Digital Tools and My PLN

Reflection of Digital Tools and PLN

One digital tool that I really would enjoy using is Skype or the Google+ Chat.

I think this would be an effective tool in my classroom due to the subject areas that I am teaching. I divide my time, unevenly, between Religious History and Spanish Language courses. Both are a bit difficult to fit in technology, so finding a good tool that can work for both classes would be the ideal situation. I don’t care much for a translation app because I think it is lazy and prevents the students from doing their own work, and it is a hard fit to find a tool that is imperative for something as ancient as historical religions. Thus far, the only app I have used that I really enjoy in both classes is Google Maps. It was a good tool for tracing the Israelites journey to the Promised Land in Religion, and it was interesting when used for cultural studies in Spanish. Though I have had success with this one tool, if I want to expand my digital horizons, I think a good way to start would be through worldwide collaboration.

Skype or Google+ Chat are apps that I use in my day to day life. I have an interview in a foreign country? Easy, they can Skype me. My sister and my parents want to all talk face to face at the same time? I’ll sign onto Google+ Chat. As tools go, I use these digital ditties in my day to day happenings, so I can translate them into the classroom. Right?

I think the best way for me to use these apps would be by starting slow and using them to communicate with other classrooms in the school for a crossover unit. Maybe the Skype would be a good app to use for collaborating on Religious History and Classics classes and combining their findings. An interactive student centered digital discussion. I could Skype with my old class in Argentina to have them practice their English, and my class could work on their Spanish. I could also have my professors from college Skype me into one of their lectures so that the students could maybe raise their bar on philosophical history. I think it would be a nice break from the usual classroom banter, and it would allow the kids to hear from a different perspective.

I got the idea of using Skype or Google+ Chat from various college professors of mine. They used it about once a month to get us into a lecture or a conference, and it was like we were flies on the wall listening into the conversation. They also signed us in to Skype or Google+ Chat with other classrooms and professors across the States so that we could participate and see the topic from another’s perspective. I also got the idea from our classroom VCs. They are a good way for us to hash out details of our problems and our upcoming (or current) teaching careers.

I think my PLN will be all about face to face communication through the above apps and through classroom inclusion. I am not big on digital tools, but I am slowly learning, and I think that Skype and Google+ Chat would a decent start to my online education on classroom education for the 21^st century.