Blog Post 5

Twitter

    I initially began using Twitter in High School. Although Twitter has been around for quite some time, I decided to join the social network in 2016. During my time of adoption, I decided to join the social network to stay in contact with my peers from school, and with the progression of time began to grow my network to include individuals all over the world. I've found it quite beneficial because I've been able to interact and engage with individuals on specific topics, questions, and general comedy from all over the world. Twitter is a space where individuals can come together despite their differences to communicate and experience a shared experience of community. Twitter is beneficial for my future career because it can allow me to connect with individuals in my industry on topics that are pressing, innovative, and interesting. Twitter is an amazing platform and I am continuously looking forward to its progression.  

Digital Divide

    Frequently overlooked, the Digital Divide is something that affects many of today's youth. The digital divide is a problem that disadvantages students who do not have adequate needed access to a computer. It can be something as simple as not being able to play a game with classmates to something as important as missing a learning module that occurs only online that is needed to matriculate to the next grade level. The digital divide is a problem that is overlooked too frequently. The digital divide can affect student success because students from a low socioeconomic background will not have the ability to remain on course with their peers who grow up as digital natives and environments that are technology-rich these impacts can be long-lasting and have far-reaching effects on students overall academic well-being. The digital divide is caused mostly by a lack of access or even in some cases a lack on the part of educators to integrate technology into learning environments. As a teacher, I would work to ensure that students have the ability to complete assignments in a hybrid manner and encourage them to use as much or as little technology as they can. If I notice that a student does not have adequate access to technology I will work alongside school administrators to see if any school-sponsored devices can be made available for the student. 

Academic Software

    Academic software can be a great way to engage students in an additional matter outside of traditional face-to-face lectures. Academic software provides students the ability to utilize technology in a classroom setting to further enhance and engage with their learning experience. The use of academic software allows educators to present relevant course material in a manner that is often more engaging and consumable to students. In my future classrooms, two tools that I would use are https://www.albert.io/ and https://www.codeavengers.com/. These two sites allow students to engage with coursework outside of a traditional textbook and lecture format. Albert.io allows students to review subjects taught in the classroom at their own pace while utilizing various learning methods. This will be a great tool for students who often struggle with the traditional classroom environment having this self-guided platform for them to review contact will allow them to excel. Codeavengers.com is an additional platform that will allow students to practice and improve upon their coding skills through various activities and coding challenges. Through these learning environments, students can get live real-time feedback on mistakes they make and make corrections as they go in addition to this the teacher is allowed the opportunity to also provide feedback in a live matter to students who may be needing additional help. Academic software overall improves the quality of the learning experience and can be a great way to foster productive learning environments for all students.

Badges

    I think in learning environments badges are a great way to engage students and additionally offer them a way to publicly display material that they have mastered/completed. Throughout my learning experience, I have participated in various different programs that have allowed me to earn badges that I can publically display. One of the most recent badges that I have received as for the completion of a career center professional development course here at (Fsu). While I do not always share the badges that I have earned from time to time I like to display them if I know they will be relevant to the experience that I may be participating in with others. Doing so allows me to showcase to others that I have mastered the material that the badges are for and can demonstrate my ability to assist in that area. Ultimately I truly like badges and I am looking forward to earning some more throughout my lifelong learning experience.

Make-it-Up Badge Activity