Blog Post #9

     So far, I have been thoroughly enjoying EME2040, and have found much of the course curriculum useful and pertinent. Since I am a digital native (something I learned in this course), I did enter this course familiar with a number of the software and programs we use in class. However, much of the information surrounding technology, the digital age, and copyright was new to me, and these lessons in particular have been useful to me. I like that EME2040 takes place in a computer lab, and the only thing I dislike about the course is that my computer is broken for some reason! When I am a teacher, something I can do to improve the classroom experience is to make sure everyone in the class feels included, safe, and encouraged to speak their mind.

    Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any material related to education that has been released in the public domain for anybody to use. They are essentially like photos that one can use freely, but in this case, the photos are educational materials. One important OER is Opencourseware, which is free college lectures uploaded to the internet for all to see. Another is free online tutorial videos that explain how to do specific tasks or explain a specific topic. And finally, there are free learning modules, where anyone can sit down and go through an entire course/module centered around a specific subject. Khan academy is a fantastic example of a learning module service. This service holds a number of different modules all centered on different academic subjects, mainly intended for k-12 learners.

Khanacademy Link: https://www.khanacademy.org/

    Since I am already familiar with PowerPoint, there weren't many new skills I acquired from this assignment. However, I was unfamiliar with the SmartArt and record features, so it took some tinkering to get those two components working in my presentation. I really liked the recording feature, especially since it lets me view my speaker notes while recording. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment since it combined the actual "teaching" aspect of the course and technology. I imagine many teachers had to use this Powerpoint record method during COVID-19 teaching, so I see this assignment as incredibly beneficial.