We are all becoming participants in a digital nation. We are surrounded by digital equipment. Digital technology is not only changing communication, it is influencing the way we think. Dr. Bruce Perry of the Baylor College of Medicine says, “Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures”. With technology students are not only prepared for their college experiences but they are well prepared for their real life. They prefer to collaborate and work as a team and learn from each other. “For the Net-generation, the Internet is like oxygen; they cannot imagine being able to live without it.” (Oblinger, 2005, chapter 2) Given this reality, society and the education system has to give tools for teachers that will help them adapt to the new world and provide an opportunity to connect to other teachers in the world, “So if Digital Immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives (i.e., all their students), they will have to change.” (Pernksy, 2001).I think the educators have to discuses which way is better either to learn “new stuff” directly or to use new ways to do the “old stuff” (pernksy, 2001).So, to reach digital students we have to use and learn new web tools. I have learned so much from taking this course that it is hard to pinpoint one experience. The past 7 weeks have been fast, furious and incredibly informative. There have been so many “Wow!”  moments in this class, it is hard to say what stood out the most as I have taken this information and constructed new knowledge and skills that I will apply in my classes. I’ve always been a believer in online learning, but I feel this class gave me tools and skills to make my classes more engaging, collaborative and supportive. I have already integrated many of these tools and skills into my classes for the fall and look forward to the feedback from my students at the end of the session.  

So many new tools! I really did experience technology overload several times this summer, but, looking back, I’m glad I had the chance to experience all of these new (to me) technologies; Voice Thread, blog, wiki, simulation, Picasa, jing, and Prezi. Looking back on this list, it’s a good thing I like learning. I found each week to be very challenging; I have enjoyed experiencing so many different types of technology and learning how to incorporate these into my teaching. I have also enjoyed learning with my classmates.  Thanks everyone for a great class!

 I will look forward to using other tools learned in the course. it has been enlightening and fun.

Oblinger, D.G. & Oblinger, J.L. (Eds) (2005). Educating the Net Generation. Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5) 1-6.

My final project that I designed is a web page about Laboratory Safety Jigsaw. I used Glogster to define jigsaw and the benefits of it, and then I will dived my class to 3 expert groups. Each group is responsible on their part. Expert group 1 is responsible about general rules of laboratory Safety. Expert group 2 is responsible about chemical handling safety. Expert group 3 is responsible about chemical disposal Procedures. After that, one student should be appointed as the group leader; each expert group should join others to discuss the main point of their segment. The teacher needs to observe and direct the process. At the end, students have to answer the quizzes questions in the class.  

This is a link to my project http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/ALANOUDALOTAIBI/safety.html

The D2L discussion that took place last week summarized up this class experience quite well. I really enjoyed reading on the D2L; I found it was really interesting. I like that the discussion groups were kept small. This made it easy to read through all comments and make appropriate comments when needed.

Overall, here is a few summarizing points that I have from the discussion:

o    First of all, many participants mentioned that they had not realized how many tools were available

o    I have found that many of us feel much more confident with our use of web tools, along with having a broader perspective of what is available to use in the classroom.

o   Everyone made great points about how helpful this class was in regards to learning new web tools.

o   It seems that the majority of the posts in our group's discussion centered on the obstacles that many of us will face in trying to implement all the Web 2.0 tools we've learned.

o   Another point that was mentioned frequently was that we must remember to use technology as it improves the learning/teaching atmosphere. The web tools that I have selected to incorporate into my teaching will not just be for the sake of using them. They will improve students' learning.

o   This class has given the teachers an opportunity to look at new websites and actually use them and discuss how we can use them in class. We usually don't have time for this searching during the school year.

o   It is just good to know that there are many others out there that feel the same way about the new technologies out there and are excited about trying to incorporate  a few into their teaching practices.

o   Many expressed their hope to be more creative in the classroom; incorporating more collaboration, and student-driven discussion.

o   For many, with this new knowledge has come a new perspective/approach to teaching. Many doors have opened.

o   The specific tools that people hope to take advantage of seem to vary, but everyone is in agreement that the web 2.0 tools we have been exposed to will benefit our teaching.

o   The more you can demonstrate the need for the technology, the more support you will garner on the administration level when they see the educational impact and power of the tech tools. 

o   These web tools will really allow the students to be creative and to allow them to express their ideas in other ways than just typical classroom discussions and Q & A.

o   Even though we are at different schools, teaching different levels, and have different access to some technology, but we have had similar experiences with this class and what we can do with this new knowledge for the upcoming school year.

o   One of the great things I learn from this discussion is learning from other teachers. My classmates have some great ideas on how to include more relevant web 2.0 tools in their classrooms.

o   I am not alone in feeling that I could be more advanced in my use of technology and that I need to practice with it to improve my skills.

We will be carrying a lot of new ideas back with us when school begins, and most of us seem very excited to implement these fun, innovative tools. I am excited to start planning lessons that allow me to show off my new web tools. Some of us will only be able to get our feet wet with these tools while others will be able to implement the whole gamut. Moving from a teacher driven classroom to a student driven environment will take more than just our own individual desires, but I believe that small steps will eventually make big change.

Quizlet is an online learning tool which allows teachers and students to create flashcard. It also allows them to choose from millions of existing flashcards in any subject. Quizlet users can easily create and save online flashcard to help them to study for any subject. They can choose from millions of pre-created flashcards. With Quizlet students can create online study groups with classmates and can play several study games. 

Blogs and wikis are two webs-based tools that gaining popularity with the online education. Blog is a diary or online journals that can have news, thoughts, and reflections. Wiki fosters active learning and gets students involved in the creation of knowledge by constantly updating their wiki with more information. It allows them to participate and share in the construction of knowledge. It allows students to contribute a non-academic voice and to link to other web pages, blogs or other resources. They can use wiki to link the other important researches and blogs that support what they are writing about or can they link to other sites for more discussion. There are many strengths and benefits for incorporating in wikis and blogs in the educational experience. Students can direct the content of blogs and wiki. Unlike discussion forums, Students become expert on a given topic. Lead to increase high-order thinking skills when students construct knowledge. Develop critical thinking ability, and improves flexibility in teaching and learning. Both can for sure promote peer learning and cooperation. Learner can controls all of contents, and open to feedback from others around the world. They are Easy to use; they can be accessed from anywhere. Emphasis is always based on writing and student expression, this kind of learning tools encourages writing for students and self-expression. Students share knowledge with others from around the world to develop more information in their interesting subject area.  These tools still is not part of most curriculum or professional field because anybody can provide any type of negative feedback or criticism. Their accuracy and reliable sources are hard to identify. Wiki are editable by anybody and they can add false information. They do not include visuals or multimedia. Items in wiki can be deleted or misplaced. Blogs are less editable than wikis. 

Voice thread is a collaborative multimedia slide show that can holds images, documents, and videos. It allows a student to navigate slides and leaving comments which allows having conversation with students. Students can go through presentation and leave comments while watching without waiting for last slide. They can do it in five different ways; they can leave a text comment, leave an audio comment using a microphone, leave video comments with web cam, make a phone call, or upload comments as an audio file. Voice thread has many interesting features of modulation; you can modulate comments and choose which one to be shown and which one to be hidden. With doodle feature you can show particular thing to bring attention and emphasis in specific details in slide. Voice thread helps teacher to evaluate students’ progresses and helps learners to polish all skills. Students listen to each comment to agree or disagree which can build a collaborative effort among them. 

Inquiry-based learning is a different approach than traditional method in teaching science. It is educational approach that driven by learners’ questions. Students come up with questions to test; also they need to have procedure to test it, instead of giving directions in how to test and how to do it and what is the result they supposed to find out. They come up with their own questions in a similar way to the real scientist and come up with a way to test questions. The role of teachers in this approach is to ask questions and try to keep students on the right track, it is more observing and guiding, and they are not involved in any direct teaching. They encourage students to ask more questions to motivate them to learn and develop their sense of ownership. Students are figuring out what they want to learn and remember it. Also they test in a way that they understand what is going to happen, instead of that if you set up experiment they may or not understand why they doing this steps but if they set it up by their oneself . Students will collect the data to answer their questions by observation, interviews, library research, and internet research, and then they spend time to analysis the collected data. The benefits of using inquiry- based learning, students will be critical thinking, realize what the meaning of information, and come up with a clear reasoning to support their works. Students will work in a collaborative team to develop questions; the class will work in groups to get the best result. By using this teach approach, students are creatively engaging in learning process and they can see the whole scientific process. Also they gain cognitive and social skills. 

The integration of technology allows for student development, creative thinking, cooperation and participation in activities and exercises, and provides more effective means to explore the essential concepts of science. The use of sophisticated software for more complicated science applications must be taught to student as they progress through their educational programs.  It is common knowledge that business firms invest in computer applications because they are more cost effective and more efficient. Students should have comprehensive knowledge on both how to use the technology and it application to the actual scientific situations.

With simulation, students can learn by what they experience as playing.  Computer software is interactive and lets students manipulate simulated situations with visual models of scientific concepts. For example, SimCalc is an application that allows students to manipulate relationships about time, velocity, and position. Circumstances of the actors can be manipulated by through equations or directly on a graph; then, the students can run a simulator to see the actors move according to their functions. Jim kaput is a mathematician who invented the SimCalc. His vision was that technology will not only be used to support the mathematics, but also to develop new way of thinking mathematically (Tall, 2008). Research conducted by a team from SRI International University Massachusetts in Dartmouth, concluded that students who use SimCalc Math World had a better understanding of rate and proportionality than similar students who used the standard curriculum(Roschelle et l., 2007).

In 2006 Kathy Perkinswon won physics Award in physics education technology at the University of Colorado, she get a ward of physics education technology project, which is effort to create interactive physics stimulation and to make them easily accessible over the web with engage of student. First step student find it fun to play with stimulation. In The second step develops understanding. Everything is controlled with slider. As soon as the students moving it they can see the interaction and immediate feedback between what they do and what they see. She designed the stimulation carefully and built it up based on researches.

 Using simulation to teach science can help students quickly grasp the forms and make science more interesting.  Students can understand concepts, and they have more enthusiasm to practice. Simulation can relieve some of the stress students feel when it comes to science; in fact, simulation could actually get students excited for science.  In addition, simulations generate motivation and competition between students; especially in young students. So, more complicated simulation can be designed for higher education.

Roschelle, J., Tatar, D., Shechtman, N., Hegedus, S., Hopkins, B., Knudsen, J., Stroter, A. (2007). Can a Technology-enhanced Curriculum Improve Student Learning of Important Mathematics? (SimCalc Technical Report 1). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. Available at: http://math.sri.com/publications/index.html.

Tall, D. (January 01, 2008). James J. Kaput (1942-2005) Imagineer and futurologist of mathematics education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 68, 2, 185-193.

Picasa is a free software application from Google for organizing, editing, and viewing photos. With Picasa you can edit, share, and posts your pictures to blog. You can also create searchable tags for photo. It is a valuable tool in education; it students, for example, can create concept posters. Picasa’s user can create a movie about historical events. Students can share their classroom photo project with blogger. Picasa can teach visual literacy to ESL students by using images as a means of expression and communication.

Prezi is a type of web based presentation application that offers a wide canvas in which ideas can be designed and organized online. It has different features than the common power point presentation which uses traditional slides. It mixes the ideas, images, and videos in easeful way to present any work or project. Audiences can see the general idea and the details of the presentation by zooming in and out. Prezi puts all ideas in one space so audiences can see how they relate to each other at the one time; it is like a big white board. The presenter can group the related ideas in one frame and use layering for details. It gives a chance for collaboration between users (teachers and students) by using “Prezi Meeting” to do presentation together even if they are in different places. Then, they can present the final product to their peers. On the other side of the picture, Prezi has weaknesses points; Prezi availability is restricted by internet access, it does not have a wide Variety of font type, and no spell check.