Twitter



I believe twitter has its pro's and con's just as any other resource may have. I would not incourage or use twitter in my class room. I do not believe it has any educational purposes for in the class room activities, because the kids would take advantage of the priveledge of using it. I do believe it would be a good source to use, but by encouraging the students to use it at home, by being able to explore the podcasts, articles, and resourceful information on their own time. But in some cases depending on the class they are enrolled in, it might be something worth having in class, depending on the situation at hand.



Podcasts



Podcasts is a very positive way for students to study and learn material. The podcast is a different approach to the way the students learn, instead of having to read material from a text book, they get to listen and interact with session. Its a new way to get students more interested in learning. I would definatly use podcasts in my classroom because it is such a encouraging way to learn and gets the students more involved.





Access



The Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide ACCESS provides students with access to courses their schools may not offer. It allows students from any part of the state to learn in a virtual classroom environment and provides access to advanced diploma courses also additional course offerings. The program also allows students to repeat courses failed and stay on track! The most unique aspect about it is you do not have a teacher, all work is done online. The tool will allow students to get more prepared and ahead for college. A poll was taken at a highschool and 75% of the students said their virtual school experience was as good as or better than traditional. I think this tool will also help students become more technologically advanced. I think Access is a great quality learning program for all students.

Alex

"Alex," stands for Alabama Learning Exchange, and provides teachers with a resource to use for lesson plans. They allow the teachers to select a subject, that ranges to literature, math, science, social science, and other various subject matters. They also allow you to choose a grade level from kindegarden to 12th grade and provides that subject matter for that specific grade. They then have two sets of grade level standards, which are the 1999 version and the new and updated 2007 version, so the teacher is allowed to choose what standard they decide to teach. After those simple steps the teacher is then provided with a lesson plan that any one is allowed to download, which makes it a little more easier for teachers.

Blogs

Blogs is a very important tool for students to use. They provide the teacher and students with ways for students to write their assignments, websites, important blogs, google presentations, and audio learning. They provide the students with a space to write assignments, they can comment on other students assignments or vise versa, they allow communication between teacher and student and the best part is they are free of cost. I would definatly use blogging in the class room, its also a way for students that are sick, to be able to keep up at home without having to retrive assignments from school.