Assessing Meaningful Learning

I have learned about education Qwizdom's use in the classroom. Qwizdom can be referred to as Electronic Voting Systems or Audience clickers. Qwizdom's handheld remotes are designed to engage and motivate students or audience in the classroom all while the teacher monitors student progress. It also increases their interactivity. Not all students like to raise their hands when asked if they don't understand. With this tool the teachers can see where each individual student needs the most help and what they are having trouble with. This can be a fun and exciting way to learn and practice a particular concept. Inspiration is a software that makes it easy to create creative graphical diagrams, visual mapping, writing, outlining, and making presentations. It is a thinking and learning tool used to process and organize new information. It can help you see relationships between ideas,  brainstorm ideas, plan and organize, and convey ideas clearly.

Overall I have continued to learn new things throughout this course. I learned more than I expected and I was always introduced to new ways to use technology. I will definitely be able to use lots of the material I have learned. This was my first time ever to actually sign up with blogger and create blogs. I plan on incorporating that into my classroom and have my students use blogger as a way of communicating with me. I also enjoyed working on my prezi presentation. I think I will use Prezi for presentations in my classroom. It's different from a powerpoint and it's a cool way to present just about anything. I know I will try some of the other Web 2.0 tools as well such as podcasts. Sometimes it's useful to have podcasts students could watch instead of always going back to a textbook. I'm glad I took this class cause I sure was getting behind on this technology stuff. Plus it was my first online course to take and I was unsure of how I'd do, but I learned a lot and I really enjoyed it.

Technology Applications Standards

Technology Application Standard:

 

�126.28. Web Mastering (One Credit).

(c) Knowledge and skills.

(1) Foundations. The student demonstrates knowledge and appropriate use of hardware components, software programs, and their connections. The student is expected to:

(A) demonstrate knowledge and appropriate use of operating systems, software applications, and communication and networking components;
(B) compare, contrast, and use appropriately the various input, processing, output, and primary/secondary storage devices;
(C) make decisions regarding the selection, acquisition, and use of software taking under consideration its quality, appropriateness, effectiveness, and efficiency;
(D) delineate and make necessary adjustments regarding compatibility issues including, but not limited to, digital file formats and cross platform connectivity;
(E) use vocabulary related to web mastering and delineate between the Internet and an intranet;
(F) summarize the technical needs of a World Wide Web (WWW) server including Random Access Memory (RAM), hard disk capacity, Central Processing Unit (CPU) speed, methods of connectivity, and appropriate software; and
(G) summarize the development of Internet protocols including, but not limited to, hypertext transfer protocol (http), gopher, file transfer protocol (ftp), telnet, and wide area information system (wais).

Utilizing TEK in the classroom:

 

�111.32. Algebra I (One Credit).

(a)  Basic understandings.

(5)  Tools for algebraic thinking. Techniques for working with functions and equations are essential in understanding underlying relationships. Students use a variety of representations (concrete, pictorial, numerical, symbolic, graphical, and verbal), tools, and technology (including, but not limited to, calculators with graphing capabilities, data collection devices, and computers) to model mathematical situations to solve meaningful problems.

For my classroom I would like to incorporate Microsoft Excel and graphing calculators as part of some lessons. Students would be able to use various forms of mathematics using graphs and charts, as well as simple functions such as sum, average, median, and mode in Excel. Using charts and graphs would help in communicating data and finding out what the numbers mean. This is a hands-on activity and would benefit visual learners.

 Most Important TEK:

�111.32. Algebra I (One Credit).

(a)  Basic understandings.

(1)  Foundation concepts for high school mathematics. As presented in Grades K-8, the basic understandings of number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry; measurement; and probability and statistics are essential foundations for all work in high school mathematics. Students will continue to build on this foundation as they expand their understanding through other mathematical experiences.

This being the first TEK for Algebra and the most important to me will help students have the basic understandings of algebra. Not only for Algebra classes but for the other math classes that follow. One must have this understanding to be able to advance forward to the next step as it is a prerequisite.

Visualizing with Technologies

I have learned several different ideas to use in the classroom through my research on visualizing with technologies. Discovery Education and Safari Montage involve streaming educational videos via the internet for classroom use. This online streaming can help in clarifying difficult concepts and make them easier to comprehend. Visualization also helps students to convey meaning in order to communicate. I think it's a great inspiration for teachers. It's used to prepare them for life with a variety of  interactive learning resources. It brings lessons to life. It has impacted education in a positive way. I believe it has increased student achievement and student learning. Visual tools are becoming more and more popular and helpful with many concepts. Many people would prefer to process information by seeing. I know I would rather visualize something in order to make sense of it. I am a visual learner and I think it would have helped me tremendously if this kind of technology was used in my younger school days.

Podcasting

I was introduced to podcasting a few years ago after I started college. I have seen it being used more often recently.  My church actually uses podcasting on the web which is very convenient. With podcasting I don't miss out on church service.  When I'm not able to attend I can go on our church website later and watch and listen to our pastor. Even during service they like to show a small podcast of the upcoming events. This could also be a great help in education. Taking a video of how to work a problem in math class could help many students on homework after they've left school. I could post different lessons that would be on tests so students could review for the tests. There have been times when I'd be stuck on a problem and just get tired of flipping through my math book trying to figure it out on my own. Podcasting could be a different way to do things and won't be as boring as flipping through pages. 

Podcasting is very similar to other Web 2.0 tools. It is more technology to learn about and use more often. It's very convenient. It keeps you from having to be at a certain place at a certain time. You can basically have access to these tools anytime, on your own time. Podcasting is similar to VoiceThread. They both involve using videos for information. The only thing is, with VoiceThread you can comment through voice.

Unfortunately I don't own and iPod or an MP3 player. I used to. When I did have one the only thing I used it for was to download music. I'd use it to listen to my music while working out or going out for a jog. I believe I could use it in the future though. I'd probably have to have some kind of tutorial to show me how to use the new technology but it could be to the students advantage if we put these to use. The only disadvantage would be having to show or learn these new online communication tools. Some people don't learn as fast as others. There would have to be plenty of time to learn about it. Some people simply don't like change and would rather not learn new ways to do things. It doesn't hurt to try. If it wasn't for online communication I wouldn't be able to take this online class, right?

Web 2.0 Tools

I guess I didn't know what wiki actually was. I had an idea because I knew about Wikipedia and had used it a few times for personal use. The Wikis in Plain English video did a great job in explaining how it works. It's a great way to use it in the classroom. Students could actually go in and comment about questions they may have over homework assignments even when they're not at school. I see social bookmarking being a big help for teachers too. I can see myself using this for help with my lesson plans and see what other websites teachers are using. It would benefit me being a first year teacher to see what is useful and helpful for the students through these bookmarks of the more experienced teachers. I think VoiceThread is more advanced technology. It's neat how you can combine different types of multimedia all in one place. It's interesting how you can download videos, documents, or images and then comment on them by voice. Although it's new to me I'd like to eventually try these Web 2.0 tools. I think it's a new and great way to teach and students may even have fun with it.

Copyright, FairUse, & Online Safety

I have learned that it’s very important that we follow the guidelines for Copyright and Fair Use. It can be very easy to misuse them and get into trouble. I didn’t know the guidelines went so into detail on fair use. After taking the quiz I realized it was more complicated than I thought. So I had to reread and look over the articles again. It’s important to know what we may do under the law.

I also think kids should be very well informed about cyber bullying and netiquette. They should be able to feel comfortable using the internet and not feel threatened. Using the internet is very important for many activities and should be used safely. It’s important to know and be careful about what is being put out there. It should be taken seriously and should not be abused. The consequences could turn out to be unsatisfying.

Information Literacy

           Are there really tree octopuses? I checked out the website http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ to find out. As silly as this may seem I certainly thought there were. When I first started reading about the tree octopus I was like, “Wow, very interesting”. As I kept reading it sounded a little fishy though. It sounded fake. I wasn’t convinced about the credibility of the website. It seemed more and more unreal as I went on. The embedded links are what kept me wondering. There were so many links that made it seem more realistic, along with the photos and videos included in the website. When I read about the octopus being hunted by Sasquatch and read the frequently asked questions, I honestly laughed. It talked about the tree octopus being endangered even though it wasn’t listed in the Endangered Species list. This made me suspicious. I can see anyone getting fooled easily by this website. It’s true that many people believe what they read if they don’t have enough knowledge in internet literacy.

            As I was working on my search activity I noticed there was more to it than I knew. For example, the .net extension means the information provided may not be as reliable. It just gave me a hint to look out for that kind of website.  The link command helped me find other websites that were linked. I checked out a few and that’s when I found out. There was not just one but several websites that said http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ was a hoax. Researchers were using this to test student’s skills and online savviness.  I found this website that reports how gullible people are: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352929/Endangered-tree-octopus-proves-students-believe-read-Internet.html . It completely changed my perspective of the tree octopus.

            I believe the purpose for the tree octopus website is for it to be used in internet literacy classes. It’s a good example of what you shouldn’t be looking for, false information. It certainly helped me learn a little bit more than what I knew. I now know what kind of websites to look out for when searching the internet. I’m not too confident on information I’ve used in the past for class assignments. I just assumed anything on the internet was reliable. Now I know. I’ll make sure my future students have an understanding of information literacy so they won’t do what I did and use the first thing they find in a search.