be doing a lot of writing. It helps keep everyone accountable.

Clickers

In a lot of college classrooms, they use clickers so that students can participate in lectures. I think this is a very useful tool, especially in large classrooms where participation would otherwise be very difficult. It can also help with taking attendance. I know that many teachers use these clickers to give quizzes over their lectures as well. While these clickers can occaisionally malfunction, for the most part they are a very effective way to encourage students to be involved in the material they are learning, and I believe they would also be effective in kindergarten through twelfth grade settings.

Websites

In TPTE 486 we created a website that outlines our future classrooms. This would be very helpful for parents and students to be able to put in the url and get a little bit of background about me as a teacher before taking my class. The website has a teacher biography, links to my resume and the University of Tennesse's website, resources that my students might find useful, and projects that I have done in TPTE 486. These websites are a great idea for any teachers, but especially new teachers who want to have a plan outlined for their classroom. It's really easy to create one. Just go to sites.google.com and create your own.

Zamzar

Ok so zamzar.com is my new favorite website. You can use it to convert any type of file, changing it into something more convenient. I just learned about it this semester and I have probably used it four or five times a week since then. My computer has a problem with Adobe Acrobat, and so zamzar has been particularly useful for converting those .pdf files. Once I have changed them to a document format I can print and edit them without a problem. I can see this website being very helpful in a classroom setting, for coverting files to send out or making them more accessible for students. I encourage everyone to check out this website. The best part is that it's free! As a college student, I'm all about the free stuff, so this has been perfect for me. Hope it's helpful for some of you as well!

Video Relay

New technology today creates so much more accessibility for deaf people in the community. Video relay is now used for phone calls, and allows deaf people to contact other people, deaf or hearing, from their own home. It allows face to face interaction, instead of just typing like the TTY. There are multiple video relay services that can be used to contact people who do not sign, such as Sorenson Video Relay Service. These agencies have interpreters in front of a screen with a headset to facilitate communication between two parties. These services are available 24 hours a day everday, making them very accessible. As technology continues to develop, hopefully we will see even more improvements in accessibilty for the deaf community.

All of the technology that is used in classrooms now is such a huge asset to teaching. There are a lot of different ways to use that technology and make the learning experience more interesting for the students. However, there are some limitations when it comes to using these gadgets and working with an interpreter. Smart boards in particular are a problem that I have been hearing a lot about. They are wonderful for everyday teaching, but when watching a movie using smart boards, the closed captioning does not work. This presents a huge problem for interpreters. Someone was telling me about a situation where they were trying to interpret a movie in class over which the students would be quizzed immediately after they watched it. The teacher was also talking during the movie and asking questions. The interpreter did not have enough time to sign all of the words in the movie, much less the teacher's questions and the students' answers. They had no other tv to watch the movie on, and so the interpreter just had to do her best. While this technology is great for so many things, teacher must keep in mind special circumstances that will have to be worked through. Just because we have this wonderful new technology does not mean that every classroom will be able to easily adjust to every situation.