Blog Post #4

When I was in high school, I created a personal Twitter account just because all of my friends had already done so - it was the "cool" thing to do. As I got into college, I realized how easily news can be shared via Twitter and how many politicians even had their own Twitter accounts. When we began utilizing Twitter in this course, I created another Twitter account just for my weekly tweets and educational updates. By having all of my classmates and my professor on Twitter, I have been able to better understand the material and, not to mention, my classmates' tweets serve as good reminders for any assignments that may be due. Although I have only interacted with a few of my classmates via Twitter, learning how to communicate with others on different online platforms is beneficial to any future job, especially considering the pace at which technology is advancing. After using Twitter in this course, I will definitely be considering using Twitter in my future classroom - it allows for fast communication and is exciting compared to other social media outlets!

The digital divide is a term used to describe the gap between those who do and do not have access to technology - not everyone owns a computer and not everyone has internet access at home. This divide has affected student success for years, especially as technology advances. Students who have access to technology are more likely to succeed in school, while those on the other end of the spectrum are more likely to struggle in school. As an educator, it is important to understand these differences and to treat each student according to their needs; maybe spend more time with those who are struggling or create specific assignments that will guide them in the right direction, especially when technology is being used. If a homework assignment calls for the use of technology and a student does not have those resources at home, give him or her extra time during the school day or delay the assignment's due date a week. At the end of the day, the students are our top priority as educators and we should try to help them in any way possible.

Active learning software is a diverse collection of academic software that can be used to enrich teaching and learning, both for students and teachers. Out of all of the software types presented in chapter eight, the student software that I would expect to use the most in my future classroom would be desktop publishing, which would enable me to create study materials, worksheets, flyers, posters, online magazines, and other media. The student software that I would be least likely to utilize in my future classroom, however, would be authoring systems. If my goal of becoming a high school English teacher becomes a reality, then I will not be needing authoring systems such as "Storyline" as much as I would need "Microsoft Publisher".