CEdO520 Week 2

In this course we are looking at Internet Learning Resources and their validity.  To me Internet learning resources are any site that anyone can learn from or use.  I use learning resources in my teaching for my students, but I too use the Internet to learn from.  The problem with the Internet is that there is SO much information that it is often difficult to find what you're looking for.  This week we used Google Advance Search.  If I remember to use it, this will become a good tool for me.  Google advance search is easier to use than Boolean Logic, and although we learned about Boolean Logic in another course bad habits are hard to break.

We also read an article debating Wikipedia's significance in learning.  I have only used Wikipedia a couple of times, and I've never had my students use it.  Not for the reasons in the article, but it's just not a site that I give students to use.  I provide my students with the URL's they are able to go to.  Is wikipedia a reliable source?  I guess it depends on the subject, however, students (people) should never use only one source for information when doing research.  I don't think wikipedia should be completely discredited.  The most important thing to remember when doing research on the Internet is that there is a lot of inaccurate information out there.  Choose wisely and carefully.

This week I was introduced to Google Alerts.  I don't think this is something that I will use.  Sometimes technology just inundates us with too much information.  Personally that's how I feel about Google Alerts.  When using Google Alerts you select a subject and then it will email you with information on it.  Who reads all those emails?  Not me.  There is only so much time in a day, and I don't want to spend all of it on the computer or working.  Regularly I watch local and world news so I feel on top of current events.  If I want to know more I'll research it.  If there's a subject I want to know more about, whether it be for school or personal, I'd rather research it myself.

CEdO520 What is the Value of Blogging?

During our first class Jim asked if we liked doing the weekly blogs.  Quickly I responded with a "no".  Then he gave us the assignment to come up with ways to use blogging. 

Personally I don't mind blogging, but I find the weekly assignment repetitive and tedious.  I find it very difficult to answer the same question “How can you apply what you’ve learned” every week, when many times we are working on similar types of material from one week to the next.  Unfortunately not everything that we do can be used in my classroom or school at this time, or at that moment I haven’t had enough experience with the tool to be able to really answer that question yet.  It doesn’t mean that I didn’t find the experience beneficial though.  The other part is reading and providing thought provoking questions to our classmates.  This is difficult for me to do when I’m just learning it myself. 

Since I understand that at the end of this graduate program I will have to create a capstone, I think my blog will prove to be invaluable.  I think of blogging as a “journal”.  With that being said, I think it is important to do an overview of what I learned and my experience with it.  I would like to blog more about what did I learn, how well did it work, can I use it in my teaching environment, why or why not, and what issues or challenges did I have if any.  When I look back a year from now, I believe this type of information might be more valuable to me.  With this being said, I don’t know what our capstone has to be about or like.  Perhaps that type of weekly blogging wouldn’t be as beneficial.

In regards to reading and responding to my classmates’ blogs, I do think there’s value in it.  I like reading each other’s blogs because it provides other peoples insights.  Some things I’ve learned by reading the other blogs is that person’s experience.  Did they have difficulty with it or were they able to easily manipulate the program?  From their blog, I’ve also read about ways that they might be able to use the material in their professional life and how they would use it.  Instead of trying to come up with questions on material I’m just learning, I’d like to write about something I learned or was able to take away from their blog. 

Software Evaluation

This week we studied google sites and software evaluations.  While creating a google site, at this time I don't see how it would be useful to me in my teaching.  In google documents I find it very easy to find a document, spreadsheet, etc. I'm not sure what the purpose of google sites is for.

With that being said, I can say that I did like the software evaluation.  Even though in my district teachers don't have any real input when it comes to purchasing software, it never hurts so see what else is out there. I chose to evaluate Kidspiration.  I have used Inspiration before, but never Kidspiration.  I really liked Kidspiration.  It provides cross curriculum opportunities.  It really provides students an opportunity for all students including special needs and ESL students visual and written opportunities.  Students can create web diagrams, venn diagrams, and other types.  They can do this using text and pictures, and then with a click it will change to an outline.  In the outline they can expand on the text, creating complete sentences.  In also includes math concepts - online manipulatives.

The program also has many built in activities, which include phonics, blends, parts of speech.  There are activities for reading/writing, math, science, and social studies.  The program is designed for grades K-5 and even has sound for non readers.  When the students get into different sections they can choose their grade level, so it's a program that will continue to challenge students throughout their different grade levels.  As I was demoing the program I was imagining all the ways I could use this program with my special needs students.  This program provides differentiated instruction.  This program promotes creativity, and creativity has been the underlying theme throughout this whole course.

I Love Spiders

What I liked about this video and lesson was the hands on.  The students took pictures of different spiders, researched them to find out what kind they were, and then sent them to another classroom in a different state.  This lesson gets the students involved, and I think I will try and incorporate a similar idea in my classroom.  We do an unit on animals, plants, and the environment.  The students could do something similar and then either exchange with another class or find a wiki or an online learning area to do share with.  Since I teach older students, I'd really like it if we exchanged this information with another class in a different country.  They could do science or social studies with cultures.  They could take pictures of food, costumes, decorations, etc. and share and compare with another country.  The possibilities are endless.

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets intimidate a lot of people.  I think it's the thought of using formulas.  What a lot of people don't realize is that they can be used for so much more.  I use them all the time, although I don't do a lot these days with formulas.  I use them for organizing data, tables, columns etc.  Some of the ways I currently use spreadsheets is by making flashcards for students, organizing information into neat rows or columns, create worksheets especially for science labs, to name a few.  Spreadsheets provide an easy way to add formatting such as font size and type, color, position of text, width of columns, height of rows, and amount of rows.  It's easy to add and delete information, columns, and rows in spreadsheets.  Spreadsheets also provide an easy way to sort information.  I use spreadsheets in both my professional and personal life.  

Type with me

Type with me is very similar to Google Docs.  There are a couple of differences.  One difference is that everyone has there own color and no one else can change or delete the others' work.  I can see this being beneficial in a classroom.  As the teacher I can see what each student has contributed to the document.  Although I find it difficult to read through sometimes with all the colors, and students with ADHD or ADD might have a very difficult time with this application for the same reason.  They might have a hard time focusing.  Another difference is that it doesn't automatically save the work like Google Docs does.  If you loose a connection with the application or it synchronizes while your using it, it doesn't save it.  While using it our group had to keep retyping the same information at least 10-15 times, because it was synchronizing while we were using it.  I can see students just giving up and leaving it as it is, especially since we as adults were at that point.  I'm still working on all of this weeks work, so nothing else to add.

How does technology effect my life?

Before you ask how does technology affect your life you have to define what technology is.  Technology is the tools we use - computers, software programs, iPods, Smartboards, and the internet to name a few.  When I think of technology I think of electronics, apps and software, and their accessories.  We use technology every day and there is so much to choose from these days.  

As a technology continues to advance and more becomes available we need select and use the tools best suited to the person and the situation.  I don't believe that just because it's new or free always makes it better than we sometimes already have.  Take Windows Vista for example.  Have you ever heard anybody say anything good about it - even when it was new?  This week I found some tools better than others. 

I was really excited about the different graphic sites at first until I looked closer to the home page.  On some of the sites I saw content that would not be appropriate for school.  It disappointed me because I really thought they could become good sites to use for language arts and social studies.  I talked to our school librarian who is going to take the list of sites and see if she can find similar sites that have more suitable graphics for the students.  I was really disappointed in the Face in Hole graphics and MagMyPic content.

I liked the TypeWithMe site.  It has some similarities to google docs.  It's easy to use and everyone can type directly into the document.  I like that you can tell who typed what with the different colors.  My only question is can students delete someone else's work?  I didn't try it so I'm not sure.  Or can you sign in as another person?