I have experienced distance learning both synchronously and asynchronously. Before the pandemic began, I participated in distance learning through Florida Virtual School. This was mostly asynchronous distance learning plus synchronous phone calls with the teacher to assess my learning. I took a few courses through Florida Virtual School throughout high school because my school did not have teachers that taught the courses. Later on, I also experienced distance learning because of the pandemic. This would also be known as emergency remote learning. This was mostly synchronous learning through Zoom plus assignments that were meant to be completed asynchronously. One thing that I disliked about distance learning was that it is harder to focus compared to traditional face-to-face learning. Another thing that I disliked was that it is much harder to communicate with the teachers if I have difficulty with an asynchronous assignment. They are a little less accessible. One thing that I liked about face-to-face learning is that my location did not matter as long as I had an internet connection. For example, I was able to travel to Maryland to visit some family during the school year due to distance learning. When I am a teacher, I plan to be responsive by answering any emails that students have sent me to improve the distance learning experience for my future students.
Open educational resources are teaching materials that are free to use and reuse in your classroom. Funbrain and the CPALMS website are examples of open educational resources. Funbrain is a website with educational resources for the subjects reading and math. The website also has regular games for students to take a break and practice using technology. For the subject reading, they have a library of online books for a variety of grade levels. For the subject math, they have math games for a variety of grade levels. The CPALMS website has tutorials, lesson plans, and more tools that align with the Florida state standards. The CPALMs website link is the following: https://www.cpalms.org. The Funbrain website link is the following: https://www.funbrain.com.
One of the new skills that I acquired from working on the PowerPoint Information Dissemination assignment is how to record audio on a Powerpoint. I also learned how to save a PowerPoint in a video format. Lastly, I learned how to create my own PowerPoint slide template. Before this assignment, I thought I preferred Google slides over PowerPoint, but after completing this assignment my preference changed. I liked that PowerPoint is very customizable because of the ability to create your own slide template and the ability to record audio to it so that it can be like a video. I will definitely use PowerPoint when I am a teacher. I do not think that there was something that I disliked. Below is a screenshot of the first few slides of the PowerPoint I created.
