Digital Technology for Teaching & Learning

      The Multimedia Tools in Education course has increased my knowledge on a variety of multimedia tools and their usefulness in the classroom.  During this course, class activities such as discussions, modeling, exploring and applying the concepts of multimedia tools in education were part of the strategies that helped me discover the impact of the multimedia tools for supporting student learning.       I learned different ways I can incorporate the audio recording tools in my instruction for helping students practice fluency, record messages to their classmates, record their answers for comprehension questions and use the voice recording from Google docs to express their understanding.       I also learned and explored different multimedia tools, applications and websites such as Voice Recording, Drawing and Screencastify on Google Suite,  FlipGrip, Bandlab, , Screen-o-matic, iPhone Movie/Book Trailer, and Video recording ....

      Infographics are graphic designs that communicate a message through visual tools and technology. Designing infographics implies searching and having information, visual representations and technology literacies.       As an example, I created an infographic anchor chart on the subject of literary genres, Fiction and Non-Fiction, with the purpose of helping students understand more of what they read. For the accomplishment of this assignment, I gathered information about fiction and non-fiction features, created the infographic using shapes, word art and colors on Google Drawing.       I find that this infographic facilitates student’s learning since the fiction and non-fiction features are simplified and highlighted by visual aids. Students can rapidly compare and differentiate the literacy genres and get the most from what the texts are offering. I really enjoyed working on this graphic organizer. Something that I would like...

      I would like to share a video book trailer of the book titled Surprise Party written by Michele Dufresne. This book is one of the Pioneer Valley Books collection based on narrating the adventures of two dogs, Bella and Rosie. The purpose of making this video book/movie trailer was to introduce the book and invite students to read and find out the plot and the details of how the problem in the story was solved. This particular story talks about Rosie’s birthday and how she feels when she thinks that Bella, her best friend, has forgotten her birthday. Instead, Bella surprised Rosie with a birthday party, a cake, presents and friends. This is a story that begins with feelings of sadness and worries and ends with a happy celebration.       For the creation of this video book trailer, I used the iPhone Movie/Book Trailer application that offers me a frame for downloading pictures and changing the text. Therefore, I was able to edit and ad...

              There are many things I have learned through this class. The Collaborative Web Tools in Education course, EEND 676, has simultaneously helped me on my growth as a teacher and on my knowledge of educational technology tools.         The class activities and the course assignments have contributed to the improvement of my career as a teacher. The class reflections and the discussions online have expanded my understanding about how I could apply the collaborative web tools in the classroom. Hearing another teachers’ experiences and knowledge, I learned about multiple ways of incorporating web collaborative applications in the classroom and how various Web 2.0 tools can be used for similar purposes. For example, Padlet, Blogs and Social Media Networking can facilitate discussion forums and collaborative group projects. The discussions also have raised my awareness in stressing the importance of digital citizenship expect...

        Using Google as a Collaborative Tool assignment is one of the artifacts for Collaborative Web Tools in Education course (Fall 2017). The objective of this assignment was to create a classroom task that demonstrated the use of three Google Applications. The assignment required me to respond as a student. For this task, I integrated Math and Language Art subjects for 4 th grade. I created a collaborative assignment which included the use of Google Forms, Google Slides and Google Docs. I instructed students to create and make a survey on Google Forms, present the data on Slides and write a reflection upon the project on Google Docs.          I include this assignment as an artifact because it is an example of how we can develop classroom assignments integrating not only the Google apps functions but articulating the activities across content knowledge subjects (math, reading, writing). When online classroom projects are designed to...

        I am posting Blogging in the Classroom assignment as an artifact for Collaborative Web Tools in Education course (Fall 2017). The assignment consisted on leading an online discussion on a blogging platform in regard to a current educational technology trend. The topic I chose was Reversing the Traditional Model of a Classroom: A Flipped Classroom. I was very interested in hearing teachers’ perspectives about how incorporating digital learning tools are impacting classrooms lately. Therefore, I created an introductive paragraph and some open questions to start the forum discussion.          I selected this assignment as an artifact because, through it, I understood how beneficial it was to have a blog. This assignment was aimed to reflect current topics around technology in the classroom with experts on educational tech trends as my classmates for this course. I also find this activity very relevant to my professional and per...

          The Foundations of Educational Technology (Summer 2017) course has helped me to understand the implications of using technology in education today. This course also opened my mind and my vision toward the use of technology. I understand now that technology is more than a mechanical tool for students to interact with. Technology is a path for students to explore innovation, to become critical thinkers and solve problems. The more significant insights I gained from the Foundations of Educational Technology course are: the importance of the web collaborative technology tools, technology frameworks and models and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards.           First, the Foundations of Education in Technology course has increased my awareness of the importance of incorporating web collaborative technology tools in my instruction. After taking this course, I learned that the collaborative web tech...

          I am publishing the evaluation digital resources assignment as one of the artifact for the Foundations of Educational Technology course (Summer 2017). This artifact includes the evaluation of three digital resources on a given digital evaluation rubric. The three evaluated digital resources were: BrainPOP, Imagine Learning and Newsela. I chose these digital resources since I was familiar with their platforms and the service they provide. I should tell you that the use of a rubric to evaluate a digital resource was a new concept to me. In moments of exploring new digital resources, I used to pay attention to other colleagues and friends recommendations together with my personal experience. This assignment has helped me learn the importance of using rubrics to assess digital resources that enhance student’s education.          One of the reasons I find the evaluation of digital rubrics important is because they helped m...

I am posting: “The Power of Parent Talk” power-point (PP) presentation as one of the artifacts for the Foundations of Educational Technology course (Summer 2017).  This presentation is based on the Thirty Million Words Initiative, TMW INITIATIVE , that I had recommended on twitter as an important educative side that teaches parents how to help children increase their language acquisition. Moreover, The Power of Parent Talk PP presentation was created with the purpose of informing parents of the facts behind the Early Literacy Program (ELP) that emerged in Columbus West School in Cicero, IL. In Spring 2017, Mrs. Jain, a second-grade teacher, introduced me to the book “The Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain” by Dana Suskind.  The book is about how the importance of talking to a child from birth to 3 years old.  This is key for young children to have the pattern of language in their brain.  So knowing this, Mrs. Jain and I took a proactive role in cre...