It's our last class of Educational Technology (tear...)
The things that I really enjoyed about the class were some of the programs we were shown. My favorite one, hands down, is Pageflakes, because I still use it every day as my homepage. I have my facebook, email, TV guide, news reports, and weather all on the homepage, and I find it extremely useful. Ask my roomates..I'm addicted. My other favorites are Picnik, & SnagIt, because I'm always looking for new ways to edit photos (and I can't afford PhotoShop). I also really love Education World. It's probably the best resource for education articles, lesson plan ideas, and overall teaching tips that I've found so far. I will definitely be using it as a resource for any ideas I need for teaching. Another thing I enjoyed about the class was the Vyew conference. This was a really cool way to make class interactive, and we learned a lot about what looks like a really promising program. I don't know if I'll personally use it in the education field, but I think it must be amazing for any businesses or other companies who want to do group presentations.
While I haven't started it yet, I'm really excited about the class website. I've said so in my other blogs, so I won't elaborate too much, but I can't wait to do this project. I definitely want to be a teacher that has students visit their web page for their homework assignments, and parents can check it to find out information about their kids' class and teacher (I think parent involvement is very important). This will give me great practice for creating my own webpage for my own real class someday.
In my evaluation, I noted some things that I think should be changed. First of all, we've already been informed that the book won't be used next semester, which I think is a really good decision. The book really didn't help my learning at all. It was outdated and gave so many overly detailed descriptions that I ended up getting fed up with it and not using it at all. Besides, most of the information we needed was given during class and in research for our projects, not in the book. I'm glad to hear it won't be bothered with next semester. I also think that class time would have been better if it had been a little more hands-on. The Vyew conference was probably my favorite class because it was interactive and we were able to participate a lot more. Sitting and watching while we were shown a bunch of programs, some of which we didn't feel we were ever going to use, got boring after a while. It wasn't a waste of time because we did become familiar with a lot of really useful programs, but perhaps our exploration of the programs could have been a little more interactive.
Overall, I think I learned more from the class than I had expected to. I don't know if I agree when I'm told that I'll know more about technology than the tech person at my school, but I know that I know more than a lot of teachers right now do. I've realized through this class how important using technology in education can be. Not only does it make life easier for the students and the teacher, but students become so much more excited about their education when technology is used. Standing from a podium and lecturing has never been an effective way of teaching, especially for middle school and high school students. Using visual, audio and interactive aids like PowerPoint, Podcasts, overheads, videos, blogs, etc make students excited about what they're learning and hold their short attention spans much longer. One of the things I was warned about in my methods class is that "if you're bored, they're DEFINITELY bored." I intend to use technology to keep my students interested and excited about their educational experience.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
12/9 - last Sunday blog!
Sorry, I thought that since we were doing a blog in class Wednesday we didn't need one for this Sunday.
The presentations we saw in class last week were very well-done. I liked Jeff's incorporation of the videos even though they didn't work, they would have illustrated his point really well. His take on Second Life was particularly interesting for me because Kristen and I had included Second Life in our presentation on New Technologies in the Classroom. His findings were pretty much the same as ours; despite the criticism that so many people have, the teachers and students who are actually using them as a virtual learning environment have seen extremely positive results. The students love them because they're interactive and fun, and the teachers are finding that kids are learning more because class has an interesting twist to it. I also really liked his example of the virtual world that one of the teachers set up..I think it was about dinosaurs. It's a very constructivist principle to allow students to simply explore the environment and learn for themselves, and I think kids can learn a lot better this way when given the opportunity. It makes learning so much more fun for students, to the point where sometimes they don't even realize they're learning. I would love to try it.
The other presentation done by Amanda and Emily was great too, and was interesting for me because I have taken a Special Learners in the Regular Classroom course here at Fairfield. We talked a little about assistive technology used to help special learners in the classroom, such as hearing aids and magnifiers for the hearing or seeing impaired. This technology is a huge advancement in allowing students to learn in the "least restrictive environment," which is the goal of special education. Since I have some background in the area, I liked this presentation a lot.
I received positive feedback on my school visit paper, so I'm glad my work was appreciated. I thought Fairfield did a pretty good job with their efforts in incorporating technology in the classroom. The teachers I observed were especially persistent in using it every day, and I have a lot of respect for how much time it must take to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for every single lesson, especially considering that they meet with multiple classes each day. I will definitely use their example as a guideline for how I want to teach. Maybe not every day, but I will definitely use PowerPoint to give my students the visul element that has proven so helpful to me and most other students.
The presentations we saw in class last week were very well-done. I liked Jeff's incorporation of the videos even though they didn't work, they would have illustrated his point really well. His take on Second Life was particularly interesting for me because Kristen and I had included Second Life in our presentation on New Technologies in the Classroom. His findings were pretty much the same as ours; despite the criticism that so many people have, the teachers and students who are actually using them as a virtual learning environment have seen extremely positive results. The students love them because they're interactive and fun, and the teachers are finding that kids are learning more because class has an interesting twist to it. I also really liked his example of the virtual world that one of the teachers set up..I think it was about dinosaurs. It's a very constructivist principle to allow students to simply explore the environment and learn for themselves, and I think kids can learn a lot better this way when given the opportunity. It makes learning so much more fun for students, to the point where sometimes they don't even realize they're learning. I would love to try it.
The other presentation done by Amanda and Emily was great too, and was interesting for me because I have taken a Special Learners in the Regular Classroom course here at Fairfield. We talked a little about assistive technology used to help special learners in the classroom, such as hearing aids and magnifiers for the hearing or seeing impaired. This technology is a huge advancement in allowing students to learn in the "least restrictive environment," which is the goal of special education. Since I have some background in the area, I liked this presentation a lot.
I received positive feedback on my school visit paper, so I'm glad my work was appreciated. I thought Fairfield did a pretty good job with their efforts in incorporating technology in the classroom. The teachers I observed were especially persistent in using it every day, and I have a lot of respect for how much time it must take to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for every single lesson, especially considering that they meet with multiple classes each day. I will definitely use their example as a guideline for how I want to teach. Maybe not every day, but I will definitely use PowerPoint to give my students the visul element that has proven so helpful to me and most other students.
Monday, December 3, 2007
12/2
Sorry the blog is late, finals are already starting to beat me up!
The class in which we downloaded and tried out SnagIt was a good one. It may not have been necessary to bring our laptops to class, but now that I have the program on my computer I can use it at will. The program reminds me of a program I used to have on my PC when I was in middle school that my parents had added, called Screen Thief. It's basically the same concept of "stealing" images from whatever windows you have open, including the internet. This is useful because many websites have great graphic images that they don't allow users to copy & paste or save to their hard drive. If I wanted to use certain images for an academic project or paper, I would be unable to without explicit permission from either the owner of the website or the owner of the photograph. Programs like Screen Thief and SnagIt allows users to obtain these pictures. However, since ScreenThief is a late-90s program, SnagIt obviously is much more advanced with many more features. Screen Thief allowed you to take the picture, crop it, and save it to your hard drive, but did not include any other editing features. SnagIt has very similar features to photo editing programs such as Picnik and Picassa, so that you can resize, recolor, add text, etc to any picture you "snag." It's a great advancement and I will most likely use it at some point. I enjoyed the demonstration of Camtasia too, which, from my understanding was basically the video version of SnagIt. I would love to have some of my favorite YouTube videos saved to my hard drive, and Camtasia sounds like the best way to do it.
I thought the editing of our portfolios during class was really helpful. Since I had set my links up incorrectly, it gave me an opportunity to fix them with feedback from my peers and professor. I now have a fully working website complete with files that are both linked and downloadable. I also enjoyed discussing my lesson plan with the others in my class. Everyone else had some really interesting ideas for how to integrate technology into a daily lesson, and they liked mine as well. Bouncing ideas off of your colleagues can help you tremendously in the teaching world, which is why we've spent so much time on websites that have lesson ideas posted for us to see. Teachers are great at sharing their information with each other, because their main objective is to help students learn the best way possible, whether it's their own students or not. I find that teachers don't worry about whose idea is whose nearly as much as people in the business or science world, as long as kids are getting the education they deserve.
I'm also glad that we got the final date and last class date straightened out. I will most likely be submitting my final website early, because I have a break of a few days inbetween finals. I'm excited for creating my own website. I might have to do this for an actual class someday and it'll be great practice. Plus, I get to pretend I'm a teacher, which gets me excited for actually being one soon!
The class in which we downloaded and tried out SnagIt was a good one. It may not have been necessary to bring our laptops to class, but now that I have the program on my computer I can use it at will. The program reminds me of a program I used to have on my PC when I was in middle school that my parents had added, called Screen Thief. It's basically the same concept of "stealing" images from whatever windows you have open, including the internet. This is useful because many websites have great graphic images that they don't allow users to copy & paste or save to their hard drive. If I wanted to use certain images for an academic project or paper, I would be unable to without explicit permission from either the owner of the website or the owner of the photograph. Programs like Screen Thief and SnagIt allows users to obtain these pictures. However, since ScreenThief is a late-90s program, SnagIt obviously is much more advanced with many more features. Screen Thief allowed you to take the picture, crop it, and save it to your hard drive, but did not include any other editing features. SnagIt has very similar features to photo editing programs such as Picnik and Picassa, so that you can resize, recolor, add text, etc to any picture you "snag." It's a great advancement and I will most likely use it at some point. I enjoyed the demonstration of Camtasia too, which, from my understanding was basically the video version of SnagIt. I would love to have some of my favorite YouTube videos saved to my hard drive, and Camtasia sounds like the best way to do it.
I thought the editing of our portfolios during class was really helpful. Since I had set my links up incorrectly, it gave me an opportunity to fix them with feedback from my peers and professor. I now have a fully working website complete with files that are both linked and downloadable. I also enjoyed discussing my lesson plan with the others in my class. Everyone else had some really interesting ideas for how to integrate technology into a daily lesson, and they liked mine as well. Bouncing ideas off of your colleagues can help you tremendously in the teaching world, which is why we've spent so much time on websites that have lesson ideas posted for us to see. Teachers are great at sharing their information with each other, because their main objective is to help students learn the best way possible, whether it's their own students or not. I find that teachers don't worry about whose idea is whose nearly as much as people in the business or science world, as long as kids are getting the education they deserve.
I'm also glad that we got the final date and last class date straightened out. I will most likely be submitting my final website early, because I have a break of a few days inbetween finals. I'm excited for creating my own website. I might have to do this for an actual class someday and it'll be great practice. Plus, I get to pretend I'm a teacher, which gets me excited for actually being one soon!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
11/18
I just now realized that I already blogged on Chapter 7 last week....woops! I guess I won't repeat myself.
What I can talk about is the Weebly site that we worked on during the first half of class Wednesday. I like the layout of the site and the tools it gives you to easily incorporate any elements you want into your website. It's extremely easy to use, but still maintains a professional appearance. Website builders with elements that have such a basic click, drag, type setup to them usually end up looking like they're intended for a younger audience (one that is just learning to become familiar with website building). However, the final outcome of the website ends up looking very professional and well put-together. The options for the backgrounds are not the best, but they're sufficient for a basic professional web page. It would be better if we could change the images in the headings. There may be a way to do this but it doesn't seem to be obvious. I still can't figure out why the web page seems to be so constricted to the center of the page. It doesn't allow you to make use of the ample amount of room on either side of the central work area in which you post all of your material. This was pretty frustrating because the layout of the page would look a lot better if it were spread out width-wise much more.
I like the idea of a professional portfolio because we could use them later for job interviews and as an addition to our resumes. Employers who are looking for someone who is well-acquainted with technology and intends on using it in their classroom would be very impressed with this addition to their resume/portfolio. Unfortunately, I feel that not ALL employers would see this as a strong asset, and it might go unappreciated in some cases. However, better safe than sorry, and if anything it's a good way to organize your own materials, files, and personal information. Most employers ARE looking for new ways to incorporate technology, and teachers who are willing to do so, since so many teachers are reluctant to explore its uses and resources.
I also think I will enjoy building the classroom website. There is a good chance that I may have to do this in my future job, since almost every school's website I have visited has personal websites for each teacher. Some of these are very uniform and obviously school-mandated, but there are many that have clearly been created, designed, and updated frequently by the teachers themselves. Even if the school doesn't use a program such as Edline, Blackboard, or GradeConnect, personal classroom websites can serve this function also if they are frequently updated by the teacher. I think this project will give us a great resource for the possibility of having to do this in the future, and I honestly think I'll have fun creating it!
What I can talk about is the Weebly site that we worked on during the first half of class Wednesday. I like the layout of the site and the tools it gives you to easily incorporate any elements you want into your website. It's extremely easy to use, but still maintains a professional appearance. Website builders with elements that have such a basic click, drag, type setup to them usually end up looking like they're intended for a younger audience (one that is just learning to become familiar with website building). However, the final outcome of the website ends up looking very professional and well put-together. The options for the backgrounds are not the best, but they're sufficient for a basic professional web page. It would be better if we could change the images in the headings. There may be a way to do this but it doesn't seem to be obvious. I still can't figure out why the web page seems to be so constricted to the center of the page. It doesn't allow you to make use of the ample amount of room on either side of the central work area in which you post all of your material. This was pretty frustrating because the layout of the page would look a lot better if it were spread out width-wise much more.
I like the idea of a professional portfolio because we could use them later for job interviews and as an addition to our resumes. Employers who are looking for someone who is well-acquainted with technology and intends on using it in their classroom would be very impressed with this addition to their resume/portfolio. Unfortunately, I feel that not ALL employers would see this as a strong asset, and it might go unappreciated in some cases. However, better safe than sorry, and if anything it's a good way to organize your own materials, files, and personal information. Most employers ARE looking for new ways to incorporate technology, and teachers who are willing to do so, since so many teachers are reluctant to explore its uses and resources.
I also think I will enjoy building the classroom website. There is a good chance that I may have to do this in my future job, since almost every school's website I have visited has personal websites for each teacher. Some of these are very uniform and obviously school-mandated, but there are many that have clearly been created, designed, and updated frequently by the teachers themselves. Even if the school doesn't use a program such as Edline, Blackboard, or GradeConnect, personal classroom websites can serve this function also if they are frequently updated by the teacher. I think this project will give us a great resource for the possibility of having to do this in the future, and I honestly think I'll have fun creating it!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
11/11
As I was not in class last week, I cannot comment on the Powerpoint presentations that were given. However, I know from my own presentation that a lot of work must go into the final product, and I'm sure they were well-done.
Chapter 6 talked a lot about "hypermedia," and tools that assist students in things like graphic design, music recordings, videos, etc. Something I didn't realize was that simple graphics such as wordart and clipart fall under this category. Presentation software was also included this, and "electronic slideshows" such as PowerPoint was mentioned. More simplistic types of hypermedia such as PowerPoint and basic Word graphics are things I can see myself using in my classroom. Although the graphic design aspect didn't apply to me and my idea of what I will be doing with my students, there are other hypermedia tools I can incorporate. For example, several language teachers I have observed have assigned video projects for their students, conducted in the target language. Learning the technology basics of video-editing software may be essential to these types of projects, and refraining from using such a valuable learning tool because one is not familiar with this type of hypermedia would be a shame. The same could be done with an audio piece. Instead of performing dialogues in front of the class (a popular in-class assignment for foreign language teachers), a long-term project could be to record one in an audio file. Again, knowledge of this software is necessary, although an alternative to contemporary and potentially confusing software would be to use the basic sound recorder device built-in to most computers.
PowerPoint presentations are also great tools for research projects. In previous language classes, I have had to do research on countries that speak the target language, and PowerPoint is a great way to visually present information. Going along with this idea, the book also mentioned interactive research tools such as encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, newspapers, etc which are available through software as well as online. A common misconception about foreign language classes is that writing, researching, and presentation skills are not applicable because the students are simply learning vocabulary grammar and pronunciation. However, the cultural aspects of the course are just as important as the language portion, which is where the research and project skills definitely come into play. Tools to assist with these aspects of language learning could be really beneficial.
Chapter 6 talked a lot about "hypermedia," and tools that assist students in things like graphic design, music recordings, videos, etc. Something I didn't realize was that simple graphics such as wordart and clipart fall under this category. Presentation software was also included this, and "electronic slideshows" such as PowerPoint was mentioned. More simplistic types of hypermedia such as PowerPoint and basic Word graphics are things I can see myself using in my classroom. Although the graphic design aspect didn't apply to me and my idea of what I will be doing with my students, there are other hypermedia tools I can incorporate. For example, several language teachers I have observed have assigned video projects for their students, conducted in the target language. Learning the technology basics of video-editing software may be essential to these types of projects, and refraining from using such a valuable learning tool because one is not familiar with this type of hypermedia would be a shame. The same could be done with an audio piece. Instead of performing dialogues in front of the class (a popular in-class assignment for foreign language teachers), a long-term project could be to record one in an audio file. Again, knowledge of this software is necessary, although an alternative to contemporary and potentially confusing software would be to use the basic sound recorder device built-in to most computers.
PowerPoint presentations are also great tools for research projects. In previous language classes, I have had to do research on countries that speak the target language, and PowerPoint is a great way to visually present information. Going along with this idea, the book also mentioned interactive research tools such as encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, newspapers, etc which are available through software as well as online. A common misconception about foreign language classes is that writing, researching, and presentation skills are not applicable because the students are simply learning vocabulary grammar and pronunciation. However, the cultural aspects of the course are just as important as the language portion, which is where the research and project skills definitely come into play. Tools to assist with these aspects of language learning could be really beneficial.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
10/4
I enjoyed the Vyew teleconference much more than I enjoyed the "babycakes" conference. The president was much more personable and explained things much more easily. I also feel that his product is MUCH more useful, particularly in the field of education. While I can't see myself subscribing to "babycakes," I definitely can see myself using Vyew for a group project with my class or for an online presentation. The man we spoke with did a great job of explaining and describing his product, while we were expected to already know most of the information about "babycakes." He took the time to specifically explain the educational uses of Vyew, which is most applicable to the class with whom he was speaking. I really enjoyed the medical example he gave, asking us to diagnose the patient based on the pictures and sound waves. I could see how this would be really useful for any type of class. I also noticed how during this part of the tutorial, he addressed some of us individually, inviting us to give our opinions. I compared this to calling on someone in class. This adds a very real element to the conference, making it extremely similar to being in an actual classroom presentation. He also gave us the quiz at the end to demonstrate how assessment could be administered through Vyew as well. We have looked at numerous products and online sources in this class, and with some of them I have definitely questioned their relevance to education. However, most likely because it was developed by a University, this product can definitely add a lot to an educational experience, and be very useful to both students and teachers.
Of the lesson plan websites shown in class, I was VERY disappointed to find that only 2 out of the 6 sites had a foreign language section for lesson plans. Of these two sites, Thinkfinity and Educator's Reference Guide, the lesson plans for French were extremely limited and not very useful. I looked through each one thoroughly and found only a few that were usable. The most useful website I have found on my own searches for French lesson plans has been Education World. Altogether, the resources for French lesson plans are unfortunately rather limited, but they are available if you look hard enough.
Chapter 6 was interesting, but personally not very relevant. I liked the explanations of how graphic design, screen design, audio and video can be programmed and used. I have many friends in the film and music areas, and have seen some of the software they use to complete projects. Programs such as Final Cut and Photoshop are interesting and fun to play around with. However, the actual authoring of programs and products that do these things is way over my head. I don't see myself personally writing any programs in the near future! Overall, however, it was at least interesting, and a nice change from the over-detailed explanations about things I already know.
Of the lesson plan websites shown in class, I was VERY disappointed to find that only 2 out of the 6 sites had a foreign language section for lesson plans. Of these two sites, Thinkfinity and Educator's Reference Guide, the lesson plans for French were extremely limited and not very useful. I looked through each one thoroughly and found only a few that were usable. The most useful website I have found on my own searches for French lesson plans has been Education World. Altogether, the resources for French lesson plans are unfortunately rather limited, but they are available if you look hard enough.
Chapter 6 was interesting, but personally not very relevant. I liked the explanations of how graphic design, screen design, audio and video can be programmed and used. I have many friends in the film and music areas, and have seen some of the software they use to complete projects. Programs such as Final Cut and Photoshop are interesting and fun to play around with. However, the actual authoring of programs and products that do these things is way over my head. I don't see myself personally writing any programs in the near future! Overall, however, it was at least interesting, and a nice change from the over-detailed explanations about things I already know.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
10/28
Class Wednesday was probably one of the most interesting ones we have had this semester. The Vyew conference was absolutely amazing. I loved how simple it was and how quick and responsive it was to everyone's actions. This system would be great for any kind of group projects at a long-distance, and seems very college student-oriented. I can definitely see myself using this product for class during group work. This product also seemed very business-oriented, since that is the field in which most long distance projects take place. When college students conduct group projects, they are usually with people on campus. However, for a large university and for a large group, it is difficult to arrange a meeting time and place around several busy college student's schedules. Making this available from everyone's home computer makes a group project much less of a hassle, and gets the information out immediately.
The conference call website was also a very interesting feature. I for one have no idea how to three-way call on my cell phone, and I definitely could not create a conference call with it, involving 15 people such as our class did. This is a great thing to even incorporate into our casual conversations with multiple people, and obviously has advantages for businesses and for education. Teachers often conference with each other to plan cooperative lessons, or to discuss program, departmental, or curriculum changes. Parent-teacher conferences could also be conducted through this program, as well as PTA meetings, or any other kind of group discussion in an academic or business setting. I can definitely see myself using this product in whatever situations my future holds.
The conference call website was also a very interesting feature. I for one have no idea how to three-way call on my cell phone, and I definitely could not create a conference call with it, involving 15 people such as our class did. This is a great thing to even incorporate into our casual conversations with multiple people, and obviously has advantages for businesses and for education. Teachers often conference with each other to plan cooperative lessons, or to discuss program, departmental, or curriculum changes. Parent-teacher conferences could also be conducted through this program, as well as PTA meetings, or any other kind of group discussion in an academic or business setting. I can definitely see myself using this product in whatever situations my future holds.
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