Technology
3D Design and Modeling
Sketchup is a reliable 3D modelling tool that I found both difficult and rewarding. While I initially struggled to design, I found my footing and was able to use the technology in my classroom. I provided students with a lesson on how to use the web-version, and allowed students to work on creating their own designs. For my 10th grade students, this meant designing the main hub-building of a fictional culture, used as supplemental instruction for teaching the novel Things Fall Apart.
LMS Learning and Teaching Tools
eLearning can require significant input from the instructional designer. In long distance education, specific tools and teaching systems can help to provide a learning environment, even when a physical one is not available. Some of the tools that I have learned about include Blackboard, Google Classroom and Slack among many others.
The game-ification of learning is a helpful way to make learning fun for students, and is another example of technology that I learned to use.
I have used these concepts in my classroom, utilizing Google Classroom to support student learning, and taking concepts from the game-ification of learning to support students.
One example of this is a murder-mystery assignment I create for students. I provided bi-daily clues on Google Classroom for students to access and assess, building annotation and critical thinking skills. I used Google Classroom as a tool to provide students with material that they could access even when they (or I) missed class, and the use of this learning system allowed for higher student engagement and higher rates of assignment completion.
Virtual Reality and 360 Video as Learning Tools
In the classroom, unconventional and newer technologies have a wide variety of use. Virtual reality can be used to bring students stronger language skills, and has the ability to take students on virtual field trips, allowing those who normally may not have had access the ability to visit far away places.
360 Video allows this to come to life, but can also be used independently of virtual reality. In a guided lesson I provided to students in my English Language Development class, my students were able to experience the vast emptiness of many desolate locations - far away beaches, forests and towns - and got to experience how even these places are not free from sound pollution.
Technology allows students to view the world in a different way, and it appeals to much more than just visual stimulation.