Final Course Reflection

Blogfolio Final Review

Through the semester, this course has introduced me to several new and useful technologies that could be utilized in the classroom. The E-book was exceptionally easy to read and navigate, providing a comprehensive look at many technologies that are being used to enhance the classroom experience for both students and teachers. The supplements provided on Blackboard by the instructor have also been of great use. The podcasts and powerpoints were exceedingly useful to get a richer, fuller look at the info being introduced in the E-book online. If ever at any point I found information in the E-book to be confusing or vague, the powerpoint presentations provided on Blackboard were usually very handy in clearing up the important details. I also found myself utilizing the video clips provided on Blackboard more than a few times. It is always useful to see particular technologies/programs in use rather than simply reading about them.

This class also provided me with the opportunity to create a blog. I have never had a blog before, so this in itself was a great learning experience. Creating the blog was rather simple, moreso than I expected, and getting subscribed to other people's blogs wasn't any harder. The blog provided a great opportunity to talk about the projects being completed in the class. It gave me an opportunity to really focus on what came easy and what actually took some work or focus to complete. That kind of self-evaluation on a weekly basis is very useful to the individual. Also, it was very interesting to see how other people chose to complete their assignments and what kinds of problems, if any, they encountered while learning to use whatever software the assignment required. The peer feedback through the commenting option on the blog was also very nice. Its good to have input from others who are seeing the same kind of work and are experiencing different kinds of problems. The blog also provided the opportunity to think about the material read in the E-book each week. The text covered a great deal of information and having the opportunity to answer questions concerning the material allows a particular insight into the material that one can certainly miss if simple reading over the text.

The hands-on projects were by-far the most fun and interesting part of the class. The way they were planned out and divided throughout the semester worked well. I never felt overburdened with too many hand-on assignments in a single week. The first three of these hand-on assignments proved to be rather easy. I'd used powerpoint and Word many times in the past so, churning out these two assignments only took a little creative thinking and not much actual learning of the software. The most difficult part for the flyer was finding a picture I was satisfied. Similarly, the most difficult part of the powerpoint quiz was coming up with some material that I would actually want to use in a classroom and getting all of my “right” and “wrong” buttons to take the quiz taker to the proper following slides. However, prior to this assignment, I had had no real experience with Excel, so learning the proper formulas for averages and getting the grids in order took a little work for me, but I like that I now know how to do it. I was happy to actually have the opportunity to learn a little about Excel.

The next set of assignments proved to be the most difficult of the hands-on assignments by far. I had had no experience with any of the webtools required for the assignments, so they each took a little reading and learning on my part before I dove in to complete the assignment. The rubric from Rubistar was easy in theory, but a little harder than expected in practice. It took a good bit of thinking and reworking on my part to come up with a rubric for grading essays that I felt was balanced and fair. I was fairly content with the results, but I certainly wouldn't mind revising it a few times before actually using it for grading students. The puzzle and test generators were a little more daunting to look at than use. After reading the tutorials, I felt very comfortable with both of these online software. Much like with the rubric, the most difficult part proved to be coming up with a theme and material for the puzzle and test that I wanted generated. Once again, I was happy with the results from both the puzzle and quiz generator and would be satisfied with using both items in an actual class. The website evaluations were no more difficult than they should have been. Choosing appropriate an appropriate site was the most difficult part of the assignment. I wanted something pertaining to my content area and that would satisfy most of the criteria on the evaluation sheets. However, while this was a simple assignment, I now have a good idea of what to look for in a quality website. Now, the most difficult part of this week's assignment was undoubtedly the Trackstar. I had never heard of this tool before, and it took a good deal of reading-up on my part to really get the gist of what I should be doing to complete this. The most difficult part of this assignment after learning what needed to be done was actually finding websites that I felt were satisfactory for the classroom. After spending a good deal of time selecting sites that would deal with one common lesson, I was satisfied with my selections. Providing short overviews of the sites on the Trackstar page was actually a lot of fun, too.

The website assignment was a little intimidating, if I am to be honest. I had never made a website before and didn't really know where to start. Luckily, the Google website creator was really user-friendly and held my hand through the process of creating the website. I felt a little silly talking about myself in a whole page of the website, but I was satisfied with the results. I enjoyed picking out pictures for each page and trying to follow a theme that I had selected. After reading over the tutorial a few times, I felt comfortable with how to add to and edit the pages with pictures and links to other sites. Adding the links to Trackstar and my other projects for this class was a breeze after getting the swing of how the website creator tools worked. I thought the website looked pretty good after it was all finished. I would certainly use it in a classroom (with a little tooling up of course).

The final set of hands-on assignments probably took the most work, however, they were not particularly difficult. The listserv was a real breeze and only took a few minutes to set up and sent out invitations too. Despite how simple it was to set up, I really do this that listservs and mailing lists are exceptionally useful, especially if one could manage to get their students' parents set up in if and everything. It would make parent-teacher communication leagues easier and more efficient. The same could be said for communicating with the students en masse as well. I'd never really used Window's Movie Maker before, but, as with most of the other assignments, the tutorials provided on Blackboard really enlightened me and made me feel more comfortable with the software. The movie took a while to complete, but I was concerned with having appropriate pictures that I really felt complemented my narration, although, I never really was able to get the narration loud enough. The editing options were fun and I played around with them a great deal until I decided on the options I felt fit my movie the best. If I was able to get the audio to actually work like I wanted, I would certainly not hesitate showing this video to parents.

Finally, this electronic portfolio could be a really nice asset to have around. I have quick access to all of my projects that I could easily utilize in the classroom. This finally portfolio also provided me with a good opportunity to once again go over everything I have worked on this semester and think about and problems I had along the way, or any tools that I found particularly useful. All in all, this has been an exceedingly helpful exercise.

In working on these projects, I feel that I am really adept at picking up information quickly and efficiently through written tutorials and that I can be thorough at something when I put my mind to it. I feel that my weak points are probably that I get easily discouraged with things that prove difficult at first and that perhaps I am too fickle when choosing images or ideas that fit a particular theme that I am going for in projects such as these.

I intend to use the knowledge I've gained in this class to create an exciting and hands-on learning environment for any students I have in the future. I intend to utilize these tools and technologies as often as possible to hone my skills and become more proficient so that I also can teach others how to use them to their greatest extent.

Group Members' Blogs URLs:

Josephine Maisano
Reed Hotard

Week 13 Reflection, Chapters 11 and 12.

2. What advantages can broad bandwidth and wireless networking offer schools? Describe the current technologies available for wireless connectivity.


Probably the largest advantage that broadband wireless networking offers to schools is cost efficiency. Currently, schools are spending tons of money retrofitting their buildings and offices with broadband internet via cable-based LAN. With the use of wireless technology, all of the retrofitting of buildings with necessary wires and cables will be obsolete. Through the use of a centralized source and wireless routers, a device comparable to the size of a textbook, wireless broadband can be broadcast across an entire campus for all students and faculty who are within range to use. This wireless internet, or Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) allows access to the internet for any student using laptop or desktop computers equipped with wireless network cards or those using devices which support Wi-Fi, such as PDAs and smart phones. Wi-Fi allows classrooms to become borderless, facilitating resources outside of textbooks and communications with other classes around the nation, or even the world. However, Wi-Fi is not perfect. Unlike wired LAN networks, Wi-Fi networks are not as secure and can be broken into by hackers through their personal computers. While security methods for Wi-Fi networks exist, it is important that schools take all necessary precautions in efforts to keep student information safe and private.

Along with Wi-Fi, schools are now beginning to outfit their computers, printers, scanners and other technologies with bluetooth. Bluetooth is a wireless communication technology that allows two or more devices to interact with each other without the use of cables or wires. For example, through a bluetooth connection, one could send a document from a computer to a printer without actually having the two devices connected physically. This allows for an entire class to share one printer or similar devices without having ten or twenty or thirty cables for each computer strewn about the room. However, bluetooth is still a new technology and not all devices come equipped with bluetooth capabilities out of the box. Separate devices are sold to allow a computer or printer or cell phone blue tooth capable, but having to buy enough of these individual devices for an entire school simply isn't currently cost effective.

Week 12, Movie and Listserv

The Listserve through Google was a very simple part of this assignment. The walkthrough was very to the point and easy to follow. I had no problem setting up my Listserv and sending out a few invites to join it. I can really see the practicality of a mailing group such as this. It would be very convenient to set up a group for students, parents and even other teachers to do mass emails about assignments, upcoming events and other things such as that. Listserv mailing lists are definitely something I will be utilizing.

The movie was not quite as simple and quickly done. I had a bit of a bumpy start. I first realized that my computer was not equipped with Windows Movie Maker. After following a few links through Microsoft's help pages, I found a download link and was on my way. Finding the appropriate pictures for the story I had in mind wasn't too hard. A few Google image searches is all it took to find what I was looking for. I kept the movie down to a mere nine slides to keep things short and sweet. I was happy with the variety of transitions available, and I think I found appropriate ones for my movie. I had a bit of a problem with the narration, though. I was not able to find a narration option in Windows Movie Maker as the tutorial instructed. I assumed it had something to do with different versions of the program. I had to use another provided Microsoft program called Sound Recorder and import the .wav file of my narration into Windows Movie Maker and tweak the frame lengths so everything fit (mostly) right. The actual sound file of my narration came out incredibly soft, and after several tries, had no better luck. So, I apologize if you have to turn your volume way, way up to hear me speaking.

Overall, the movie making assignment was pretty fun and educational. I really think I could get used to using Windows Movie Maker and have a lot of fun while doing it.

Here are the links to my listserv and movie:
Movie

Listserv

Week 11 Reflection Question

1.What is visual literacy? Where and when is it learned? Why is it important? Contrast Internet broadcasts, live cams, and Net meetings. How can each of these Internet-based video technologies be used in teaching and learning?



Visual literacy is the particular set of skills that allows the viewer to accurately interpret the visuals (colors, sizes, logos, symbols) necessary for functioning effectively in our society.

Children acquire visual literacy skills through learning experiences of all kinds. The experiences can take place within or outside of the classroom and are not necessarily subject dependent. With most people, a strong, effective visual literacy is developed by young adulthood. Visual literacy is very important for children because it provides them with the understanding of specific visuals to allow them to succeed in a society dominated by charts, symbols, signs and logos.

Live internet broadcasts of events and performances utilize video streaming that compresses and plays back digital video while it is being received by a video player software that is suited for such. These video software are often free for download from various sources. These live broadcasts are a great way to allow a class to experience, for example, a Shakespearean play from a popular theatrical group being performed across the country. More and more important events and performances are beginning to be broadcasted on the internet for viewing, making it possible to see these events nearly anywhere.

Live internet cams are just that. A live filming camera is connected to an internet that is available for viewing at any point in which the camera is active. The viewer sees exactly what the camera does (approximately) when the camera does. These live cams can be particularly useful in settings such as a science classroom. Some of the larger zoos and aquariums will set up live internet cameras in certain animal enclosures. These can be accessed by a class to view the animal in a naturalistic environment.

Internet meetings are another method of utilizing live internet visuals. With monitors and cameras, people in offices or classrooms can conduct live meetings with each other over a closed connection that only each can see and hear. With internet meetings, a class can meet with another class in another city, state or even country. This is a fantastic way to diversify one's classroom and gain insight from teachers and students from others places in the world.

Week 10, Website Assignment

This was a very interesting assignment. I'd never actually made a website before, so this was a bit intimidating at first. After reading over the tutorial a couple of times, I felt comfortable enough to give it a shot and just dove in. For the most part, it was far easier than I expected. I had a little trouble with picture and text aligning, but for the most part, everything came out pretty well, I think. I think that website creation is definitely one of those things that one gets better at through making more and more of them, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

My Page

Week 8 Project Reflection

This week's projects provided some new tasks with which I was unfamiliar. I had never used or even heard of any of these websites prior to reading the assignment. Since I as unfamiliar with most every aspect of this assignment, it took a good deal longer to complete than the last one, however, once I found my pacing, everything started to go pretty smoothly.

The website evaluation assignment was by far the easiest. Choosing a website was a little tough, but after I picked the one I wanted to evaluate, the assignment went by without a hitch. I chose to evaluate a site on teaching English (literature, composition, creative writing). The site was very simple and it was apparent that the creator didn't have much experience in site creation. While it wasn't much to look at, the content was superb and it was apparent that the creator (a retired teacher of English for over 30 years) knew his stuff.

The web tools portion of the assignment was a little trickier, but after reading over the tutorials, everything came along. The rubric was easily the toughest of the web-tools assignments. After some planning and deciding on a subject, the sections just kind of began filling themselves in. I was rather pleased with the end result. The test and puzzle were exceedingly simple to figure out after reading the tutorials. I decided to stick with my content area for the subject matter for both of them.

Lastly, the trackstar assignment was very daunting. I read over the tutorial several times. However, much like the rubric assignment, the only real hard part proved to be choosing the topic. I decided to go with a unit on Romeo & Juliet as the overlying theme of the track. I included websites that would be useful to students while studying the play, some of which included a site listing and defining various forms of literary devices, some history behind William Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre, and some guides for better understanding Elizabethan English. All in all, I found the assignment to be useful practice and I think trackstar has real potential for a tool in the classroom.

Here are links to the assignments:

Rubric

Puzzle

Test (with answers)

Trackstar

Website Design

Website Content

Week 7 Reflection Question

3. How can a classroom web site improve communications with students, parents, and community? What is an acceptable use policy? What impact does it have on the use of the Web in the classroom?

A classroom website can be an invaluable too in the hands of an innovative instructor. A well designed and streamlined class website can provide classroom and assignment information to students, teachers and interested administrators both at and outside of school. A classroom website also provides the service of allowing the teacher to provide links to any outside sources that could be useful and/or informative to the students or whoever has taken an interest in what is being taught in the classroom. According to our text, many districts are now allowing class sites to be uploaded to the official district or school website, which makes getting to your particular class's site even easier and safer.
When providing a web source and allowing your students access to the internet while they are in school, some terms of acceptable use should be set forth. This is usually done by a signature from the parents or guardians claiming that they have read and gone over the terms of acceptable use with their child and acknowledge consequences of breaking the aforementioned policy. This goes for teachers as well. They should be well aware of their school's terms of use for internet service and only provide links and information on their site that does not violate the school's policy. Also, it is very important that the instructor not provide any personal information about his or her students on the web page. If any photos or work of the student is to be displayed, permission from a parent or guardian should be obtained first. Just as always, instructors should check their school's terms of use if this situation is ever to arise. Finally, in situations where internet use in provided at school, it is the responsibility of the school to filter internet content. There are many many sites that contain images, videos and information that is inappropriate for children. The school must take responsibility for protecting children from these inappropriate and sometimes dangerous sites.
The internet is really the great innovation of our time and anyone would be hard pressed to find a recent development in technology that rivals its usefulness. However, like many great inventions, the internet is still just a tool. In the hands of a good, creative and careful teacher, the internet is an invaluable source for information and method of organization. In the hands of a not-so-careful teacher, the internet can be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Like most tools of great power, one must exercise great responsibility and constraint to use it safely and effectively.

Week Six, Projects Reflection

This week we had to complete our hands-on projects, which included the parent-teacher flyer, an excel student grade chart, and a power-point based quiz.

The flyer was by far the easiest of the assignments. I was already pretty familiar with Microsoft Word, so all I really needed to do was find an image that I wanted to use as the layout of the flyer. After choosing my image I just made up some information about a time and location for the meeting. I thought it turned out kind of neat. I may need to save it for further use.

I tackled the power-point presentation next. I have limited experience with power-point, so I had to fudge around a bit to really get the hand of setting up buttons that take the user from slide to slide, back and forth. I used information from a Romeo & Juliet test that I made for another class back over the summer. But, after getting the first couple of buttons to work, the rest was a downhill ride.

I finished the excel grade chart last because I have had almost no previous experience with excel in any way, shape, or form. Setting up the columns was easy enough, but I had to do a little research in order to find the proper functions for averages. But, much like the power-point, after the first one worked, it wasn't bad at all. The graphs also gave me a bit of trouble, never having to make one before. It took me several tries to get things the way I wanted them, but, as with the previous documents, I think it turned out pretty good for my first time.

Finally, attached here are the three documents uploaded to google docs:

Powerpoint Test

Gradesheet

Flyer

Week Five (Chapter FIve and Six Quesion):

2.Define database management software and describe how you might use it to help you in teaching responsibilities. How might you construct a learning assignment for your students that used this productivity tool?


Database management software is software that enables the creation of data records, retrieval of records and data sorting at the touch of a key. Software such as this is an integral part of any educators software collection. Educators have a laundry list of information that they are responsible to have available at all times. Teachers must have personal information on their students, from home phone numbers and addresses to IEPs, grades for all their students, any administrative information regarding the goals for the class, a classroom budget, etc. And this is just a short list of items that come immediately to mind. A database can be organized into fields, records and files. A field refers to the electronic storage location that a specific type of data is stored. A record is a collection of related fields, such as a record that contains all the personal information about a particular student. And finally, a file is a collection of all related records, such could be a file containing all the personal information of the students in one class.
In order to prevent educators from having to sit and scroll down a seemingly endless list of information trying to find, for example, one student's phone number, database software provides several very helpful organization tools. The first of these tools is the ability to sort information. Any and all information within the database can be sorted in ascending or descending, alphabetic and numeric order with any field being the primary sorter. Another tool available is the query ability, which essentially provides a searching function for any database. Searches can be done for first names, last names, numbers, etc. Nearly any field can be queried. Also, most databases provide a reporting function. In some cases an instructor may need a list of information from the database printed out for hard copy records or to give to some administrative person. Whatever the reason, the database software you use should provide an option to print a report of all data within the database or simply a specific set of data gathered from a query. The software should have a print template built in to itself that allows printed reports to be attractive and easy to read.
While database software provides primarily an invaluable service to the instructor, a sharp and creative teacher can provide instructional activities that allow students hands-on practice in database usage. A good way to get students familiar with databases is through libraries. Most libraries now keep records of all books available (and even some not available) in a database accessable through the library or library website. Providing students with an assignment to find books on particular subject or by a particular author and having them provide a printed query report is a great way to integrate database usage into a lesson.

Week Four (Chapter Three & Four) Question:

Week Four (Chapter Three & Four)
1.What is a computer virus and how is it transmitted? What can you do to protect your computer?

Computer viruses are malicious programs written solely to disrupt computer functions and/or destroy data. Viruses are spread usually by attaching themselves to a file or by posing as another file type. Computer viruses can find access to your computer by means of the internet or through a data disk (cd, floppy, flash drive) that contains infected files from another computer. The latter is the real threat when using computers in the classroom since students are bringing data on disks from their home computers which may be infected. Infecting your classroom machine can destroy important data you may have stored on it or in some cases, render the computer entirely useless.

A wise teacher can protect their computer by means of anti-virus software. This is software that is programed with the intention of finding, identifying and eliminating hazardous malware from your computer. It is important to get your system set up with a good, well-maintained anti-virus software. While you may be able to encourage your students to set their home computers up with anti-virus software as well, having an updated program on your classroom and home computer is your only real safe-guard. It is important to scan every foreign data disk that you put into your computer for any kind of malicious or suspicious files. Also, having the software isn't a one time solution. It is paramount to keep your anti-virus software updated. Much like bacteria and biological viruses that attack human beings evolving against antibiotics and medicines we use against them, computer viruses are constantly being reprogrammed to get around anti-virus programs. Most of the recommended anti-virus programs require a subscription fee for the updates they provide. It is wise to subscribe to these in order to maintain an updated anti-virus software and a clean, functioning computer. Also, it would also be wise to keep backup files of all your important data on a separate machine or disk in the event that your computer does get infected.

Week 3 Reflection Question

Week Three (Chapter Two)

3. What role do educational technologies play in teaching and learning?

In a nutshell, educational technologies play and integral part in making classroom instruction the most efficient that it can possibly be. Ideally, we, as instructors, should strive to make our instruction cater to as many students and learning types as possible. This is most efficiently done through the use of one of the many forms of educational technologies at the disposal of teachers today. However, just because a form of technology is available for use, doesn't mean that we should use it nor should we rely solely on the technology to do the teaching for us.

While technology has made instruction more interactive, interesting and effective than ever, this does not mean that technology does our planning for us. On the contrary, making use of technology requires more planning from teachers than ever before. Teachers wanting to make use of a specific technology in their lesson must weigh out both the pros and the cons of using the aforementioned technology. As the textbook states, the use of technology should be reserved for cases in which something previous can be done better or it allows something that previously could not be done to become possible. When intending to use technology to enhance your instruction, it is important to decide how exactly you want the technology chosen to make your instruction better and to what learning style you are trying to cater. Also, it is very important to consider possible backfires that the use of the technology may cause. Will the use of your chosen technology cause distraction from the primary message? Will it cause more confusion than clarity? Will students benefit more from the use of this technology than through simple lecture instruction? These are some questions that all teachers should consider when planning to integrate some form of technology into their instruction.

Week 2 Reflection Question

2. My understanding on different learning styles and its influence on learning.

Learning styles of individuals is certainly a broad subject that delves into sever different fields of study and ideas concerning how we absorb information and what we make of that information. One of the first things to consider when thinking about how data comprehension works would be perspectives on learning and various ways that we process information. The oldest and most straightforward of these perspectives is that learning is communication. It its most basic structure, the learning-as-communication model sets the teacher as the giver of instruction and the student as the absorber of instruction, often providing feedback to the teacher in the form of questions and even test results. However, the learning-as-communication model is not without outside influence on both the giver of instruction and the absorber of instruction. Environmental factors such as classroom noise, poor lighting or temperature can affect how efficiently information is given by the teacher and absorbed by the student. Also, psychological factors, such as inner emotional turmoil of any kind can have a similar effect on both parties involved. And finally, personal filters, such as how relevant the student finds particular information, can affect the efficiency of information acquisition.

Another perspective on learning is the Behaviorist perspective. According to this perspective, learning is passive process that occurs through a series of actions and reinforcements for those actions, both positive and negative. That is to say, learning is dependent on external stimuli.

The opposing perspective to the behaviorist's is the Cognitive perspective. The idea of learning as a predominately cognitive process stresses that learning is stimulated through internal processes rather than external actions. The cognitivist will argue that the reasoning and through processes associated with learning run deeper than behavior and cannot be quantified through traditional means. Closely related to the Cognitive perspective is the Constructivist perspective. The two differ in that the Constructivist perspective will argue that these cognitive processes associated with learning vary among individuals depending on personal experiences which create relevancy.

In conjunction with these perspectives on information acquisition, it is also important to consider the different learning styles of individuals. When considering various learning styles, it is important to understand that individuals have a dominant sensory gateway. That is, a student may have an auditory, visual or kinesthetic sensory gateway. Auditory students learn best through hearing information. Visual students learn best through seeing information, and kinesthetic students learn best through hands-on activity and by doing. These aren't necessarily extremes, so a student may rely both on seeing and doing to acquire information, although for most individuals, one will be dominant.

With these things in mind, it very important to maintain an eclectic perspective on teaching. You will almost certainly have students that each have different sensory gateways. So, for most lessons, it could be prudent to switch up the method of information presentation so that you are catering to each individual's learning method as often as possible.

Introduction Post

My name is Micheal Johnson and I am currently working on a Masters of Arts in Teaching with an undergraduate degree in English. Unfortunately, I have very little working experience in my field. I have worked restaurant and electronics retail jobs while in school.

This is my first entirely online course. I have had courses with additional online supplements, but nothing of this nature. I quite honestly have no real ideal what to expect from this course.

My technological expertise includes Word programs and Powerpoint, to a certain extent. Being a student of English, I have had extensive use with theses programs, especially Word. I have two emails that I check regularly and often take part in forum discussions on a variety of websites and topics. Finally, I have listened to several podcasts in the past, but am not currently subscribed to any through RSS. I am also very familiar with Wikis, and use them quite often for a variety of information.

First Post

This is my first blog post. Test, test.