Word Processing
Word has a great impact on the world, and no other technology resource has had a greater impact for education as word processing. (Roblyer & Doering, 2013 pg. 116) Word processing saves time. For teachers this software allows for him or her to modify materials rather than making new ones. For example: There are multiple reusable word documents that can be used by teachers, like, beginning of the year welcome letter, field trip permission, flyers, fund-raising...exct. You can also enhance the documents appearance. This is a helpful tool for creating a professional document; resume, letter head, cover letter, essay...
You can also share your documents. Students could share their ideas, or teachers could share lesson plans. Word is a great tool for fast and easy documents.
However there are some issues with word processing in the classroom that I do agree with. One issue is the age in which a student should start using word processing. There is a type of word processing that is available for young children, and schools can start introducing it to students as young as 4 or 5. (Roblyer&Doering, 2013, pg 120) Some educators believe this will take away from the fundamental skill of hand writing. I agree with this. I believe word should be taught, but only after learning the skills of reading and writing. Sadly our world is slowly being taken over by technology. I may sound old, but I believe there are some ideas and concepts that we learn that should not change. Technology is not reliable most of the time, and students should be able to write proficiently and legibly. Most of my teachers in recent years have been forced to assign their writing assignments using word, to be printed out, rather than hand written, because the teacher could not read students hand writing. This may be a faster solution, but we all learned how to read and WRITE, so this shouldn't be a problem.
Spreadsheet Software
"Spreadsheets are programs designed to organize and manipulate numerical data." (Roblyer & Doering, 2013 pg. 122)
This software for the classroom purpose in my opinion is best used for grade sheets, or keeping budgets. This is a great tool for organizing and displaying information easily. However this software might be especially useful for teaching mathematics. I believe it could be a different approach to teaching on a blackboard or dry erase board. For visual learners this makes the concepts graphic so students might be more engaged in the subject.
However the one downside to using this software for a teaching method is the act of teaching how to use the software. The teacher could spend more time teaching how to use spreadsheets, than teaching their subject. This software might be of more use in a upper grade level classroom, after the students have taken classes in learning about a computer.
Presentation Software
"Presentation software is designed to display information, including text, images, audio, and video, in a slideshow format." (Roblyer & Doering, 2013 pg. 128)
In my opinion this is the best teaching software for any classroom, and any subject. When a teacher engaging with the students to teach a subject, he or she is presenting an idea to the class. With this tool it takes the boring lecture part of teaching and creates a different, visual approach to teaching. It is great for summarizing a lecture into slides making note-taking easier for students. Video, audio, images, and text can all be used in this type of software allowing for the ultimate visual teaching experience. It is another way to take a lesson plan and organize it in a way to teach a class.
Classroom use
For me personally, I believe this is the best tool, and should always be used in a classroom. I am a visual learner, so I need to see what the teacher is talking about. With a presentation I am engaged and interested because I am visually experiencing what is being taught, or said to me. Also I plan on becoming an Art teacher so this software is the more obvious choice. If I were to teach an art history lesson, this would be the best way to show the students the art, and artists I would be discussing.
Each software is unique and important in its own way. I believe in order for anyone to be a successful and organized teacher, learning and using these software's will aid to the success of the classrooms.
Roblyer, M.D., & Doering, A.H. (2013). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Roblyer, M.D., & Doering, A.H. (2013). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
I agree that presentation software is the best. It is the most versatile and in my opinion, the most impactful. "When a presentation product is well-designed, it supports and supplements what the speaker says, using graphics and multimedia to give illustrations and drive home points with images and sound" (Roblyer and Doering, 2013, p. 128). I found that it keeps my students engaged and reaches a wider range of learners.
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ReplyDeleteI like presentation software as well but I do not want to be the teacher that relies on it too much. I really always disliked the teacher that reads right off the PowerPoint in class. According to Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching we should avoid reading text aloud and use it as a guideline for main points of discussion (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).
I think presentation software is really good for the classroom. I think it will benefit both the student and the teacher. For me, I think that it will help me organize my presentations and keep them colorful. Although Roblyer and Doering say "presentation software is designed specifically for presenting information [and has] no real productivity application," I think I can find a productive use for it (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 117). I tend to ramble and get off topic, but with the presentation on the screen in front of the students, I will be help accountable for staying on topic and finishing a discussion clearly.
ReplyDeleteA lot of students are visual learners, and for this reason I feel that presentation software could be very helpful in the everyday classroom. If used properly, presentation software can help organize ideas and better emphasize the main topics. "When teachers or students create a presentation with this software, it helps them think through what they will say and in what order they should present information." (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p 128).
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