The Importance of PLN's

  A makerspace in a school is a place that supplies students with materials to explore and create which provides opportunities for critical thinking and problem solving development for all. According to Jennifer Cooper of Edutopia, a makerspace can "provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering" (Designing a School Makerspace). A maker space can be created with a variety of materials with a variety of purposes. For instance, a school can create a makerspace filled with craft supplies, electronic circuits, robotics materials, digital processing devices, school appropriate construction tools, etc (Smith, Tips and Ideas for Creating a Makerspace).  There are many different purposes and uses of a makerspace in a classroom or school. They can act as a supplement to a class or lesson, rest/break period, class reward, etc. Makerspaces are a great resource for students who ...

Today there are  endless technology resources for educators to utilize and experiment with. Technology is constantly growing and developing which means systems and software are always changing. This makes accessibility and assistive technological resources wonderful and challenging for educators to use. With these resources, come convenience and improvement, however, it also brings difficulties and can be time consuming to incorporate. In the end, assistive technology is important to utilize in the classroom because there are many sources which will aid the students and teacher in creating a better learning experience and environment. Technology can assist students with a variety of needs and diverse learning abilities.  When using assistive technology in the classroom, it is important to practice patience and remember that it is being used for the betterment of the diverse group of students. For example assistive technologies are "...

The world of 2023 has so much to offer when it comes to technology and how it affects education positively and negatively. Within these options, there are a variety of programs which offer the opportunity to meet with one or more people on video through the online environment. This has been a great step in educational and corporate environments as we recently dealt with a pandemic which closed school doors, and businesses. Online video meetings can prepare people and students for their future careers with the high usage in the professional setting. For instance, "about one in three Americans use live video chat to communicate with businesses" (Ivan Blagojevic). because However, there are also many cons that came along with this form of interaction. Recently, we have seen a rise in technological usage, including the use of online video interactions like zoom, google meet, FaceTime, Skype, etc.  These video conferencing sources can be used within education to have a vi...

Google has many tools that can be used to access a variety of resources for our convenience and knowledge development. One of the tools which really stand out to me, is Google Earth. Often, I use Google Earth for searching what an area looks like, where there might be a cute area to walk around, or what a house I am looking into buying may be like. However, there is so much more to Google Earth and its ability to provide useful information about the world.  Google Earth is combined of "satellite imagery and geospatial data sets" which provide teacher, scientists, researchers, and professionals the ability to explore the earth. Things that can be found consist of trends, changes in the earth, locations, and researchers can "quantify differences on the earth's surface". Google earth is continuing to be a free resources for academics and research, however, it is also used for commercial reasons now. (https://earthengine.google.com) There are many ways the Google Ea...