Blog Post #8

     I enjoyed completing the Web Design Assignment. I have created websites in the past for clubs, so this was another exciting creative project for me. I liked how easy it was to navigate Weebly. There are multiple tabs to click on, in which you can add factors to improve your website. Every section of my website was organized in a specific way, so that parents and students would easily able to find the information they needed. The only thing that I had trouble with were my images. I made the images the hyperlinks to the specific sites. Some of the pictures did not save properly, so I had to redo the steps a couple times to get it right. A new skill that I acquired was embedding a Google Drive calendar. Whenever I made websites for clubs in high school, my teachers would always do that part for me since it was their personal calendars. I had to watch a tutorial in order to figure out what to do. I think it was fascinating how you could click through the months and see upcoming events/assignments. As for my future career, I would like to create a website for students and parents. If the school system I work for does not utilize Canvas, I will most definitely be creating a website. This way parents have easy access to important information that their students might forget to share. It allows parents to take matter into their own hands, especially if I am teaching younger students. I can embed a calendar so my parents and students can plan for upcoming assignments. I believe it is important to plan ahead as a student if you have extracurriculars. I can include portals on my website for students and parents to access information about the school, grades, and learning tools that will enhance learning. I would like to include a section on my website, that I did not add for this project, that allows parents to contact me. I have seen it on professional websites for businesses, but it could be used as a quick tool for contact. If I do use a website in the future, I would like to post assignment templates and rubrics in case students lose the handouts I give in class. This way, my students are never blindly completing assignments. I believe this assignment gave me a new tool for my future classroom someday. Link to my website: https://eme2040seavers.weebly.com

    Diigo has been an interesting tool. Definitely not one I love, but I enjoy how students can collaborate using Diigo. I have learned how to annotate a document using Diigo, comment on other peoples' website posts, access new websites I hadn't seen before, and interact with other's annotations. I do think, however, that information can be lost since it is one Diigo board. If I were to use Diigo in my future classroom, I would create multiple boards so that students don't lose information once a new assignment is being completed. I think this application can be useful in my future classroom during collaborative assignments. I do not want to force a student to use Diigo for personal work if they have an organization application they prefer, but for group assignments it will be used. If students have to work on group research, I will create boards for each group to keep their sources organized. This way, students aren't using the same source as their partners. They can track each others finding in a simple way. I believe Diigo would be great for the use of professional development among my team members. Since I will be working in a school system, all the teachers that are teaching the same grade level as me can post websites that work for their students. This way, all of us will be able to discover new educational tools that we may not have tried. It is a great way for us to communicate and share what works for our students. This can expand our own students learning in the process. As for individual professional efforts, I can keep all my learning tools for my students on Diigo. I will have it bookmarked on my computer, so that I can quickly access a website that needs to be used during a lesson. It can also be used to add websites that I might need for future use to my teaching repertoire. 

    I believe technology has an extreme impact on teacher professional development. With the changing world of technology, teachers need to understand how to navigate the websites that will enhance student learning. Teachers need to stay up to date, and can do so by following different twitter handles, blogs, facebook pages, or other websites. Teachers are a community and should aid each other in professional development, regardless of the school they teach at. There are always new applications to learn, but these applications need to be implemented in the students' best interests. If teachers expand upon their technology use, they can connect more with students. That open line of communication, for one, is integral to a successful learning environment. If a teacher is unaware of the technology tools needed for learning, there will be indescrepencies for the students. One good website for teachers to stay informed of technology trends in education would be: https://tutorful.co.uk/blog/the-82-hottest-edtech-tools-of-2017-according-to-education-experts. This website links other Educational Technology resources, as well as websites that provide updates or explanations for other learning tools. Tutorful updates their website constantly with new technology that is being implemented into the classrooms worldwide. It also describes certain tools, as well as provides testimonies from teachers who use these Educational Technology tools. By checking this website, teachers are given a plethora of options to implement into their classroom. Since it is always being updated, the information is not out-of-date. The testimonies provide teachers with information from colleagues. I believe this website truly gives teachers inside on the Educational Technology tools and think it can be used as a guide when trying to implement something new.