My Beliefs

My beliefs of the use of technology in the classroom have changed dramatically over the course of this semester, and as I have done the PDP assignment. Technology is something that students can identify with as we use technology more and more everyday. Not only is technology a great way to reach our students, but because an understanding of technology is valuable in the workplace, our students will be more marketable when they apply for jobs in the future. That is what we are preparing them for anyway. I do not however believe that online classes solely are a great way to prepare students for the workforce. Human relation skills are extremely necessary for success in the workforce. I don't think students would get enough practice in human relations if they took solely online classes, however I do feel that a few online classes can be highly beneficial as they help us use and understand technology.
In the area of writing and literature, technology can greatly enhance the writing process. It us much quicker to produce, and also to get feedback from our superiors. In the time of paper and pencil, it would make no sense to continue to use ink and a feather, nor would it make sense to use a hammer and chisel in that era. Because typing seems to be faster than handwriting papers, it seems that students have more time to get creative with their writing. One of the Articles that we read this week spoke of how students didn't believe that writing blogs, e-mails, and on facebook didn't help them or require them to use writing skills. I disagree with this because I have found it much easier to get creative with my wordchoice as we have many tools online to help in this area. I also believe that my spelling has improved as some e-mail providers have spellcheck for their e-mails. I do not think that technological writing should replace the conventional ways of learning to write, however I do think it is a great way to practice writing.
For the video portion of this weeks reflection, we saw the comedian talk about some of the different misuses of powerpoint that he finds aggravating. Some of these included typing out everything that you are going to say, too much bulleting, a bad color scheme, and the overuse of animation. From all of these irritations he found with some powerpoint presentations, I came to the conclusion that sometimes "less is more" when we are creating powerpoint presentations that are to enhance and not detract learning for our students.