Copyright

When using technology in the classroom I think copyright would be a huge issue. First of all, if you are displaying your students work online in some type of portfolio or a class website or anything like that you want to make sure their work cannot be taken and reproduced for reasons other then intended. Also you need to make sure your students understand the rules and regulations of copyright because if they are creating their own website or blog or portfolio or anything like that they need to make sure that things they are posting to these various online pages are in line with copyright regulations and that they are using the images, movies, video clips ect. for the authors intended purpose. As a teacher you need to make sure that anything you post online is copyrighted so others cannot take credit for your ideas or something you did, which would fall under that category of ownership of student and faculty works. When you are making a website or creating a blog or anything like that you probably don't think much about copyright or the various copyright laws and how they could effect you or your work, but since displaying work and creating webpages/blogs/wikis/portfolios ect online is going to becoming more and more prevelant as time goes on it is important to familiarize yourself as an educator with these issues as well as familiarize your students with them if they are going to be using this online technology.

Smart Board

I could not attend the class presentation on the smartboards so I am still pretty unaware as to how they work. Prior coming to college my experience with this kind of technology was minimal. It just so happened that my highschool was scheduled to get smartboards in all of their classrooms the summer after I graduated, so I came into college with little knowledge on what a smartboard was. Many of my classesrooms in college have been outfited with this technology but I have never seen it being used, maybe because the professors are unaware of how to use them? I have no idea; however my brother is now going to my old high school with the smartboards and said almost all of the teachers had trouble figuring out how to work them, so maybe that is the problem. A whiteboard and a chalkboard are pretty self explanatory in terms of how to use them in a classroom, I just feel that many teachers or professors are a bit intimidated by this new technology, considering they are "digital immigrants". If had access to a smartboard in my classroom and knew how to use it, I would love to utilize it in my teaching, I definitely think having access to one would benefit me and my students.

E-Portfolios

As far as e-portfolios being used in the classroom well, I do not believe that the would be very useful. I see e-portfolios as being portals for someone to showcase who they are, their work and their achievements for potential employers or something of that nature. I plan to teach elementary school and based off of the e-portfolios we looked over in class, I don't think my young students would be able to create something of that magnitude. If I were to use e-portfolios in my class I guess I would have students maybe scan and upload their work so they could upload them to their portfolios, such as stories or art projects and they would leave my class with something that showcased those things, but as far as teaching with an e-portfolio I am just not sure it is a very useful educational tool. Like I said, I do believe e-portfolios are an awesome place to showcase your achievements for potential employers or for family members or for colleges or whatever, I just don't believe they would be a huge teaching aid for me in my own classroom.