There are many tools at a teacher’s disposal to be used to enhance
their teaching. In this day and age technology has opened up a whole new realm
of tools for teachers to use. The basic software tool suite, as discussed in
chapter 4 of Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching by Doering and
Roblyer, has become for teacher, “a indispensable part of their daily work”
(Doering & Roblyer, 2013 p. 112). With
these programs being so widely used it’s important as educators we learn to use
these software both properly and effectively.
Word processing Software
Word processing offers versatility and flexibility with no
particular instructional approach, which is why is has become, “The most
commonly used software in education” (Doering & Roblyer, 2013 p. 116). Word
processing software saves time by producing documents quickly and making them
easy to modify (p. 116). This software would be ideal to use to create
documents you might reuse every year, because they would be easily modified
every year to fit your new needs. It allows students to write more, and gives them
he opportunity to revise their work while they write (p. 119). We as educators can use word processing
for handouts, creating tests, newsletters, or many other documents.
Spreadsheet Software
Spreadsheet software are programs, “designed to organize and
manipulate numerical data” (Doering & Roblyer, 2013 p. 122). There are many
practical uses for educators to use this software for grading, budgets or other
chart like documents. This software keeps data organized and easily manipulated. It is also the perfect software for
“What if” scenarios, like how a budget could be spent or what a students grade
outcome could be (p. 126). Allowing students to view their grades can encourage
them to take responsibility for setting goals and achieving them (p.126). In my
opinion this software is the least student friendly of the three, but it hold
lots of benefits for teacher use.
Presentation Software
Presentation software is the most visual of the three softwares
and is used to, “support speaker,” not replace them (Doering & Robyler,
2013 p. 128). The software allows time for teachers to think through how they
want particular lessons presented. This is also an extremely useful tool for
students to collaborate on projects. This tool shouldn’t be used as an entire
lesion, it is used to improve a lesion discussion not replace it.
Classroom Use
I can definitely see uses for all three of
the basic softwares in my art classroom. I will have specific uses for
presentation software. I can create presentations for each project where I can
show all together the technique of the project, an artist that relates to that
technique, and demonstrate how the assignment could be carried out. It would
also be a good tool for students to present brainstorming or research before
starting an art project. Below is a video from The Virtual Instructor's youtube
page which is a good example of how you could condense a lesson into a
presentation video.
References Used:
Roblyer, M.D., and Aaron H. Doering. Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching. 6th ed.
Boston: Pearson. 2013. Print.
Positive and Negative Space. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Wx8vDsXuI
