Introduction

My name is Lorri Deavers and I am a future teacher in SU’s MSEd Individual Focus and Initial Teacher Licensure programs. I graduated from James Madison University in 2011 with a major in Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies and minors in Elementary Education and Spanish. While a technology course for teachers was offered at JMU, students were allowed only one elective. I decided that I could teach myself to create some of the projects that fellow students were lcreating in class—I was homeschooled after all.

So far, I have created a website and blog for my future classroom. I am hopeful to learn how to create and use PortaPortal, Prezi, Webquest and Videos for the classroom. In addition, I am interested in becoming more familiar with SmartBoard technologies and iPads and the role they play in the classroom. More specifically, I am interested in discovering how iPads assist or raise issues for students with disabilities (i.e. students with tactile issues).  

            I am a strong believer that critical thinking and knowledge develops from following your interests and engaging in self-directed, hands-on learning. I believe that many technologies provide us with ever expanding options for engaging ourselves and our students in these types of learning experiences. I am excited to discover, through this online course, new ways of interacting with and learning from the world through online technology.