Monday, April 26, 2010

Assignment #4-Technology Project

Welcome to Biology Intro Video:


Delicious Page


List of Features:
-Delicious Website
-Storing and Organizing websites that I want to come back to
-Flip Video
-Record Videos
-Upload to Computer
-Edit Clip -Use Magic Moviemaker to create video
-Set song to background

Issues:

-Delicious: Fairly straightforward and easy to use, didn't know how to bundle categories


-Flip Video: Initially I had trouble charging the flip video, but after I finally got it to once, there wasn't an issue after that. The battery life is fairly good, but still dies relatively quickly, and ONLY charges via USB port. Downloading the Flip Video program was fine and straight forward, but for some reason, the program always closes when I try to add a title to my video, so I forfeited adding a title, which isn't a huge deal, but is a nice touch. I also wish that there was a way to record audio with the program to add to the video. There is probably a way around this such as recording your audio bit and uploading it to itunes, and then playing the audio bit as your music background, but this would likely be pretty difficult to get the timing right, and you wouldn't be able to use music at all, unless you recorded it in your audio at the same time.


Importance of Project:
This project was very beneficial in learning how to use the flip video. If given the opportunity in the future, I would definitely incorporate flip videos into my curriculum, helping to bring the real outside world into the classroom, to make lessons more relevant and engaging to students. How I would specifically use this project is to use the Delicious account to help me stay organized in all of my teacher resources and research. I would use the flip video that I made to open up the first day of school, as an introductory attention getter. This video and Delicious combination would also be an example of a project that I would assign to my students later in the semester (if applicable, depending on availability of flip videos). Students would use Delicious accounts to collect and organize research on various topics of biology. They would then choose one area and use the research in order to aid them in making a flip video on the topic to share with the class.

NETS Standards:
This project touches on many of the NETS Standards for both teachers and students (because this project will serve as an example of a project that I will assign my studets during the semester). For the Teachers standards, this project hits on:


1) Facilitate and Inspire Student Creativity
2)Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3)Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
4)Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

On the Students' side, this project would meet the following NETS Standards:

1) Creativity and Innovation
2) Communication and Collaboration
3) Research and Information Fluency
4) Critical Thinking, Problem Soving, and Decision Making
5) Digital Citizenship
6) Technology Operations and Concepts

Students will work together in groups for this project (NETS standard #2). They will each create a Delicious account where they will store links to information that they research on the group topic online (NETS Standards #3 and #6). Students will use the research that they have conducted to make a video to present the information in an interesting and engaging way (NETS Standards #1, #4, #5, and #6) which they will then present to the class.



Thursday, April 22, 2010

Reflection #10

What: The iPad (inspired by Dr. Kowalski's presentation in class Tuesday)

So What: The iPad is an extremely cool gadget that Dr. Kowalski presented in class. It has great storage capabilities and applications that can be downloaded to serve any person's interests/needs. Not to mention it's extreme ability to download quickly and move from one thing to the next in a speed that is quick enough to keep up with anybody's downloading or search needs provides not only a cool personal gadget, but a great tool to use for teaching and lecturing. Notes, textbooks, regular books, documents, papers, etc can easily be stored on the iPad, you can even access the screen to your own computer! This an extremely helpful tool for teaching and learning, and is easily transportable as well.

Now What: I want one! I've been considering getting a new lap top for a little bit, but after Dr. Kowalski's presentation, I might just save up for the iPad instead. My old laptop is still good for writing papers, but it is a pain to tote around, and the majority of the time, not quick enough for things I want to do. The iPad would be a great addition to my personal belongings because I could use it to "consume" information, take notes in class, etc, and still have my good old lap top to write papers and do more "creating". Time to start saving = )

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Reflection # 9

What: So this is concerning something Professor Sorenson said in class today about the probability that all of us will someday teach an online course.

So What: I would be fine with teaching an online course or two in the future. However, I would have to think long and hard about teaching if all education transitioned into online courses. With online classes, the personal connections and relationships are somewhat lost over the internet. While there are some really cool things that can be done with online education, part of my desire to go into teaching is having that interactive-ness with students.

Now What: The deciding factor of this dilemma, should education one day totally transition into online learning/classes, would be for me to actually experience an online course. Perhaps it wouldn't be as distant as I imagine, and I'm sure that the classroom relationship expereince would depend on how I the teacher set up the online course. Overall, it will be interesting to see where online schooling goes in the future.

Reflection #8

This reflection is kind of piggy backed off of one of Bethany's reflections. It's something that I've thought about before, and reading Bethany's blog reminded me of it, so here is my idea. It may apply more at the college level, but perhaps could be used in pre-collegiate education as well.

What: Having a company that runs a website in collaboration with text book companies so that students can download books, even chapters of books rather than buying a whole book that the student doesn't need.

So What: This could be a revolutionary idea that saves students money as well as helps to make managing all the books that students will have easier. Students can focus on chapters that will be covered in class without having to purchase material that they will never look at.

Now What: I think the tricky thing with this idea would be to get text book companies to join in with this type of program, because I think that they would not be making as much money as they do now, but maybe there would be some companies that see the benefit for students.

Comments for Classmates #2

Click on my classmates names below to see my comments for their blogs:

Bethany

Jonus


Kacie

Blake

Deanna

Monday, April 19, 2010

Week 14-The Future of Technology and Education

I found the following article for this assignment:

The Future of Technology and Education

This article expressed many of the same themes that have been expressed in various articles that we have read throughout the semester. There were some however that were expressed differently or emphasized in a particular that stood out to me. The themes of the article include:

-The American School System needs to change to incorporate more technology
-School District and Administration need to find a way to provide equipments, software, and proper training and workshops for teachers
-Students' quality of education will only be shortchanged the longer we put off making adjustments
-These adjustments are necessary for kids to work in today's society and compete and contribute to global economics
-People expect technology in their everyday lives, it's time that our classes catch up

The author had many interesting points that emphasized how essential it is to get everybody onboard to continue integrating technology into the classrooms, including administrators, parents, teachers, and students.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Reflection #7

What:
Borrowing, Begging, and Stealing is way more effective than original creation.

So What:
A huge part of being a teacher is about being creative. At first, this may seem like being creative enough to come up with your own curriculum, lesson plans, etc. And part of this is, however another aspect of being a teacher is to be wise about distribution of resources. This includes where you put your time. While some things may require you to come up with your own methods, these things take up a huge amount of time. As I've heard many teachers say, "Why reinvent the wheel?" Of course, it is essential to exercise proper etiquette when using other teacher's ideas, but when you have their permission, this will save you a ton of time in the developmental department and allow you to use this time in other departments that will further your teaching awesomeness.

Now What:
Keep an eye open, especially when participating in student teaching, and visiting other people's classrooms for great ideas. Take a camera and document these things so that you can reenact them later. Visit as many different classrooms and teachers as possible to get a wide variety of things that you could possibly incorporate into your classroom.

Week 13-Word, Excel, and Powerpoint

Word:
-I mainly use Word to write papers for class
-I have used it to create brochures/pamphlets for presentations

Excel:
-I currently use Excel for work to keep track of inventory of chemicals for the science department

Powerpoint:
-I use powerpoint to create a visual background for class presentations
-I frequently use Powerpoint to access class notes posted online by my teachers.

The following are projects I could assign to my class to help them become familiar with these programs.

1) This project would be used to incorporate both Word and Powerpoint. Students will each pick a topic concerning the implications of biology on society today. They will do reasearch about their topic and create annotated bibliographies, topical outlines, and a final paper using Word. Students will then present their papers to the class using Powerpoint as a visual aid in their presentation, and they will use Word to make pamphlets/brochures to hand out to their classmates going over the main points that they touch on.

2) The second project is to incorporate the use of Excel. Students will go out into an area of a community in groups of four and conduct a survey of the different types of plants and their dominance in within a certain range. Students will present their findings in table that they create using and Excel program.

Week 12: K-12 Online Conference

I listened to the pre-conference key note speaker classroom teacher and international educator Kim Cofino. Below is a link to watch her video presentation:

Going Global: Culture Shock, Convergence and the Future of Education

This was a very intriguing presentation as a lot of it dealed with teaching overseas in another culture. This is something that is very interesting to me and would pursue the opportunity to be able to participate in an expereince like this should one arise.

The speaker had many interseting points, and it was also a cool perspective to get to learn more about international schools. Prior to this, I really didn't know very much about international schools, but now I can see that they are a very unique community, and it would be a unique position to teach in.

I liked that the presentation inculded interviews from many different people across the world touching a number of people from a wide range of ages through the use of a webcam.

One of the most useful things that I learned from the presentation came towards the end and was about building a network of relationships of teachers from other countries. This can be done by using skype and other online resources. Once a relationship has been established, it is easy to do differnet projects with the other classroom to help expose kids to cross cultural experiences through technology, which would be very cool.