Jodi McFarland INST 6233

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...