Abigail DeCamillo's EME2040 Class Blog

My experience with distance learning was primarily during Covid-19, when we were all quarantined in 2020. I was in 8th grade when this happened and my middle school used Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Classroom. I found them effective; they allowed us to collaborate virtually and complete assignments. However, I think that there was a lack of accountability due to classes being online, so that is a definite struggle that comes with distance learning. Some technologies I have not experienced that seem useful for distance learning are virtual reality platforms and AI; both seem like they could be great ways to enhance personalized instruction from afar. To define it in my own terms, open educational resources (OER) are educational tools that are accessible to all. Linked below is Indiana University of Pennsylvania's LibGuide on OER, which provides some examples of open educational resources, such as streaming videos, open textbooks, and digital learning objects. These resources ar...

 

The Web Design assignment allowed me to develop a very useful new skill: how to layout and organize a website. Prior to this assignment, I had no experience with website design, so this was a great way for me to learn some aspects of it. Some design principles that I made sure to use when designing my website were accessibility, simplicity, and consistency. For example, I made sure to keep the fonts that I used consistent (and follow the CRAP principle), make my website easy to navigate with clear directions and embedded links, and aligned all of my text and images to ensure that they looked neat. While I enjoyed the creative aspect of this assignment, I found it challenging at times to embed certain items or make my website aesthetic and functional according to the rubric. I can definitely use my newfound skills in my future career in creating my own class websites, digital newsletters, or interactive assignments. A creative way to use QR codes in my classroom is incorporating them in...

This is a resource that provides free, virtual workshops for teachers in a variety of topics/subjects. This specific section focuses on teacher professional learning, allowing teachers to obtain new classroom ideas or resources. https://tinyurl.com/freeteacherworkshop