Blog #8

I believe gamification is a great technology advancement in education because it really does help the students remember the material they just learned. Teachers can project the game on the smart board and make it an entire class participation effort or separate the students in groups to play the game amongst themselves. The important thing about using gamification in the classroom is that the students must already be familiar with the material. Games are a form of practice and review, not a form of learning new information so they do not replace the job of the teacher.

 On the scale of the digital divide, I am on the side of people who do have access to these hardware, software, and internet devices. I went to private school for high school and all of the students were provided with the same iPad that we got to keep until graduation, which then you either give back to the school or pay to keep it. I think it was a great idea for all the students to be given the same device controlled under the same administrator because it made sure that we all had access to this technology and we all fell under the same side of the digital divide. I hope that when I become a teacher that the school will provide the students with the same technology so they each have an equal chance of gaining this access. It will also make my job easier because I know the kind of internet, software, and hardware access each of my kids have and I can create lesson plans a lot easier. If the school I work for is a BYOD system, I will just have to become familiar with my students and the side of the digital divide they fall under. I will try to provide alternatives and come up with back up plans for the students who have less access to these technologies. 

This assignment showed me how time consuming making a presentation can be. It did take me quite a while to put the presentation together because I tried to think of the best possible way to organize the information so my students would be able to understand and follow along easier. Doing this assignment helped me practice my skills with organizing information and providing a simple PowerPoint that is not loaded with too much information. I tried to keep it simple because I will be teaching this presentation to younger students. I liked the creative freedom of this project, but at the same time it did take me some time to think about what I wanted to teach. Now that I’ve finished it, I am pretty satisfied with how it came out. In the future I will most likely include more information to this lesson, but for now I think this is a pretty good start!