Technology Integration 101 Reflection

Over the last 18 weeks the Technology Integration 101 course has been a great source of some great information learned. It has introduced me to new concepts as well as revisit some. We have revisited my Philosophy of Educational Technology and just a year after writing it I know there are some things I would change especially after implementing a 1:1 of iPads. Its crazy how much a year immersed in iPads can change that Philosophy! Class Management is a concept that I have had spent a lot of time in how to get our teachers to understand how to use our MDM and how important it is. Another concept we revisited was 21st Century Skills. I would love to try and help a few of our teachers Flip their classroom. But this whole course is practical and I can find things from each module to use on the daily! 

Student Centered Learning

Transitioning to a 1:1 environment can be tricky! I know many students and staff are struggling with it still. How do I use it? How can this help me? Why do we have to use these things? I don't see the point of using the iPad. These are some of the questions I have heard or have been told that students/teachers have said. When they should be saying "Have you seen (fill in the blank) app I can do (fill in the blank)with it! You should try it." I think it takes time in transiting but we have to get the students/teachers comfortable use these different tools. 

I think a lot of it has to do with teachers they need to be showing and explaining to the students how to use these different tools. Step by step guides are great! I think starting small and then working your way up to letting your student have a choice in what app or tool they are using will give the student and teacher enough confidence to know which app/tool would work best for them. Your Technology Integration Specialist should be your best friend, so they can help you with this transition and can be apart of your class to HELP you in any way they can!

Prezi

Prezi is a wonderful presentation tool which allows you to organize and share your ideas other than the typical Powerpoint. Prezi is web-based, also has iOS app which allows you to access your Prezi's anywhere online or off. They have recently added Prezi Desktop without the use of any internet connection and you can now store your presentations locally and then upload them to Prezi.com if you want to share them. The only catch with Prezi Desktop you must have a Pro or Edu Pro account to access it at anytime but others can download a free 30 day trial. You do need to sign up for an account to start creating Prezi's. 

Prezi is a presentation tool that allows you to either have a virtual blank canvas or a template canvas. Prezi is 3D, you can guide your audience through a spatial journey of your presentation. Zooming out to show the overview of your prezi, zoom in to show the details/ideas.

The nice thing about this tool its free and very user friendly! Teachers and students can make Prezi's! I like creating Prezi's on the website and then presenting from the iPad app. The website has lots of great templates to where the app only has a blank canvas. The website also has the path option which allows you to put the presentation in some kind of order, to where the app doesn't have that feature. 

Once you have created your Prezi you have different options for presenting.  You can present online, download, save a copy, or share. 

Another feature I like is the Explore feature you can search a specific topic and see what others have created in Prezi on that topic. You can either view it, share it, or reuse it (make a copy for yourself which allows you to edit and make it your own yet still giving credit to the original owner!).

Below you will see a Prezi I have embedded into my Blog. This is just a blank canvas Prezi in which I added a path make it more like a presentation. This was something I created when talking about my position at a school board meeting.