I see podcasting as another great way to communicate with our “digital natives”. It is not very hard to create a podcast as I recently learned when I created my first podcast for this class.  Truthfully I would like to see more school’s take advantage of this great resource. I learned that you can post your podcasts for free and that students can download them providing they have access to a computer and an ipod or device that plays podcasts and their good to go. It is also a great resource for parents too. Teachers can use it to communicate with parents about what is going on in the classroom and the school. Podcasting is another great way teachers can use technology to enhance their students learning experience.  Especially students with disabilities. I see podcasts as a great benefit for students who miss a lot of school due to illness or have difficulty retaining information. Students can also use  it as a great way to review before assessments. The possibilities go on and on for podcasting. 

In all I feel my experience with the PowerPoint project was a positive one. I normally feel out of my element when it comes to being creative, but the possibilities that were presented created a spark in me. The ideas were easy to come up with but my difficulty came with executing them.  I imagine that the difficulty I had, had a lot to do with the fact that using PowerPoint in that way was new to me. Even though I had trouble with the end product the process of being creative was good for me and that is why I say that it was a positive experience. I can imagine that allowing students to use PowerPoint to create presentations with the right guidance can provide a positive learning experience for them as well. Especially students at the middle school age.

When it comes to the argument of whether or not PowerPoint is good for our students I would definitely have to say the good outweighs the bad. I had never really thought in depth about the topic until now, but now that I have I realized that I am one of those students who benefit greatly from Power Point. I have always struggled with taking good notes and especially in college. Sometimes it felt like a guessing game of what I should write vs. not write. With the Power Point slides it is almost like guided note taking and when it is time for the test a great study guide.

As an educator I think that you must be creative and have strong organizational skills in order for the use of power point to be beneficial. I feel if power point is used properly it is a great way to reach all different learning styles.

Excel is a program that I have always been afraid of. I only used it when absolutely neccesarry and I can do only the basics if that. I am so thankful that Dr. Ransom provided us with these links on excel programs. I never realized how much you can do with excel, and now I know that it is not as scary as I thought it was. Certainly if a child can be taught early how to use this program it will benefit them in the long run in many areas and they won’t be afraid when they are required to use excel for any reason. I really enjoyed the lesson plan ideas that were given and I hope that I will be able to implement them one day soon.