Blog #8

After reading chapter 12 I believe the technology advancement that hold the biggest promises for education is 3D printing. 3D printers allow people to create objects out of raw materials through the use of computer-aided software. 3D printing can be utilized in education by allowing educators to easily create models and visuals for their students that could otherwise be inaccessible. 3D printers allow students to be able to hold and play with historical artifacts such as dinosaur bones instead of just seeing pictures being projected while a teacher is lecturing.

The digital divide is the gap between people who have access to technology and the people who do not have access to technology. This gap is not only seen in developing countries, it is seen in the United States as well. I am fortunate enough to have access to a computer, I have my own laptop in which I bring to all of my classes. Since I own a laptop I also gain computer skills that I need in order to do my school work and other online activity that I wouldn't necessarily know if I was not surrounded by technology. I am also fortunate enough to have Internet access in my home back in my hometown but I also have it on campus at Florida State University. I am on the side of the digital divide that has access to technology because I grew up in an upper-middle class area where my school provided computers and other technologies for me to use. I think the digital divide will affect my future classroom because I grew up with technology. I might have to change the way I will teach say a kindergarten classroom depending on the location, a suburban school and a urban school will have different technologies inside the classroom as well as what the students have access to at home. In order to address the digital divide I would have to accommodate to my students, if I teach a class in the suburbs then I might create a class website and post important information for the parents to see and homework for the students to do. But if I teach in a urban school then I might send home letters with the students for their parents to see instead of having a class website where the parents may not be able to see.

The PowerPoint for Information Dissemination assignment allowed to be gain more new skills than any other assignment we have done thus far. While I have looked through PowerPoints before that my teachers have created in the past, I have never created one that resembles a lesson plan. I learned that I cannot put everything I want to say on the PowerPoint. The PowerPoint is just a visual representation of what I am talking about and has the main ideas on it. The only aspect I didn't like about this assignment was having to come up with a lesson on my own, I didn't know what I should talk about exactly. I liked that I was able to be creative and mess around with the different features on PowerPoint though. I can improve for the next time I do a PowerPoint by having a detailed topic and know exactly what I want people to learn from it, it will help me not take as much time to make. I can use PowerPoint in my future career to help make lectures and discussions not seem as boring to students, it will allow them to stay focus and take notes from.