Introduction to Instructional Technology

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog that will be showcasing the different modules I have learned in my Instructional Technology course at Ashland University as part of my transition from a career in scientific research to a career in science education of tomorrow's innovative leaders. The course started out with an introduction to get familiar with some of the many things we will be "learning by doing" throughout the semester. I have to admit that I was surprised to find that I had never heard of most of these educational technologies, but was eager to dive in and learn how I may be able to implement these new technologies in my future classrooms.

This course takes advantage of multiple Web 2.0 technologies which provides educators with a variety of resources allowing them to build a shared internet environment to enhance the students learning. One such Web 2.0 technology is Symbaloo EDU which is a platform on which either the teacher or the student can create a personal learning environment (PLE). These PLE's allow teachers and students to create individualized information portals to organize websites, videos, guidelines, tutorials etc. on a given content area or more specifically a topic within a unit of study.  Symbaloo EDU is the perfect resource for teachers to provide additional helpful resources for each unit of study, or for students to organize their own self directed online learning.

Here is the link to the Symbaloo EDU personal learning environment that I created: http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/docklipfellscience

Another Web 2.0 technology we learned about was Glogster EDU which is a free interactive poster, also called a glog, or graphical blog.  These interactive posters can be used as instructional aids by the teacher creating one for a particularly difficult subject the students are learning. However, I think the most appropriate use of Glogster EDU is to spark students creativity in learning by assigning them to create their own glog on a given or chosen topic that they are learning in the classroom.  This assignment will help them become more knowledgeable about their glog content, as well as the glogs their classmates created.  All could be publicly available so all students in the class can view their classmates glogs as additional educational aids.

Here is the link to the Glogster EDU interactive poster that I created on Mitosis:
http://klipfell.edu.glogster.com/mitosis

Stay tuned for more reflection on the next instructional technologies I will be learning in the coming weeks!