ILP #2- another webinar!

For my second Independent Learning Project I watched a webinar called “Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education” by Will Richardson. I find webinars super interesting so I decided to make my second learning project about one as well. I think it's awesome that we can be connected all over the United States and more watching a video presentation live.

This 50 minute webinar talked about what PLNs are, how they influence our learning and future success. It started out with someone introducing Will Richardson then he jumped in. In this webinar, I learned how to begin to construct PLN’s using different Web tools and I understood the implications it had for student’s schools and professional practice. He also talked about safety entering the online learning environment. When you put yourself out there on the internet, you need to be aware that anyone can view what you post. Richardson talked about how education and the internet are connected, saying that PLNs are the “future of education.” He also shared this story about a famous cinematographer named Mark Klassen to show that others can achieve their goals using online resources. He also talks about how we are trying to get students to learn technology instead of flipping the traditional classroom around and having the students learn using that technology. Not only do we need to apply technology in the classroom but teachers need to be educated as well. My favorite quote that he said was “teachers are learners, but teachers networked are learners first.”

10. Finally!

This week’s assignment (PowerPoint Interaction) actually caused a lot of problems for me. I had a really tough time getting the slides to hyperlink and I think that my template was to blame. Besides the fact, I think the idea of interactive games using PowerPoint is a great way to teach a lesson. I think that going through all the problems I did with this assignment, I have really learned how to master it. I will probably be using this after I teach a lesson to keep the kids interested and still learning.

Some of the most interesting topics I found on my classmates’ blogs was when we worked on our concept maps. I thought it was so cool to see all the different ways you can concept map and how you can design them. The only thing about concept maps that isn’t so great is that some subjects maybe aren’t best to concept map. I noticed some classmates’ maps that didn’t really connect well just because that subject wasn’t meant to be mapped out. Another thing that was super awesome about the classmates’ blogs was reading their different writing styles. I am an English major specializing in Editing, Writing, and Media so I am always looking for flow and style when I read. Some of you are really great writers!

              I think the next technology-related skill that I would want to learn is definitely Photoshop. I have always thought it was so cool that you could morph and change images and add and subtract sections of an image. Photoshop is used in the market worldwide. Advertisers use it to promote their product, clothes, and food. I think learning how to use it, it could give me some insight to how much Photoshop is really done when I see an image advertising something. I also think it would just be fun. My roommate took a Photoshop class and she photo shopped herself next to Drake as a joke and it really looked real! I thought it was so funny and cool and I think it would be really awesome to learn how to do that too.

I never thought that technology could be such a huge part of my future career. Even if I don’t become a teacher, I have to use technology every day! Many things that I learned in this class will apply to my career and I will definitely use. I think it is super important that I stay up-to-date on all the new technology as soon as it comes out so that I can use it. Becca mentioned the FSU tech sandbox in her blog and how great of a resource it is. I couldn’t agree more! The tech sandbox can keep my tech skills sharp and continually learning. EME2040 opened my eyes to how much technology there is out there and how little it is used and applied in the classroom. 

Survey: Veggies

Click here to take it!

ILP- webinar

For my independent learning project I listened to a webinar called “Making Online Student Safety a Priority” by Gaggle. There were 3 different speakers. In one of the sections called “Digital Citizenship: Fills the Digital Literacy Gap” I found out that youth aged 8-18 spend about 45% of their day exposed to media. To me, that’s crazy! In this section they talked about how students need to learn how to use technology wisely and competently. They also mentioned how important digital literacy skills are, and I strongly agree. But I also found out that teachers lack the easy-to-use tools needed to meet digital literacy standards. It is necessary that they learn professional development in digital literacy. In this same section, spoken by Diana Graber, she brings up topics that Digital Citizenship focuses on such as; online safety and security, online privacy, plagiarism, copyright, search strategies, and ethical decision-making. They also talked a lot about some of the statistics of use of social media with students. Towards the end they had a question and answer section. Listening to this webinar opened up my eyes to how much social media affects teenagers, good and bad. One of the negative things about social media they addressed was cyber bullying. I was never aware of how common cyber bullying was and I’m glad they took the time to address this very important issue. They are currently working on getting all schools to monitor the devices being use to send out these hateful comments. One of the callers, Rob, actually wanted to work with them. I really enjoyed listening to this webinar and I learned a lot! Here are a few screenshots from the webinar.

9. Flipping out over this technology!

Flipped classroom is a new method of teaching that is revolutionizing the traditional classroom. Flipped classroom uses technology to let students learn at their own pace. In flipped classroom, students can watch lectures at home and communicate with their peers and teachers by online discussions. Through the use of education technology, flipped classroom influences students learning environments and it provides an opportunity to learn through activities. Teachers can create videos for students to watch at home instead of in the classroom saving class time and providing more information for the students to succeed in school.  Flipped classroom improves access to instruction. Here is a link to an educational video that some teachers might assign students learning about the solar system.

The website that I found on professional development you can find by clicking here. When finding a web-based resource there a few things you need to consider to see if it is a good site. The first thing you need to confirm is if the site has the information you need, and in this case, my website did have all the information I needed. Another thing that is important is if the site is easy to navigate. My site is as well. The next thing that is important is if it is appropriate for the age level you are educating.

              When finding a web-based resource you also want to make sure that all content is aligned to NSDC, AASL, and ISTE national standards to be ideal for teachers. And lastly, the most important thing is that the site is credible. My site is from the Library of Congress which makes it very credible. Another way you can check is to look at their references. All and all this is a good web-based resource on professional development.

              Working on this week’s assignment was a little tough for me due to the fact that I was sick on Monday so I missed class. Thankfully, one of my classmates, Kristen Burkett, reached out to me and met with me to help me on the assignment. With her help, I was able to completely understand what had to be done and knocked out this assignment. I think PowerPoint is a great learning tool and I strongly believe that I will use this in the future. Using Jing also is an awesome way to teach lessons. I think that I could even use Jing in flipped classroom. I really like using PowerPoint now that I understand some cool ways I can make better presentations. The only thing I didn’t like about this assignment is how many different elements we had to add. In the instructions, it gave us so many different things we had to add to our PowerPoint that it almost got overwhelming and I kept having to check to make sure I had each one done. This assignment actually took me a pretty long time to complete too. If I were to assign something like this, I would probably assign which slide gets each different feature and how to do it. I would also post an example PowerPoint so my students can make sure they get everything right. Here is a little snippet of the PowerPoint I made.

8. Digital Divide No More!

Reading through chapter 12, there were so many different technologies that could be useful in future education. The one that stood out to me the most was electronic paper. This is just so cool to me, it is a flexible light-weight printed material that could replace e-books and tablets. Now, this technology is in developmental stages, but I think it could be a huge breakthrough in the classroom setting. This electronic paper can be folded and rolled up, making it compact and unbreakable, so kids won’t have the worry that if they drop it, it could break. Not only that, it has low power consumption and replaces paper products; making it better for the environment.  It displays information from a network or cloud onto the screen. It prevents using paper handouts because it is able to change its content and display different information throughout the class day. Printed paper is used all the time in the classrooms, electronic paper is sure to be the same. I personally would use this product all the time in my classroom.

One of the “future technologies” not mentioned in the textbook is the 3D movies. 3D is everywhere nowadays, the theaters, even people’s homes, but is it in the classrooms? I think that 3D screens should be in every classroom. When learning about a subject, say coral reefs, the teachers often show videos and pictures to the students.  By using a 3D screen to watch those videos, the students could feel more engaged, almost like they were in the coral reefs themselves! It creates interest and excitement when things seem more real.Find the TV's here!

The digital divide is a term used to describe the gap between people who have access to technology and those who do not. Not only is this a problem in developing countries but it is also a huge issue in the US. Typically this term refers to the educational context; students having access to computers and internet at home and at school versus those who don’t. I am on the side in where I believe all students should have access to technology. I think if the parents cannot provide that, the schools and classrooms should. The problem with a digital divide is that some students will grow up uncomfortable with technology and that can hurt them in their later careers. It doesn’t just affect students by not having access but it affects their knowledge about technology and their skill. Students with access to computers and technology have an advantage over those who don’t have technology readily available. Students who grow up around technology and having access to technology will have more confidence in technology use for their career. Because some students don’t have access, it can create a divided workforce. This could greatly affect my future classroom if some students continue to not have access to technology. I wouldn’t be able to post assignments solely online, I couldn’t require a typed essay, little things like that can be a huge problem for those without access. In the future, I will make sure my school has easy, readily available access of technology for all students.

Make your Powerpoint more interesting!

I love this presentation because it shows us different ways to be more creative on PowerPoint. This presentation caught my interest.

8 Tips for an Awesome Powerpoint Presentation from Damon Nofar

7. Technology and Learning Disabilities

PowerPoint is a great tool that many teachers use in their daily lessons. In fact, almost all of my teachers use PowerPoint to teach their lessons. Blooms Taxonomy was created to promote higher forms of thinking in education. Let’s say I was teaching a class a lesson about the cardiovascular system, I could use each learning domain in a different slide to go through my lesson. This is especially important with science experiments and social experiments.

Adaptive technologies are technologies designed to help students with special needs. Students who deal with technology and physical disabilities can use technology to help them learn better. Students who cannot read or are blind can use voice recognition software to input information and they can also use text to speech software to output information. I have used both of these software’s. I often use Siri to type my messages when I am driving or just too lazy to type out a long text and my car also reads my text messages to me when I’m on the road so I don’t look at my phone. There are some problems with voice recognition software; maybe the software doesn’t understand you fully and mistypes. There are also problems with text to speech software like maybe it mispronounces something. Not only those things but students should learn how to type and how to spell. If I used adaptive technology like the voice recognition software all the time, my students wouldn’t learn how to spell or type.

This week’s assignment, web page design, was kind of a tough one for me. I really struggled with trying to figure out my way around the website. All the different options were just super confusing to me and I easily got frustrated when it wasn’t doing what I wanted. I couldn’t figure out how to add a picture for so long. But, in the end, I started to get the hang of it and actually began to enjoy it. I was having fun making my very own website. Although I do wish the website we were using had a tutorial or a walk-through of how to use each tool and what each tool did. I think that creating websites is something I will definitely be having my students do. In our current society, we look up everything on google, and we click on websites to find our answers. Creating those websites ourselves would not only be a fun experience but it would also give my students a chance to see just how much work goes into making those websites we visit every day. Not only that but as a teacher I think it is vitally important to have a class website so that the parents can check on the student. With a class website the parents are able to see what the student is doing that week, sometimes even see pictures of the students working, and receive announcements about upcoming events. You can check out my website I made here.

6 Class sites, Websites and Professional Efficiency

The school website I visited was the Stevenson school. This school requires teachers to regularly update their individual class web pages for K-8^th grade. The grade level I decided to click on was first grade. In this class website, the teacher has a section on classroom news where she updates the parents what the kids are learning and what they are going to learn next. She also talks about the activities the children are doing. Another great thing about this class site is the tab where you can see their daily schedules. It gives the parents a chance to see what their kids are doing and when. My favorite part about this class site is the gallery tab. This teacher takes pictures of the kids doing the activities and puts it on the website for the parents. If I was a parent I would love to be able to see my kid learning and having fun doing it! You can check out their classroom page by clicking here.

There are many ways I envision myself using technology in the classroom. In chapter 7, it talks a lot about word processors. Word processors allow teachers to create calendars, newsletters, flyers, class stationary, and classroom websites. I definitely think I would use word processors to accomplish my professional responsibilities more effectively. I like the idea of class websites. I think parents would greatly appreciate it as well. To have a site that tells what the kids are learning, what they will learn helps the parents become more involved. Productivity tools are vital in the classroom today. This includes computer based tools as well. Google calendar would be a great way keep my lesson plans on task and make sure I am covering all parts of the subject I am teaching. Using technology based tools to plan a lesson is a great way to make my professional responsibilities more efficient.

I actually enjoyed working on the Web Resource Evaluation. I learned how to verify if a website was credible or not and what defines a reliable site. Another part I enjoyed about the web resource eval was being able to work in groups. My group collaborated efficiently and we each contributed an equal part to the assignment. The only thing I disliked about the assignment was the website we used to create it. I didn’t really understand how to navigate it very well and I easily got confused by its layout. If I were to do this again I would probably want to make the rubrics through Word. I do like how the whole assignment is set up on wiki, even though I struggled with it. I think that in the future I will definitely create a rubric for my students to use on the websites they get information from. I want my students to understand the difference between a credible source and not so credible source. By teaching students to spot out criteria that make a website reliable from a young age, it will help them later on when they have to write research papers or other assignments of the same sort. 

5 Web 2.0 in Education

          Web 2.0 tools are often used in classroom elements in many different and interesting ways. Teachers and students both use web 2.0. Web 2.0 are websites that interact with users and other people. Sites that are used for social networking, YouTube and blogs to name a few are web 2.0 tools. Teachers use YouTube to share videos of relevant information to their subject matter, and lots of teachers have started using a classroom blog, where students can post and interact with their classmates. I think those are some of the most useful. Also students use web 2.0 tools all the time. Students can use wiki to engage in collaborative writing and knowledge. Students can use twitter to follow scientists, teachers, and other educational personal, where they can look at the insights of others and also so they can directly ask those scholars questions. Another great web 2.0 tool for students I feel is useful is diigo. On this site, students can use resources found online and take notes directly from that page. All students will need to access these sites are a computer, internet access, a mouse, a keyboard, and a screen (91). The periphery equipment needed would be flash drives and printers.

         The interesting web 2.0 tool that I have decided to use is called diigo. This site allows you to create student accounts for an entire class easily. Students within a diigo group (often a class) can start using all that diigo provides, such as group bookmarks, annotations and group forums. Diigo allows teachers to highlight critical features within a text and images. They can also directly write comments on the webpages, for notes or to even use a series of websites to start conversations or teach a lesson. Diigo integrates tags and folders, highlighting, clipping, sticky notes, and group-based collaboration.

         Privacy is very important for diigo. This site has privacy settings that are pre-set so that only teachers and classmates can communicate. Students can only communicate with their friends and teachers. No one can send the students a message, group invite or write on their wall unless the teacher adds them. Students profile will not be available to public search engines either. To sign up for diigo you can go to this site: www.diigo.com/education.

      I love using concept mapping to study so I was actually super excited to learn how to use concept mapping on a computer. I usually just write them out because I wasn’t aware of a software that could be used online. Concept mapping is a great way to organize thoughts and connect different terms within a subject. It was a little difficult at first to figure it out on the computer but I soon got the hang of it and learned a couple new things. I never knew that there were so many different types of concept mapping, and I also didn’t know that by using linking words it would make it so much easier to understand. I definitely think I will have my students use concept mapping as a way to study. I think having a visual representation of what the students are learning and how the different terms connect is vital! Below is an example of a concept map I made using two different types of concept maps and converging them to one.

4. tips and tricks to navigate the web

http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewStandard/Preview/1944 

·       Standard: SC.912.L.14.1- “Describe the scientific theory of cells (cell theory) and relate the history of its discovery to the process of science.”

·       http://www.cellsalive.com/puzzles/crosswords/organelle1.htm

·       Educational Games

·       I would use this website to teach cell structure to my students in a fun educational way! It is an interactive site in which the students have to type out cell parts based on hints given. Studying isn’t very fun for most students in middle school but I feel like with this game they will enjoy learning about cell and cell structure a little more.

            I think that the internet is an extremely valuable tool in student research and I highly recommend it. Whenever a student doesn’t understand the meaning of a word they can easily look it up. When a student needs information about a historical person, it’s much easier to just type in the name. Not only does the internet give you results fast, it gives you many options as well. One problem with the internet is that it’s not always accurate. When you are researching something scientific, you have to make sure your sources are credible. Another huge problem students have with the internet is plagiarism. When the answers are in front of them, a lot of the students will just copy and paste instead of rephrasing in their own words. I think it is very important to be able to use the internet but I also don’t want my students depending on it, so I would teach them how to get their information from a library too.

           When I search for information on the internet the number one thing I do is make sure my information is credible. I look for sites that end in .edu, and .gov because I know they are educational and government sites, and I use a lot of the websites through my school website. Also, sites in which you can change information in the article (such as Wikipedia) I know are not credible sources because anyone can change the content. Listening to the podcast I realized that I do a lot of the same things talked about; I look at the content, I make sure the spelling is correct, and usually when a site is biased it is based on opinion. One thing I didn’t pay attention to is ads. I never thought that they were a problem because I usually just ignore them. I think it is important to teach my students to look out for them.

           I learned a few new skills from working on the Web Hunt assignment. There are a lot of tips and tricks you can do to specify your search results. For example, if you want to search a certain time period you would type out “date…end date” and fill it in with the corresponding dates you wish to find out. Also I learned that when you put things in quotations it searches for direct quotes within the quotations. Another one of my new favorite tips is being able to exclude sites with the “-“sign before the site you don’t want to pop up. This assignment helped me realize I can more easily find what I need with a few tricks.

1.  Find a free website maker that students could use to create their own website
2.   Find a credible medical website in which students can type in symptoms and find out what disease relates to it.

1

3. the 101 of teaching with technology

I wasn’t there when the class explored Edmodo and I have never used it before so I don’t really know much about it. Then I decided to look around the site myself and honestly, I’m kind of confused. I think it’s similar to blackboard because the teachers use it to communicate with their students, but it is also similar to twitter and Facebook from just looking at the set up. To me, it seems like a bunch of things going on all at once. I can see how it would be useful once I understand how to use it. With all the confusion there was one thing that was super easy to understand and that was the notification tab; it tells you what you need to do and when and it’s very clear. All in all, I would definitely like to explore Edmodo some more because while confusing, it was also very creative. If you’d like to check it out, click on this link; edmodo. 

If I were to become a teacher, there are many ways technology would play a role in my classroom. I would most likely be teaching high school, juniors and seniors because I would be able to more likely use technology in more ways with an older age group. While I attended high school, we had a website in which we could check our grades at any time. I definitely would use this with my students, it helps keep them on track and if they are missing an assignment they can immediately talk to the teacher. Another tool I would love to incorporate would be discussion boards. This offers the opportunity for my students to communicate with one another and the teachers as well. If a student has a question about an assignment, or maybe even just wants to share their opinion about a topic, they can post about it on the discussion board. My students would also have a site in which their assignments get posted and where they would turn in their work electronically, I think this is much easier to communicate and it helps save unnecessary paper use. While using the internet, it is important to teach my students about digital citizenship. There many guidelines in which to follow and I would address all the concepts. My students would need to understand how to navigate the web, but one of the most important guidelines to me is “netiquette.” Students must be polite and respectful when using the web, especially towards others. It would be a huge consequence if a student participated in “cyber-bullying” because saying hurtful things over the internet is never okay. Not revealing personal information is also so very important, and plagiarism is an absolute no.

I very much enjoyed working on the Newsletter Design Assignment. I learned how to use columns in a word document, which I never have done before. It also let me show my creative side! I enjoyed being able to use word art and altering it to the way I wanted. Making the newsletter is showing me new and cool ways Microsoft Word can be used.

2 retweet this!

Currently being a student, I use Microsoft word every day. I take almost all my notes on MS, I write essays, presentations and speeches to name a few. A lot of my teachers require weekly essays so I am always writing using MS. I see teachers using MS all the time too; they write up their lesson plans on it, syllabuses and instructions for a project or assignment. If I were a teacher, I would probably use Microsoft word the same way my teachers did. I think by having typed up directions, it makes it easier for the student to understand, and giving handouts is important too. By handing out typed instructions for a project or assignment the students will more easily be able to stay on track. I would ask my students to type up their assignments on MS too because typed essays and such are much easier to read than written work. Also, it would be more organized.

              I don’t have much experience with copyright or fair use of materials. I have only used photos and information on the internet and I always make sure to cite my sources. If I were a teacher, I would make sure my students have a works cited page, giving full credit to the source in which they received their photo or information. I would teach my students how to cite their material properly. In the ISTE Teacher Standard 1 it talks a bit more about the copyright laws.

              Twitter is a daily part of my life. I have had a twitter for just a little bit over a year now so I am very comfortable with it. I mostly use twitter to share my thoughts with my friends or retweet funny videos. I think it’s a great idea to use twitter in the classroom; it helps us stay connected! I think I will use twitter in a more professional way when I’m older to stay linked with my clients and employees. 

@jokesterjulia

1 Our technological world is taking over

Technology is everywhere. From computers to tables to phones and so much more. It is vital that teachers and students understand how to use computers. Technology literacy has become a requirement in our world today. I strongly agree that teachers nowadays should be up to date on the new technologies and the NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) is a huge part of that learning process.

Today, we students are already submerged in the technological world. We use Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations, we email our teachers when we have questions, and we often go online to submit assignments. There are many other ways students use computers in the classroom, and I hope this class will help me achieve my goal of becoming more aware of all the things you can do with technology.

All the time my mom asks me “how do I make a word document?”, or says “I can’t seem to figure out how to work this thing”, well, something along those lines. She is a digital immigrant, and it’s blatantly obvious she didn’t grow up around technology. For me, I am a digital native. A digital native is those who grew up around technology; it’s usually used for teenagers, children and young adults in this generation. Digital immigrants are the older generation, where maybe technology was just beginning when they became teenagers or young adults. Technology comes easier to me than it does for my mother and my teachers, but in the future new technologies will develop that I will have a hard time with. Even now, younger kids (not teenagers like myself) are better with some technologies than I am! 7-year olds are easily able to work YouTube on their iPads while I’m still struggling with the new update. Times are changing and our technologies are developing at a rapid rate, eventually we “digital natives” will become “digital immigrants” to the new and unfamiliar discoveries in the technological world.

0 active learners, web codes and other impossible tasks

Technology has started to become an integral part our lives; whether or not we want it to. I have found myself constantly using Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Youtube, and Snapchat. I am always connected, always texting and communicating with others through various social medias, but even I find some aspects of technology difficult. It's easy to send a text, but writing web codes and diagnosing computers seems near impossible.

Now, I'm not asking to write web codes (or other impossible tasks), but there are a few things I hope this class will teach me. I hope to learn new ways of presenting projects and ideas, with software such as Powerpoint and Prezi. I want to be taught the types and uses of different media and how to apply it to student learning.

During class today, I took a survey that determines what my learning style is. As it turns out, I scored a 5 on the active learner versus reflective, meaning I moderately prefer being an active learner. Active learners, like myself, retain most of their information by doing. Unfortunately, they also find it harder to sit through lectures. As well as being an active learner I discovered I scored a 1 on intuitive learners. This means I'm pretty well balanced on the scale, that I slightly prefer innovation in contrast to methods and facts. I also scored a 7 on my visual versus verbal. This is pretty straightforward; it means I more likely will remember things I see instead of things I hear. Finally, the last part of the survey showed I was predisposed to global learning instead of sequential. Global learners often absorb material and then suddenly "get it." They solve complex problems quickly because they look at the big picture, but often they can't explain how they got to their conclusion.