CEdu 521 Week 2: Going Deeper into LoTI and Technology Tools

Our second week of class offered many ideas for increasing student engagement through use of technology tools in my business classes at Falls North Junior High. As this semester progresses, I look forward to enhancing the learning experiences of my 8th and 9th graders. Here are some ideas that came out of our class:

• Allow students to try Google SMS on their cell phones in order to get stock quotes for our new stock market simulation. As the "Pay Attention" You Tube video stated, "If you're not using cell phones to teach, you should be." I know my students will love this activity and get hooked on their newly-learned investing skills.
• Allow my students to present their Entrepreneur Profiles using PowerPoint. As we discussed in class, it is one thing to create a PowerPoint; it is altogether a higher level of learning if students present their knowledge to their peers. In other words, why assign a PowerPoint unless it will have an audience? We do student presentations in Computer Applications (Me and Trivia PowerPoint projects) and now it is time to expand this into Business Venture.
  
• The review of the various teaching LoTI scenarios and quotes helped me understand how to make activities more authentic. The comments I received on the Business Venture franchise project blog posting will take the LoTI level up significantly by involving community business people . No doubt my students will increase the quality of their work, knowing that adults will be reviewing their franchise proposals.
  
• The Technology Tool Showcase jigsaw activity was most helpful in that it expanded my knowledge of technology tools way beyond the Microsoft Office tools I currently use. During this semester and upcoming summer, I will take time to learn more about Inspiration, SMART Boards, and Digital Video so that I can incorporate these exciting, yet foreign, tools into many of my lesson plans. Incidentally, our brief discussion of the COW made me wonder why our school only has 16 laptops in its COW when most classes at North have 22-28 students. How much more useful would the COW be if all students working on an activity could use a laptop?

In the weeks to come, I am excited to try out more technology tools with my North students in both our project and Work Sample 1. In addition, I look forward to learning about assessments of technology-based activities and projects.