Hello friends! My name is Tracy Katzke, welcome and Bienvenidos to my Technology Portfolio. This portfolio is a comprehensive representation of all that I have learned and produced while a disciple in a graduate-level “Technology Integration” course. The term “technology integration,” as defined for any learning environment, is when students willfully and actively engage in the process of content-related learning via computer-based technologies. As a future instructor and mentor to our nation’s future, it is imperative that one take advantage of every potential tool available to ensure that all students reach the pinnacle of their potentials.

While earning a B.S. in Physics in the spring of 2013, I conducted a weekly physics laboratory session as a T.A. during my ultimate semester. Every experiment that my freshman and sophomore students participated in involved technology integration; examples include motion sensors, intensity readers, instantaneous speed calculators, computer-assisted graphing software, etc. At that time, I was unacquainted with the significance of integrating technology for student development. However, as a direct result of this course, I have experienced an “epiphany,” regarding the unmitigated prominence and myriad advantages that technology integration can provide to all students. This course required heavy reading, the construction of five technology integration plans and the products of said plans. One will find no greater enthusiast for the use of technology to enhance student development than I. It is critical to associate the eight literacies, (oral, textual, visual, computer, multimedia, information, electronic, and digital), the last four representing the “new” literacies, to the frequent, if not daily, classroom integration of technology. The daily integration of these new literacies renders it a virtual certainty that the levels of reading and writing required to succeed in today’s economic environment will be successfully attained.

I encourage all guests of my website to “click around.” The “Readings” provide information on today’s significant technology issues, while the other tabs include my technology integration plans and the products that were created for said plans. All are of exemplary quality. My personal favorite was the “Audio podcast,” as it is both informative and entertaining. It is in this podcast that I truly shine, connecting technology to content, and content to my students’ interests. In my humble opinion, creating such linkages is the true essence of successful teaching.

Thank you for stopping by!