CEDO 535 Entry Two

The more that I learn about Web 2.0 tools and the more tools that I find, the more I am convinced that they need to be implemented in every child's education. Reading about Wikipedia has been most inspiring to me. For so long students and well, everyone has been limited to a select audience for viewing and feedback but Web 2.0 tools allow practically a universal audience. The whole idea of Wikipedia, basically a database for the collection of knowledge from the human race was truly ahead of its time. Although there are clearly some problems with it I believe educators should embrace this project of spreading knowledge.

It frustrates me in some ways that so many educators reject or have no knowledge of the Web 2.0 movement. I completely understand that I am a digital native and that some people do not have the interest, experience, or knowledge of technology tools that others do but at the same time it is important to develop professionally and be up-to-date on new methods and technology. I compare it to the equivalent of a doctor needing to be knowledgeable of new medical technology and diseases. It really is just an expectation of the job. I don't mean to rant or insult anyone but it is something that I feel strongly about and is part of the reason I chose this major.

Anyway, I am looking forward to finding some ways to implement wikis and am possibly thinking that having my class create a virtual textbook or study guide may be a good way to do so. I am also very excited to learn about RSS this week to hopefully help me be more updated and efficient.

CEDO 535 Entry One

Blogging is something that I have already and will continue to use in my professional and educational life. Obviously blogging is an important part of my Master's Program as it acts as an online journal for me as I progress throught the program. I have also used blogging professionally to communicate with students and to share ideas about technology usage with other members of the staff at my school.

I have experimented with blogging in my classes and absolutely love it. Students have taken ownership in their blogs and it has had great value as a learning and assessment tool. Some students struggled initially to understand what and how much to post but the more they did it, the better they were. Some students really shined when it came to providing feedback to other blogs. It is something I hope to use more as technology hopefully becomes more available and accessible in the school.

On personal note I do not tend to blog very often about personal matters. I value my privacy and try not to divulge too much personal information, thoughts, or feelings. I have many friends who choose to blog about personal matters and it may be something I consider when the day comes for me to have a family but for the time being I use it primarily as a professional tool.

I'm looking forward to this class as I hope to truly find ways to use Web 2.0 tools more effectively. After reading some of the articles I would like to find some more effective ways to implement blogging and would like to learn more about RSS as it seems like it could be a major time saver for me.

CEDO 530 Entry Five

Assessing multimedia projects can be challenging subject. In my content area of history most of my emphasis is measuring specific content-based objectives and I assess their achievement in regards to that. When having students create a multimedia project what also is included is the criteria for creating the project. How to weigh and measure the multimedia project does create a dilemma when creating a rubric. Typically what I have done in the past is weigh the multimedia content as a fairly small portion of the entire project and focus more on the content. When measuring subject specific content through a multimedia project it is careful to assess the actual project in terms of quality of technology usage but most focus should be on content specific criteria.

Creating the Pecha Kucha has been a very interesting experience. The concept truly fascinates me and I enjoyed story boarding the project. Deciding what slides to include and how to frame the story caused me to really critically think about my topic. I used the post-it note method to order my slides and found it very effective. While I am still in the process of creating the actual presentation I've did my best to include slides that would make the Zen proud. My final challenge will be narrowing my information and analysis to twenty seconds per slide as I could go on and on about my topic.

CEDO 530 Entry Four

So I am taking the plunge and having my students make digital stories. The next unit in my World Cultures class is Latin America and one of the lessons in the unit is the impact of the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. It is a lesson that connects geography, economics, and culture in the region. After presenting a slideshow from slideshare on the Amazon Rainforest (that received honorable mention in the best slideshow contest 2008, and happens to be very zen) to go along with a handout, students will use Animoto to create digital stories with pictures, text, and music. This will be a great way for me to apply and test what I have learned in CEDO 530 and see how students respond. They seem to be itching to do something more on the creative side and this project would seem to fit that. To hopefully make the project more time efficient I plan on placing them into groups to complete it. It may even be fun to view them as a class and vote on "best picture" or something along those lines. If anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them...

As for the rest of the work this week I am looking forward to testing out Prezi. I've had several students make them for class projects but never have I actually made one. Students in my Government class are doing presentations and one group used Prezi, which I am excited to see. Most of the students I've had use Prezi really like it and make good presentations. I've truly enjoyed getting to implement the tools we have used in this program and my students seem to be more engaged when using them.

CEDO 530 Entry Three

The concept of Pecha Kucha truly fascinates me. I think a lot of people feel the need to include as much information as possible in their presentations and can lead to long and sometimes boring lectures. A Pecha Kucha is a great way to shorten and condense information and force you to stick to the core message. Each slide is important and only important details that support the core message can be included due to the time constraint. A great activity for my classes would be for students to have to create them. It would be a great way for students to do research and learn how to decipher important facts and information.

I have continued to evaluate and revise my presentations using the zen techniques. Yesterday I even had a great conversation with a colleague who wants to read the book. Although I would not consider myself even close to an expert, I feel much more comfortable with creating presentations and would be able to share a lot with others as I move to rid the world of bad power points.

Looking forward to creating some digital stories. Voicethread was a great tool that will be something I can easily integrate into my classes. I'm excited about finding some programs that would allow my students and myself to create some digital stories.

CEDO 530 Entry Two

As of right now I am thinking of two very practical purposes for digital stories: delivering content and assessing student learning.

There are times as a teacher that it can be tempting to feel a need for a sense of control by delivering much of the content personally. What I have been finding out is there are times in which there are other far more powerful ways to deliver a message or content and that I need to step aside and let it happen. Digital stories can be a very powerful way to deliver information. On the first day of my history class I showed this clip and was very happy with how engaged the students were as it explains the importance of history better than I could:

Although there is still a place for teachers in delivering and explaining content there is not doubt that digital stories are at time a very powerful tool.

I have and plan to use digital stories as a way to assess student learning. Creating a digital story is a great way for students to produce a meaningful and authentic product. It also allows them to exhibit some creativity by customizing their story. My one experience with digital stories created by students did not go perfectly but the creativity shown in many of the stories sold me on the whole idea. 

Continuing to find great resources for creating digital stories is my main goal for this course. 

CEDO 530 Entry One

Of all of the classes that I have taken in this cohort from what I can tell thus far this seems the most interesting. Being a history teacher much of what I am doing is telling a story from the past. Getting students interested in history can be a great challenge at times as many simply see it as "a bunch of boring old stuff". The best history teachers I had were able to engage students with their story telling. I am looking forward to learning how to improve my story telling, take it to the digital age, and hopefully become a more engaging teacher.
Improving my presentations is probably what interests me most. I remember a couple courses back taking a look at the "Death by Power Point" presentation and that encouraged me to reform my presentation practices and it appears that Presentation Zen teaches many of the same lessons. It has actually become painful to see bad  Power Points and hopefully I can help lead a presentation revolution to rid the world of bad power points.
From what I can tell I am very excited about CEDO 530 and think it will help both me, my students, and my school.

CEDO 525 Entry Six

Reflecting on the Course:
After each course that I take, and after in-services or professional development experiences, one of the things I always try to do is reflect on how what I learned can be useful. In regards to technology in education it is common to hear, "you need to integrate technology into your lessons" but what often does not get discussed is specifically how to align technology with teaching strategies. Technology is be no means the end-all be-all of education but is a great tool. The phrase that should be used is "integrate technology to improve your instruction not simply just to do it".
This course has led me to align technology tools with specific instructional strategies rather than simply just using it. What I have found in a short amount of time is that being a little more structured and systematic about how I use technology has made it more effective. Rather than students simply thinking "we're going to the computer lab to do something", there seems to be a better understanding of what the tool is supposed to accomplish.
It is very evident to me that my use of technology use in the classroom has improved. As I hope to become a technology leader in my building I believe that teaching my colleagues to use technology tools for specific instructional strategies will make integration more effective in my school.

CEDO 525 Entry Five

Reflecting on Instructional Strategies:
Identifying Similarities and Differences:
This strategy is one I use frequently to help students develop deeper understandings of topics. In my World Cultures class, which focuses on studying different regions around the world, I spend a great deal of time having students compare and contrast different things such as countries, religions, governments, culture, and more. My experience has taught me that this strategy allows students to connect more with a topic. For example, many students do not have a great understanding of different religious beliefs around the world. I always have students research and complete and advance organizer comparing the world's major religions. This activity has helped provide meaning and understanding of the different beliefs and practices following by Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc. Technology has provided great resources for information and also great tools as advance organizers.

Homework and Practice:
My focus on homework and practice has changed through my teaching experience. Initially when I started teaching, perhaps too fresh from college and still having a bitter taste in my mouth from homework, I did not assign a lot of homework and sometimes in class would have students engage in "busy work" just to survive on certain days. When reflecting back I understand why there were times that I did that as all young teachers have "survival" days but there is no doubt that my practices have evolved. When assigning student homework or practice I give it a great deal of thought. Everything that my students do I align with learning objectives and try to create structure and organization. Technology has allowed me to create activities that are more engaging, because they are often interactive and provide instant feedback, and I feel that students are getting a great deal more out of them as a result.

Generating Hypothesis:
There has been a recent movement in history education that encourages students engaging in historical inquiry, which requires them to generate a hypothesis to answer a historical question. Many people do not realize that much of history is open to interpretation and it is a changing and evolving phenomenon. This has led to many history teachers to move away from simply being sources of content, to becoming facilitators as students research, analyze, and investigate historical questions. Technology provides access to a seemingly unlimited library of primary source documents, which are the basis of historical inquiry. There are also many websites that allow students to interactively engage in inquiry and it is easy to create activities like webquests that allow students to explore documents and information.

CEDO 525 Entry Four

Reflecting on Clay Shirky TED Videos:
institutions vs. collaboration and How cognitive surplus will change the world and How social media can change history:
Upon watching Clay Shirky's videos it really has caused me to consider the "revolution" of sorts that he is describing. We have known for years that the computer and Internet are drastically changing many aspects of society but they are truly revolutionizing information and communication and even changing the meaning of what they are. Most countries and organization work on a top down structure however that is being turned upside down as limits are pushed and things like social media, cooperation into infrastructure, and cognitive surplus are changing the way information is gathered and distributed at their most basic level. At no point in human history has it been possible for so many to people to contribute so much in so many ways. It really makes me realize how much has been missed out on throughout history whether it would be an innovation, an idea, a question, or who knows what else. While globalization has interconnected people for decades it is not until now that there are seemingly unlimited mediums of communication and information exchange. Skirky did proclaim that he could not predict what all of this means or where it is ultimately heading but it seems to become more clear by each new innovation that there has been a major shift and we need to be ready for and get good at it!

Other Interesting Observations:
The importance of a cultural value of generosity emphasizing social constraints. Really made me rethink some of the ways that student situations are handled.
The vastly underrated and underused cognitive surplus that this world has and how the "revolution" will bring it to the forefront.
The sometimes blatant ineffectiveness of an institutional setup.

Reflecting on Strategies:
Cooperative Learning:
Cooperative learning is an oft-used strategy by many teachers but may not always be used in the most effective manner. Organizing groups can be a challenge as most students first choice is to be with their friends. Good cooperative learning forces students not only to be productive in groups with their friends but also exposes them to different people and personalities than they may be used to. The reality of most situations is that there is a need to be able to adapt and cooperate with different people. At the same time however it is also necessary for students to be able to be productive with their friends as well.
The teacher's role in a cooperative learning activity is as a facilitator. Groups need some freedom in order to learn how to problem solve and collaborate but many students need some degree of direction. I have found in my experience that a well structured activity with clear steps and tasks creates an environment where there is more group success and students tend to be more accountable to themselves and their group. Many students do not contribute because they are lazy or unwilling, but more often because they do not feel involved or do not understand the task. Teachers can prevent this by creating clear structure and direction.
Technology has played an impact in cooperative learning by creating a medium of communication, organization, and production. Groups no longer have to only meet face-to-face as tasks and communication can be completed electronically. This has a positive effect as it may be a more comfortable way for some students to contribute to their group and my classroom experience using technology in a cooperative environment has been very effective.

Reinforcing Effort:
Many students do not always clearly understand the value of effort and simply will do enough to keep their parents and teachers off their back. In order to promote effort it is important for teachers to track and communicate about it to students. There is generally a strong correlation between effort and achievement. By tracking effort and also by having student track and reflect about their effort, it is more likely that they will see that their effort and achievement are usually aligned.
Technology, like in many other aspects, has created more ways communication and tracking. Teachers has many mediums to send feedback to students regarding their effort. There are also ways for students to reflect and evaluate their effort. There is also several ways that outstanding effort can be recognized and communicated to a mass audience, which also acts as a motivator for many students.

CEDO 525 Entry Three

Reviewing Online Tools:

Bubbl:

This is a free concept mapping program that allows users to register (maps can also be created without registering but will not save) and create concept maps connecting different “bubbles”. The program is very easy to use and has a fast learning curve, even for people who may not be very proficient in technology use.

Other features are a collaborative function that allows multiple users to modify a project. Concept maps can also be exported as a different file type such as a jpg or png image and can be printed. Maps can be zoomed in and out of and users are offered the ability to change colors and fonts.

A weakness of the program is that there are some limitations in terms of creativity. There does not appear to be a way to add media such as images, audio, or video and there is not hyperlink option.

Bubbl is a tool that teachers could use on an interactive whiteboard, tablet computer, or possible for a group or individual assignment. It does have limitations but the cost (free!!!) makes it more viable than other similar programs.

Mindmeister:

This is a popular program used to create high quality concept maps. The program is very easy to use and like Bubbl has a fast learning curve.

The program offers a variety of features including file exporting, collaboration (with the pro or business version), along with a mobile app, and more. There is also features that allow media and hyperlinks to be added to into a map allowing for higher quality and more creativity. There are also a variety of themes available for users.

The major downside of Mindmeister is the cost. There is no free version available. There are three different plans with more features offered with each upgrade. It would be an excellent tool for a teacher in any subject but the cost may be prohibitive for many teachers and schools.

Exploratree:

This is a program that offers a free online library of graphic organizers (or what they call “Thinking Guides”). Nearly any type of graphic organizer is in the library or could easily be created and added by a user. Registering is easy and all features are free.

The most impressive feature is all of the editing features available. Each graphic organizer contains an extensive toolbar that allows users to customize it to their needs.

Sharing and collaborative features also make this a useful tools as multiple users can work on the same project. Another feature that is interesting is the ability to comment on projects which allows for valuable feedback.

Of the three tools reviewed, this seems to have the most potential as teachers could find seemingly unlimited ways to use this free and versatile tool.

Strategy Reflections:
Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers:
One of the greatest parts of teaching that in many cases can make it an artform is the ability to facilitate higher level thinking in students. With so many sources of information available for anyone to access, it is becoming more necessary for educators to help students decipher and question information. And the high amount of information can also at time be difficult to sort through. Providing cues helps students understand the content they are going to experience while questioning gives students an opportunity for deeper understanding. There are many programs available that can help facilitate student learning by helping them better organize and focus on key concepts. Most students, especially lower level learners, have a difficult time comprehending unfamiliar
content without some sort of assistance. While teachers should encourage independent learning they still do have an important role as a facilitator. I have found that using advanced organizers is an excellent way to assist students in answering questions and understanding cues. After exploring some of the online programs such as exploratree or bubbl, technology has great potential uses to improve the use of advance organizers.

Nonlinguistic Representation:
Visual type of learners at times have a very difficult time understanding and processing information that is purely auditory or in narrative format and nonlinguistic representation is an excellent differentiation technique. By seeing visual forms of a concept it allows learners to better connect key points and objectives. With technology it has become much easier for teachers to create high quality nonlinguistic representations of concepts by making graphic organizers, showing images, or creating symbols. Students also have a variety of programs available to create their own visuals as well. In classroom settings I have found nonlinguistic representations as an excellent way for students to process concepts, especially in areas such as relationships between events and vocabulary.

Summarizing and Notetaking:

Whether listening to a lecture, doing research, or reading it is essential that students are able to understand and record key points and be able to understand what they were supposed to learn. Many students feel the need to copy every single word or none at all but it is truly a skill to be able to notetake and summarize what they have learned. This is a skill that often gets lost or forgotten as many teachers assume students have it. With the increasing availability of mobile devices in the classroom it would be beneficial for teachers to find ways to use them. Recording information electronically gives students a better way to organize and review their notes and summaries which will give them a better understanding than more traditional notetaking techniques do. 

CEDO 525 Entry Two

Feedback that Fits Reflection:
Providing students timely and meaningful feedback is a very important part of the learning process. It is something however that is more complicated and sensitive than most teachers know. Feedback can be provided in a variety of ways whether it is written, oral, or electronic but it must be timely. Students need the feedback to be able to make adjustments or corrections in their understanding of a learning target and it will only be effective if it is received by the student in a timely fashion.
Feedback should also be relatively positive. Although comments such as "good work" or "nice job" are not particularly effective, negative comments can have a devastating effect on students who struggle or have low self esteem as it may in a way confirm their self-doubt. Therefore, effective feedback points out strengths in the students work with meaningful and positive observations.
Meaning feedback critiques the work by challenging, making suggestions, or asking critical questions. While negative comments can have a negative impact on student learning, critical questioning can help students look more critically at their work and help them take more ownership in their learning.
Overall, providing meaningful and effective feedback to students is not as simple as most seem to believe. Teachers must find ways to help students re-examine their work and learning while focusing on the learning targets. This important step in the learning process needs to be well understood by all educators.


Exploring Resources:
Rubistar:
An online rubric-making program. It allows registered users to create and save rubrics. The site is free to use and is easy to use. It also contains a vast library of rubrics that can be used or edited by anyone. Personally I could use the site as a reference but still prefer to create my own personalized rubrics on a word processor as this site does not seem to offer any obvious benefit beyond doing that.

Quia:
An online assessment maker that allows educators to create online quizzes and assignments. The website could be a very valuable tool as it allows for quizzes and assignments that students take and submit online. It also has data analysis that could be a valuable reflective tool for teachers. This is a tool that I am definitely interested in using although the cost seems concerning and Google Forms could do many of the same things.


Reflecting on Strategies: 
Setting Objectives:
Students walk into most of their classes with a varying degree of abilities and prior learning. One of the things that causes many students to struggle is simply that they have a difficult time deciphering key learning targets. A step that many educators skip is setting and communicating learning targets (objectives) to students. Setting objectives is the equivalent of revealing the destination before leaving on a road trip, it seems like common sense but is often left out. This should be done before lessons and when assigning projects or assignments rubrics should be used to guide students. I have found in practice that providing student objectives has led to much better comprehension and has especially helped struggling learners. 

Providing Feedback:
Giving students feedback on achievement and effort is a very important step in the learning process. Too often students learn and are assessed with little knowledge of how or where they are at in terms of meeting learning standards. Technology has made it much more easy and efficient for teachers to provide feedback. Email, commenting, and response tools have given students and teachers quick ways to measure where they are at. Feedback should be authentic and positive while being truly meaningful. Thoughtless or negative feedback can actually have a negative effect by  reinforcing self-doubt or not having much meaning to a student. Providing comments that praise strengths and encourage the student to critically examine their work, often by asking them questions, can be a great benefit to the learning process.

Providing Recognition:
Positive recognition can help all students, especially those who may have confidence issues. Many students go through school feeling average as they may not be on the honor roll and may feel lost in the shuffle. Finding ways to positively recognize student achievement can have a great effect by motivating students to continue quality work. This also is a step that makes learning more authentic as positive recognition as displaying student achievements allows for a real world audience to see what they have done, and that incentive often increases student motivation as well.

CEDO 525 Entry One

Principles of Teaching and Learning:
After reading the articles about the Principles of Teaching and Learning the main thing that jumps out to me is the importance of communication and personalization. For many years education was viewed by most people as: teacher explains content...students listen and memorize content...students explain content to teacher. In many ways this is sadly the way that many still view education. More and more research is showing the complexities of individual students and the importance of students being able to learn better in an environment that is comfortable and customized to them. Personally, I at times am skeptical of some of the research that I come across, not because I believe it is wrong, but because in some cases the practicality of implementing it is not very realistic. Most teachers have several classes of anywhere from 20-30 students or more so completely personalizing all aspects of education is not a realistic expectation for teachers. With that being said it is vitally important that teachers do find ways to accommodate individual student needs. Teachers need to in some way shape or form develop relationships with and regularly communicate with every student. They also must differentiate instruction and provide timely feedback to all students as well. In the 21st century it is important for teachers to continually reflect and evolve in the profession in order to meet the needs of their students. While totally personalized education may not be entirely practical within the system currently in place, there is no doubt that teachers must begin to focus on becoming more of a co-learner and facilitator with every one of their students, rather than simply a source of content.

A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of teaching and learning:
The second article was very interesting to read after reflecting on the first one. In the first article I concluded that individualized learning is best for student achievement and that teachers should focus more on being co-learners and facilitators rather than simply content sources and graders. The study described in the second article took a look at technology's impact on student achievement. More and more school districts are investing a great deal of time and money on technology and asking "does technology improve student learning?" is a very valid and appropriate inquiry. The conclusion was that using technology in the right way can help students become more engaged and can help teachers create a more individualized learning environment for their students, both things that theoretically should greatly help with student achievement. If teachers are expected to differentiate and personalize for their students, then technology is a tool that makes it much more efficient and possible to achieve that. Technology in schools has great importance not only because it can help teach students relevant real-world skills that transfer over to the workplace but also can help student achievement according to the study if properly implemented by a teacher.

Wrapping Up CEDO 520

For all of the value and convenience that the Internet offers it, like most other things, comes with some very serious threats and risks. These need to be taken very seriously by everyone whether you are an online shopper, social networker, or parent of a web surfer.

I, like many, have been a victim of identity theft. A couple years ago my bank number was compromised and used to buy a $410 speaker. Although I was lucky and was able to easily recoup the money. This experience really opened my eyes to the potential threats that the Internet offers. It is unfortunate, but for most people it takes this type of experience to do this as well.

As a teacher, and most likely a future parent (yikes!!!) at some point, I am very well aware of the threats to children as well. Much of the inappropriate content on the net is very easily accessed and shared even for novice web surfers. Most children are at the very least proficient at using the web and have this easy access. This does scare me because it is likely that many kids are seeing things that are very inappropriate for them,  and often without monitoring from their parents. Social networking also is a scary thing for kids. And much of what they do is also done covertly or without monitoring. What I know from all of this is that I need to monitor my students, and future kids, on the Internet. It is not a thing that can be used without being aware of the threats whether it be to kids or anyone in general.

Online Resources Aplenty!

One of my favorite things to do as an educator who is interested in technology is to find new and useful online resources. There are times when I spend hours at a time looking at different sites and applications, wondering if and how I can use them in the classroom. What I have found out is well...there is a lot out there and it seems like more are added by the day. At times it even seems a bit overwhelming, and I can only imagine how people who are not all that interested in technology feel. But the reality of today's world, and especially moving forward into the future, is that technology will not stop moving at the speed it going. Online learning resources seem to keep moving with everything else.

In my classroom I use online learning resources frequently and find many of them very valuable. My attitude is that the more the better and I enjoy keeping up and discovering new resources. Many people I work with get frustrated and see online learning as just another passing fad. They could not be more wrong. A lot of the resources that I find and use present content in a much better way than I believe I ever could. Some people seem to be scared of being replaced by a computer it seems like. I truly do not think that teachers will ever become irrelevant but there is not doubt that our jobs are changing in large part due to online learning. Learning how to become more of a facilitator and co-learner will become essential skills for educators rather than being an encyclopedic source of info ourselves. It is my hope that this year I can have some meaningful conversations about this with some colleagues.

Finding Info: An Art or a Science?

The "treasure chest" of information called the Internet certainly is a valuable tool for everyone who uses it. It has revolutionized the dispersal of information, movement of people and goods, and communication. More people have more access to information than ever before but an important step that educators, students, and well...pretty much everybody must take is understanding how to search and use the information. While there is an unlimited amount of information on the Net, it may come as a shock that not all of the information is credible and up-to-date.

Many websites use information that either unconfirmed, out-of-date, or severely biased. Internet users, with the overwhelming amount of information, must be careful to use the most credible information they can find and know what to discard. I have seen articles and quotes that question if the Internet and technology are threats to democracy due to the large amount of inaccurate information that is available and accepted. As an educator I do my best to direct my students to information that is from a credible source but they also need to be able to evaluate for themselves. Teachers only have control over the information their students use in a very limited and controlled basis. One of my goals is to teach my students how to look critically at information and make informed decisions about what they see. In many ways their and our future depend on this.

Internet Learning Resources

Starting a new class is always an interesting and exciting experience and a course on Internet Learning Resources is right up my alley. It is my firm belief that one of the biggest impacts of the Internet is that it makes information easily accessible to anyone. One of the biggest issues that people have always had in education is universal accessibility.

People's place in life is often determined by their level of education and for the most part people are educated at their neighborhood school. For most that means that they are left to whatever teachers and facilities they end up with. Although many argue that people all have a chance to make it and everyone has access to education, I don't know if that is necessarily the case. Internet Learning Resources have a chance to even the playing field for many people.

With all of the great sites out there it is possible for people to have access to knowledge that they previously couldn't have imagined. And not only that, for the most part there is something for everybody. Information is available from a variety of resources and presented in a variety of ways. With Web 2.0 tools becoming more popular it is now possible for people to discuss and interact with these resources as well.

Moving through this program, and I am still early in the process, has led me to believe that it is possible to offer and equitable education to all. The Internet gives nearly universal access to information previously only available to a select few. The next step will be finding a way to get everyone on board...

The Class Experience

Using Productivity Tools Effectively (CEDO 515) has inspired a great deal of thought and reflection into my teaching practices. The first two classes in the program were more focused on learning some basic skills but this course has involved more instruction on how to actually implement technology-based activities. What I have found out is that even though I have used technology for various purposes in the classroom, it has not been utilized to anywhere near its full potential.

The textbook has provided me with a great deal of very useful tips on creating technology-based activities that are student driven. What I have found in the classroom is that when students do not have a lot of structure and clear step-by-step procedures they tend to become frustrated and struggle. This summer I have attempted to use many of the tips from the textbook for my summer school courses. I have found my activities have been more organized and have found myself doing a better job facilitating the students rather than continuously providing direct instruction.

Even though I have always thought of myself as someone who knew a lot of what is on the web, there have been many tools throughout the class that I had not fully explored. It is my belief that the web and technology are going to be at the center of education in the future. My hope is to play a leading role in helping my school integrate these tools. It has been valuable to learn important steps that districts must take in training staff and selecting the software to be utilized by the district.

I already have a great deal of passion and interest in technology in education. My classroom will have better technology-based activities and I will be able to play a bigger role in my district's technology leadership due to the knowledge and skills learned in class.

Building a Website

Something I have considered doing several times but have not pulled the trigger on is building a classroom website. I have used a Web 2.0 tool (Edmodo) in my classes for a couple of years but feel a course webpage would be a good complement. Edmodo has provided a great place for me to share files and facilitate online discussions but I would like a course webpage to keep important files such as a syllabus and contact information easily available to students and parents. I can post those materials on Edmodo but it shows the newest materials near the top and the older stuff tends to get buried. Plus, a username and password is required for Edmodo so a webpage would allow more accessibility for parents.
Google sites would offer a good solution for my need to have a course page. The computer classes at the school have offered to build and maintain a site (through dreamweaver I believe) but I would like to have unlimited accessibility and editing ability. I have played around with Google Sites a little in the past but have not took the step to completely construct a usable site. This should give me a better communication tool with parents.

In Time Videos

The In Time video I watched was about class project that involved students creating a CD-ROM that profiled their community (Manson, Iowa) in detail. It involved many of the key components of a good technology-based project including organization, scaffolding, authentic assessment, multiple-disciplines, and multiple software and hardware usage. The project was comprehensive and ongoing. Students learned the content and skills necessary to complete the project throughout the course and were given time to work on it. The end result was a technology-driven product that displayed student achievement according to the learning product. The product was shown and/or given to community members, thus making the assessment truly authentic.
At my school, my department has spent a great deal of time revising curriculum and getting up-to-date on the best practices in social studies education. I have felt that in order to properly measure student learning that a comprehensive and ongoing project would be something that should be included in most classes. I have struggled with teachers who have a difficult time moving away from the traditional lecture and then test model of teaching history. A project along the lines of the video I watched would be something I could take to my department and potentially build on as it is my hope to integrate this type of project in my classes.

Spreadsheets and Evaluating Software

Although I have had a good deal of experience using spreadsheets I had never explored the formula functions. I have used them mainly for recording and organizing basic data (student textbook numbers, assignment tracking, etc.). With more knowledge of the formula function I may be able to expand my use of the tool. There are also several places that I could potentially integrate spreadsheets into my teaching. In my geography class the students work with a lot of demographic and statistical data and spreadsheets would be a good way for students to organize and sort the data that they research.
It was interesting to discuss the ways that districts evaluate software. In my district I believe that it would be beneficial for technology coordinators and administrators to seek more staff input. There are not any specified procedures for teachers to do this. Districts should have a policy and procedures for software and give teachers and opportunity to test out and provide feedback  before decisions  are made. My district has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on software that many teachers feel is unnecessary and teachers were not given the opportunity to evaluate the software before purchase. Giving staff more input would be better and more efficient for my and other districts.

Online Word Processing Evolving

Online word processing is a tool that I believe will soon be the dominant factor in the word processing market. With the emergence of programs such as Google Docs there have been several competitors and even the well-know Microsoft Word is starting to follow suit and offer the popular collaborative function and saving documents to the cloud.

I have used online word processing for several different reasons. At school I have implemented it in some of my classes and experienced great success. Students have worked collaboratively on documents and I felt it has created a true "collaborative" experience. It seems like there is more engagement and participation from all group members. It has also allowed greater access to the documents. A problem that I have had in the past with access is that our school computers have Microsoft Word 2007 as the primary word processor. Not all students have access to Word and on top of that, documents saved on the school server are only available on school computers. This limits access in a world that is becoming more and more about unlimited access. The combination of these factors has led me to encourage students to use online word processing and next year I plan on making it mandatory on some assignments.

The downside of these programs is that I still do not think they are as user friendly or have the same capabilities of Microsoft Word. I have stated the same thing about online presentation programs compared to Power Point. While they have come a long way many of the graphics functions in Word are not yet present in the online programs. For basic word processing and formatting the online programs are more than adequate but still need to catch up with other features. I predict that within a couple of years more and more of those functions will be included in online word processors, which will help them catch up to Word.

Tech Tools Entry One

My early review of the class is positive. I am very happy to be learning some material that is directly applicable to education and my classroom. Although I enjoyed the last couple of classes, a lot of the lessons were not completely applicable to teaching. Thus far much of the material covered has led me to improve my teaching skills and I am excited to continue gaining more things I can bring into the classroom. 

I found the "Death by Power Point" slideshow very thought provoking. As a frequent Power Point user it is somewhat surprising to learn that I have not been using the most effective methods and techniques. It actually has inspired me to do a lot more research on mistakes made on presentations. One of the most interesting was a slideshow about Steve Jobs and his presentation skills. Although he presents in the business world, the lessons apply in education:

http://www.slideshare.net/cvgallo/the-presentation-secrets-of-steve-jobs-2609477

During the last week I have spent some time remaking many of my presentations and feel like I am a significantly better presenter already. 

Going Inside Computers

I must admit that my previous experiences with the technical aspects of computers was somewhat limited. Because of that some of the activities and assignments for this class have been a completely new experience. Although I have been very familiar with computers for a long time I have simply just used them and had someone  else take care of the technical aspects when needed. Learning more about the technical aspect and exploring it has given me a greater understanding of computers.

Even though I have enjoyed several of the activities in the course, my favorite was the Triumph of the Nerds videos. It just seems completely ironic to me that the so called "nerds", who are often mocked by the so called popular crowd, have ended up becoming the most influential and important people in the world. I would love to see an updated version.

Another very valuable experience has been reviewing and evaluating my computer security. I have shored up some of my vulnerabilities and now feel much safer and confident that my information and data is protected. Other activities have given me great insight into what I should be looking for and what potential trends I should monitor in regard to technology as well. I feel much more confident that I am much more knowledgeable and can make more informed decisions in regard to technology.

I look forward to using what I have learned in class to allow me to more effectively implement much of the other things I will learn in this program. Knowing more about the technical aspect of computers should also help me if I ever take a more active leadership role in instructional technology in my district.

Securing my Computer

After Thursday night's lesson I have spent some time reflecting upon how secure my computer really is. For the most part I feel fairly good about a lot of the steps that I have taken towards securing my computer and data but still have a ways to go.
The passwords that I use for the most part are secure. A great idea that several in the class have used is the idea of a password keeper. There are probable dozens of different web accounts I have and remembering all of the usernames and passwords is a bit of a nightmare. I try not to write them down but must confess that I do have some of them written on post-its in my desk drawer at work. Probably not the greatest idea in the world. I do intend to research some of the password keeper programs and use it.
After the first class of this master's program I downloaded dropbox and have been using it. This has given me a much better feeling of security and makes my files more accessible, to go along with backing them up on the cloud.
For the most part I am pretty good at avoiding suspicious emails and files and my email accounts do a good job blocking out junk mail. To go along with my anti-virus software it seems that my computer has a good degree of safety from malicious files.
Creating my personal security plan will be a good reflective and planning tool that I hope will allow me to discover some of my weaknesses and keep my computer and data safe. If anyone has any good programs or ideas to help, feel free to share...

A Super Virus???

Although I am a huge technology user and use my computer on a daily basis there is one fear that perpetuates my thinking quite frequently and that is the threat of a virus. In only a couple short years the United States will be completely reliant on computers (if we are not already) and that scares me in many respects. Viruses have been around for forty years and seem to stay even, or in some cases ahead, of security measures that are created. Most people have at some point got to experience the destructive power of a computer virus. They can cause a loss of data and personal files and usually take a great deal of effort and expense to fix if they infiltrate a computer system. I have heard several times that hackers have been able to break into classified government files and computer systems so it does not seem far fetched that a virus could be installed in any system. At the school I work at there was a student suspended a couple years ago for hacking into the system and that caused quite a scare. Although I do not feel that society's reliance on computers would or should change, it is very important that proper security measures are taken. The government, businesses, school districts, and people with their private information need to take a great deal of care to ensure they have proper security and are protected against viruses. I also believe it is imperative that punishments for people who create and install these viruses need to be severe and well known to try and discourage people from doing it.

Potentially the greatest virus threat could come from an international source. Occasionally in the news there is a story of a hacker from a country like Nigeria or Russia who creates a virus or steals identities from someone and little can be done due to jurisdictional restrictions. With todays globalized world and increasing use of the internet worldwide, it is very important that the United Nations, or a similar organization, outlines some sort of international policy to deal with this threat.

Although I do not typically get too scared of the constant "threats" that society faces, I do believe that the security of computer systems around the world is something that cannot be taken lightly. The potential for a "super virus" or major system crash is something that we all need to be aware of and take proper precautions against.

My Computer History

I have had a fairly extensive history with computers. My family had a computer through most of my formative years. I still remember getting the internet in seventh grade and having a picture taken for the local newspaper of my family looking posing by the desktop. When I went to college my first laptop was a Dell. It lasted four-and-a-half years and then I got the laptop I have now (which is on its last legs). One of my favorite classes in high school was a computer science class that I remember very well.

Computers have had a huge impact on my life. I use them on a daily basis and feel somewhat lost when I do not have access to them (which I am not sure is a good or bad thing). A big part of my reason for taking this program is a passion for computer usage. There is a possibility that I may pursue a career in Instructional Technology at some point as well. I am in the process of shopping for a new one so I am excited for the possibilities as I am debating over several options.

Continuing to apply the tools

Last week I integrated Google Docs into my classes. It worked very well and I feel it promoted a much more collaborative approach to group work. Part of me always felt that when assigning students assignments to do on Word or Power Point that I would get students working separately and not simply combining their work. With Google Docs I felt more conversation and engagement were present and it led to more student learning. I also plan to integrate blogging into my classes to allow students to connect and apply what they learn to their lives. In my World Cultures class I will be using blogging in the unit I am currently teaching. We are studying South Asia and they will be asked to connect concepts that we have studied to their current and future lives. In my US History class we are studying the Cold War and students will be asked to explain how what happened in the Cold War impacts their lives. I am very excited about using it in the classroom.

Using Dropbox has been an interesting experience. I like being able to have the continuous access to my files without transferring my flash drive. I have also had computer crashes in the past so the long term security of my files is now something I hopefully can feel a little better about when I transfer them over. I have never used Skype before so that was definitely an interesting experience. As of right now I do not have any classroom application capabilities due to the major limitations I have for technology at my school but it is a tool to keep in mind for the future. I am hopeful that social bookmarking will make it easer for me to access and share the many links that I come across (many of which I lose or forget).

Entry #1- February 20, 2011: "The Start of My Master's Journey

First...
Before getting into my post I would be remissed to not acknowledge the events the have occured here in Wisconsin over the last week. Being in Madison yesterday was a special and moving experience. I am a Social Studies teacher and firmly believe in democracy and citizens being able to make a difference. No matter the result of the protesting and whatever happens with the Budget Repair Bill, I hope that this leads to a renewed excitement for education and participation in government that seems to have gotten lost in our fast moving society. And I would also like to wish good luck to my fellow cohorts (and myself of course :-) ) as we move through this program together. Anyway, on to the post.

Learning in the Program and Connecting it to what I do:
For me it is very hard to believe that I am in my fourth year of teaching. Each year truly does fly by. I have taken a lot of time to try and decide what program that I wanted to do for my master's degree. It needed to be a program that I had passion to complete, could help me as an educator, and could potentially create career options for me if I needed them. After a lot of careful thought I decided that the Cardinal Stritich Instructional Technology program would fit my needs.

I have high hopes for what I hope to learn in my program. Technology has transformed the world and is transforming education. It is my hope to be on the cutting edge of avancement in instructional technology. I already spend a great deal of time seeking out and using technology and online resources to enhance my teaching. My goal for this program is to become very proficient in using instructional technology and more importantly, be able to help inform and educate other educators on how to use these tools as well. And I do not want to close the door to potentially working in the field of instructional technology or in some sort of a consulting position.

Connecting my learning to what I do in the classroom and when collaborating with other educators is a going to be an ongoing process. The district I teach in (Elkhorn Area School District) has made integrating technology on of its major goals. Currently there are major challenges with the amount and overall reliability of technology in the district. It is my hope that the knowlege I gain in this program can help me play a key role in helping the district overcome its technology challenges and reach its instructional technology goals. In the classroom I plan to use what I learn to enhance lessons, increase student engagement, be able to differentiate for struggling students, and extend content for high level students.