Physical Technology M6

Advantages of Technology in Physical Education and Health Education

There are many advantages of technology in physical education and health education. One of those advantages includes self-monitoring. Some of these monitors include heart rate and blood pressure. People can keep track of where or not they are in their target zone. These monitors let them know if they are over working or need to work harder. It provides people with their efforts and results. Another advantage is exergaming. Technology has become so advanced that gaming systems are developing games to get people physical involved. The Wii is one of a few systems that people can play but also be exercising at the same time.

Disadvantages of Technology in Physical Education and Health Education

There are also disadvantages of technology in physical education and health education. While exergaming can be an advantage it can also be a disadvantage. While it does get the gamer involved and up and moving it can also cause them to be lazy and not get the appropriate exercise that is needed. The body needs real, more intense workouts, while games are also exercise they are not enough. Another disadvantage is people use technology for the wrong things. Instead of looking up healthy diet plans and keeping track of exercise schedules, many people tend to stay on social media too much. They get too caught up on their phones during the day for entertainment when they could easily go outside for walk.

Specific Activities, Programs, Etc. 

Accelerometers: devise for measuring rate of acceleration, Pedometers: devise that count the number of steps one takes, Spiro-meters: devises used to measure lung volume. Exergaming: video games that provide physical activity or exercise through interactive play. , 
Biomechancis Made Easy & SimAthlete: provide reference information on the important bio-mechanical and motor learning concepts Measurement in Motion & Dart Trainer: take bio-mechanical analysis to another level by encouraging open-ended exploration, and Laban Writer: permits dance moves to be more easily communicated by using the symbols for Labanotation.

M5: Flip Chart

    In module 5 we discussed technology integration in the classroom for the 21st century , and  Promethean boards are a great way to integrate technology into the classroom because of their use of flipcharts. Flipcharts are a wonderful way to engage students in using technology to solve problems in areas such as Math.
    In order to use flipcharts, one must download the proper software to their computer; this software is called ActiveInspire and is easy and free to download. You do not have to use a Promethean board in order to use ActiveInspire software, however to get the full affect and engage your students the most in the classroom, I would recommended that one have the hardware that goes along with the ActiveInspire software. This hardware includes but is not limited to a Promethean board, Promethean pens, projector and a computer with the ActiveInspire software downloaded to it.
   One flipchart I found that seemed to really  engage students and requires active participation was Let's Talk Fruit. I found this flipchart and  many other educational interactive flipcharts on PoremtheanPlanet. This flipchart focuses on students learning how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. This flipchart helps provide evidence to how ActiveInspire software and Promethean boards and hardware meets the essential conditions for technology integration. Over all I believe that Promethean  boards are an innovated, engaging tool to help assist students in getting familiar with technology based skills that they can use for the future in the work force.  If you or your students are struggling with using a Promethean board,  there are certain software support tool websites such as PrometheanWorld that can assist you and your students in getting exposure to ActiveInspire software and Promethean boards.  

Wikis, Widgets and Websites OOHHH MYY!!!

Wiki
Wikis are beneficial because they are a way for the the teachers  and class to communicate and collaborate.  I found 278 Math tecaher wiki to be benefits teachers and studnets, because it allows the teacher to help provide extra help in math. This website ha smath practice available for grdaes K-8th and if high effective in the classroom.

http://278mathwiki.wikispaces.com/home



Widget #1
Translator is a widget that is extremely useful in a deaf education setting to help the student understand the difference between the English word and signed word for a word. This widget can also be beneficial for students that are learning English as a second language as well as extra practice for students learning a second language. This is a great resource if teacher want their students to do a pen-pal assignment with a child form a different country, if could help the student translate what the other one is saying.

Widegt #2
 This widget can also go along with a pen-pal lesson, because after you finish getting your students to discover what their pen-pals are saying, you can ask them to discover where their pen-pal is from. This widget will allow the students to discover how far their pen-pal is form them. In discovering this, the students are learning distance which is math.

Lesson
The lesson I am choosing to use is a pen-pal lesson. I feel like having the students have and email a pen-pal helps build the students' vocabularies. With this lesson I can use my wikispace to help by distributing out the various projects the children will have to do with their pen-pal projects. I can also add important due dates with the events tab on the wikispace. The children can use the translator widget to help discover what their pen-pal is saying and the distance widget to figure out where the pen-pal is from. This lesson helps the students learn about different cultures, different languages, and improve their technology skills.
http://www.penpalworld.com/




http://www.penpalworld.com/

M3 Blogging Assingment

URLs

A Uniform Resource Locator , more commonly refereed to as a URL is an internet address for a specific website. A URL can tell you what type of a website it is; for instance a website ending in .edu is going to be an educational site most commonly being a school website like www.legacy.montevallo.edu. A website ending in  .org would mean it is a organization of some sort, and .gov means it has to do with the government.  

Search Engines

Search Engines are useful because they can help a student find information on a topic that the student may not have much prior knowledge on.  There are two types of search engine methods a student can use, subject index search and key word search. The key word search is the most popular of the two; Google is a prime example of key word search and it is a highly useful search engine because a student can type in a handful of words about a certain topic and find pages of information. The Key word engine such as Google will typically give the student the most popular used websites or links first.

Website Choice #1:
Descibed and Captioned Media Program 
www.dcmp.org

I Chose this website because since I am a Deaf Education Major, I find it extremely vital when presenting auditory material to the class that there is close captioning to go along with it. While an interpreter is great, a deaf student cannot focus on the interpreter and the presentation simultaneously. This website is basically like a free educational Netflix. It has every topic you could imagine with over 4,000 videos in its library. The site is extremely easily to access and beneficial for showing students educational videos with caption. Showing caption alongside a video can help build a child reading capabilities by helping them with fluency. Both deaf and hearing students would benefit from watching vidoes form this sight.The sight will even give you a grade level and description of the video as well as a preview before you view it.

Website Choice #2
Adapted Mind
www.adaptedmind.com

This website is a math and reading practice website. This website would be resourceful in center time at the computer station for both reading and math lessons because it has clear and useful practices for students to do. This sight is free and will even show progress reports on how the students are doing. Math and Reading are two of the main subjects schools are forced to display emphasis on and I think this interactive website is a well designed organized way to help students build thier math and reading skills.



Website Evaluation Video:

Let's get Technical

Hyper Media Software:
This is a fast rapid growing form of teaching in modern classrooms. Technology is making permanence in today's society and bettering the way we look at education. Hypermedia products are enhancing learning for our students by giving them more practice and more resourceful  information. A type of Hypermedia product that  I think is extremely useful for teachers/students would be Instructional Software. This type of hyper media product helps give tutorials, drills, simulations, instructional games as well as can help with problem solving.  One of the web links that really stuck out for me was the Rosetta Stone language software( http://rosettastone.com). I chose this link because with our nation's increase in diversity among the classrooms, having a language software that could help the students better communicate among each other seems like a great idea. Bilingualism only helps students cognitively, and with better communication between the students this could lead to less bullying.

Authoring Tools: 
While I can see the benefits form using any of the wonderful and enlightening multimedia authoring type tools, the one I could find myself getting the most use out of in my classroom would be the one dealing with Virtual Environments. The book discusses how this is not as common of a tool, but as we know with technology, it does not take long for it to expand. One of the main reasons I was drawn to Virtual Environments, was the idea behind the virtual field trips; I think is is a great idea because if for example you are having your students do a report on the beach but some of your students have never been then you could take your students on a virtual field trip to the beach so that they can gain some background knowledge on what a beach is.  I also like the collaboration aspects that goes along with virtual environments because as much as we detest collaboration sometimes it is a vital part of the real world and something students must adapt to.

Technology in the Classroom: Digital Media

3 Tools for the Schools

Word Processing Software:  Word Processing is a useful and diverse program to use in the classroom. This program can be used to help students improve their typing skills by having them write out essays or short answer responses. Word Processing  can also be used as a way to help make different templates and documents such as certificates, newletters, and lesson plans. A negative impact Word Processing might have in the classroom would be the way it could impact a students handwrtting skills as well as grammar and spelling. Teachers should keep this in mind; especially putting emphasis on the impact of grammar and spelling becuase students become heavily dependent on spell check.

Spread Sheet Software: Being a teacher requires extensive organzing and planning in order to efficiently run a classroom; with this in mind, a teacher might find Spread Sheet Software helpful in many ways for organizing. A teacher could use Spreadsheet Software to merge mail letters such as what we did in class the other day; this tool is helpful for sending out mass letters in a short amount of time. This Software would also be helpful with making gradebook sheets or charts with the students names to see how they are improving or evaluate them in areas they need help in. A teacher might even find use for this Software to help keep their perosnal documents such as bills in check too.

Presentation Software: Perosnally speaking,  I think Presentation Software is highly effective in a classrooom and helps promote learning in all asepcts. Many students are visual learners and need something to look at as they learn. Presentations help grab students' attention and can help relay information to students in a different manner. Prezi and Powerpoint are too highly effective presentation softwares that I throughly enjoy using. Teachers can even have their students make Prezis and Powerpoints to present to the class; this would help get the students more involved as well as teach them public speaking skills that are vital in everday life.

Classroom Usage: I deffiantley see myself  relying on Word Processing and Presentation software in my classroom, but I probablly will not make much use of Spread Sheet Software. Mostly I find myself making several Prezi presentations becuase I find them to be attention grabbers and they are an organized and efficient way to educate. I also like the idea of having my students get involved in the process of making and presenting becuase I think Public Speaking is a skill in itself that is dieing due to the heavy reliance on technology.