#4 Tech Utilization in My Class

          Twitter is not something that is new to me at all.  I have been using the social media platform on a personal level since I was a freshman in high school so I am very familiar with everything about it.  I also had multiple teachers in high school that utilized twitter as a way to keep in touch with us students about assignments.  Because of this, I was also very familiar with how it would work in the classroom setting.

          However with all of that said, I still have found that it has become a different experience for me.  I am treating my account for EME2040 in a more professional sense and it is somewhat new.  I have used it to interact with other students, as well as the class twitter and instructor for this course, Ms. Michelle Cates.  I have been able to view it from a different side and have put in some thought as to how I would handle using the social media as a teacher.  It would be very helpful to have an account that I could use to post information about homework or extra credit opportunities.  It would also be very helpful to post and retweet things that I find interesting (in a professional manner of course) to let my students become more familiar with me.


          The digital divide effects those in schools in that it furthers the gap between socioeconomic statuses.  Those with more wealth are able to have access to much newer technology which helps them better themselves and further their education.  On the other hand those with less wealth are left behind and stay behind do to their lack of technological experience.

          As a teacher I will need to be very sensitive to the chance of the digital divide occurring in my classroom.  If there is an instance where a student does not have the technological resources at home to complete an assignment, I will need to think of a way around the issue to make sure that all students are able to complete the work with no advantages.  For example if there is an online worksheet, I may need to spend the extra time to print out copies for all of my students to take home. I will also try my best to ensure that all of my students are well versed in the basic technological programs that are necessary to know in order to succeed in the modern day workforce.


          The softwares that my students and I will be using most will most likely be presentation software, desktop publishing software, and academic software.  These will be necessary as I hope to be teaching an older range of kids, preferably high school seniors.  Both my students and I will need to utilize presentation and desktop publishing software in order to present ideas to the class or to present assignments or projects.  The academic software will be important because the students are at an older age.  They will need to be more comfortable with citing proper academic sources, as they will need to do so in college.

          What will most likely not be utilized in my classroom are photo-editing software, and various other graphics softwares.  These are very important for art and design classes.  They could even be useful for a math or physics class that needs to visualize a real world problem.  However, I will be teaching a social science class and I do not foresee myself utilizing these tools as much as another subject might.  They could possibly be used by students if I am to assign a project with an option to get artistic, however this would only be used if it were offered by the school.  I would also most likely not make that portion mandatory to the students as I cannot expect them to know how to work the software, and teaching the software would not fit into my course description.


          My experience with the eCourse was very useful.  I only encountered a few small bugs.  For example when I reached the third section, my ability to pause or move forward or back was taken away.  This made it somewhat difficult to take notes on the subject.  The only other issue that I came across was that the website crashed upon completing the course and I lost my certificate.  Eventually I was able to retrieve it but it was rather scary at first.  Other than these two issues, I greatly enjoyed the course.  I learned a lot about things that I thought I already knew.  For example I did not know the various other ways that web conferencing could take place and all of the options that come alone with it like in the Adobe software that was mentioned.  I also enjoyed that there was help to be given while completing some of the post course quizzes.  They refreshed my mind and allowed me to get the answers right and retain the knowledge.