21st Century Blogs

LINK: http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/

AUTHOR OF BLOG: Michael Gorman

The first blog which I happened to stumble across was entitled “21^st Century Educational Technology and Learning”, by Michael Gorman- a teacher from the United States who has many awards and accolades to his name. He has worked as a consultant for many different companies including, Discovery Education, and has travelled across North America advocating for 21^st century learning and education. Recently he states in his biography that he was named one of Microsoft’s 365 Global Education Heroes. His resume demonstrates his vast commitments to improving education and pursuit of 21^st century learning goals in each classroom.

His blog is very impressive and hosts a large number of resources that could be implemented into any classroom. His most recent post explores 40 different educational websites that teachers can utilize in their classroom, or to keep in their “toolkit” as he refers to it. He offers a direct link to each of these resources and provides a brief synopsis of the resource and its purpose. Such resources can certainly help teachers develop more engaging lessons, as it can often be hard to find quality resources in a limited time span. These resources vary from tools which the students could use in class, to forums and professional learning spaces.

Not only do his posts provide resources, but he also offers teachers suggestions on how to utilize said technology in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed his post where he offers suggestions on how to utilize word clouds (such as the images created from “Wordle”) in various classroom settings and subjects. In this post, entitled “170 Ways To Use Word Clouds In Every Classroom” from May 11, 2014, Mr. Gorman provides a list of unique ways each subject teacher could incorporate word clouds into their daily practice. By providing a specific list of methods for each subject, teachers are able to learn practical strategies for applying these technologies in their subject/classroom. I often find that as a math teacher, I am presented with new technologies, such as Wordle, but sometimes struggle to integrate it into my subject area. By offering these specific suggestions, it could help teachers from all disciplines understand its relevance, from science to the applied arts and beyond.

Overall, Mr. Gorman’s blog provides great ideas and resources, as long as you can look past his advertising at the beginning of each post.

LINK: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

AUTHOR: RICHARD BYRNE

            The second blog which I have discovered is called “Free Technology for Teachers”, created by Richard Byrne- a former teacher in the United States. This blog has received numerous awards, including the 2012 Edublogs Award for Best Ed Tech Blog. His blog is read by an audience 58 000 daily subscribers, which attests to the quality of his resources and posts. He is also a Google Certified Teacher, which I had not heard of before this so I decide to conduct my own side research- see the link attached to learn more about this unique Google opportunity (http://www.google.com/edu/programs/google-teacher-academy/).

            Mr. Byrne has developed a very diverse blog whereby he posts about current and developing technologies as well as educational applications of these technologies. At the top of his blog, Mr. Byrne also provides direct links to different resources and blogs (such as iPad Apps for Schools, and Google Tutorials). In one of his posts, entitled “Made From History is a Must-bookmark for History Teachers and Students”, Mr. Byrne provides a brief synopsis of this history website, while also providing key screenshots to demonstrate some of the features of the website. This allows the reader to gain a better understanding of the technology before utilizing it themselves, should they choose to investigate it further. Mr. Byrne also provides an additional commentary and review on the educational applications of the website; however I wish he also included specific suggestions as to how this resource could be implemented in the classroom. I do appreciate Mr. Byrne’s honest reviews of the technology that he posts, as it helps me as a teacher make a professional decision about using this resource in the classroom.

            I really enjoyed how this blog ventured into different resources and educational tools- from educational interactive websites, to neat videos, to info-graphics that Mr.Byrne has found that could help to enhance the learning in any classroom. To improve his blog, I wish Mr. Byrne would have specific links or folders for “Math” resources, or “Science” resources, rather than having to search at the top of the blog, or to look through his vast array of posts for different ideas to enhance my classroom.

LINK: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.ca/

AUTHOR: David Andrade

            The final blog which I found is entitled “Educational Technology Guy”, by David Andrade. Mr. Andrade is a Chief Information Officer for an urban public school in the United States and former teacher. The blog explores educational technology, educational theory, educational pedagogy as well as 21^st century skills and education. This blog was nominated for the 2012 Best Ed Tech Blog.

            In this blog, Mr. Andrade posts a good variety of teacher resources and tools that could be utilized in the classroom. The blog which is updated a handful of times throughout the month, offers educational connections between real world contexts and technology. For instance, on April 22, 2014, which was Earth Day, Mr. Andrade included a post entitled “Today is Earth Day-  here are some resources for teachers”, which would allow teachers to make classroom connections to current events. In this post, Mr. Andrade included numerous direct links to resources and websites which offer resources on Earth Day topics. While these links are helpful, Mr. Andrade did not evaluate the quality of the resources, and only offered a generic list of ideas that could be used to learn about Earth Day- many of which did not specifically relate to technology or 21^st century learning/skills.

            While Mr. Andrade posts about new technologies that are being developed, I sometimes struggle to see the connection between some of his posts and how I could use the resource in the classroom to help improve student learning. Perhaps a greater explanation in his posts could aid in my understanding.

            Overall, Mr. Andrade’s blog offers some neat ideas for utilizing more technology in the classroom, however I wish he would include more explanations about the resources, rather than just the direct links to the products.