TI-navigator

One of the coolest things i came across while looking up educational technology was the TI-navigator. I always had trouble in math but when the teachers brought of the TI calculators i thought it was so much fun working on graphs and equations with the calculator. When the TI calculator came out i thought it was one of neatest inventions, everyone enjoyed playing with them. I am really glad to see that there is a device that can now connect them all together. I wish i had that in school when i was in highschool, the TI calculators were always hard to figure out but now the teacher can help students with an overhead display. I also like how you can poll the entire class and since the calculators are connected you can show the results. In class we always had to individually ask people the question we were using in our poll then write down the results and then make our graph. Now it is so simple to poll an entire class of students without all the work. This allows for less class time taking a poll and more time to work on areas of math in which students are struggling. This is probably one of my favorite devices in educational technology that i have heard of.

SmartBoard

I had never heard of a smart board before i read our class wiki. I think that it is one of the coolest inventions i have ever seen. Its a shame that it seems like a really expensive piece of equipment because i think that many schools can benefit from it. I think it will take a really long time for smartboards to be used over here since there are so many public schools, states do not have the money to put these boards in schools which have many classrooms. I am studying abroad in London this winter break i think it would be really neat if some of the classrooms i am working in had one of these. The smart board is a really great interactive way to present materials to a class and have them involved in the lectures.

Apple Ipods

Apple Ipods are one of the greatest pieces of technology ever brought into the classroom. In high school i took a class called current issues, it focused on important issues going on in the world today. In the class we watched a lot of movies but since it focused on current issues it was often hard for my teacher to find up to date information on the subject, that is where the apple ipod really came into use. He would find the greatest lectures and speeches on issues and he would just bring in his ipod and plug it in. It was also a great invention because 5 minutes before class he could go on the internet and find the most up to date information on the situations which we were learning about. Technology is advancing so much it is amazing to see what can be done these days. Unfortunately i do not have an ipod right now but i will definitely have to invest in one for my future classroom use.