Post # 10

The blog that I chose to look at was Alex Crawford's. The topic that I found most interesting on her blog was the post about powerpoint. I think that she brought up some very excellent points about how it can be frustrating for student's when the teacher's click too fast through the slides. Also, some student's only write down what is on the slide, which can be problematic when there is only very broad topics on there. I know from my own experiences that dealing with power point can be a pain, especially if the color schemes don't quite go together, because it can be difficult to read from far away. I also thought that her point on bringing computers into the elementary aged setting is something that is important and beneficial to their educational growth. Alex had some great points on technology and I found her blog to be interesting to read. 

The technology skill that I would most like to learn next is Microsoft Access. It is a program that I have on my computer, but I have absolutely no clue what it's purpose is. The reason that I want to learn more about this program is so that I can be as familiar with all forms of technology as I can. I think that as technology grows and becomes more integrated into our lives, it is imperative to be savvy with the different tools that are available through it. Another reason I think it is important to learn about Access is that it could lead me to find new things to do with my student's that would help to further educate them, or to help keep me on track as I teach them new things.

A way that I could learn about Microsoft Access is by going online and trying to find tutorials of it. I could also just explore the program and see if I can figure out what it is all about on my own. Another way that I could become familiar with this and other forms of technology is by attending more classes on technology, or workshops that are available. I think it is important to stay up to date and to keep on track with what is happening in the technology world. I hope to achieve my educational technology goals and to use all of the skills that I have learned this semester as I go through my years at Florida State, and then later on as a teacher. 

Post # 9

The online tool that I looked at was on learning more about Marine Ecology. The website I found that was pretty interesting was http://www.secretsatsea.org. It is a website that would be useful in an elementary school setting, such as grades 3-5. It was interactive learning that would teach the student's facts about the ocean and how they can do things to help keep it clean. It is in essence an adventure game that the student's take to learn more about the ocean.

In the game, the student's must complete tasks that are related to what they learn as they go through the game. As they answer more questions, they get closer to solving the case. In this particular website, they are learning about whales. They find out what they eat, where they live, and other facts. There is a vocabulary sheet there to enhance what they are learning through the game. I think that this website could be extremely helpful in teaching young children about marine life and how to take care of the ocean. It is very kid friendly and easy to use and I think it would be a great tool to use in a classroom.

Another tool that I could use as a teacher is Excel. I think that I could use Excel and similar programs as a teacher. I could use this spreadsheet tool to keep track of student's grades and to help keep them organized in one place. I could also use it in a class project in a 7th grade science classroom as a way of organizing data. For example, if the student's were doing an experiment on plants, they could use Excel to keep track of plant growth, how much water they give the plants and other variables that are involved in the experiment. They could also develop charts on the program to help present their data in an well organized fashion. In chapter 13, it mentions various ways to use spreadsheets. I could use Excel to create charts and graphs that would present data on what we are learning. I could also use it to help calculate numbers that we are dealing with or to calculate grades. I think that using Excel as a teacher would be very beneficial and will enable me to keep track of grades in an easy manner.

Post # 8

For the powerpoint 2 assignment, I created a powerpoint that was a math review that incorporated the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving. Following the guidelines set up in Chapter 8, I made sure that the text was easy to read against the background. I also used different kinds of graphics, incorporating some from WordArt, google images, and clip art. I never used more than 3 fonts per screen, and kept the colors consistent and less than 4. Each of the screens only had one purpose idea, either a question, or the answer that went along with the previous screen. I never used flashing text. All of the buttons that were included had a purpose that was quickly discovered once it was clicked on. I think that the powerpoint presentation that I created followed the guidelines in Chapter 8 very closely. As can be seen in the image on the left, I used consistent fonts, simple graphics that are relevant to the slide, and had a button that was clear and easy to use. 

There are a few ways that I can incorporate peripherals into a classroom. I can use printers to allow students to print off a project that they are working on. I can have them use cameras to capture photographs of something out of the classroom and bring back the pictures to incorporate into a project. In a classroom, we could also use video cameras to produce movies on what we are learning and show how it appears in life. For example, if they are learning about exercise, the students could make a movie to show different kinds of exercise and how to do each of those. I could use these peripherals with computer based technologies by having them take what they have made and put it onto the computer to present it to the class. They could make it into a powerpoint presentation, such as putting their pictures onto powerpoint to make a slideshow. There are many different options that are available to student's today.  

Some new skills that I have acquired within the last week or so that will enable me to further my teaching career are learning to be more adept with using the powerpoint program. I discovered some tools on there that I did not know existed before. I think that they will further enhance my teaching experience and allow my lessons to be given in an interesting manner. By using powerpoint, I can deliver lessons in an organized manner and also include videos, sounds, and graphics where appropriate. Powerpoint has a lot to offer and I think it will only make my teaching habits better and will allow me to use technology in a way that will be easy for students to understand. 

Post # 7

What I find to be the biggest advantage of presentation software in a K-12 setting is that it offers a different format to learn information from. Using software such as powerpoint can give a students the ability to learn from pictures, texts, animations, sounds, and movie clips. I think that powerpoint allows for all different learning styles to be attended to because it enables the teacher to put all of these things into the slides. I feel there are disadvantages to this however because if powerpoint has to be viewed off of a television screen, it can be hard for a student to see. When I was in school, this is how I had to view powerpoint and I always found it difficult because the screens are to small and there would be too much information on the slides. Overall, however, I feel that powerpoint is advantageous in a classroom environment.
I might use powerpoint to support student learning by perhaps creating presentations that can be used by the individual student. I could make a vocabulary game or have a math quiz. In a particular lesson, I could use powerpoint in teaching a lesson on Vocabulary words. I could use this to exhibit different words followed by their definition and then showing it used in a sentence.
With educational technology, I have now learned how to use technology in a classroom setting. I think it is interesting how there are so many options available to use to teach students. Before this class, I was not really aware how many different sources of technology there was that could be used in a classroom. One tool that I would really use in a classroom is definitely Powerpoint. I think that it could help me organize and present my information in a clear manner, as well as give student's the notes in a written manner.

Post # 6

I think that the use of Web 2.0 Technologies in a K-12 classroom would be very beneficial. I think that the web provides a lot of unique information that can be accessed with your fingertips. By using web technologies, I believe that students will only benefit from it by finding out more information about what they are studying and by seeing many different vantage points that are out there on that subject. Web 2.0 provides a better learning experience, I believe, because there are more media's available to learn the material from. It can be presented not only in text format, but also in videos, pictures, and animations. I would use Web 2.0 in my classroom because I think that there is so much to be gained by using it. The way that I would use it is by having my students look up different things on the subject we are studying. I would teach them which websites are appropriate for research, and what sites should be avoided. I would also use sites such as YouTube to give them videos to watch on something we are studying. Also, I could have them make websites such as Wikis for class projects to help teach the class about a topic. I would also incorporate a blog site for class discussions. I think that Web 2.0 would help my students better themselves in ways they didn't know were possible. 

When it comes to Wikipedia, however, I would be very cautious in using this as a learning resource. Because of the nature of the website, where anybody can edit the material, I think I would be wary of using this as a source for information, especially for a research paper. Some of the information on there could be false, and I would not want my students to be led astray by something that was posted on Wikipedia. I think the idea behind Wikipedia is good in general, but using it for formal work is probably not something that I would encourage. I think that if you are looking at Wikipedia for fun that you could gain more knowledge, but you could never be sure that everything you read is true. 

Some new skills that I have acquired within the last week that I think would be beneficial to my educational career are learning about Wikis. I think that these webpages are an awesome idea that I could use for my students to create and share things that they learn about with each other. I think that Wikis would enable my students to have a more connected learning experience with each other. Another new skill that I have learned this month is Inspiration. I think that this will help in my career because I could organize and present information in a creative manner. These skills will help my education career because I will be technologically savvy in many different areas and this will help me to teach to all types of learning styles. Technology will help me become a great teacher. 

Post # 5

Using the internet to support student research can be very helpful when it is used in the right manner. If is used to better research, then it can be advantageous to the research that the student is doing. When the internet is used properly, the results can be fantastic. I have found this tool in my own academic experience to be extremely rewarding. I think that using the internet can help lead students' in the right direction when it comes to doing a research project, or to help them find new and innovative ideas for a project. Beneficial as this tool may be, it does have some negative consequences that make a student's research a little more difficult. Because of it's nature to be easy to use for all, the internet makes plagiarizing an even easier task to accomplish. When this comes into the picture, it makes the internet seem as a bad tool for students to use in their work. As exhibited in chapter 3, it shows that using the internet can be resourceful. For example, the internet provides various forms of the information. It is not only presented in text, but also in sounds, movies, and pictures. Some downfalls for the internet is that it can give faulty information. Not everything you read online is true, and websites such as Wikipedia allow anybody to edit their articles. With Wikipedia, you are far less likely to find good, factual information, than if you looked in a printed version of a book that you find in a library. 

Web-based resources might support student learning in several ways. It can allow the student to find information more quickly, with the push of a few buttons, rather than taking a long time to find it in a library. Another way that web-based resources can support student learning is to offer them more than just text to enhance the learning process. Videos and animations can help to give the student a more in-depth look at a subject. 

My concern as a teacher supervising students that use technology based resources would be that they would use the technology incorrectly. For example, if I was teaching 8th grade Science, and I requested my student's to do a report, there would be the danger that the student's might plagiarize something that they found on the internet. They might also find incorrect information that would lead them astray in their endeavors to write a report. I think it could become difficult for my students to know what information is credible and likewise what is not. My job as a teacher supervising the student's would be to teach them what is good information and what sites are most appropriate to lead them to the information that they need. I would want to make sure that they found the very best information that could lead them to learn more about the subject. 

Post # 4

As a teacher, I would make use of some of the ideas presented in Chapter 7. Some of the ideas that I would use in my classroom would be to use outlines, storyboards, and flow charts. These things are useful for taking data and organizing them into ideas in a central location. The way that I would use them is if we were writing a research paper or if we were trying to find similarities between subjects. A type of technology that I could use to achieve these goals in a classroom is by using the Inspiration program. This program was really neat to use and I think that it would help students to see the bigger picture of what they are trying to study. It would also allow them to be creative and to find different ways to present their material. 

I would encourage my students to use outlines, idea maps, and storyboards. I would do this because I find it very useful when I am trying to learn about something or am trying to organize my information in a way that allows me to see my work more clearly. These skills are very useful to have in a classroom setting and help people to stay on task. If something didn't fit exactly into what they were trying to convey, then a storyboard may help them to realize this before they include useless information. Idea maps also help to keep information focused around a main topic and see how it relates to what they are doing. 

Some new skills that I have acquired in the last week that would be useful to me in my educational career are becoming acquainted with Inspiration. This program will help me when I am trying to teach my students to organize data. This also helps to let out their creative energy and allow them to become more connected with their projects. I think that this skill will be useful to me in the long run because I will be able to help explain subjects I am trying to teach in a more creative and organized manner. With Inspiration, I will be able to include pictures in concept maps that I create and it will allow me to present things in a unique and interesting manner.