The Impact of Technology and Multimedia On Online Learning
by Brandon T. 0
Technology has a huge impact on today's global learner. As a secondary educator, I am teaching a technologically rich generation. Toddlers know how to Skype, use I Pads, facebook, and touch screen leap frogs. Technology can keep the learner engage throughout an entire lesson. I teach high school social studies and teacher academy classes at my current teaching assignment. The technology that I chose to talk about is edmodo.com "Edmodo provides a safe and easy way for your class to connect and collaborate, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices. Our goal is to help educators harness the power of social media to customize the classroom for each and every learner" (www.edmodo.com, 2012). Through edmodo my students can collaborate with each other by hosting their own discussions about topics in class. They can form their own study groups. Create documents. notes, power points etc... and store in their backpack which allows them to access their documents from anywhere.
Before using a site like edmodo, an instructor must first determine how the site is going to be used, the length of times students will have in class, the content that is going to be shared, a due date for the assignment if applicable, can students access the website from home?, know your audience. It would not be a good idea to assign work to a class using edmodo in class with a highly active, talkative students who need a considerable amount of direction. They result may render egregious results. I have used edmodo as venue for students to ask questions about the current content that we are covering in class. Students would post a question on the page. Then the first student who answers the questions correctly along with citing their resources gains a half a point of extra credit towards their lowest score in the grade book. I have also used edmodo as a means for students to collaborate with my other classes using the library function in which students share documents (notes, worksheets, discussion questions) in order to gain new perspectives from their peers. As a result, I have found that my students have become more connected with the subject matter over time, thus increasing their summative assessment scores.
As I continue to move forward I would like to use the I pad in my classroom as well as a Slate. A Slate allows you to control the computer and Interactive White Board from anywhere in the classroom. Students can write their responses to a worksheet as I call on them anywhere in the classroom. It is simply amazing in regards to the technology that is available for us to use.
References www.edmodo.com
