Digital Blog Post #E

The first concept that interested me was the Standard Software Applications. Many of us should know that we use software applications almost every day (Maloy, 2013). As educators, using software applications on our computers is a big part of our technology based teaching environment. Let’s consider Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, these are all vital parts in our education process. We use them to make lessons, charts, and the teaching process more exciting for the students. If we really thing about it, standard software applications are a part of most professions in today’s society.  

The second concept is Google Earth which is something many students enjoy. Google Earth is a free, downloadable application that works as a browser for different information on Earth (Maloy, 2013). It uses satellite imagery to grab, spin, pan, tilt and zoom down to any place on Earth. I have used this application before to motivate students in learning more about geography and the important events that happened in history. The students had a fun time measuring distances, creating tours, and finding important landmarks. More information can be found on how to incorporate more of Google Earth in to our lessons can be found in the article Google Earth in the Classroom.

The third concept is Inquiry Tutoring Systems (ITS). ITS is a powerful new software program that promotes inquiry learning through the computer responses to student actions (Maloy, 2013). These programs record the responses of students to see where their knowledge level is at (what they know and do not know). Then this program gives students their level of work and allows children to practice, which will help them become better as academic learners and test-takers (Maloy, 2013). I think this is beneficial to both the teacher and student. Students will not always need a human tutor and can practice wherever they go on a technical device, and teachers can keep track of student progress. This will make the learning experience fun for the student, especially through the different formats, games, modules and etc. that will be provided on the programs.

In conclusion, being aware and having different software applications in vital in today’s technology based learning environments. We can do so much to help the students learn by incorporating these software programs into our daily lessons. Having them will also help the teachers come up with new way and ideas to encourage/motivate students to learn certain topics. I believe students will also begin to see learning in a whole new way.

Resources:

Google Earth in the Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/google-earth-in-the-classroom/

Kobenko, K (2017, February 7). Technology in the Class. Created with ToonDoo www.ToonDoo.com

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.