Here’s a tech update from Kathy Hockman:
How do I use technology? Oh, let me count the ways…the ways I try and the ways I succeed. I have recently made an almost complete move into the Apple world being now the proud owner (or user) of an iPod, iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. I have the most familiarity with my iPhone so I rely it on it the most, so far, it is Smart after all!!
I have long used my iPhone (and now my iPad) to take pictures of student products, our class agenda, in class notes, data tables, lab set ups, etc. I have used those photos to show absent students what they missed and most recently to post on my portal as a resource for absent students to access on their own time. I am trying to promote full on portal use for organization and communication. I’ll get back to on that mission.
A coworker has found that an iPhone, in camera mode and zoomed in, can take a fantastic picture of a specimen under a microscope through the objective lens of the microscope. I will be using that function when I get back to biology.
I also use my iPod in conjunction with a bullet speaker to play music during group work times or with a laptop to project sound for a video (because the classroom speakers wandered away over the summer).
I also have the use of a Lenovo Thinkpad, which is unfortunately still underused. But a recent success story is the fact that I was finally able to get the screen to remain in proper (aka upright) orientation while I wrote notes for my chem classes on the touch screen with the stylus. And saved them in a Notebook for future reference. This was possible for multiple days so felt really successful.
The most rewarding part of this was having a concrete record of what we had accomplished in each of the four in a row, almost identical classes without having to erase the whiteboard between classes or skip entire parts of the presentation due to repetition (which leads to omission in at least 1 class in four fairly often).
I realize that these are not great leaps for womankind, but they are certainly steps in the right direction for this woman!
You must be logged in to post a comment.