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.