Egads! An eFolio as well?

This course truly contained everything. Though the workload seemed tremendous, and at times a touch disorganized, I feel that the eFolio really wraps it all up neatly into a manageable package.

I was a bit confused when seeing some tabs in the eFolio that were never assigned in the weekly assignments. Some of these I found support for in the documentation, while others seemingly were confined only to the eFolio. I did what I could in all of these cases, and I truly hope that my work does the project some measure of justice.

There is even something that I find to be leaned even in this simple compilation activity however. It goes to show that even though a course may contain a massive jumble of work, giving it some measure of order and organization can help immensely in understanding its requirements. That being said, my final note is an apology that I do not know the ins-and-outs of the eFolio perfectly, and I hope it has not resulted in much error. It was very intimidating to look at at first, and I wish I could go back five weeks and show that less savvy me from then how to properly navigate it. If I had known better then, I feel that things would not be so uncertain now.

Finale and the Whole Class

Web-Based Meeting

At the end of class, we had a meeting as a whole class on Adobe Connect. I feel that this was one of the better points of the course. It was good to finally meet all of my classmates "in person," and I feel like that helped to make the whole final assignment easier to present. No matter what sort of information or how much information you share over the web with others, there's nothing quite like getting to speak with them directly and interact. There is a certain feel for interacting with others that I can't quite describe that only seems to come from either physical or verbal interaction with them, and it really helps to turn a group of people doing assignments into a class of peers.

Class as a Whole

I went into this class with a hefty bit of skepticism as to how much I actually stood to learn from a class about the type of technology that I grew up exploring for myself. That being said, I am glad that I had to take it. I learned to use many resources such as website building tools that I had never used before, and even more importantly, I learned a lot about the Copyright and Fair Use Act that is important to know how to use to your advantage as a future teacher.

I would recommend this course to other future teachers as well -- chances are, no matter how much they think that they know about this material, most of them will find that they benefit from taking the course in at least one way, if not many more.

Wow That WOW Project

The WOW project was quite the interesting task!

I had at first been hesitant -- the WOW project was to be done in one of several ways mostly using the software we had already tried out during the course. I had no interest in making another Glogster poster, as I felt that that particular site was poorly set up (unintuitive controls and selection system, lack of functions/features, etc.), especially for something that one is expected to pay for, and my free trial had long since run out. I had also already recently used Prezi, and wanted to mix things up some as well, so it fell on creating a website...

Where the Nervousness Was Rooted

To understand why I did not particularly want to make a website even though it was my last option, you need to understand what I already knew of website creation from when I was growing up. Back when I was younger and the internet was in its toddler years (yes, I know that I am dating myself now), you needed to know how to code in HTML in order to make a website. Since I loved playing games on the computer, but never was confident enough in myself to learn to code, you can imagine why I would be hesitant about suddenly trying to make a website.

Fast forward to now: Yes, I am aware of how there have been tools invented to make website creation easier, but I figured that "easier" was relative to the difficulty of learning code, and that making them would still be difficult. I was happy to see that this was not the case when I started. As it turned out, making a website nowadays can be almost as simple as putting together a PowerPoint presentation!

If you'd like to have a look, here is my site.

Thoughts on the Multimedia Project

Tagxedo -- Intresting? Yes. Educational? Um...

Tagxedo was an interesting site to demo how to use. It was a lot of fun sorting out through the different options. Its educational value however, is more indirect than direct.

As a word cloud program, it isn't particularly meant to directly teach anything, but as with most fun software online, there is almost alway a was to put an educational spin on it...

How do You Make it Educational?

A couple of thoughts initially come to mind:

First of all is posters/covers! Students can use Tagxedo to make a word cloud of their writing assignments, and then print these word clouds along with their respective assignments to use as cover pages. It's an interesting idea that allows students to include something a little more "fun" in their assignment in order to better personalize it. On a side note, a long as you check the paper and the cover for relevance, they can be an aid in ensuring that students aren't just directly copying work from each other.

Second, Tagxedo could be used as a way of broadening student vocabulary. When they make a word cloud of their paper, if the more frequently used words in it are words that don't necessarily make sense to be used so often, the student and their teacher can easily see this and work to help the student further develop their vocabulary. For example, if the first word you see is a huge, 72 point font version of "LIKE," then there may be some work ahead...

Tagxedo

My Tutorial

References:

Tagxedo. (2016, July 28). Retrieved from http://www.tagxedo.com/

Topic 9 (Not Chapter 9? Oh My!) Copyright and Fair Use

Getting Arrested and/or Sued is Bad

I feel that this was one of the most important topics that we have covered all class. It's vital to know where your boundaries lie, but also to be able to give your students the best education that you can, without all the equivalent legal hassle of trying to pass a bill through congress without it getting tied up in meaningless monologue. In short -- your students deserve only the best, and by knowing copyright and fair use law, you can give it to them.

The slideshow catches most of the important bits.

Chapter 11: Math and the Sciences

Book Advice

This chapter made some interesting suggestions for the Math and Science departments. In particular, I like the use of virtual manipulatives, especially in the context of simulations. Not all of the suggested material was particularly useful, but in my experience, I have found that the simulations available on the University of Colorado's site are interesting, fun, and helpful for getting students to understand scientific and mathematical concepts

Two for two? It's More Useful than a Paperweight? What kind of textbook is this!?

Yes indeed. Two for two, the text suggests using sites like YouTube for demonstrations and sharing visuals that students might not otherwise ever get to see. This is a wonderful idea, as in a Physics classroom, I have made use of it to show them the launch of a space shuttle (talking about the effects of gravity), and the video footage of what happened to the Takoma bridge (standing waves). While in chemistry, they were able to see such things as how group one elements react to water, to how the process of refining uranium works, as well as how the system within a nuclear plant runs, to how the refining process for oil is run, and how they separate the different chains of hydrocarbons. All in all, the usefulness of YouTube in the classroom is something that I can vouch for myself.


References:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapter 7: Distance Learning, Blended Learning, and Their Benefits

Convenience

Certainly, distance learning is far more convenient than face to face learning. Research even supports a shift toward distance learning, showing that in many cases, it proves more effective than face to face. Let's not rush ahead of ourselves just yet though.

Blended learning shows that it is more effective than both of these other methods! In blended learning, there is a combination of face to face, as well as distance (students have both class time and online learning assignments. Flipped classrooms are becoming notably popular because of this, and the benefits it brings when done right are great indeed.


Using the Flipped Classroom as an Example of Blended Learning

In a flipped class, students are assigned basic assignments and simple topics related to the class material to practice and view online at home through presentations and interactive material set up by the teacher. Then, when these students come to class, their in-class lessons concentrate on work, practice, and discussion of more advanced concepts in the material that they are currently studying. This means that unlike traditional teaching, in a flipped class, students have access to their teacher for any help that they may need on the more difficult concepts and problems. All in all this means that flipped classroom students are learning simple concepts that they are less likely to need personal help with at home, and doing more difficult work in class, where their teacher is right their to give aid, whereas traditional classroom students learn the basics in class, and then are usually expected to apply thos basics in more advanced problems for homework.


References:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapter 6: Use of Material, and Let's Talk About Digital Citizenship!

With Great Accessibility Comes a Need to be Responsible

There are so many different systems that can be implemented or otherwise used to aid classroom education both inside and outside of school.

With these options comes a greater need for safety however -- students need to learn the "do's and don'ts of the internet. These include such things as accepting files from unknown sources, following prompts to provide sensitive/account related data, and attempting to circumnavigate firewalls put in place by the school. While a precious few of these (see firewalls) are sometimes used to restrict student access to distracting materials, all of them have their place to ensure student safety and security.

Digital Citizenship

Considering the overwhelming amount of freedom that comes with access to the internet, and in particular the even greater amount when allowed to operate as an anonymous citizen in such an environment, the best way (and in some cases, perhaps the only way) to prevent misbehavior and misuse of power by these leaning, growing students is teaching them proper digital citizenship. That is, teaching them a code of ethics and responsibilities to follow when online not too dissimilar from those that they follow in their daily lives. This includes the use of their technology wisely, safely, ad being responsible for their actions, including, but not limited to non-participation in digital piracy, as well as working to avoid and stop cyberbullying.

Summary

All in all, this chapter included a much-welcome emphasis on efficient website design, as well as application of various web-based materials in the classroom. All useful and important information to take into account when planning the use of these materials.


References:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapter 5: Word Searches, Online Grades, and More!

Chemistry Elements Search!

T G U R D J U M S M F Y E O W M V M A L O V A J D E Z B E A 
W U S F J P U Y X K U N A C S E F P U S A M L K I P H P N U 
S S G Z U T X T U C I I R J N K K P N N T L W S W P L N I R 
I X M I N E S E I E W P D A U W T I N G I A K G K S R N M U 
Q F Y E C H L O R I N E D O U S M X V Y W M T R F G C Z O M 
I W G N Z S W K X M J I R D H E J P Q T Q H U I N T Y R R T 
Z R C U P R U M M M U K F P X R V C U X H P V L N L W J B G 
A H K Q Z U Z C M M A I F M U I N I E T S N I E A E U F T X 
Y L H A V K V N B O X V E T I B A L L E R B J P D S N U R Y 
P P G C M D I J S Q N W Z W F B X O Q K I G V D K H K Q G Y 
M U I R O H T Z O X D J Q D D M O C L D A R G K E I X Z K H 
N V X U F H C S G E X I N E K L M S U R Z T I E O E X F C Y 
T L K D B F J R I A E P S O V N R M U K V B H I B P H W A E 
F L T Y M C K G V K Q J I T R V F A K S M O A L Y K T N D A 
Y H Y G K Q Y H E T P Q L I I W F V Y Z E R V O H X L Z J X 
Z X F U N D G S T Q J T W T Y S Q S J L Y M H G G W O M P U 
E S S C K U L J G G I M D A F F M X B G B W A H Y N K L A H 
O W E R A X C A V F J U W N S K H O Z Q P J Z L D E L I Z O 
T N K P X M W T K L K N N I Y O R E H B Z P U K U A F J M N 
H O T G U T R F R D W I V U I O D V T N T N D E L Q O Y K G 
O O S I D S B M B K W T X M N M D I V T G G R X S J Y I C S 
R C R A E T A K W F Z A M A F C B T U T R I O X Q J T J G P 
E A D Y S I J M P M S L H Y I R E L S M H E Z P G S K K X Z 
B F K U P Q S L K B Z P E U N A I Y N Z U N D K S M L B H K 
Y G F Q K H X F B L I M V S Z J Y H Y V T W O H U P W U D C 
U Y B O G K P K N L Y Z D Z Q P R M A V Z Q H Y U U M V E X 
S U R R W Y K A L U P O N U H Q D P E K X E W G W J M H K Q 
B O U D U W P X C H Q L C U W L F H Z T K L U W Z J B B L C 
T N W P C D C U K Y T Y T L V M E L I Q V E G V T K T U O C 
R M P A C U F X M S J Q S V O U S W Q I Z O J U Q W A J O I 

ALUMINUM
ARGENTUM
ASTATINE
AURUM
BARIUM
BORON
BROMINE
CHLORINE
CUPRUM
EINSTEINIUM
PLATINUM
RHODIUM
SODIUM
THORIUM
TITANIUM
VENADIUM

Oh Boy, a Word Search!

What student in their right mind doesn't like a word search!? It's a wonderful way to help students practice and expand on their vocabulary without feeling like they are. It often feels more like a relaxing, game-like activity than it is, and this helps to get students into doing it. This particular freeware program that was linked from here, is a great word search generator, that allows the user to control most aspects of the word search (dimensions, whether or not words cross, etc.), whilst still randomly generating the letter structure to allow for a certain, fun,"random" aspect.

Letting students know that Wikipedia isn't EVIL is also important. Students have it drilled into their heads that Wikipedia is not a reference, but what they really need to also be taught is that although it is not directly a reference, it is a wonderful tool to find references. It would behoove us as educators to teach students about how to determine a reliable source, and to show them about how such sources can often be found at the bottom of a Wikipedia page in the references section!

Chapter five was less about programs for student use than previous chapters were, and more about the most useful programs that a teacher can implement for certain tasks to aid themselves, parents, and students.

From electronic gradebooks, to publishing software, all the way to graphic illustration programs and surveys, there were many ideas in this chapter to take away for future use in the classroom. Personally, I find the electronic gradebook (such as engrade -- I can not stress how useful this site is!) to potentially be a particularly useful tool, as it allows students to track their grades and progress without asking their teacher in class, and in the case of some sites (ENGRADE!), allows their parents/guardians to make parental accounts to track their children's progress in much the same way.


References:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapter 4: Software Use and Suggestions (Word Processors)

Due to their prevalence, and often misuse, word processing programs get their own separate post!

Early Age Word Processor Writing

Starting students early is a great idea! This means that they are introduced to the software early in school and don't have to get better acquainted with it later. More importantly, this gives those students whose families may not be able to afford having technology readily available at home the ability to practice with these programs, and helps to keep them from falling behind their peers in skill. There are some problems with starting students on this software early though, as I will address later in this post...

Teaching Typing?

Personally, as someone who never took a "typing class" and who taught himself to type through practice, I feel that having a whole section of the day dedicated to a typing class seems to be a bit much when that time could be used for other activities (which can even involve typing, allowing for more practice). Students will eventually learn their own method to type that is most comfortable to them through exploration of their methods as they type assignments. Young students in particular have proven themselves to be fast learners in cases like this!

Handwriting? What is Handwriting?

Practice in handwriting feels like it has all but disappeared nowadays. Students have handwriting tht is often bordering or past the point of illegibility, and at the high school level it can be very difficult to change that. This becomes a very real problem for high school teachers as they need their students' handwriting to at least be legible. I know no one (particularly my professors so far) wants to talk about meeting state test requirements, and I agree that student education is a thousand times more important than those tests, but the fact remains that if I want my students to be successful, I need to not only educate them in my subject and help prepare them for life, but I also need to do my best to prepare them for state exams. If a student's handwriting is near-impossible to read, it won't matter whether their answers to the questions are right or not, they will likely be marked wrong. It is because of this, as well as the ever-dwindling uses for handwriting out in the "real world" that I hope that practice on normal handwriting doesn't disappear just yet; there are still a great many uses for it, and I worry that its instruction will be lost before those uses fade for most of our modern-day students.

Tests Given Computer-Only

This is an interesting prospect. For the above reasons, I think I would be hesitant to give only computer based tests, but it could be quite beneficial to do some on the computer and others as written exams. This benefits in allowing students to see that tests are not always given in the same format, and also are a good way to help them improve their typing without adding extra activities to the class.

Possible Ways to Integrate into the Chemistry Classroom

The one most significant way I can think of to integrate word processing into the chemistry class is through labs. Students could be tasked to write up the procedure for the lab themselves using a word processor, then the lab report could be added as another typing activity. This keeps all of the work for lab neat and organized, while also requiring students to actually read the lab procedure beforehand in order to write it. This can bring a significant benefit to chemistry lab, as students are usually requested to read the lab beforehand, but few actually do (honors and AP students are no exception).

Reminder for Every and Any Age that Spell Checking is NOT a Substitute for Proof-Reading

This is something that students really should be reminded every grade level... multiple times even. Many seem to figure that the spell check is a magical cure-all. In fact, the spell check in word programs is far from it -- it often does not recognize improper grammar, and as the book mentions, will sometimes even change perfectly good spelling and grammar into something wrong.

the spell check on thus blog does ton even sea the problems with the sentence i type know? do yo sea.

Kudos to anyone who has the time and patience to find everything wrong with my "sentence" above, but the fact remains that it is the perfect example of why the spell check function is not a substitute for proof reading -- there isn't even a red line in it as I type this, nor any highlights when I click the Check Spelling button; basic spell check thinks that those sentences are totally appropriate.


References:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

That Poor, Poor Scholar

This poor young middle-schooler is far more intelligent than any of the educators in his life seem to want to give him credit for. He shows plenty of learning aptitude in all of the activities that he is interested in, and yet his teachers don't seem to recognize how not every student learns through memorization. Nearly all of them are bent on making their students memorize facts, and are so bound to process and procedure that they wont allow them to explore new things and enjoy education. This student's father suggests that he drop out when he turns sixteen, and learn more life skills at home, and he in all likelihood will because school as it is doesn't seem to hold anything more for him.

This is sad, and more than one example of bad teaching, but rather than get into all of that right here, I am going to just post a link to this Google Slides slideshow.