The Finale

Tonight is actually the last class for this semester. Time sure flies! It was an exciting semester and truthfully, I have learned a lot, especially considering the fact that I am quite technology challenged.  Tonight we finished off with the rest of the web 2.0 presentations as well as the podcast.

            In class, they presented Bubblesnaps, which I thought it was an alright site. Bubblesnaps is about creating bubbles on pictures and writing your own caption on it. Not something that I would prefer to use in my classroom though. The next one is Animoto. This site is formatted like a power point presentation, but the main difference is that it focuses more toward including pictures, videos, and music from your very collection or the internet. Unfortunately, only 30 seconds is free and can be used like a demo.  On the plus side, there are two other versions, the plus plan and the pro plan. These versions offer more, however they cost money, so the membership fee is paid by monthly. Luckily, the pro plan is free for teachers.

            The next web 2.0 presentation is by far my most favorite presentation and most likely something that I will use in my future classroom. This one is called Voki. The program records the voice of the user and puts it into an aviator that you can create online. Students can use it too! Oh, I forgot to mention that this web 2.0 offers “text-to-speech” in 25 languages!! How awesome is that?!

            The next one is current.com/group. This web 2.0 is about collecting video clips from any sites and placing it all in one group. There is a possibility that I would use it, but sadly, it will be in the lower percentage tile. The next one is Spelling City. It is a good website that offers games and other things to help expand the students’ vocabulary. There are many spelling lists and these lists can be shared. I would most likely use this one too.

            The last but not least is Edu Blog, which I could have sworn someone else in the class did it last week. Oh well… Sadly, I did not pay too much attention on it since I am still not too much of a fan of blogging. Oh, we also watched the last podcast tonight. It was about three tips to become a studious student.

            There was also a pleasant surprise at the end of class. We watched a presentation about a new invention called TED, created by a student at MIT. Anyway, this technology is quite amazing. The device has a camera to read the hand gestures as a way to process what you want to do. For example, taking pictures, organizing photos, comparison rate of product at hand vs the price on Amazon, calling someone, rating, more information on the product, etc. There is so much more to say, and to think, this technology came out two years ago. I wonder what it is like now… I must admit, this class has peak my interest in technology. I am amazed to see so many ways to implement new technologies. 

Podcast and Web 2.0 Presentations

Tonight class was all about watching the podcast and web 2.0 presentations.  In a previous blog, I had mentioned a group project about creating a podcast. So tonight we get the honors of watching every group’s podcast. Just a reminder, the objective of the podcast was supposed to teach something to the audience.  The first podcast that we watched was about finding the perfect recipe for making brownies. The second one was the one my group did, the making of Chicken Buffalo Dip. The third podcast that we watched was about teaching us how to use an iPhone.  That was all the podcast that we were able to get to tonight, so the rest will be for the next class.

            As for the web 2.0 presentations, there were a lot of people that presented. The first one was called MixBook. It’s an online scrapbook. As you are aware, images and photos are easily access on the net, thus making it much easier and less messier to make. The program itself is free, however, if you wish to acquire your final product, you can pay for it and they will send you your Mix Book. I do agree that this can make a nice collaborative classroom tool. Anyway, people also presented their web 2.0 on FaceBook, Twitter, EduBlogs, and Engrade.

            Do I need to talk about them, maybe, maybe not. I did find the Facebook presentation quite useful though. I already have an facebook account, and after watching his presentation, I thought, this is the perfect way to create a website for my workplace. You see, I’ve been trying to figure out how to make one for a while. And this, this was the answer I have been looking for. As soon as he presented it, I started to create one. Sorry, because I slacked off, I did not pay too much attention to the other presentations like I should... Luckily, the professor has the document with the links of all the web 2.0 presentations up, so I can easily access them to my conveniences.

            Although I did pay partial attention to the discussion between Facebook and Twitter and I have to say that I agree with the fact that Facebook can be too invasive. For twitter, people can only follow status updates. As for Facebook, people can check out photos, wall posts, videos, and so forth about that friend… Which in my opinion is the easiest way for predators to stalk you. Definitely not something I would use in my classroom.

ACIT, Lesson Plan Project, Web 2.0

          ACIT (Accessible Computing and Information Technology) is similar to AT (Assistive Technology), but focus more on using higher technology such as a computer. Not only that, every piece of technology is designed for a certain group of people. In the lab, we discussed some of these technology and answered the following questions: what is it, how does it work, and who does it benefit.
         - Small keyboard (half the size of a regular keyboard); it's portable; made for people who are limited to using one hand, for businessmen
         - Big keyboard; color-coded, sturdy; for children, for people who has a difficulty in fine motor skills
         - Giant Mouse; for children who has difficulty with their fine motor skills
         - Electronic keyboard; pictures correspond to words or phrases; best for language learners
         - Magic Cursor; camera manipulated keyboard; for those who cannot touch the computer
         - Different Magic Cursor; manipulated by the jaw; for people who cannot move (vegetable)
         - Read & Write Gold; help to read and write with text to read; for people with dyslexia, for children
         - Zoom Text; zoom in on certain part of the computer screen, read all text; for people with visual impairment
         - Jaws; read out everything on the screen, read text that you click or type; for people with visual impairment
         - Clarity PC Mate; video magnifier, capture capabilities, zoom in function, portable; for visual impairment, for students studying science
         - Reliant CCTV (close-caption television); 50x magnification; for the visual impair

      Next, we discussed our Lesson Plan Project which will be due on December 5th. Our professor has her own format for creating a lesson plan that can be found on blackboard. Reminder: behavioral objective must be measurable, think Bloom's Taxonomy. We have to explain all the technology used by the teacher and the students, plus how the technology can enhance the learning experiences. Lastly, we have to create an attachment with the lesson plan. We have three possible options: scavenger hunt, web quest, or podcast.

        After that we started our web 2.0 presentation. I was suppose to present mine one month ago, so as you can imagine, we are very behind. John B. started us off with his presentation on Hot Chalk. Apparently, it is a learning management system, which includes curriculum and standards that's applicable to the subject you wish to teach. Also, for anyone using this web 2.0, resources and lesson plans can be shared with everyone. Thus, it is a good resource for teachers. The next presenter did hers on Survey Monkey, which in simple terms an online survey. After that was a presenter doing it on DIIGO (Digest of Internet Information, Groups, and Other stuff). Simply put, another type of social networking.
        I forgot to mention, I also presented my web 2.0 as well. Mine was on City Creator. I haven't rehearse or looked over any information so I pretty much winged it. Luckily I remembered all the necessary details. City Creator is similar to the game Roller Coaster Typhoon and Sims Creator. It is a game designed to help future architecture and children understand some of the basic of architect. This web also allows children to collaborate with one another and challenges their creativity. To understand how to use City Creator, go to www.citycreator.com

Chicken Buffalo Dip

      Today my group and  I were working on our podcast project. We decided to create our topic on Buffalo Chicken Dip. One of my group members got the recipe and images. The rest of us created a script for our project. The objective of this project is to teach the audience about something, so in our case, teach them to make buffalo chicken dip. In our podcast, we mentioned all the ingredients, how to make it, and other types of substitutes that can be used. We spent the rest of the class time on this... Our group was able to make a script that lasted close to four minutes in podcasting. Oh, I forgot to mention that the professor wanted a four to five minutes for the podcast. But we were close... I think that overall it was pretty fun.

Podcasting

     Among all the technology that I have seen or used, this one is definitely the most foreign to me. Podcasting, what is it? Similar to how the media works to present its shows on show time; podcast is like a digital audio or video files. The main difference is that what is shown on television will end after a certain time; podcast is like personal on demand. It captures whatever you choose to watch, plays on any playable computer or digital devices, and views whenever you want. There is a website by Tony Vincent that teaches us how to use podcast.
     The website is http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/

Apparently there are also many samples of podcasts that can be found on iTunes. Some are commercial, some are educational, and some are meant to be shared with friends and family.

     To make a podcast is a bit more difficult. One of the main podcast creator is "GarageBand." Once that loads, the images from iPhoto will automatically opens up. Oh, I forgot to mention that GarageBand and iPhoto are some of the programs on MACs. Anyway, tonight we learned four new techniques when it comes to dealing with this program: trimming, joining, adding images, and jingles.
           - Trimming: can shift/adjust the recording/sounds; splitting (command t) -> to divide the sound
           - Joining: combine two or more recording/sounds by highlighting (hold shift to highlight more), then command j
           - Adding Images: drag photos into the art clip --> creates an slide show in the end
           - Jingles: found under the 'omega,' a section with lots of music and sound

After learning how to use the program, we were told that there will be a Podcast project. How exciting! Oh, and this is a group project. So hopefully we can create a nice script or something...

Project Website

     This evening, there was suppose to be three presenters for the web 2.0 and I was one of the presenter. My was on City Creator. However, we did not have enough class time to do all three presentation, instead, only one person went. She did hers on VoiceThread. The features on there seems pretty neat. You can pre-record your voice while showing a diagram and they are in sync.  For example, if I am watching a movie, the voice of the character will correspond to the movement of the character's lips. In this aspect, it almost works the same way, but more towards having an educational purpose.
      Asides from that Web 2.0 presentation, we spent majority of the class time discussing how to create a class website project. In making a website, we have to be aware a few things. If our website is for research only, then we need to make sure that the links provided are legitimate, current (date), credible, and is the source reliable. We also discussed a few ways that we can share these links with the kids. We can either bookmark the pages or create a document with all the URLs. Before we can provide the students these links, we need to learn how to evaluate them. Thus, we spent the rest of the class evaluating some of the URLs.
      And we also started our class website project. I'll share the link on here after I'm done. And oh, on October 31, we don't have class. So see you the week after.

Desktop Publishing

     In the past, Desktop Publishing used to only be programs like Word, a type of word processor. But now, it has evolved. They are no longer just words, they have to include graphics. For example, newsletters, brochures and flyers are a couple of different types of desktop publishing.
     This brings us to our newest assignment. Given our ideal classroom, how will we use technology to get the parents involve? The solution is that we will have to create a newsletter and a brochure of our future classroom (mainly focus on the grade level and the subject we want to teach) for the parents. We even did two classroom activities to help us understand the assignment better. The first activity was using "Inspiration" to brainstorm up ideas for the newsletter project. This program allows us to move things, extend the length of the idea, and so forth. One important thing that we should know when it comes to this program is RAPIDFIRE. Rapidfire is what allow us to add new ideas to the main idea or their subgroups. It is a simple program, with adorable graphics, so it is fun and easy to figure out.

There were also three Web 2.0 presentations: ZoHo, Flickr, and WikiSpaces. ZoHo is about making timed online tests or quizzes and that they have to be taken within a certain time frame. Flcikr is like a blog, but use only pictures instead of words. Not like that matter since a picture can speak a thousand words. The last presentation is about WikiSpaces, somewhat similar to Wiki (the one in charge of Wikipedia)... It is an online hosting site that allows anyone and everyone to edit it, unless the security it changed to allow certain people to edit or certain people not allowed to edit. This website is based on COLLABORATION!
     In the future, if I ever plan on using any of these web 2.0, I would most likely only to use the ZoHo. I do not find the others as useful to me since it seems more complicated for me to figure out. I like things simple.

Web 2.0 and ISTE

     There are many Web 2.0 that are free for us to access, so what is it? It is a massive social experiment that can enhance creativity and information sharing. For example, Facebook, twitter, city creator, etc are all different types of web 2.0. Each web 2.0 have their own purpose at what they do.
     Delicious.com is a web 2.0 that focus on social bookmarking. Any websites can be tagged under multiple tags too and then shared among everybody. And I do mean everyone: students, parents, colleagues, spouse, and so forth. In turn, they can do the same. Thus, a massive networking is form to find webs that is suited for you to use; just click on the tag you are looking for, and there are choices that you can pick from, so that they do not have to be sorted all over again.

Anyway, ISTE is coming here to do a presentation about training soon. Oh, ISTE stands for International Society for Technology in Education. They are the group that wrote the standards for using technology. Thus, in order for use to use technology to our full potential, we need to understand how it work. ISTE have written three sets of standards. One is for the administrator, one is for the teachers, and the last one is for the students (like what they should know or master).
      We also did a practical review of ISTE standards in class. The document can be found in google docs, so if you or I need to take a peek at it, know that it is still there for us to access in the future.

Formative vs Summative Assessments

     When it comes to assessments, we automatically think of tests. But in reality, there are two types of assessments, both with their own purposes. The first one is formative assessment, which includes discussion, worksheet, etc. The purpose of this type of assessment is to provide enough information to the teacher to adjust their teaching or reteach part of the curriculum/ content area. These assessments are taken constantly to measure what the students have learn. 

     As for summative assessments, they are given periodically, normally after a chapter have been taught or annually. The purpose of this type of assessment is "to gauge student learning relative to content standards." This mean that they are measuring what the students have learn through the course of the year and their level of skills mastery.

In a way, these assessments judge the curriculum, to see what works and what does not. 

      On the other hand, we have to keep in mind that the world is changing. This means that in order for our future generation to do well, our standards will need to change. Technology are improving, so our kids are no longer competing amongst themselves, they are competing against others from across the country, continent, hemisphere, and the world! Thus, it is important that we do not teach to the test, and that we are teaching to the actually curriculum. 

     

      I know that each state have their own standards, so the one for PA is called SAS (Standards Aligned System) found on www.pdesas.org. Under the section 'Clear Standards,' there is a sub-section called "common core." The common core is the standard used across the country, so we can easily compare some of the differences between PA standards and the one used for the whole country.

     There are also different types of assessments that we can use to analyze what our students understand. One of them is the predictive test, which mirrors the PSSA. This test can give the teacher a chance to figure out where are the students strengths and weaknesses. Aside from that, there are some tests that are created by the SAS (found under standard -> Eligible Content) that shows us which students are struggling, which are above average, and which ones score very high. There is also something called "Item Analysis" which allows the teacher to check/break down item-by-item (test questions). This mean that educators can analyze the questions to find patterns: if the question was confusing, or whether the students need more help, etc.  Not only that, this can help foster BEST PRACTICES (team work) by allowing all the educators to come together to figure out what practice is working for the students; especially since it is working for a certain group of students pertaining to a certain teacher or whatnot. 

Spreadsheet Assignment

     At first I thought this assignment was going to be difficult since I am the type to get confuse with technology. Luckily the professor spent the time in class going over this assignment. We learned to use formulas and shortcuts that I didn't think existed in this program. This experience and practice gave me the confidence that I can do this project without any problem.
     After finishing the project and reviewing quite a few time, I am glad that we had to do this. Through this assignment, I learned how to use excel in ways I didn't possible. For example, creating a grade book that used weighted score. This is so useful to know and easy to use after getting through the technical part. ^_^
     Creating the bar graph to display certain information was easier than I thought as well. It was thanks to the professor for going through step-by-step on how the graph can be created that I am able to isolate the part that I want to analyze, move the legions, add the numerical part to the graph, etc. This project allowed me to reflect on how I may teach in the future because I can easily use the data/ results of the students' progress to determine if there are any area(s) that I may need to re-teach.
     As for the formulas, definitely made life easier. Although it may take me more time to manually input the data for the formulas, it calculates everything for me and if I were to change one of the result of a quiz or something, the overall grade will update itself. This mean I do not have to re-calculate anything. Hopefully one day I will figure out how to input the data for each student at a faster method.
     Overall I must say that Excel is an excellent tool to use in the classroom. Just need to get through the technical parts in the beginning, and everything else is all set.

Fair Use

Before we start, what is Fair Use? "Fair Use" is a copyright policy that generally accept practices that are used in education circles, but is NOT a law, so it can be challenged by copyright holders.  What does that mean? This means that in educational facility, they have a special right to use a certain amount of a copyrighted work if it only pertains to what the teachers are teaching (the curriculum), otherwise, it is also considered illegal. There are four factors that determines if the teachers are using the "Fair Use" policy fairly.
     - The purpose and character of the work
     - The nature of copyrighted work
     - Amount and substantial
     - The effect on potential market

     The use of "Fair Use" is not limited, so if a teacher is challenged about using another work, that teacher must defend his/her use of the material. This reminds me of how a student must defend his/her position in a paper and that he/she have to use proper citation, otherwise it will be considered plagiarize work.  From my perspective, as a student, we have always used the "Fair Use" policy when we are writing our papers, but did not realize that. Now that we learned its name, we must further our knowledge and learn to apply it in our future classroom, not just in our paper.

Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants

When class began, the professor took attendance using the "Interactive White Board." At first I thought it was a Smart Board, but they are two separate piece of technology. Even though they are similar in the aspect of it being interactive with the students. If every classroom has this type of technology, it can definitely save some time during activities transition.

      As the class continued, we proceeded with a few class discussions. One of them was about the videos of the students today in classrooms. I can definitely say that I can relate to them, since I am still a student myself. I even did some of the things the students in the video "A Vision of Student Today" did.

      When the topic changed to "Digital Native vs Digital Immigrant," I felt that I am someone who fell in-between. Not really an immigrant and not  really a native. When I am given a new piece of technology, like a native, I would play with it and figure it out. However, like an immigrant, sometimes it takes me a while to figure it out, or in some cases, I may even need outside assistance to figure it out.

      While we were having these discussions, we were also using excel on Google doc, and this shows that time are changing. When I was a child, there were only one user per computer and that files could not be shared. Now everyone is on their own computer using the same document. How much time has change... This will only continue.

21st Century Classroom

     As time passes, many things and objectives changed, but I do believe that one thing would always remain the same no matter what. That is the goal of education. I believe that the goal is to educate, guide, and prepare students "to become productive members of the workplace." On the other hand, the main difference between the 21st century classrooms and the classrooms of 10 or 20 years ago are the pedagogies and the methodologies that the teachers chose to use in order to prepare the students.

     Ten years ago, I was still a young student in the classroom, so I can truly say that I have first-hand experience with teachers that use the older method of teaching versus teachers that use more evidence-based approach of teaching (or at least some were transiting from the old to the new pedagogy). I recall that some of my teachers only stayed in front of the classroom to teach. They would only use a primary source, the textbook, to teach. They would also tend to teach in one teaching style throughout that entire school year. I also remember how my teachers would assess us: through tests, projects, and papers.

     Now that time are changing, the way we as future educators must learn to use pedagogies that theoretically will help the students learn. In the current classrooms, educators has to focus on students' learning styles such as visual learners, kinetic learners, etc... This means that the classroom will now be student-oriented. Teachers nowadays would also move around the classroom. Teachers and textbooks are also no longer the primary source/way of gathering information. Now, even the different types of assessments are growing: testing, projects, papers, newsletters, etc. I think that the major difference between the classrooms of the past and the present are the use of technologies. Technologies have become more advanced and that help creates more different possibilities of learning. An example would be the Smart Board, its presentation in the form of a whiteboard, but it has many more functions that will allow the teacher to manage their time easier. Also, it creates a fun way that can interact with the students.

     Sometimes, it is easier to experience things first-hand to understand the major differences between the classrooms of 10 years ago to the classrooms of todays time.