Monday, November 1, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Last Blog
Some of the technology I discovered in this course I would like to you in my classroom to get students more engaged in the lesson. Depending on what grade I will teach will determine how I would use the new technology that I discovered taking this course. Animoto is a great way to show knowledge on a subject or a brief introduction to who your students are that you will be teaching and even I change for your students to get to know you on a better level. Google Docs is another tool that I will use with any grade I teach. I need to get better at it and by me getting and understanding the most out of it the students will benefit from it while helping them learn all at the same time. Interactive white boards are good tools for primary grades that will keep students interested in the lesson. Learning to embrace all this new technology being a Digital Immigrant is hard but I see all the potential of using technology in the classroom and it helps pushes me to use technology in the classroom daily. In due time I was be more and more comfortable with technology I will introduce technology that I am not comfortable with like Jing for my students to get experience with it.
As I enter the world of teaching some of the issues that could pose a challenge would be the lack of computers a school would have and the ability to use new technology on an everyday basis. Most of the schools I sub at are in low economic levels with just a little library that doubles as a computer lab with very little resources for teachers and students. Trying to be creative enough to use technology can only be done with the help of collaboration among teachers. Social networking is very important among teachers. Why reinvent the wheel with there is another resource to make your life easier . As a teacher in training I see the new things in technology by taking this class and I share what new things that are available for students and for the most part the teachers I interact with also share what they know and share what works well in their classroom that deals with technology. Support is something new teachers and all teachers need to have to make their classroom run like well oiled machines . Collaboration is very important in helping with the development of instruction for our future students. Not having to start from scratch, collaboration is always a good thing.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wordle/Open Courseware
Going on Wordle.net was fun for me. It was a great to see a new tool of turning learning into something meaningful. What is wordle you ask ? Wordle is a tool for creating “word clouds” that high light the subject you want to focus on. In my case my wordle was on stuff that deal with computers and what we covered in this class. The words come from text that you provide. This type of assignment can turn into a fun activity for your students. They can create reviews, what they know about the subject, test questions. Then at the click of a button the students have created a work of art that the teacher can display around the classroom. The word clouds can be saved, printed, and be used for multiple ways of assessment. I will for sure use this in my classroom for students of all levels of computer knowledge. It can be easily explained and modeled to the students. This is also a great way for students to show off their knowledge of a subject.
MIT Courseware is an online site that allows students to view undergrad and graduate course without having to be registered to the university. The site provides the viewer with full length lectures, exams, and videos all for FREE. This gives the public access to a free college education and the opportunity to be well educated and the price of making time to do the assignments and listen to the lectures and take the exams. The drawback I see to this would be this education that the public getting recognized by the work field as a true degree. Virtual learning is on the raise so I don’t see a problem with it unless the job you are processing does not take this online degree. I also do not like the fact that I spent well over 100k for my education and the next generation can get it for free. However MIT Courseware can be used as prep for High School Juniors and Seniors to how college life is going to be. Courseware is a good online learning tool and their can no longer be the excess I cannot afford an education. I would promote MIT Courseware to my low income students to not let price keep you from going to school. I think MIT is a good thing for the right person. Someone like me would like the traditional way of going to class and listening to the professor in person. MIT will benefit many students who live off I phones and IPODS to listen to lectures as the run or go about their day. In the end each person will decide what is a better fit for them and go with that to pursue their higher level of education.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMNWtUs7KoU
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Digital Natives , Digital Immigrants Which one are YOU
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants is a great article by Marc Prensky. It helps puts me in a frame of mind that I am a Digital Immigrant and one of those reasons is that I do not like change. Prensky states that brain functions between digital natives and immigrants are at different paces. Our current students are first generation natives that are growing up with this new technology computers, video games, digital music players, and cell phones. These students however spent less time reading books and spent a lot more time two times as more playing video games and texting all day. These different experiences lead to different ways of life styles and how we go about using technology. Digital Natives which are our students are very active, fun, does multi-tasking, and full of life and energy.
As for me I have to say I am slow to change and consider myself a Digital Immigrant that is coming around. With all the social networks out there the only one I can keep up with is Face book in the 21st Century. The use of short had texting I am also not a big fan of because the students are so comfortable using slang that they carry it into the classroom for example most student spell because in the short hand abbreviation becuz and put that way of spelling the word in their papers and this can lead to students learning a word wrong and that is a hard habit to break. Being a Digital Immigrant it is a transition for me to become a Digital Native. My kids for sure will be Digital Natives because growing up with everyone in the house having a laptop and a cell phone is common now. Even three year olds are on the computer and it is a part of their lives where I did not grow up with multi computers in the house. There was one stand alone computer in our house that was in the front room that everyone had to share and we had dial up internet. It was not until college when I brought my own home computer and just barely upgraded to a laptop computer.
Technology will be and is a part of any classroom that you walk into today. More and more teachers are turning to technology and other programs to enhance their students learning and keep their students engaged in the lesson better than a boring lesson. Technology does belong in the classroom with our new Digital Native students and will be a part of my class because I know the old way of teaching does not keep our students engaged. I can embrace this new technology to help aid in my students learning and the results of them becoming lifelong learners will be all the reward I need to know that I am doing the right thing with bringing technology into the classroom. All I have to do is get other teachers on board that get it like I do and see the value of technology and get on board to teach these students in their language.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Copyrights
The assignment for copy right laws was broken down in sections to get a better feel of how educators might of known about the many copyright laws they may have been breaking. Now after reading Educators Guide to Copyright and Fair Use as educators we can learn the right way about using other sources in our lessons or presentations. Copyrights and copy wrongs- answers the common questions of what can my students and I as a educator use freely in lessons, workshops etc. The answer I got after reading about copyright laws was most of everything that a teacher uses is an example of protected copyright. A copyright is anything that an Owner of any tangible creative work has the sole right to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display their work. So what the article was saying unless you have permission of the copyright owner when using any of their material it is illegal. Whenever you are in doubt about something get permission from the creator. The copyright law was created to protect the creator right to be compensated and in control of how their work is used.
Fairuse- is not free use to copyright people creations. Good rules of thumb when in question always ask permission. Not a permission to steal their work but to use in a proper way. To decide on what is fair use ask yourself these for questions 1. The purpose for the use 2. Nature of the work used 3. Amount of work you are using of someone else’s 4.The effect of use it has on the market value. For example: You can copy a single chapter from a book or excerpt but you cannot make multiple copies of different work. Copyrights can be Very easily misunderstood so the best way to see if you are following the rules would be to look up the website The Copyright website. This site will give you all you need about the costly mistakes of copyrighting and you can avoid Jail time in your future if you take the time out to read.
New Technology is not a public domain and to understand if something is copyrighted and protected is to relate it to its print recourse. If the recourse is created by the U.S government it cannot be copyright. Also freeware is not a public domain and with software it is important to know when you buy the software in a public domain you do not actually own the software you are just given the opportunity to use the software.
Creative multimedia projects – Some guidelines educators should follow are what copyright works they are able to use to create their educational works. Some include 1. Face to face instruction 2. Direct student self study 3. Presentation work. These guidelines allow students to use copyrights for educational uses, portfolio work, and job and grad school interviews. But no more than 2 copies of the project can be made and the creator and have a copy and the other are left in the school library.
Teaching responsibility of copyright laws in important and as teachers we must enforce 1. How to help the students learn about created works. 2. Teach students to ask permission when in doubt 3. Teach students how to go about requesting permission.
As for my results on the Test when in doubt about a copyright status of work you want to use. Always ASK
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Hybrid Session
My online experience for my first hybrid session went surprising good. Getting on was easy for me and listening and chatting wasn’t so bad for an inexperience computer person. The best part of the session was that I could be at home and still be a part of the class. Seeing the professor and interacting with classmates that I never seen me before was cool. I would have liked the whole class to be like the hybrid session. I felt like I took something away from the session and could get used to hybrid sessions in the further. This hybrid session also gave me an insight to how independent classroom might run. Teaching an online college level class can be something I can consider to do all from my home. One of the cool features of hybrid was the buttons we could click to show we agree, need help, or raise your hand.
The fact that the teacher or other students can control your computer was a little scary but I thought all the presentations and awards where great and to see them over the session was amazing to me. Once I get a little more practice on how to work with documents with other the sky is the limit for me and my further students. The only problem I had with the online session was the news letter assignment with the group members. The time spent I tried to commutate and decide on roles to take on but got no response, I think it would have been easier to fix the problem if I had been in contact with the other group members. I can see what they were doing on the screen but it seems like the pictures I sent to them they didn’t want to use or could not open the pictures.
Overall, this was a new experience for me and I think I did well with the session. I could get used to sessions being like this. I was engaged throughout the session and I feel that students will be engaged as well and that student benefit from doing and trying things out hands on just like we did online.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Etherpad and JING in the classroom
jing - Google Search
Etherpad is something new to me but after exploring on this feature I can see the benefits of its uses in the classroom. Students are able to take notes as a whole class and add to the documents in real time so the teacher is observing the process and what the students need help with while the document is in front of the class. All writers have a different color so while they are collaborate on a document everyone is clear on who they are in the document and do their job while seeing how the others in the class are doing. Making changing to the document are kept current in real time also and once the document is finish it might have hundreds of revisions that are clearly labeled and available to see how many changes their document went through to become the Final one.
Another type of advance technology that can be useful in the classroom is Jing. Jing can be used for creating instruction for the class. It can also be used to do lesson plans and explain how to do something or an assignment that the teacher might ask of the students. As an adult in the classroom it is a way to relate to the students because they are not afraid to experiment with technology and to master it better than you. Since students are visual PowerPoint and live documents will encourage students to be on their best behavior and take something from the lesson that they can use in their real life. Most important the use of Jing and Google presentation is all free and easy to learn from the advance computer person to the beginner like me.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Cell phones in the Classroom
My thoughts on cell phone use in the classroom are good if used under the right conditions. Being that the cell phone itself is not the problem rather the behavior of the student using the cell phone is the problem. Cell phones are mobile, easy to use, and all students have one. Cell phones allow students to be connected to a world of information anytime and anywhere. Cell phones in upper grades allow learners to collaborate, create new knowledge, and share their knowledge immediately on the internet.
Google has made it possible according to the article, “Supporting Cell Phones Use in the Classroom “by Mark Geary to create SMS searches where you can text message your search query to 466453 and they will text back the results. This is a great way to get all students in your class involved in the lesson that normally would sit in the back of the class and do nothing. The students in your class will soon be satisfied with becoming knowledgeable experts. For example: the teacher can have the class text the word collaborate then have them from groups to discuss what the definition said. The cell phone cannot do the whole lesson the students must still do their part in writing out their finding on paper. The use of cell phones is a better practice that 21 Century skilled students are having fun with while learning.
Other classroom uses for cell phones are Jott.com which converts voice notes to text, MOBCAST which creates podcast using a cell phone. The uses for mob cast range from discussion board, journaling, and collaborating on projects. Emerging technology into the classroom is a great way to get instant feedback. Now that polleverywhere is emerging into classrooms it can be use to improve current core instructional strategies. As teachers to be we have to understand that technology is not going anywhere and both cell phones and computers will continue to be an educational device that will enhance learning. The goal of teaching is to get all students involved in learning so if I can get a student who usually is considered not involved in learning engaged by the use of cell phones in the classroom I am all for it.
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