Technology in the FACS Classroom

The Podcast and Wonderful World of Web workshops on June 14th and June15th were, indeed, incredibly informative! We explored dozens of different websites that will be very useful in Family and Consumer Sciences classes. One comment that was made early on in the workshops, which was really powerful, is that today's students have become bored with powerpoints so teachers need to become more technologically creative to engage today's digital learners.
There are dozens of ways that podcasts can be used including food preparation and other demonstrations, lessons/instructions for students when teachers are absent and, having students create their own podcasts for units such as safety and sanitation, meal planning, careers, etc. It was exciting to create IMovies, using Garageband, Google Images, and our own pictures. It was great to not only learn about the different available podcasting resources but also to actually start to create our own podcasts which we can edit and use in our classroom.
The Wonderful World of Web 2.0 offered even more internet resources that can be used in FACS classes-not only for me to utilize as I create presentations but also to have students create their own presentations. Wallwisher is a great tool to have students brainstorm or share prior knowledge when introducing a unit. It can also be used to share ideas such as listing different uses of eggs , sharing real life experiences such as injuries in the kitchen and/or situations when students or people they know have gotten sick from eating food. Using Voicethread, students from different classes within or outside of the school can collaborate on various topics. Prezi can be used to introduce topics or students can create their own presentations applying their knowledge of topics such as garnishing, wellness, meal planning or the importance of breakfast.
Reviewing the International Society for Technology Education's Standards for Students was also very helpful. Indeed, the 2010 FACS Technology workshops were very intense at times because so many tools were covered in such a short time, but it was great to see all the different internet resources that are available.