Cassandra Holman

Inspiration 8 is software teachers can use on the classroom computer. This software is a tool that students can use to create research projects. Inspiration 8 is very beneficial to students who are more visual learners.  For example, when they want to search for something they type in a keyword and the software presents over 1000 different symbols.  Students can use templates to easily create diagrams, charts, and outlines, among many other things.  Not only can the students use this to do research, but Inspiration 8 also offers a dictionary, thesaurus, and auto spell checker is included to help aid students in putting their report together.  This software also offers many tools that can be useful to the teacher, as well as student.  Inspiration 8 offers more than 50 curriculum packets.  In these curriculum packets there is an integraded unit lesson plan, templates, and examplars.  Inspiration even offers a teacher resource book that addresses how to get your students to use critical thinking.

The H-ITT system is software that can be used in the classroom by students to answer multiple choice questions asked by the teacher. How it works is students have a “clicker” that has 10 buttons on it the student can choose the answer he or she thinks is correct and clicks that button. Not only can the student answer the question but he can also use the bottom three buttons to say how sure of the answer he is. The H-ITT’s base receiver can be hooked up to a PC that is running the program. After the data is collected from the class, the program creates a histogram for the teacher. The student knows if their answer has been received when the light on the button turns green.

There are two different systems available. The H-ITT CRS lets teachers report and grade any “verbal questions, display questions, or even give paper based tests.” When the student replies their answer is automatically graded and then recorded. Teachers can even set their own preferences to how they want the answer graded, for example if the question was weighted. It is also very easy for teachers to transfer the grades into excel or blackboard.

The second system available is H-ITTShow. This system allows teachers to “create, present, assess, grade and report in PowerPoint.” This system works best with group activities, but can also be used by individual students. It even includes already created slides and clips you can add into your own lesson.

One new technology I think could be useful in the classroom is the Tablet PC. The Tablet is a laptop that you can write on like you would on a piece of paper. It is easy to see the many ways a teacher could use this new technology in his or her class. When lecturing, it would be more beneficial to the students if the teacher would put the lecture notes on the Tablet. It was noted in a post by Christopher Dawson that by doing this the teacher is able to “easily change colors, highlight important materials, move back and forth between sections of the lecture (just pages in the notetaking software), and copy and paste relevant figures, all while projecting on a large screen.” Also by using the tablet to write out lecture notes in a math class it makes it easier for teachers to write out mathematical equations that they may not be able to do on another type of computer.

The tablet also allows teachers to dismiss the excuse of students who say they aren’t caught up in class because they were absent. The Tablet easily allows teachers to post all of their notes online, also “everything you present (e.g. PPT slides), say, and draw is captured for web based playback and collaboration” making it easier for students to access information from class.

Not only is it beneficial for teachers to use the Tablet, but it is also beneficial for students. Students can easily take notes by using the pen attached to the computer and then a program can change their handwritten notes into text. Students can also save lecture notes from their teachers in a PDF and then they are able to write over top of those notes as a professor is giving a lecture.

The Tablet is already being used in many classrooms and through the research I have done, I find that it has very many beneficial uses in the classroom. Who knows? Maybe one day the use of pens and paper in the classroom will be a thing of the past.

 http://www.trustyetc.com/trustyblog/2007/09/05/who-is-important-here/

The three people that I think are prominent in educational technology are Bill Gates, Timothy J. Magner, and Larry Berger.  Bill Gates is well known for his work with Microsoft. Recently he has worked on helping the city of Philadelphia to build the School of the Future.  This school focuses on how technology can improve student performance.  Microsoft has also backed several educational programs that help integrate technologies into the classroom.

Timothy J. Magner is the Director of the Department’s Office of Educational Technology.  He has had 15 years of experience working with educational technology in school and the arts.  His main goal is to develop a national educational technology policy and to enforce it.  He was one of the first technology training specialists fo Fairfax County, VA.  He was the excutive director for k-12 education for Microsoft Corp. He was also an interent specialist and program manager for the Kennedy Center’s k-12 ArtsEdge program for teachers.

Larry Berger is the CEO and co-founder of Wireless Generation.  HE helps manage and improve teaching and learning in grades pre-k-6.  He worked on Educational Technoogy at NASA, where he authored an education technology agenda.