Student-centered teaching can be hard to do for many teachers who are primarily accustomed to the teacher-centered approach. I find it to be challenging for not only the students but for the teacher too. When teachers engage with students by asking questions and making conversation they are opening a “can of worms”. Students can ask questions that the teacher did not expect and vice versa. The student-centered approach keeps both the teacher and student on their toes. By creating different experiences for students you are able to see how each individual reacts to certain situations. A student-centered classroom is mostly concentrated on each student’s development skills and learning tactics. The second concept that intrigued me was the concept of ‘Using Technology to Enhance Teaching’. Technology is now being used in all levels of schooling, even with kindergarten classes who are just learning how to read. It helps students interact with visuals or videos instead of just words on a chalkboard. Technology helps the teacher interact with students in a different and fun way. Most students from all levels are already using technology at home which helps them relate to the technology used at school. Technology is growing everyday and is being used in most of the job fields. Highly interactive classrooms require a lot of multi-tasking skills. It raises student standards by requiring them to interact and engage into the lesson plan for the day. This environment is based off of many learning activities that incorporate many or most of the different learning styles. It also gives students a sense of responsibility because they are required to make websites using their own knowledge of the subject. Highly interactive classes value the student’s opinion on what they are learning from online, which is very unusual from the traditional teaching methods. Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc
Great reflective blog post on three very relevant and important concepts. :) It is amazing how integral and ubiquitous technology has become in our lives. I do think that sometimes people put the blame on technology for some negative consequences, but it really is about the humans controlling (or not!) their use of technology...and the key is purposeful balance!
ReplyDeleteIn addition, you included your created web 2.0 digital tool of toondoo but unfortunately it was not embedded nor hyperlinked (please see the 'how to's in the Module page on Creating Blog - screencast hyperlinks there) Unfortunately, you did not include the important ethical responsibility of properly adding your resources (i.e., textbook in APA citation style). For future blog posts, continue what you started here with the addition of appropriate and cited images as well as all resources in APA style. You can find the embed code for ToonDoo when you are logged in (see screencast on 'how to'), so you can try that one again or try a different one.
Hi professor, thanks so much for the feedback. I looked back at some of the resources you provided for us and fixed the issues on my blog. Thanks again!
DeleteAwesome - love seeing your creation directly on the page! And good job on the resources, as well - do put in spaces between paragraphs and before resource list.
Delete