Hello all, I know this post is supposed to be primarily about the learning project and using a type of educational technology but I wanted to make a short statement about this class first. When I first signed up for this class I thought, I hoped, I would learn about how to use different sorts of technology in the classroom and improve my technical skills. When I read the syllabus, the weekly plans, etc., I was a bit disappointed because I thought “Oh, its just blog posts and an online community” but now that we are entering our 4th week I am starting to see the bigger picture, especially with this latest blog post.  The learning project directly ties in to using educational technology and I am improving my tech skills. All in all, the class is turning out the way I wanted.

Okay, with that said I will begin focusing on the prompt for this week. So the educational technology I decided to explore for my learning project is called “Cram” an online flashcard software where you can create your own flashcards and also discover millions of other flashcard sets created by people all over the world. Initially, I planned on creating my own flashcard set about different musical symbols, and then about halfway through my set I said to myself “You know maybe someone already created what I am looking for” and sure enough there was already a flashcard set with everything I wanted. Regardless I have included a video demonstrating how to use the software. It is very easy to understand and very user-friendly so really anyone could use it with my demonstration or without.

Under the SAMR model, the way in which I used it would be substitution. However I will provide examples for the rest of the acronym.

Augmentation – Students can use the software to embed images, audio clips or interactive elements

Modification – Students share their flashcard sets with peers for collaborative learning and receive immediate feedback, enhancing the learning experience.

Redefinition – Teachers and students from around the world collaborate to create a shared flashcard deck, pooling knowledge and resources.

Another thing about Cram is that once you make the flashcards you can create tests and even games using the content of your flashcards, important to consider when thinking about the SAMR model.

The flashcard set I used I will link here, it took me about two hours of studying to be able to clean the set without failure, and some of the terms I do not know the meaning of. I will create my own set where I put the term and put the meaning next to it.