Last Class??

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be my last EdTech class. We have covered so much in the past seven weeks. Some of the major topics (a good review for the final exam =] ) include:

• Technology Foundations Standards for Students/Teachers
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Copyright and Plagiarism
• Digital Imaging Basics
• Searching the Web (Search engines vs. directories)
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Collaborative Tools

It's amazing how much I've learned in this class. I think my favorite lesson was when we did the group activity with GoogleDocs. I thought it was really neat how all three members of my group could be editing a document all at once. Even though we ran into a few problems when two people would be trying to finish the same sentence at the same time, it still was interesting to see how the idea of Collaborative Tools works. All in all, I enjoyed the class and will try to apply what I've learned when I teach.

Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive Whiteboards are becoming more and more popular in classrooms across America. They allow teachers to show images and PowerPoints and write directly on them. No longer is a mouse needed to change slides or point to specific things on the screen. Instead, just by touching the Interactive Whiteboard, you can change to the next slide or follow a hyperlink that appeared on the screen. Interactive Whiteboards are a wonderful way to get students involved in a particular lesson. For example, a calculator can be projected onto the Whiteboard and students can go up and press the buttons to solve the problem. A common example of an Interactive Whiteboard is a SmartBoard. With a SmartBoard, you can use various colored markers to write on the whiteboard and an artificial eraser is there if you make a mistake. Students seem to really enjoy being involved and being able to use the new technology. Interactive Whiteboards are a form of technology that I feel will become more and more popular while I am a teacher.

Microsoft Publisher

The other day, I had some free time and decided to play around on my computer. I opened up Microsoft Publisher 2007 and experimented with all the different options it offered. Through experimenting, I have discovered that Publisher is a wonderful resource to use to create a variety of different things. It has a vast array of templates for banners and flyers and documents, more than one person could ever possibly need. Also, it has color schemes that you can chose from and you can also create your own. Publisher makes it extremely easy to put together a project, and allows you to do it quickly. Also, the new layout is very organized so you can find what you are looking for easily. It makes inserting clip art and text into the same document a breeze. As teachers, we will have to use our creativity to create a variety of different documents and Publisher makes it easy to do.

Plagerism

As future teachers, we have to be especially aware of students using other people's work without giving them the proper credit. This is the issue of plagerism. Through the Internet, students have access to a wide variety of materials. Many students use these word-for-word and don't give credit to the author. Students use the ideas of others instead of their own. As teachers, there are resources we have access to that can help to catch plagerism. First, be aware of different online sources that sell papers on a wide variety of topics. Sometimes, they even allow people to view parts of the paper before they purchase it. Be aware of what common topics that have papers floating around on the Internet. Also, consider using a resource such as www.turnitin.com . This resource scans the paper that a student submits and automatically looks for phrases and paragraphs that match other documents and web sites. Students can submit their work online so that it's very easy for the search to occur. As teachers, we must be aware of the possibility of plagerism and do whatever we can to try to prevent it.

A Problem In Today's Schools

Even though technology is becoming a major help in today's schools, cell phones and iPods have been the center of a number of different controversies. The major issue...cheating. It has been found that with the increased use of cell phones and electronic listening devices among students, there has also been an increase in cheating. Many students in high school have mastered the fine art of text messaging without being seen by teachers and even their peers. However, this can result in students sending other students answers during tests. With the increased technology of cell phones to include cameras, students can take pictures of their tests and send the picture message to their peers as well. It is because of this that when taking AP tests, students must remove their cell phones from their bags or pockets and place them either on the floor where they can be seen at all times by the proctor or in an area in the classroom where no one can access the phones during the test. The issue of cheating using cell phones has become a very common and serious matter. Another common cheating technique, especially when writing essays, is using electronic listening devices, like mp3 players. Students, especially those that are very good with using their computers, are able to record essays and import them to their listening devices or save them as photos and view them on the screen of their device. A lot of teachers feel that some students find it easier to concentrate and have less distractions from the rest of the class when they listen to music as they do a test. However, many students are taking advantage of this and cheating. Teachers need to be aware that they are providing many ways for students to cheat, and should put a stop to these actions!

Collaborative Tools

Collaborative Tools are a useful device when working on something that multiple people need to provide imput at one time. Collaborative Tools such as GoogleDocs are resources on the Internet that allow multiple people to view and edit the same document at the same time. These are useful when doing group projects when students need to work together and each student needs to put in a certain amount of imput. You can view how much each user contributed very easily using GoogleDocs. Also, they can be axcessed using different computers so students can work when they're sitting right next to each other or when each of them is at there own home. Collaborative Tools make doing group work much easier to accomplish and also easier for a teacher to grade in terms of participation.

Engine vs. Directory

It is very common when doing research on the Internet to quick jump onto some sort of search device to help find what you're looking for. However, there are different types of search devices that may make your search easier or harder depending on what type of information you're looking for.

Search directories are subject indexes that are created by humans. People actually go out onto the web and choose which sites will appear when people search using that directory. This has both it's advantages and disadvantages. An advantage of this is that search directories tend to be more relevant. Because there are less hits, the hits that do come up are usually very good at matching the subject you searched for. Disadvantages of using search directories is that they are edited. Not every site that includes what you're searching for is going to come up on a search directory. Also, it is likely that you may come across dead links because the people that are editing the search directory cannot check to make sure that every site is in working order. You also have to remember when using a search directory that the hits may be slightly biased because it is edited. An example of a search directory is http://www.dir.yahoo.com .

Search engines are usually much more common than search directories. Search engines are created by spiders and crawlers that go out onto the web and find sites that match, in some way, shape, or form, the keywords that you are looking for. An advantage to using search engines is that you come across many more hits, which might be useful if you're looking for a lot of resources or what you're looking for isn't common. However, disadvantages to this are that the hits that do pop up may be less relevant to your topic. The sites that you find may be useful to you or they may not be. Also, the rankings of the hits on the search engine may be biased. For instance, ranking can be influenced by the payment of a company (for instance, if they pay, their site may come first), the popularity or number of clicks a specific site has, what they software finding the sites believes to be the most relevant, and the location of the key words (if they all come together or are separated). Search engines also allow misspellings, find variations on what you were originally searching for, and find similar words and phrases. All these may be advantages or disadvantages depending on what you're searching for. An extremely common search engine used today is http://www.google.com .

When searching for something on the web, make sure to pick the search tool that is right for the type of research you are doing.

Gradebooks in Microsoft Excel

Since many of us in this EdTech class are going to be educators, many of us will have to have a gradebook of some nature to keep track of the progress of our students. Microsoft Excel has many useful functions to help teachers keep track of grades. In Microsoft Excel, you have the ability to type both text and numerals into cells so it's very easy to keep track of various types of information. Excel also gives you the opportunity to have multiple worksheets in one workbook so you are able to stay organized with your information. Excel has some very useful tools to make keeping grades very simple. You have the ability to add the numerals in columns and rows using the Autosum function. There is also an Average function to calculate the mean of a row or column. By using the VLookup tool, you can have the computer actually input the grade that each student gets if you set up a small chart that contains the percentages for and A, B, C, and so on. Microsoft Excel is a source that you can use to keep track of grades for individual students and also calculate totals and averages without wasting too much valuable time.

Powerpoint 2007

So after doing our assignment for this week's EdTech class, I've come to realize that Powerpoint 2007 is much different from the previous versions of Powerpoint that I have used in the past for various reasons. I'm not sure which one I like better at the moment, but I'm sure as I use the 2007 version more often and I adjust to it, I will like it more and more. The biggest thing I do not like about the new version of Powerpoint is how there is no toolbar across the top with File, Edit, and such. Instead, everything is placed under different headings then before in a different type of menu across the top of the page. However, Powerpoint 2007 does have some very interesting new tools that make it easier to use and make your slideshows more exciting. First, there are less templates for types of slides but a few of them you can use for multiple purposes. On the old version of Powerpoint, there was a different option for a textbox and a chart and for a textbox and a picture. In Powerpoint 2007, there is only one option and then you are able to choose what to use the second box for. This makes the options seem much less overwhelming. Plus with the edition of new animations and templates, Powerpoint 2007 is much more "snazzy" then the previous versions. As it is with anything new, it will take some getting used to but it is definitely a well-made program!

Current Events

Since this post is focused on Current Events, I just wanted to say first that in recent news, the University of Delaware beat rival James Madison on Saturday 37-34!!!

Alright, now on to the actual post.

When I started researching ideas that would be good to put on the class Wiki, I started brainstorming some of the activities that I did in elementary school that I could remember. One of the things that stood out clearly in my mind was current events. Each of my teachers during elementary school had us do current events in one form or another, whether it was a homework assignment, a classroom activity, or for extra credit. As I thought back on my experiences, I was actually able to remember some of the events that I researched for class.

Current events are a great way to make students become aware of what is going on in the world around them. There are a great variety of topics that students can do current events on, so many students will probably be able to find a topic that interests them personally. Also, there are many ways that a student is able to research and find the information that they'll include in their current event. They can obtain information by watching the news, reading the newspaper, or even by finding information on the Internet. By doing current events, students are exposed not only to the news, but on ways to research. Teachers are able to show students, especially when they are using the Internet, what types of sources are reliable or not. Also, students may be forced to search for articles that they themselves are able to understand.

Current events can also improve the critical thinking skills of students. They have to analyze the information they've found before maybe writing a summary to be turned in or presenting it to the class. Students learn how to search for key words and concepts, and can also improve their vocabulary.

Current events are a very good way to expose children to what is occuring in the world, and also teach them techniques involving research and the Internet.

EdHelper.com

I thought that in addition to posting a page on our EdTech Wiki, I'd also include a post on here about a valuable resource, EdHelper.com. This website is an excellent resource for teachers and includes quite a variety of resources and activities. There are many practice problems for many different subjects, including math, reading, foreign language, social studies, and science. You can also pick activities for different subjects, such as in math, you can view worksheets for long division, fractions, multipliying 2 digit numbers times 2 digit numbers, and so on. I found this website very useful this past summer when I was tutoring a girl and I was looking for some extra word problems for her. I think that this site can be a valuable source for any future teacher, especially since it includes specific activities for certain times of the year which children can particularly enjoy (for instance, now it has a bunch of activities for Halloween). There is a membership fee to axcess all of the information on EdHelper. The cost is just $19.99 for a year of basic membership and $39.99 for a year of their "everything" membership. However, you don't need to be a member to axcess some of the resources on the site. I strongly encourage everyone to access http://www.edhelper.com and see what sorts of resources it has that might be of interest to you.

Post #1

So I decided that it might be a good idea to post on my Blog to actually see if I could figure out how to use it. It seems to me that using a Blog is fairly simple. I know some professionals that have Blogs, and they always looked like they were complicated and too involved for me. However, this site is really neat in that it really sets up the Blog for you. You then can customize it to meet your needs or change it so it's more your taste. I'm curious to see over the next few weeks what is going to come of this Blog and what sorts of different ideas I'm going to include in my posts. Well, I guess that's all for now!!


Have a great rest of your weekend everyone :-)