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This article explains how virtual worlds, found in such games as Minecraft and Second Life, could be used as tools for educators in the classroom. When Second Life first came out in 2007 educators were excited about the potential to use it for education, but found that it was too unruly and wild. Now, as time has passed and technology has advanced, virtual worlds are on the rise again thanks to Minecraft and educators are seeing new possibilities on how to utilize and have better control and understanding of open world games. This class, INTC 2610, is all about exploring technology and learning how to utilize it in a class setting and there really is nothing more immersive and limitless than open worlds. 

I found this article about how to replace old methods of teaching with new Active ways such as Collaborative learning, Personalized Learning, and Project-based Learning. I think these three ways are what we will be doing in class together this semester.

This article is a great read for teachers integrating technology! The article specifies why integration of technology in the classroom improves student achievement. The article also gives step by step instructions and which tools are proven to be needed in the classroom. The article also includes where to start. 

This article is an excerpt by Boni Hamilton. This shows her "philosophy" of technology integration; what it is, why integrate, and effectiveness of research. She also talks about how schools need to be properly equipped for integration. She gives ideas of how to start and what the administrators as well as the teachers need to do. As prospective educators ourselves, this would be of great use to us.  

This insightful article written by Bill Smoot stresses the importance of the ubiquity of digital devices impeding the growth of the individual. In today's day and age we are all hyper aware of society's dependence on media. This realization led educator Bill Smoot to assign his students the challenge to spend 48 hours, from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. Sunday, without electronic media. The result, "by their own admission, their soulfulness and their capacity for human connection are limited by their media-obsessed way of life." I think these findings and this article as a whole prove very helpful to our class, as although the power technology lends to us is undeniable, it has slowly disconnected us from numerous realities and relationships in our own lives. We soon will have to face this specific issue within our own classrooms. I chose this particular article because I believe we need to remain aware that we are going to be teaching a different generation, one that lives and dies by their digital devices. As educators we need to be prepared to react to this aversion to real life experience and connection. We need to strike a balance for our students so that they realize that technology is provided to enhance our lives, not consume it.

I found this article perfect because it relates to what we are presently doing in class. Basically, it is describing how popular iPads are becoming in classrooms and how younger students are using them as well. It gives a list of the to six apps for creative writing. This is useful information because some student have a hard time writing down ideas on paper, or even writing at all. These apps could help students think of ideas, strategies, and give them useful tips for writing. This article shows technology integration in classrooms through the use of iPads.

I found a great article about using iPad Apps to enhance creative writing for students. Some students struggle with writing. Often, they have difficulty formulating their ideas and putting the pen to paper. For these students, writing is daunting task. However, this article highlights 6 useful Apps that can help to promote and inspire students to create their own narratives. These Apps may be a fun way to enhance student learning and many of the Apps are free in the App store.

I found this article in the Twitter forum we used earlier in the week. This short article discusses the pros of mobile technology in the classroom setting. While the article never names certain technology to use, I immediately thought of our iPad lessons. Hands on technology in the classroom gives students a sense of ownership of their work when they can interact and move at their own pace when using mobile devices. Not only does this benefit students, but it is an advantage for teachers as well. It is easier to track students progress and gives flexibility to teach different learning styles.

This article discusses technology that is being used in biology classrooms such as virtual dissections, 3-D animations, and computer modeling and calculations often used in biotech and genetics.

This article calls into question finding a balance between technology and educators in a classroom. It describes a need to find a way for technology to enhance teachers, not replace them. This relates to our class because as we are learning to use new technologies, we must also learn how to effectively incorporate them into a classroom in a way that augments what we are teaching to students.

One main concern with integrating technology into the classroom is who is going to teach the current teachers how to use this technology if they don't know .. well here is a great article for teachers who are struggling with technology. Learn It In 5 is a relatively new site that features short how-to videos for teachers. The videos are intended to help teachers quickly learn how to use some of the the web tools are essential to being a successful user of classroom technology. The videos cover tools like Skype, Diigo, VoiceThread, and more.

This valuable article by Nicole Krueger explores five tips on how to develop a professional learning network amongst fellow educators from all around the world. Michelle has stressed to us in class how so many teachers have "discovered these vibrant learning communities" through means of networking sites such as Pinterest, Twitter, Edmodo, Diigo, Google Classroom, and much more. This assignment, of bookmarking and sharing information, epitomizes the importance of this article as we are enabling one another to grow from each other's ideas.Thus, I think for our class and other educators alike it is important to "dedicate time for networking, joining networks, attending conferences and edcamps, sharing ideas, and asking connected educators for help." The ability of such vast wealths of knowledge to be shared globally between many teachers can only implicate stronger connections and better points of reference for all educators in the future. 

The growth of online learning in PK-12 education has expanded brick-and-mortar schools to include a virtual learning environment far beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom.

Project ReimaginED is based of of Sarah Winchester's idea for her eighth grade students workshop which allowed students to comment and grade each others works anonymously. This was a great idea and could be a tremendous help to anyone need a technological helper in their creative writing class or if the class is new and not comfortable with each other yet. Project ReImaginED is a contest for teachers to show off their ways of infusing technology into their classrooms in order to win. Winchester's idea allowed the students to express their ideas without having to share their identity so some may be more inclined to say more than the usual, "It was nice. I liked it." When they have to workshop their peers. Project ReimaginED "allows teachers to see what their peers have already or plan to implement in their classrooms and encourages teachers to try technologies in ways they have never imagined." It does not say what the prize is for winning. 

This is a good example of how a teacher used technology and tech tools to not only teach her students but coincide with the common core curriculum. Her tip is to use an assignment that her students can use to complete as a grade as well as understanding and focusing on analytical thinking, decoding a document, and being able to explain a math problem.

Describes how one classroom uses Khan Academy to provide a different way to teach a math lesson. Khan Academy is a website that provides video lessons and example problems for any given subject.

This article is helpful to us as future teachers. This teacher states that she was always the student falling asleep during her boring lectures. Now that she teaches she has thought of fun and exciting ways to integrate technology into her classroom presentations to keep students engaged! She loves using polls and encourages using social media also!

I think this article is helpful for me because as a future history teacher, lectures and presentations are going to be inevitable. Therefore, its important to think of the students and how they can be actively involved and engaged and enjoying the lesson!

This is an article specifically about the integration of Apple technology into a Physics classroom. This is particularly interesting because you can plan out an entire course with all materials included on one application.

Not every school has the resources necessary to take their students on an airplane . . . or spaceship tour. Having the iPad app can help these students and show them how things are inside and out. Fun app for the students. They have virtual sites for many historic places.

I think bringing ipads into the classroom and giving students a chance to see a virtual version of a famous museum or historical place is an amazing teaching too! Most students may never get to the actual place but that doesn't mean they should not get the chance to experience it, whether it be virtual world or not. It makes the information to students more interactive and they can connect history to the places they see online.

This short article researched the attitudes of teachers familiar with technology vs teachers who were not as familiar, and compared the attitudes of the two. As expected, those more familiar with technology had a better attitude towards integrating into the classroom. It was said the attitudes of teachers directly affected students'. 

This article discusses how technology will actually be beneficial when it comes to teaching with the common core standards, where some people were afraid this would not work. As future teachers, we must use the proper technology to ensure students are receiving a quality education and finding accredited information on the internet.

This post talks about integrating relevant information into the use of technology in a classroom. This means going beyond teaching the kids how to use the device and download apps but applying technology to specific areas of learning. This includes collaborating with the teachers of certain subjects and creating google docs to be able to openly see students progress as well as create ideas. They also talk about the SAMR model and i'll post that word for word because its an important model that was adopted by the school in the article for this idea. Substitution: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change. Augmentation: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement. Modification: Technology allows for significant task redesign. Redefinition: Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.