Blog #15

This class taught me so much about technology. Prior to taking this class, I had no knowledge of the things that I know now such as creating web pages, educational movies, blogs, and such. There is not one thing that I found invaluable from this class. As a teacher, I would like utilize everything that works best for me, especially for my students. I honestly think there was nothing in the class that needs improvement because all the assignments contributed tremendously to my learning experience. This class actually taught me to appreciate technology more than ever. I guess I took technology for granted. Using technology in the classroom not only is beneficial for teachers, but for students as well. Technology enhances the learning experience. Enhancing the learning experience is essential to student success. I am actually excited to see how technology develops within the next couple of years or so.

Blog #13/14

I enjoyed creating our educational video on iMovie. However, I am not familiar with the iMovie features, which was quite a challenge for me. The filming process of movie making is time consuming. However, I believe if one knows how to utilize the features of any given movie-making program, educational movies are easy to create. My group created a movie on energy. My group created a children’s show explaining essential information on energy based on the 3rd grade Science Content Standards. Filming was easy. The problem our group faced was trying to figure out a time where we all can meet. I also think it was difficult to only work with the Macintosh computers on campus. Creating educational movies are beneficial to teachers because educational movies enhance the learning experience. As teachers, it is important to create videos that are engaging and creative. Most importantly, teachers need to make sure their videos address the Content Standards.
The article “Splicing Video into the Writing Process” by Tammy Pandina Scot and Diane Harding describes how creating videos are beneficial to students. Creating videos help students with the writing process. When students create storyboards, scripts, and so forth, they are using similar skills when writing. This article explains what each group had to do when creating their movies. Each group was required to collaborate and create storyboards before filming. “This project has been good for us as teachers. It has been very energizing to see our students become so totally committed to their movie projects,making careful decisions, working together to iron out conflicts, and writing with their audience foremost in their minds. It is equally satisfying to know that we are accomplishing so many learning goals at once: learning content, developing writing skills, expressing creativity, and mastering technology tools” (pg. 31). The good thing about movie making is all the different things are able to learn.

BLOG #12

My group is working on creating a video for 3rd grade Science.
Our video addresses 3rd grade Science content standard 1b, which states that students know that sources of stored energy takes many forms, such as food, fuel, and batteries. To present the information, we plan on creating a show about energy and the different forms similar to the show Bill Nye the Science Guy. One of the group members will be the main Science expert similar to Bill Nye, while the rest of the group members pose as other Science experts. The main Science guy will draw a letter from the letter sack written by younger students. The letter will contain a question or two about sources of energy. The other Science experts will be assigned a source of energy and explain their source in full detail. As soon as the Science experts explain their source, the main Science guy will conclude the show. Creating the storyboard was interesting. I have never created a storyboard before. I have only seen a storyboard created on a show on MTV called Making the Video. Storyboards are detailed and are great visuals.

Blog #10

To be honest, I was absent last Monday and did not know that we were not going to have class on Wednesday. Therefore, I have no idea what to write about this week since we are supposed to write about what we learned. I believe the class was introduced to Filamentality. From the PowerPoint presentation, Filamentality helps combine "filaments" of webs with a learning "mentality". From what I understand, Filamentality is a website that helps users create WebQuests. Filamentality guides users through picking topics, searching the web for good websites, and turning web resources into learning modules. The assignment this week involves Filamentality. We are supposed to create a "usable" classroom activity containing the following 3 components: 1) Filamentality project, 2)a teacher information sheet, and 3) a worksheet for students. The activity should take approximately 30-45 minutes for students to complete. To be honest, I have not started the assignment. I did not understand the assignment at first having not been to class on Monday, but I guess I understand the assignment more after reading the WebQuest articles and looking at assignments done by other students.
I thought the readings on WebQuest were interesting to read. WebQuests are designed for learners to focus on using information better than looking for it. There are are 5 rules to creating a great WebQuest, which can be described with the word FOCUS. The rules are as follows: Find great sites, Orchestrate your learners and resources, Challenge learners to think, Use the medium, and Scaffold high expectations. According to "A Productive & Thought Provoking Use of the Internet" by Maureen Brown,WebQuests help students learn problem solving and decision making skills. WebQuests should be relevant to curriculum, interesting, and motivating. A well designed WebQuest considers what the teacher wants the students to learn and is based on the interest of the students. Elements of a good WebQuest include the following: introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation, and conclusion. Introduction may include bringing contemporary world problems in the classroom, evaluating history, creating products, dealing with life's realities, and sparking students' imagination.

Blog #9

I honestly thought the midterm was going to be difficult, but it was extremely easy. The directions were clear and understandable. The only thing I missed was the extension for excel, which is .xls instead of .exel. I thought I was going to finish early with the midterm, but I used the whole period trying to make sure my answers were correct. Monday's midterm tested skills on Microsoft word, extensions, searching on ISTE, and formulas using Excel. I think I spent more of my time trying to find the advanced search feature on ISTE. I have never used the advanced search feature before, so it took me a while to find it. I actually had to do major exploring on ISTE. I think I took about 15 minutes trying to find the advanced feature. When I found the advanced search feature, I was relieved because I thought I would never find it. After I submitted Monday's midterm, I was confident that I did well. Wednesday's midterm was challenging for me because there were more tasks to do compared to Monday's midterm. Wednesday's midterm tested skills on excel, Inspiration, and PowerPoint. I spent more of my time on Inspiration because I did not want to leave anything out. For Inspiration, we were supposed to use the note feature, clip art, and so forth. The only problem I had with Wednesday's midterm was trying to remember how to do a print screen. I knew the keyboard buttons, but I did not know what to do from that point. I finally figured it out after doing some exploring. After submitting Wednesday's midterm, I was confident that I did well. Overall, the midterm was easy.

Blog #8

The use of databases in education is extremely helpful not only for teachers, but for students as well. Teachers can use databases to organize information based on student performance and other things. For example, a teacher who wanted to know the effects on student performance can create a database using different fields such as hours of sleep, hours watching t.v., and so forth. Students can use databases to also organize information. For example, a student conducting a study based on animal sleeping patterns can gather information and organize the results a lot easier using a database. This week, we utilized a program called InspireData. Among other database programs, InspireData is the easiest program to use. InspireData has a number of amazing features. For example, a user of InspireData could easily create a venn diagram that shows a correlation of any two fields. Users can also organize records using different colors or pictures. Honestly, I have never used a database before. My first time using a database was this week actually. At first, I was intimidated because I had no experience using a database. However, InspireData made it easy to create a database.
The article titled "The World Wide Web" has some useful information. The main reason why teachers avoid using database in their classrooms is because most database programs are expensive. Also, teachers lack experience using database programs. The article gave a few pointers on how databases are useful. Databases are useful in that databases allows teachers to create discussion groups in which students answer through a respond button. For handing assinments on the web, web interface is a mechanism that organizes assignments and sends the assignments to one place. Teachers can create web based evaluation forms and calendars.
The article titled "The Database America's Presidents" basically explains how a database is an effective tool to organize information. The article explains how students should have the 6c's characteristics, which are compute, communicate, conclude, confirm, categorize, and classify. Computing, communicating, concluding, and confirming are the techniques of problem solving. Categorizing and classifying are the techniques of managing information. A database is an effective tool to collect and organize information by defining data fields. The article provides a great example. The article uses America's Presidents. The database fields include: president's name, age, schools, etc. The data collected on the presidents can be arranged, sorted, filtered, manipulated, and so forth using a database.
The article titled "Bells and Whistles" explains how databases can be useful to students for both creating and accessing information. The article also hints that it is important to have the right database software. ClarisWorks is one of the commonly used database software. ClarisWorks forces students to think about their data in various ways. Using ClarisWorks has different fields in which students can define fields as pop up menus, values, check marks, and so forth.

Blog #7

Wikispace allows users to edit, create, and link pages. I also learned that "wiki" means "fast" in Hawaiian, which is interesting to know because in my opinion, wikipedia is the fastest website where one can retrieve updated information. Almost everything one needs to know is on wikipedia. However, there are some downfalls with wikipedia in that one can change information, which may be misleading. The assignment this week is a bit challenging for me because we are not allowed to discuss matters with other group members outside the wiki. When it comes to group work, I have to communicate by phone or contact with members of the group. It is very weird to communicate to group members only on discussion boards. Overall, I enjoyed creating a wikispace because wikispace is a great tool for teachers to collaborate with teachers or perhaps with students.
The reading this week comes from an article by Colleen Swain and Tamara Pearson titled "Bridging the Digital Divide A Building Block for Teachers". I thought the article was very informative in explaining the Digital Divide and what teachers can do to minimize the divide. Swain and Pearson first explain how the way in which computers are accessed or setup in the classroom affects students in various ways. Computers should be available to students before and after school. In a classroom with one computer, the teacher should place the computer where it is accessible to everyone and not only the teacher. Swain and Pearson also speaks about the quality of software that teachers should consider in their classrooms. Swain and Pearson say, "Teachers must examine how they are using software packages and determine if the software is meeting the needs of all students". Teachers need to experiment and make note of the things that help students with technology.

Blog #6

Microsoft Excel is quite a challenge. I have worked with Microsoft Excel a couple of times, but I honestly never took advantage of the amazing features Microsoft Excel has to offer. In creating a spreadsheet for one of the assignments this week, I struggled mostly with the formulas. I understand how to utilize other features such as the columns and rows, but not the formulas. After experimenting with the formulas for a while, I began to understand more of the functions.The assignment this week was to create a mock grade book, in which we were supposed to input names, assignments, grades, and such. Using the formulas, we were also supposed to find the average, percentage, and total of student grades. The assignment this week was a good practice for me. It is extremely important for teachers to master the Microsoft Excel program for the purpose of organizing grades and many other things. For the quiz, I missed two questions, which was on formulas.
The reading this week, "Teaching Students to Use the Internet as a Research Tool," taught me many things. Throughout my college years, I have been doing tons and tons of research for almost all of my classes. Majoring in Literature and Writing Studies,I have used JSTOR and MLA many times for research papers. I have been told by my professors the differences between reliable research and unreliable research. The only thing I knew was that reliable research comes from scholarly material and nothing else beyond that point. I never really knew how to fully evaluate research methods like the reading mentions. The reading this week taught me that good research comes from online indexes and other things funded by the school. The reading also taught me to look critically at URL's, directories, and site sponsors. It is important to cite all information from the internet the correct way so that it is available for others. According to the reading, teachers need to teach students good research strategies to help students find what they need, which I think is extremely important.

Blog #5

Benjamin Bloom's theory "Taxonomy" is quite interesting. The taxonomy theory basically points out how teachers should "categorize test questions" in order for students to think beyond whatever it is they are reading. The theory produced in the year 1956 when Bloom, along with several psychologists, developed a classification of levels for intellectual behavior to learn.
The levels for intellectual behavior are as follows: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Knowledge is the recollection of specific information. Some key words for questions based on knowledge are as follows: define, list, name, order, and many others. Comprehension or understanding is the understanding of what is read. Some key words for questions on understanding are as follows: describe, explain, translate and many others. Application is the converting of abstract content to concrete situations. Some key words for questions on application are as follows: apply, demonstrate, illustrate, interpret, solve, and many others. Analysis is the comparison and contrast of the content to personal experiences. Some key words for questions on analysis are as follows: analyze, compare, contrast, examine, and many others. Synthesis is the organization of thoughts, ideas, and information from the content. Some key words for questions on synthesis are as follows: construct, develop, formulate, write and many others. Evaluation is the judgement and evaluation of characters, actions, and outcomes for personal reflection and understanding. Some key words for questions on evaluation are as follows: argue, predict, support, evaluate, and many others. About 95% of questions that teachers develop are based on recalling information. Therefore, teachers focus on knowledge.
Before reading about Bloom's theory, I honestly did not think there was a way to structure questions in the classroom. Reading about Bloom's taxonomy made me realize that as teachers, one must consider categorizing questions in the way that Bloom suggests. In doing so, students will be able to think beyond their imaginations rather than answering questions based on facts.

Blog #4

"Mapping Student Minds" by Ariel Owen is a great read because the article explains a new form of critical thinking. Causal mapping is similar to Inspiration in that both are great ways of allowing students to formulate innovative ways to present information. Having no knowledge of Pine Creek water quality, one can look at the final result of the causal map and understand a variety of things such as the contributing factors of water quality, water quality effects, and so forth. Although causal mapping is an innovative way to create information, causal mapping is limited to certain information. Acccording to the article, Ariel Owen asserts, "The causal mapping tool cannot be applied to every situation, but wherever there is measurable data and dynamic cause -and-effect relationships in the data, this is a terrific tool for focusing and expressing students' thinking". I really loved how Owen made his students present their findings of the Pine Creek water quality as if they were to present their findings to the city council. Owen says, "It is really fun to listen to these presentations, and I often see future lawyers, politicians, and philosophers! I'm hoping to have students incorporate Power Point presentations into future discussions".
After reading the article, I thought about how this tool is extremely beneficial to science teachers. According to "What is Causal Mapping?," Jim Pollard says, "The power of the tool is in how it encourages the student teams to monitor their learning. They begin with a model of how something works and then test whether they can support that model with measurements, observation, Internet research, or any other investigative tools. Any time research doesn't support their causal map, they can change the model. The teacher can be involved throughout the process, because everything the students believe and know is on the map". What a great way to learn!

Blog #3

Reading the article titled "Oh, the Changes We've Seen" made me think about how technology has evolved over the years. Come to think of it, technology has come a mighty long way. The article also made me think about the first time I was introduced to the computer. If I could remember, I was introduced to the computer during my elementary years where I was taught the basics. I remember playing Oregon Trail, a game that I always loved to play, trying to come up with different strategies in order to survive. Most of the time, I failed either because of the lack of food or the lack of medicine. I did not realize until later that the game was based on the descisions that I made. Playing the game a number of times made me realize that I had to make clever decisions. I remember how happy I was when I finally succeeded. The article mentions that students benefit from simulated and social interactive games because the games allow students to think critically and solve problems on their own (pg. 5). I love how the article ends explaining how the things done in the past impacts what will be done in the future, which also made me wonder about how technology will be thirty years from now.
This week I learned how to create a newsletter and rubric. Honestly, I always wondered how newsletters were made. I am extremely fortunate to learn how to create a newsletter for future use. Newsletters are very useful because newsletters keep parents informed about what is happening in the classroom. Rubrics are useful to both teacher and student. Teachers benefit from rubrics because rubrics help with grading. Students benefit from rubrics because rubrics help students know teacher expectations.

Blog#2

I really must say that I enjoyed the lecture and power point presentation on the world wide web. There were many things I did not even think about and there were many things that I learned and also benefited from. The information about the world wide web I found interesting is the absence of the letter "S" in the URL address that starts with "HTTP". "HTTPS" indicates that the web address is secure. The absence of the letter "S" simply means that the web address is not secure. Now that I know the diffference of a secure website from a non secure website, I have become more aware about the URL addresses that I visit on a daily basis. Based on the lecture on the world wide web, I have learned that the world wide web has its advantages and also disadvantages, which I am extremely grateful to know.
Reading "Teaching for Understanding" made me understand some of the reasons to why technology is so important in the classroom. In a nutshell, the main thing that I learned after reading the article is that technology stimulates the learning experience and allows students to think cognitively. Learning is about tying preconceptions to the exposure of new ideas, facts, things, and so forth.
The Netiquette is an interesting read. Everything mentioned in the Netiquette made me wonder if I follow the rules about writing an e-mail. I find it interesting that today's society is becoming more and more dependent on e-mail. I use to think people utilize e-mail to keep in touch with friends and family. Now, e-mail is utilized in so many different ways like turning in assignments for professors. I remember one of my past professors commenting on how technology is taking over the world. My professor also said that ever since the e-mail was invented, writing personal letters are rare.

Blog #1

Upon entering EDUC 422, I can honestly say that I was extremely nervous. I was nervous because I am not too bright when it comes to computers. Although I know some of the basics to using a computer, there are some things I would like to know more about and how to do. Arriving to the first class meeting was a bit intimidating considering that the classroom was filled with nothing but huge flat screen Mac's. I have been a PC user as far as I can remember and the first thing that came to mind when coming in a classroom to a sea of Mac's was the following question: "Are you serious?" So many thoughts rushed through my mind as I sat through class. To help me get through, I kept telling myself that change is a good thing and I will just have to manage. A good point was brought up in class about the benefit of learning how to use a Mac. As teachers, most of the classrooms consist of Macs. From this, I understood that it is important to tackle what this EDUC 422 class has to offer. For this class, I hope to gain the skills necessary to be an effective teacher and be able to utilize technology to assist to the needs of the students in my class. Teachers need to be acquainted with the necessary computer skills in order to keep grades, write letters, present information, contact parents, and so forth. After the first class, I went home excited, happy, and relieved.