Final Blog

I have learned a lot this semester about how to better teach the students i will have in my classroom. I can apply all that i have learned in this class. There are two areas I would like talk about Digital literacy, and Critical literacy. Digital literacy is very important in engineering and technology. Technology is anything that makes your life easier.  Digitally literate person should have a sound knowledge of the most commonly used technologies, and a knowledge of how to use such resources to learn. So to be able to use technology you need to learn how to become more digitally literate.  Critical literacy is also important because you need to be able to do research on your technology. If your not using Critical literacy to determine where your sources are coming from you will end up with information similar to the Martin Luther king example in class. Information that has no relevance to the subject. I really enjoyed learning about all the different literacy's in our class.

Blog Post 4

I decided to chart my use of digital technologies for a week. I am constantly on my iPad, iPhone, and computer. I spend at least 4 hours per day texting, surfing the web and using social media. This time spent doesn't include my use of them for school and work. I also find it a lot more convenient renting text on my iPad then buying a hard copy.  Digital technologies are used much more by students than teachers. I plan on incorporating the iPad into my classrooms. I feel like this will be a good way to intrinsically motivate students to learn. Also you can use interactive text which will cater to the many different learning styles students have. To support the students that do not know how to use them I teach an introductory course and have how to tutorials available on the class website.

Blog Post 3
I do not think of myself as a writer and I do not like to write. However I am able to express my my ideas through writing and occasionally using pictures to support my ideas. I did not do any recreational writing as a child. The only recreational writing i do now is through text and social media. I do prefer to have an actual conversation with some one if i have more than something quick to say. In school i wouldn't say that there were any writing assignments i enjoyed. All of the writing assignments i remember doing just seemed like pointless busy work.  I did have one assignment that left a lasting impact on me. I remember taking a computer programming class and one of our assignment was to give direction to your house in programming language.  This helped me learn and remember the process of the language. I will use writing assignments in Engineering to help students learn and remember processes and try and stay away essays that are busy work.

Blog Post 2

When I was younger my family loved to ride dirt bikes, you could hardly wait for the day when you would get your very own.  When that day finally came for me, I was excited and could hardly wait to go for a ride. We headed down to the sand dunes and rode all day long, and just as it was time to leave my dirt bikes engine seized up. This was devastating for me it was broken how would i ever ride again! When we arrived home my dad unloaded my dirt bike called me over and we fixed my dirt bike. He taught me that things can be fixed. This experience drew me to the field of engineering where I learned that not only can things be fixed they can also be improved. I have learned these past experiences are very important in teaching, you can use them to intrinsically motivate students in your classroom.  In Engineering and Technology education we teach the engineering process so students will learn to invent, fix, and improve things. Asking students to fill out a get to know you paper at the beginning of the semester and then using these answers to help them develop a project in the classroom that is congruent with their personal interest is a great way to connect the students and standards.

My name is Justin Beus I have a background in Civil Engineering and I'm currently studying Engineering and Technology Education. I enjoy this field because it gives me the opportunity to solve problems and not just design solutions, but build them as well. I also have a math minor so I plan on teaching math courses. I hope to teach in grades 7-9. When I'm not doing homework I enjoy the outdoors with my family, and running marathons. Being literate in Engineering and Technology means; developing an understanding of what technology is and being able to apply the engineering design process to improve or create technology.

This is a video we made for our Technology class.