Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Blog Post 7
Chapter 6 explains many aspects of technology in the classroom. The first is curriculum integration, also known as technology integration. This is basically the integration of many different technological aspects, such as software, into the curriculum of all educational subjects/fields of study. Currently, many schools have computer labs devoted to integration. The ASSURE model basically takes the idea of technology integration and transforms it into the classroom. The steps to assure are: Analyze the Learner; State Objectives; Select Methods, Media, and Materials; Utilize Method, Media, and Materials; Require Learner Participation; and Evaluate and Revise. These are useful steps not only for technology integration, but also for general classroom teaching. Learning theories allow for the relation of the learning environment into the teaching and learning styles. This can only be done through educational research. Such a process must be specific to the school, classroom, students, and teachers to work effectively. Overall, this chapter gave several useful strategies to be used in the classroom!
The Powerpoint experience was only review. However, the assignment did help refresh my memory about all of the different tools within Powerpoint. Also, I had never used teacher notes before. That was very interesting to see that teachers can add extra notes to themselves involving content and presentation. I enjoyed doing the Powerpoint assignment, and look forward to the next assignment as well. Also, I still believe the wikis were very interesting, especially how people commented on others wikis. That is awesome!
For sharing technology aspects...I believe that everyone should try doing a webpage with notepad. I just learned how to do one this semester...and it is so much easier than any other webpage maker. The assignment took me less than 20 minutes to have up on the web for everyone to see. I did not know that everyone else was having so many problems with other ways. Oh, and the best way to learn html code is to research it on the web and try different things out! Good luck on future webpage making!!
The Powerpoint experience was only review. However, the assignment did help refresh my memory about all of the different tools within Powerpoint. Also, I had never used teacher notes before. That was very interesting to see that teachers can add extra notes to themselves involving content and presentation. I enjoyed doing the Powerpoint assignment, and look forward to the next assignment as well. Also, I still believe the wikis were very interesting, especially how people commented on others wikis. That is awesome!
For sharing technology aspects...I believe that everyone should try doing a webpage with notepad. I just learned how to do one this semester...and it is so much easier than any other webpage maker. The assignment took me less than 20 minutes to have up on the web for everyone to see. I did not know that everyone else was having so many problems with other ways. Oh, and the best way to learn html code is to research it on the web and try different things out! Good luck on future webpage making!!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Blog Post 6
Chapter five is all about Digital Media and Software applications. Digital Media Applications use technology in education, business, and entertainment for interactive and creative activities. In business, digital media applications are used to create interactive advertisements as well as for job training ans skills assessment. Teachers can use this type of media in presentations to increase student involvement and learning. Students can use this media in different forms. Students learn from types of Digital Media by reading, seeing, and interacting with each subject rather than the teacher only instructing. Educational Software Applications are products used in teaching and learning. These products include: Computer-assisted instruction, Drill-And-Practice software, Educational games, Tutorials, and Educational Simulations. My favorite Application of the above are the Educational Games because they are interactive and fun as well as educational. My least favorite are the Tutorials because, from my experience, they are not fun...just lots of reading. All the same, these aspects can be integrated into the classroom experience.
This week incorporated two different activities using the World Wide Web. I created a Wiki this week. Although we did not have much instruction, I still excelled at both assignments. Though the wiki was interesting, I would much rather create a website. A wiki is a page that a person creates and, potentially, others can edit. The concept of wikis is no very complicated however, they are not visually appealing either. Websites are visually appealing while also being educational. I enjoyed the website assignment because I was able to incorporate individuality into the assignment. Overall, both assignments were experience, but the wiki was not as appealing as the website.
This week in the news I have been seeing an increased advertisement for the iPhones. The iPhones look interesting and are a new form of technology. They integrate email, video, music, and several other aspects to make a mini super computer. While I do not intend to purchase one of these phones, they are intriguing. I have seen others using this new apple device, and it looks amazing. Apple is the current growth spurt of technology in an ever advancing industry. Overall, technology is continuously advancing and creating new elements useful to society.
This week incorporated two different activities using the World Wide Web. I created a Wiki this week. Although we did not have much instruction, I still excelled at both assignments. Though the wiki was interesting, I would much rather create a website. A wiki is a page that a person creates and, potentially, others can edit. The concept of wikis is no very complicated however, they are not visually appealing either. Websites are visually appealing while also being educational. I enjoyed the website assignment because I was able to incorporate individuality into the assignment. Overall, both assignments were experience, but the wiki was not as appealing as the website.
This week in the news I have been seeing an increased advertisement for the iPhones. The iPhones look interesting and are a new form of technology. They integrate email, video, music, and several other aspects to make a mini super computer. While I do not intend to purchase one of these phones, they are intriguing. I have seen others using this new apple device, and it looks amazing. Apple is the current growth spurt of technology in an ever advancing industry. Overall, technology is continuously advancing and creating new elements useful to society.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Blog Post 4
Chapter 2 is primarily about the Internet. First off, Internet services are services the Internet offers users. The largest is the World Wide Web, but others include blogs, email, file transfer, and facebooks. The assistive technologies are software/devices that assist the visual and hearing impaired individuals. Such technology includes voice activation software for the visual impaired and teletypewriters for the hearing impaired. The guide to the World Wide Web websites is amazing! The sites are categorized into groups such as Travel and Shopping. You can look at the category and find exactly what you need! The search techniques are very useful as well. My favorite technique is the Yahoo Education because I have always used Yahoo and never knew about this neat feature. Lastly, the search tools contains a list of different websites for searching in the classroom. Though not useful currently, this feature can be useful when teaching.
Prior to the web hunt, I had never used the Google search engine. I enjoyed the new experience and learned many tricks of the trade. There are several different categories to refine a search such as: Scholar, video, images, etc. Also, they have iGoogle where you can personalize your own Google page. Lastly, Google has many helpful search hints like using quotation marks and plus signs. Google then prioritizes your search results from most to least relevant. This site will be useful for some aspects of searching the web in my career. Google does contain some elements not included in Yahoo, but Yahoo also has unique elements. Overall, I remain a loyal Yahoo user.
Mozilla Firefox is awesome! I enjoy being able to spell check the emails and blogs I write without extra hassle. All you have to do is write click on the misspelled word and Mozilla gives you suggestions as to the correct spelling. Also, if you put your pointer over a link you can see a preview of the site that link enters. This also works by putting your pointer on a minimized browser. Lastly, Mozilla assists you on search engines. For instance, I want to look up HTML for writing a webpage, all I have to do is type HTML and the list lowers with choices such as HTML code, HTML validation, HTML color codes, etc. Mozilla is the latest and greatest of browsers!
Prior to the web hunt, I had never used the Google search engine. I enjoyed the new experience and learned many tricks of the trade. There are several different categories to refine a search such as: Scholar, video, images, etc. Also, they have iGoogle where you can personalize your own Google page. Lastly, Google has many helpful search hints like using quotation marks and plus signs. Google then prioritizes your search results from most to least relevant. This site will be useful for some aspects of searching the web in my career. Google does contain some elements not included in Yahoo, but Yahoo also has unique elements. Overall, I remain a loyal Yahoo user.
Mozilla Firefox is awesome! I enjoy being able to spell check the emails and blogs I write without extra hassle. All you have to do is write click on the misspelled word and Mozilla gives you suggestions as to the correct spelling. Also, if you put your pointer over a link you can see a preview of the site that link enters. This also works by putting your pointer on a minimized browser. Lastly, Mozilla assists you on search engines. For instance, I want to look up HTML for writing a webpage, all I have to do is type HTML and the list lowers with choices such as HTML code, HTML validation, HTML color codes, etc. Mozilla is the latest and greatest of browsers!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Blog Post 3
Chapter 4 consisted of all of the devices involved with computer work. I have used many of these devices before, but never considered categorizing the devices. Throughout reading Chapter 4, I learned that input devices are basically instruments that put information into a computer. these devices include, but are not limited to: game controllers, kiosk touch screens, mouse, keyboard, and pen input. The pen is the most intriguing device because i never knew that a simple stylus and PDA fell into a special category. Also, I did not know that they now have pens that track what you write and display it on the computer. That is extremely interesting! Output devices are used to display or store information from the computer. These devices include screens, projectors,and printers. The only confusing art about the Chapter is the different between Audio input and Audio output. I believe that audio input involves sounds put into the computer from other devices whereas audio output is the sound from the computer to speakers. This area is still a little shady! Lastly, media storage. This is my favorite topic in Chapter 4. These devices include all types of disks, memory cards, and jump drives. I enjoyed this portion because I have a large amount of experience from using each of these devices. The most interesting part was to see the breakdown of the (now rarely used) floppy disk. The floppy disk consists of a shutter, a shell, two liners, flexible thin film with magnetic coding, and a metal hub! I have never seen the breakdown of one before! This chapter was interesting and very educational!!
So, I have been taking this Web Programming class. I am surprised at how well I am doing in it so far, but why is it required? I mean, my degree is Secondary Mathematics Education and the class uses Notepad to write webpages!?! When would I ever use that? I can understand the blogging in relation to education, or even using a program to make a webpage, but teachers don't have time to write html code for webpages. Does anyone else have a peculiar class they are required to take for their education degree? It just goes to show that technology is advancing in such a fast speed that teachers are required to enter into fields they never have before. I suppose taking this class is a growing experience though! I am rather proud of the webpages I have written thus far, and may use this for something someday! On the other hand, this Technology course is completely realistic for todays teachers. I am familiar with many of the programs, but it interests me to use them from the teachers end rather than the students end.
Oh so long ago, I was very skilled in Inspiration usage. However, I had not used the program since I was in 4th grade! That was nearly ten years ago...so I did need some refreshing. once i opened the program, I remembered how to use it, but I never had a detailed history about different maps. I enjoyed that part of class because we got a background to what we were going to apply to teaching. In fact, this program is extremely useful in the Mathematics department, so I might even be using parts of that background lesson someday. Also, I enjoyed making links to webpages and using the pictures. This program is extremely create, innovative, and yet educational. All of the greats in one! I look forward to future assignments, lectures, and discussions in the class.
So, I have been taking this Web Programming class. I am surprised at how well I am doing in it so far, but why is it required? I mean, my degree is Secondary Mathematics Education and the class uses Notepad to write webpages!?! When would I ever use that? I can understand the blogging in relation to education, or even using a program to make a webpage, but teachers don't have time to write html code for webpages. Does anyone else have a peculiar class they are required to take for their education degree? It just goes to show that technology is advancing in such a fast speed that teachers are required to enter into fields they never have before. I suppose taking this class is a growing experience though! I am rather proud of the webpages I have written thus far, and may use this for something someday! On the other hand, this Technology course is completely realistic for todays teachers. I am familiar with many of the programs, but it interests me to use them from the teachers end rather than the students end.
Oh so long ago, I was very skilled in Inspiration usage. However, I had not used the program since I was in 4th grade! That was nearly ten years ago...so I did need some refreshing. once i opened the program, I remembered how to use it, but I never had a detailed history about different maps. I enjoyed that part of class because we got a background to what we were going to apply to teaching. In fact, this program is extremely useful in the Mathematics department, so I might even be using parts of that background lesson someday. Also, I enjoyed making links to webpages and using the pictures. This program is extremely create, innovative, and yet educational. All of the greats in one! I look forward to future assignments, lectures, and discussions in the class.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Blog Post 2
The first website I explored is http://www.serpik.com/agrapher/. I enjoyed this website because it sells far more efficient software to develop accurate graphs for classes. However, this site would serve more use if the graphs could be made on the internet instead of needing the software. Overall, the best part of this site is the trial download. This allows teachers to use the product before purchasing it. I played around with the program for a little while and it is awesome! The most useful of all of the Math Corner websites was http://www.learner.org/interactives/dailymath/. This site gives explanation to the math students never ending question "How does this apply in the 'real world'?". The entire site is full of real life problems with mathematic solutions, important aspects of mathematics, and is visually appealing. I will definitely use this site in my mathematics classes in the future.
Through the Microsoft Word 2003 tutorial and quiz i learned how to change the program settings. this will be extremely useful in the classroom because it expands the uses of Word. Most importantly, I learned new, more efficient, ways to do basic tasks such as creating tables, altering text, and equalizing columns. Word is an essential part of teaching in todays classrooms. This lesson has broadened my Microsoft Word 2003 knowledge.
For my assistive technology choice, I decided on the site http://www.nuance.com/. I have personally used one of their programs, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, on my grandmothers computer. This software is amazing, it recognizes your voice, and allows you to write papers, access the internet, and do everyday tasks on the computer without physically seeing the screen. This allows students who would have automatically been classified as Special Education to interact in everyday classroom settings and perform assignments as done by other students. Finally, with the use of these software programs, teachers can actively engage with students who have been outcast by their disability. Thanks to technology, the disabled have now become the enabled!!
Through the Microsoft Word 2003 tutorial and quiz i learned how to change the program settings. this will be extremely useful in the classroom because it expands the uses of Word. Most importantly, I learned new, more efficient, ways to do basic tasks such as creating tables, altering text, and equalizing columns. Word is an essential part of teaching in todays classrooms. This lesson has broadened my Microsoft Word 2003 knowledge.
For my assistive technology choice, I decided on the site http://www.nuance.com/. I have personally used one of their programs, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, on my grandmothers computer. This software is amazing, it recognizes your voice, and allows you to write papers, access the internet, and do everyday tasks on the computer without physically seeing the screen. This allows students who would have automatically been classified as Special Education to interact in everyday classroom settings and perform assignments as done by other students. Finally, with the use of these software programs, teachers can actively engage with students who have been outcast by their disability. Thanks to technology, the disabled have now become the enabled!!
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