SESSION 5 - BEST PRACTICES

RESPONSE ITEM:

As Dr. Newberry explained in his Session 5 podcast, Technology Integration can take many forms. The selection of Best Technology practices is shaped by a number of factors, some of these could be the instructor's approach, the level the instructor is teaching, the subject matter the instructor is teaching, etc. Ultimately, the determining factor as to the selection of a best practice rests in the mind of the beholder, for what to one instructor may appear to be as the best practice when it comes to delivery of knowledge, may not make any sense at all to another instructor. Once again, the answer to the question of what is a best practice rests within the mentality of the instructor given a particular educational setting.

There are indeed, many ways to integrate technology in every educational setting. I believe that the best practice is that which successfully reaches the students and ultimately succeeds at conveying accross to the students the materials and knowledge goals of the lessons. It is very possible to succeed by using many approaches. The decision of which best practice to utilize lies within the instructor's realm and capability. Thus, there is no right or wrong approach to best practice, for its approach is relative.

As part of my response to this assignment, I will cite Power Point as a case of Best Practice. I became gradually acquainted to Power Point, first as a student while attending Junior College. Some of my instructors used this practice to present their lessons to the class. I felt the presentations were very good and I became interested in learning how to use this technology, so that I could integrate it to my personal knowledge base. Thus, my curiosity led me to tinker with power Point, until I reached a level of proficiency where I was able to create simple, but concise presentations.

Eventually, I transfered to this university and my classes actually required me to create Power Point presentations. Thus, I was the able to utilize the skills I learned. I have sucessfully used power point many times. Although I do not consider myself a professional at hanling Power Point, I feel comfortable with this technology. I feel I have integrated this technology to my best practices personal knowledge base.

I really like Power Point because of it's flexibility of application. For example, one can use power point to display text. Power Point can be used as an outline for purposes of a presentation; the outline is presented, while the instructor fills-in the titles with additional details and information. Power Point can also serve as a presentation by itself, because one can add a number of slides that can be run like a mini-movie.

In Power Point, one can also insert sound in every slide. Lastly, depending on your level of expertise, Power Point can be utilized so that it approaches movie quality. By using Power Point in a way that is presented as seamless slides, in which one can add video and sound. When used in this manner, one gets the best out of Power Point.

Power Point is not state-of-the-art technology; it has been around for several years now. I believe it is a very useful technology to use, for it can be used in so many different ways to satisfy almost any imaginable application in the educational setting. Power Point is as flexible as the user's capabilities.

Despite the fact that this is not a new technology, I am amazed at how many people know very little about it. People's level of knowledge about this and other technologies varies, depending on the setting discussed. This explains the knowledge disparity. perhaps more time is needed before more people discover the technological value of Power Point, and incorporate it in their personal knowledge base as a best practice.


WEEKLY LOG:

- Downloaded and listened to Session 5 podcast.
- Formulated a response for Session 5 blog.
- Posted response in blog.
- Posted Project 1 podcast.
- Finished Project 1.
- E-mailed instructor and advised of Project 1 status.
- Continued working on Project 2.
- Continued working on Project 3.
- Read scholar's blogs.
- Posted comments on scholar's blogs.