6-28-04

by Katie Morrow

	This morning was the first day of EDU 638- Integrating Technology in the Classroom. The "students" arrived with cheery optimism as they set aside all other summer projects in order to learn and play with technology for the week. After introductions, syllabus, and course outline we could really get down to business. The focus of the lecture was how to integrate technology into the educational process and let the curriculum drive the use of technology instead of vice-versa.
Many benefits, learning theories, and positive student outcomes were presented as reasons to integrate technology, and no matter how much administrative support you have or don't have, it really comes down to the teacher for success. (We witnessed this in the "Columbia School" video segment.) We took a much-needed break and reviewed a TechLearning article on transforming teaching with technology.
	With our bellies AND our minds full, we then listened to a brief overview of integrated project ideas and guidelines for creating them this year. We are supposed to let our thoughts start turning and have ideas about what we want to work on when we start integrated project work time tomorrow. The second video we watched this morning showed us Tony Vincent's fifth grade classroom in Millard, Nebraska, and what a Palm-classroom looks like.
Next we went from the large screen to screens that fit in the palm of our hand. We found out that they were easier to use than we thought! In just a short hour or so we were experts on the main buttons, graffiti text inputting, and beaming files! We beamed our "business card," notepad notes, to do list of things we wanted to learn, and even played a little Giraffe! We can't WAIT to see what else we can do with these nifty little things in the classroom! But we'll have to wait until after lunch, because all our alarms are going off and it's time for a break! What a busy morning! But I sure can attest that using technology excites all: young and not-so-young about learning.