Digital Media

1. Describe the site and the information you obtained by visiting

Education city, first of all, has great colors and the web design is catchy. Thus, kids will be always be motivated by these two factors to work and to learn. It offers online games related to specific subjects. Secondly, Weekly reader seems to me the easiest one to access and to use it. For example it has the coloring option which takes you immediately to painting, rather than asking you questions before taking you to the task. It also offers classroom magazines which can provide useful help for teachers and parents. Thirdly, North Carolina Virtual Public School has a much more serious look. I believe it is because it is an institutional website and thus, they offer more information on the educational field than already-created activities; however, it does have links to certain resource-websites and also podcasts, which have really caught on the teaching area.

2. How does the site, software or digital media tool relate to using digital media in the classroom?

Education city relates to using digital media in the classroom because its contents are math, language, and science, so it focuses on subject matters students need to learn to fulfill their academic learning goals. Weekly reader actually offers you the chance to either work online or to print out templates and do it by hand. And, North Carolina virtual public school. I would not say that it relates to using digital media in the classroom; however, it is based on digital media and thus it motivates teachers to start using computers.

3. Is this site, software or tool easy to use?

I believe it will for someone who knows about computers, but I am afraid to say that it might be a pain for someone who barely uses a computer. Regarding the second site, as I previously mentioned it is the easiest one to use because of its friendly web environment. Finally, the third one, I consider that for a site to be successful, it should be pretty colorful and attractive. In my opinion, I would say that it looks to serious and has a lot of text, rather than animation or other catchy apps.

4. How could this site, software or tool be used in your classroom?

I would use these sites to either introduce a certain topic, to rehearse, or simply to wrap up. I would, also, use these sites to help children learn colors and to let their creativity flow by choosing colors and designs. I believe that once we take students into these types of activities, they will develop a sense of critical thinking and also problem solving. About the third site, I would use this site to ask teachers to get information about the educational system here in NC and may be to get some background on certain teaching-learning information.

5. What one critical detail did you learn about this site, software or tool that you did not know prior to this research?

What I learned is that there are certain areas that can be taught through technology. I basically focus on the learning of English as a foreign language, but it is always good to learn new things to have a base to adapt or change activities to fit our students’.

6. Why would you choose to use the site, software or tool in your classroom?

I believe I would choose to use them in order to improve the teaching-learning process. Whatever tool or resource we can get to improve teaching, will always be useful. The more options we have, the more chances to be successful we will have.

Portable Storage Devices in the Classroom

First of all, one way to keep students from losing their portable storage devices would be by hanging them around their necks as they come with a lace. There are also ones which could easily be worn around their wrists. I think that as they have become pretty affordable students can have two, one at school and another one for their personal info. I also believe that it is time to create awareness among students so they become responsible when handling their belongings. Regarding available storage devices, there are CD’s, external hard drives, which can give you up to a tera storage capacity. But there are also on line ones. Personally, I use 4share.com, which apart from giving you up to 5GB free storage capacity, offers you the chance to share information with friends, in general. I have not used the following ones but I have heard they are common among web surfers, Snap Drive (5GB), DropBoks (1GB), MyOtherDrive, among others.

As an EFL teacher I can use it to store information by categories. Students will easily save flashcards related to any topics. They can have different files to build up vocabulary, and finally, to keep a portfolio and journals, as well. This would be of great help as they could have the information available at all times.

If I were to raise money to buy devices for the students, I would ask them to make things on their own, such as bracelets, necklaces, food, among others, to sell; and thus to collect the money.

Finally, as I previously mentioned, the online storage sites could be of great help in class in the case of not being able to afford a flash memory.