Jodi McFarland INST 6233

For this assignment, we were to find a workout that was outside our comfort zone. This was difficult for me, as I make difficult workouts a part of my routine. My Crossfit Gym, CSquared Fitness in downtown Prattville, uses an app for CrossFit WODs (Workout of the Day) to communicate to gym members what the class with consist of on that particular day. The only workouts I avoid are workouts that include movements that have caused me injury or pain in the past. I have included screenshot of SugarWOD, our daily workout app. Today's workout will be challenging for me. I normally shy from double unders, as I have a tendency to slap myself with the jump rope. I will always workout to a point that is challenging for me without causing injury. I wouldn't recommend CrossFit to people who want to start working out. The movements require a lot of training, which the CrossFit trainers in the gym are not educated to train people in. The workouts are great for people who understand compl...

As an athlete in the past, I have integrated regular physical activity into my lifestyle. I usually wake up on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 4:00 a.m. to attend a CrossFit class at 5:00 a.m. I also run, swim, and lift weight during the week if I feel up to it. Working out regularly has increased my energy levels and general life satisfaction. I am able to lift and move things when I need to and I can go up and down stairs without much difficulty. If I stop regular exercise, I find that I gain weight quickly and I experience aches, pains, and tightness that aren't normally there. Working out often increases my hunger level, but it also elevates my mood. I will continue to work out in the future. I feel that regular exercise is a necessity to health and longevity.

iBooks and iAuthor created by Apple is an amazing tool for creating and sharing books. With this program, anyone can create a book or textbook and share it. Authors can select a template, pictures, and much more to customize and design their books. When finished, authors can publish and share their books online. This has great potential in classroom environments. Students could use the technology to create projects where they can work together or on their own. Teachers can also create their own textbooks to use in their classrooms. Students can follow along in interactive and engaging lessons created with iBooks and iAuthor. The program also allows authors to create interactive quizzes and lessons in the digital book. Teachers can create their own content to give students a more personalized and individualized learning experience. Companies can also use this program to create brochures, handbooks, and manuals. The program can also be used for personal use. There are resources on the si...

As an educator, I often use Prezi to create presentations for lessons in class. Prezi is a platform similar to PowerPoint, but is free to use. Prezi uses flash to create slide presentations with animated transitions and each topic flows from one slide to another. Prezi is also easy to share with a link which makes it very accessible. As an online platform, you don't have to worry about carrying a file with you. Prezi saves your work in an account, where you can access your work at any time. This is important as a teacher, where technology consistently fails in the classroom. Here is a link to one of my presentations created with Prezi: https://prezi.com/nmq4rm2yheoy/surrealism/

In the video Michio Kaku: The Key to Immortality, he discusses how technology will affect biology in the future. He states that every 18 months, computer power doubles. Specifically for genomics, this technology will allow people to purchase their entire gene sequence in a digital format. This information will be the basis of for personal medical treatments. This will also change how we analyze genes. This technology will allow scientists to pinpoint which genes are damaged in the aging process. In the future, this will allow scientists to repair the damaged mitochondria and genes that are damaged in the aging process, allowing human to live longer and healthier lives. Biology will become computer science.

In the video Michio Kaku: Inventions of the Future, he discusses the possibilities of "programmable matter" and how small computer chips can emulate changing states of matter. Intelligent computer chips, or Katims - about the size of the head on a pin, can rearrange themselves to create different shapes and creations. All of this can be controlled and changed according to the needs of the user.

Scratch can be an invaluable tool in education. Using Scratch, students can learn to make movies, games and much more, all while applying practical programming skills that will engage them in the learning process. Scratch can be used in many subject areas. Lesson Review http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/resources Scratch Class Handbook - Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J4VllFn5daSP2bWYcGB9cWSjeTQ17h3Q/view This lesson is a basic programming lesson for children. Parents are encouraged to work with their children on this lesson. Using Scratch, students are directed step-by-step on how to make their own animated .gif. It's a basic programming lesson, so there is a four variable limit in this lesson. At the end of the lesson, students will upload their own animated .gif files to download for their own use. Valentine's Scratch Lesson - Hearts and Arrows https://www.createcodeload.com/valentines-scratch-lesson/ This Scratch lesson...

3D printing creates many new and interesting opportunities for students to learn. 3D technology places the students in a position to make new things and create their own unique solutions to problems. With 3D printing, students become designers and makers and it also increases spatial reasoning skills. 3D printing technology is expensive, but is a great motivator for reluctant students. Students love to make things hands on. Using this technology, students can create solutions to real-world problems. 3D printing has applications across all subject areas from science and math to art. 3D printing has many applications to solve real-world problems. Students will be fascinated by their ability to solve real issues and help others. Recently, 3D printing techniques have helped children with a condition known as microphthalmia, where children are born with missing eyes. Doctors used MRI scanning on children with the condition, and then predicted how each child's head would develop. Using...

Augment 3D is a free augmented reality app that allows users to try out products and other objects before purchasing them. The first time the app is used, there is a short tutorial about how the app is used and how to manipulate the 3D models in the augmented reality space. To move the model up and down, pan with one finger and to rotate use two fingers. To resize, pinch the fingers together just as to resize a photo. There are public models that are free to use and many different styles and themes of 3D models to try. Several categories of models organize the model selection. I chose to use the "education" category to try out the app. The education category was quite small, with only 9 models currently to choose from. The finger motions are a bit confusing at first and difficult to move. I placed several objects around my apartment to try out a few features.  Users can turn off the AR feature and rotate the 3D model around to get a better look at the mod...

Top Hat and Nearpod are great apps to use in a classroom. Top Hat is geared more for a college or university setting and Nearpod is more suitable for primary and secondary grade levels. Top Hat allows instructors and teachers to easily take a view of the class and automatically take roll. During class, students can access the discussion app that is embedded in the program to discuss the lecture. Students participate unanimously, which helps avoid conflicts and disruptions. Teachers may sync their devices to the students' devices to so that the students can move along with the teacher during the lecture and the teacher can give access to the lecture for students to review outside of class. Top Hat is also great for attendance, grading and recording class participation. Grades are updated daily and the teacher can integrate tests and other assignments within the app. The app also allows teachers to upload textbooks and other materials for the class. Nearpod is more suitable for prima...

BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, is an increasingly popular idea to use in schools as a way of giving access to technology without purchasing a device for each student. BYOD offers students an opportunity to participate in personalized learning, immediate technology integration, and school can concentrate their funds to provide devices to students in need. However, there are many concerns with implementing BYOD in schools. BYOD taxes schools bandwidth and infrastructure with the amount of bandwidth being used by personal devices, much if which will be unavoidably used for personal apps and not educational purposes. Another obstacle for BYOD is compatibility issues. Many Apple products are not compatible with any other devices Also, many devices are not equipped for use in the classroom, which will cause an issue due to the variety of devices students may bring for use. PROS: Students and teachers can use familiar devices to complete tasks. BYOD saves companies and schools money by...

Research and studies in education show that using technology in the classroom to promote diversity, cultural understanding, and global awareness increases creativity, problem solving, innovation and communication skills. Technology addresses issues in the classroom concerning access and equity for learners. Technology allows educators to better assess and refine lessons to be inclusive of multiple diverse learners, cultures, and learning styles. Technology allows teachers to push past traditional boundaries and create a classroom environment where students from multilingual and multicultural backgrounds can learn together. Technology facilitates acceptance, encourages cooperative learning and can bridge communication boundaries, creating more opportunities for students to learn effectively in a diverse classroom. "In regular face-to-face classrooms, it's very difficult to create an individual experience for each student unless you can make the learning independent but also i...

Gamification is about transforming the classroom environment to incorporate games into engaging learning experiences for students of all ages. Gamification requires collaboration, communication, creativity and play among students. Gaming can be brought into the classroom to promote fun learning activities and enhance students' learning experience and understanding. Many classrooms lack the financial support to introduce computers and technology into the classroom. However, there are many ways to introduce gamification into the classroom on a budget considering most students carry their own devices. There are several platforms, programs, and apps that offer free access or are relatively inexpensive to use. Classcraft is a platform that teachers can download and use for free. There are more options for the games teachers create if you pay an $8.00 per month premium. Classcraft also offers pricing for school districts that require a quote. Classcraft allows teachers to create fant...

Wearable technology is becoming more prevalent, making it easier than ever to integrate technology into our daily lives. Wearable technology can track many activities, analyze data, and some devices can even detect an irregular heartbeat. I have chosen two wearable devices to feature here. One is the new Nike Adapt BB smart shoe and the other is the Wagz, the wearable smart collar for dogs. The Nike Adapt BB is a smart shoe like no other. They are a basketball shoe designed by Nike that will straighten and loosen itself according to what the shoes sense is needed, which is called "electro adaptive reactive lacing". You can also manually adjust it with buttons on the soles or with a smartphone. The shoes can also connect with google maps and will vibrate when a turn is coming up or a destination is near. Here is a video about the new Nike Adapt BB smart shoe: The next wearable technology I selected was the Wagz smart collar for dogs. The collar includes real time data...

Nearpod is an easy-to-use, interne-based interactive assessment and presentation tool. Teachers can create a slide-based lesson or activity to the class with ease. Teachers may choose from different activities, such as quizes, collaborations, videos, and even share their experiences from field trips with 3D photos. Students can interact with the media as the teacher guides them through the lesson. Nearpod is an excellent alternative for presentations instead of PowerPoint or Keynotes. Students can also use gestures to interact with the digital media. If you have made a PowerPoint, simply drop it into Nearpod and the program will create a slideshow that students can interact with, presenting an easy way to integrate different formats of presentations. Teachers can also use the app to distribute resources to the students. Nearpod also has assessment options that are easy for a teacher to access. This allows fro ongoing assessment. The app will also create reports for the teacher so stude...

Storybird is a great app for a classroom environment. It encourages students to collaborate and communicate with stories and art. To use Storybird, you must first sign up. After signing up and confirming your email address, you can log in and begin creating stories. These stories are digital and shareable with your students. Students can also create stories to share with their parents and their peers. Creating a story is easy. Simply select "create" and then select an option for the format of your story. Once you begin creating a story and you have selected a cover, you can begin writing. Adding pages and artwork is easy. For a new page, click on the large "+" icon at the bottom of the first page. The app also selects artwork that is similar to the cover art you have chosen. Selecting similar artwork for the following pages is crucial to the flow and comprehension of the story. After creating your story, you may publish it and share the link via email or on social m...

Animated Videos can be a great asset to any educational experience. The use of animated videos in the classroom encourage students to communicate. It is a powerful storytelling tool. It is easier to communicate stories and ideas with animated videos to engage students. Animated videos encourage creativity and imagination in students and also improves their level of self-expression. Creating animated videos also improves their technical skills by using apps and computers to create digital content. Creating video also enhances students' presentation skills and prepares them for potential future specialization skills, such as surveying and engineering. I decided to use Powtoon instead of Chatterpix or Pupptemaster because I do not work with young children. I decided to use Powtoon to create an informational video about computer care. Powtoon is a bit more advanced than Chatterpix or Puppetmaster and appeals more to teen and adult learners. 5 Tips to Take Care of You Computer (Powt...

Etherpad is a collaborative, web-based, real-time editor where participants can edit, collaborative and communicate instantaneously. Etherpad allows multiple people to participate in editing a document in real-time and making changes and adjustments within an active group of users. Each author is represented in different colors and they can chat with each other on a sidebar menu. Etherpad is very easy to use. An author simply signs up and creates a "pad". Each pad can be edited by collaborators chosen by the authors. Authors send a link to each participant to allow them to edit the document. These "pads" are not password protected, but password protection is available if desired. Working together is easy with Etherpad. Etherpad saves documents at regular intervals, but users can manually save their progress to create checkpoints. The interface is very minimal and basic, which has advantages in certain situations. Etherpad is only available on Linus and Windows, so A...

How To Use Verso in the Classroom Verso is an online-based resource that teacher's can use in the classroom to increase student engagement, collaboration among students, and help students develop communication and collaborative skills and enable a progressive and engaging classroom environment. Verso is easy to use and integrate into a daily classroom routine. First sign into the Verso app and create an account. You can access the setup page from this web address:  http://versolearning.com/ . Verso will ask some questions to ensure that users have a personalized experience that is specific to their needs. After signing up and logging in, you will be presented with a page displaying several options. Locate the "create class" icon. You can then create and name your class. The class will have a class code that can be distributed among your students. Students can log in from any device with the class code and complete assignments, communicate, and collaborate...