TPACK

I found the explanation of TPACK to be very informative. I would hope that a lot of what was presented was more basic knowledge than new information. I think as teachers we have all been introduced into Content Knowledge and Technology and Pedagogical Knowledge. But now we get to combine them all into one! Like I've said before, I love technology. I think that it is going to be one of the greatest tools that we have as teachers. It will appeal to a number of the learners that we would not be able to reach by just lecturing (and I hope none of us do that!) But this is important because technology continues to change and advance constantly! If only my teachers had all of the amazing technology that is available to teachers today! I believe that class would be a lot more fun!

I took a look at "A Virtual Pond Dip" There is a picture of a jar of water with a bunch of organisms in the jar. As you click on each one you are able to learn more about the organism! How fun would this be in connection with actually taking pond water and looking for these organisms! A digital microscope would also be good for an activity such as this! I remember looking at pond water in middle school and I was able to find one or two different organisms, but this website allows us to look at more than one or two. There are also pictures of the organisms (the pictures are blown up, of course.) It would be fun to allow the students to look and explore, or for younger grades, use a projector and explore as a class! I would definitely use this in my class.

RSS and Web 2.0

I must admit that the web has become much more user friendly than it used to be! As I think back to my experience in high school with web design, we had to learn a little bit of basic html code and then the teacher allowed us to play with the DreamWeaver program along with some Flash. It was a lot of work to put something that looked good up on the internet. Now with Web 2.0 its just a few clicks and all of a sudden, everything is up from pictures to links to RSS feeds. I think I would be very likely to create a password protected blog for my classroom (since there are so many privacy issues in the world today) and I would encourage parents to use the RSS feature to subscribe to the blog. It would definitely help me keep in contact with my parents as I update the blog, they are informed of the change. It is amazing that the world of technology is progressing so quickly. Now if everyone had a web-enabled Blackberry, parents would really know immediately when the blog was updated. (Had to plug the Blackberry.)

Technological Background

Well...lets see...I don't know how much technology experience I have. I really love technology though. I have used computers a lot and I even took a web design class while I was in high school (although that was a few years ago.) I have always had the neatest little gadgets, like MP3 Players and Mini-disc players and I just got a BlackBerry for Christmas! The hardest part now is that I can't live without the thing! Oh well. I love playing with electronics. I served in the Mission Office in Fiji for a while and had a lot of exposure to technology there. I helped the senior mission couple with their computers and things like that. Thats about the extent of my experience.