Tool #9: Incorporating Classroom-Based Devices as Tools for Learning

1. Why do you think it is important to tie the technology to the objective? isn't that our job? Actually, I think the question could be better written as a statement -"Technology use should be authentic and either a vehicle for obtaining, reinforcing, or presenting the learning necessary to achieve the objective."
2. Why should we hold students accountable for the stations/centers? The activities are authentic and planned around learning objectives, so why wouldn't we hold them accountable? I'm confused about the language here. Teachers could use a participation rubric during class or the students create a product that shows their learning.
3. Visit 2 of the applicable links to interactive websites for your content/grade level. Which sites did you like. How could you use them as stations? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations? Thinkfinity has some neat resources, including a game we can use in our Survival Unit showing an interactive model of natural selection.
4. List two to three apps you found for the iPod Touch/iPad that you can use in your classroom. What do you see that station looking like? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations? It's hard no to love Google Earth with it's zoom-in features. Much faster way to head to the Grand Canyon. Molecules is great fun, and much more fun to use for looking at models during our brief stint of organic chemistry. Dragon Dictation, Edmodo, or other notetaking apps could be used at the centers for students to record observations.
5. What about other ways to use the iPod Touch/iPad? Share another way you can see your students using the device as a station. The devices are great for independent work, whether an alternate assignment for an advanced or absent student.