Becoming an educator late in life was exciting and challenging.  Technology is a wonderful tool in combination with real world experience.  Learing to use and facilitate technology was frightening at first and now has opened my mind to different ways of education. New learners appreciate and relate to technology, it is a must for educators,  keeping in mind to utlize many methodologies in instruction for a well rounded student and education.

Does anyone use electronic quizzes that can be e-mailed to students, provide an instant grade to both the student and instructor when completed the due date?

What does LMS mean?

I am going to try out Playing learning games with my students when I feel like I am loosing them. I am also going to chaeckout Adobe Education Exchange and Quizstar.

For those of us who teach in design fields the idea of students working in groups should not come as a revelation. My faculty and I have been employing Group projects for over a decade; I have been teaching since ’97 and utilizing group work for pretty much that length of time. For that entire time I have also heard the unified groan that comes from students when they hear that they will be working in groups, and the inevitable pushback from some students for a variety of reasons. Group projects (and learning) is valuable in a number of ways… >>>

Many school environments do not welcome or even do not authorize using social media in the classroom, yet the use of social media could be a very effective tool to impart knowledge and introduce creative discussion of the topics included in a course’s curriculum. As a teacher, I understand how beneficial the interaction brought about by establishing such connections with outside sources could be to promote knowledge acquisition and encourage class participation. Even in a ESOL class, in which sometimes there is resistance to speak English due to shyness or fear of making mistakes, a contact with outside speakers could… >>>

As a Biology Instructor, I have found that PBS Video (specifically Frontline, NOVA, and Nature) are excellent teaching tools when discussing how topics in Biology affect us on a daily basis. It provides students with an opportunity to witness audio, visual, and current events all at the same time. In my class, I usually assign a "Video Synopsis" where a student is required to write a two-page summary on the plot of the movie and on criticisms and reactions. Additionally, as an English Instructor I found that some students who are struggling with grammar, spelling, and punctuation can work on… >>>

Over the past few terms, I have noticed an increase in student understanding and retention when it comes to properly dissecting frogs. The idea of using a virtual biology lab came to me after I noticed that students struggled to identify the major organs of the frog system simply based on lecture notes. By requiring the completion of a virtual lab prior to the actual lab (in-class using real tools) it reaffirms to each student their own comprehension. Students show more enthusiasm and energy when they arrive to class and are ready to go. Technology and Biology make an excellent… >>>

After incorporating an interactive presentation on powerpoint, it failed during lecture. Turned out that IT had updated the classroom computers which in turn removed all hyperlinks. this has happened on several occasions with video and other presentations that were meant to be interactive. I have found that links directly to web sites are often lost and so are no longer used. I am not opposed to technology in the classroom, quite the opposite but I wonder how others are dealing with constant issues in regards to the reliability of the new technologies. I only bring it up because I have… >>>