Blogs in the Classroom

Technology is changing everyday and as it does teachers are given new options in the classroom. More and more schools are involving blogs in their classrooms because of the many benefits it has for the students. One of the benefits of using blogs in the classroom is that it significantly increases communication between teachers and their students. Students who are tend to be quiet in class will feel more comfortable asking questions or speaking up in discussions through their blogs. Also, because it is done on a computer, some students will be more willing to do their assignments and might even be more thorough.
Blogs provide students an easier way to manage their school work and stay organized. Teachers can post assignments so that students will always have a way to find out what they should be working on for class.

ACCESS

ACCESS, which stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom Educators and Students Statewide, is a new online tool that will improve distance learning for both teachers and students all over Alabama. It provides many different courses such as AP courses, courses for students who are dually enrolled, "Advanced Diploma" and many other state approved courses, even electives. ACCESS is approved and supported by many of the head officials in the state of Alabama. For public school students, there is no fee to use ACCESS and it will be a great form of communication between different schools, teachers, students, and parents. There will be actual trained and educated E-teachers to provide lessons and offer help to the students. This is a great new technology and I can foresee it becoming a commonly used program in the years ahead.

ALEX in the classroom

As an education major I can definitely see ALEX as being a great help in the classroom. It is full of suggestions and material for teachers to use with their students. In the past, teachers had to go to workshops and read professional journals to get the most recent ideas in teaching. Now, with programs like ALEX, teachers learn all of the same things with the click of a mouse. Not only does ALEX help teachers with lesson plans but it also has a "Personal Workspace" option. It has links to different websites for the Alabama Department of Education that teachers can access to read up on the latest teaching strategies. Overall, I think ALEX is going to become very important to the world of teaching very soon.

Adding Links and Pictures

First we will review the methods for creating a link. Our link will be to The Fischbowl , a blog for technology training used at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO.

Here is a picture from Arapahoe High School

YouTube Video

I just watched the You Tube video about the future and all I have to say is....WOW. I never realised how much and how fast everything is changing these days. The fact that a lot of what we are learning in college right now will be obsolete by the time we are juniors really hit home for me, considering I AM a junior. It's just so crazy to think that one day there will be technology that is more capable than the human race. The whole video just gave me a new perspective on things, for sure.

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange, also known as ALEX, is an online learning/teaching resource for teachers, parents, and students provided by the Alabama Department of Education. When you first go to the ALEX website you are presented with eight boxed options: Courses of Study, Web Links, Lessons Plans, Search, Personal Workplace, Professional Learning, Distance Learning, and Help.
All of these links are useful to new teachers in need of ideas and also to parents to find ways to help their child in school by better understanding what they are learning in the classroom. Educators from all around are able to access the page and give their own opinions on how to improve the site. This is a great help to Alabama teachers because it provides new fresh ideas on things to incorporate in the classroom.