Education Technology: Through the Eyes of Your Students

As I mentioned in my previous post, for one of my Masters classes through Johns Hopkins, I have been asked to post on my blog about technology and its impact on the classroom and about any applications that I have found helpful within my classroom. Recently I read an interesting article through “Hongkiat,” about how technology is transforming education and what we can expect to see in future classrooms, based on technology that is currently in process. Today on the blog, I wanted to share some of these insanely advanced technologies and my opinion of how they will positively impact the education sector.

Hongkiat suggested that virtual field trips will begin to become more popular now that Google Hangout and other similar applications allow us a technology “glass” to see and hear from educators and specialists that are miles away and cannot be accessed easily. Throughout my technology course, I have spoken to several educators that have used Google Hangout for their lessons, projects and even started to adopt the virtual field trip model. While in person field trips are definitely more enriching and engaging for all students, this technology enables us the access to people and places that may not be easily reached for a variety of reasons. It is an option that is now available to us and provides us the opportunity to broaden the perspective of our students.

In addition to virtual field trips, Hongkiat also discussed the educational impact associated with 3D printing. While right now 3D printers are expensive and not commonly used within the classroom, predications are being made that soon they will be used about each day. Imagine the technology to duplicate all those lost manipulatives in your classroom. Imagine the technology to further engage scholars in content through play through 3D objects incorporated into lessons. Even just thinking about it gives me goosebumps at the possibilities!

If you could barely wrap your head around the 3D printing predictions, you will be mind blown by this technology… Biometrics. We all remember those old cartoons where the door would laser shoot the character’s eye in order to open the door…as if the eye was a password. Those cartoons just got a lot older, considering we now have the technology to authenticate our identity through several mediums including eyes, voice and fingerprints. Some schools have already begun to develop systems in their school through fingerprint scanners; however, not many schools have utilized dynamic analysis. It has recently been discovered that the same analysis that tests where and how the eye looks, can now provide data on individual learning styles. Imagine having the data on where and how your students learn through sight. We always said we needed to look at our classrooms through the eyes of our students…well now we literally can.

Works Cited: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/future-classroom-technologies/

Class Dojo

For my one of my Masters classes, I have been asked to share a few technology resources through my blog. I have learned about so many amazing applications and resources throughout this class and recently we have decided to implement one that enables you to manage behavior as well as track the positive and negative redirections within your classroom. It is called "Class Dojo." https://www.classdojo.com/

 

In my classroom we use this application specifically for our centers rotations. The best part about the application is that you can set it up and create your own "rules" for point additions and deductions. In my classroom we currently have it set up so that if a scholar gains a point you can categorize the point for either "working hard" "being nice" or "being safe" as these align to our KIPP values. However I know that other campuses have different rules and language, which is why it is great that Dojo allows you to select how you will categorize the point addition or deduction.

In addition, it has been an engaging way for our classroom to get back to their academic learning time independently. My co-teacher and I can also operate the class Dojo from our iPhones through the mobile application, that way each of us has access and we can redirect behaviors and choices with just the tap of a finger. The board does everything including alerting the scholar and giving them the reason for why they gained or lost their dojo point.

The application is also able to be viewed by parents and influencers at the end of each day. All they will need to do is just log into the class portal and they will be able to see where their scholar was during centers for that specific time of the day. This has enabled our classroom to get back on track in a way that is fun and engaging for scholars. I hope this is something you find helpful for your classroom!