Sunday, March 23, 2008
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.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
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.
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.
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