Post #10: The final post!

This class has taught me so much throughout the semester! I have learned a lot more about Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and more! I have also learned about web based tools like Wikispaces, which are helpful in inter-group communication and project completion.

I feel really great about our final project! Everyone contributed equally and we had a great time working on the project. I think using Wikispaces was a terrific idea and our teacher will really love our final project and what it offers her class and students! I am so glad Ms. Newman will be using our final project for her classes now and in the future.

I will use the knowledge I have gained from this class, like using Excel and Wiki, as a teacher in the future. I can use excel to grade and present projects and Wiki to communicate to my students. I will use all of the knowledge I have gained from this course as a teacher in the future!

I found that many of my fellow classmates and myself really enjoyed learning about Excel and spreadsheets and found the information very useful. Also from reading my classmates blogs I found that we are all interested in improving our knowledge of technology. I also found that many of my classmates like similar cliparts that I like!

Post #9

I feel very optimistic about our group project. It is great that the teachers will actually be using our projects! I hope our teacher is satisfied with our final project.

I have contributed by meeting with team members and completing my own assigned parts. I have communicated via e-mail, wikispace, and phone with my team members. I also changed the layout and look of our wikispace to appeal more to the kids.

I have learned a lot about using Wikispaces in the previous week. They are a great tool for communicating and seeing what everyone has done. I will use Wikispaces in the future for projects and communicating with members.

Post #8

Webquest would be easy to adopt in our project with a 6th-8th grade Language Arts class. We could develop a Webquest asking the students to listen to a short paragraph being read and anser the questions that follow. For example, we could ask them to name the voice of the writing, any specific emotion or sensory words used, onomatopoeia's, etc. I think the students will learn better if they can liten and watch their teacher read a passage, it will be easier for them to pick out the parts that the teacher is looking for.

A good example of WebQuest can be found by following this link. This is a good example because it encorporates multiple representations of the content, student contruction of content, and shared responcibility. This WebQuest would be great to use to help the students learn more about technology and the history of the computer.

Being able to create and use WikiSpace is a helpful tool that I think will be especially useful to me in my educational career. A WikiSpace can serve as a communication tool between teachers and students as well as a resource to check information and get feedback from your peers. This tool is wonderful for communicating with your students and creating assignments and writing up reference tools is simple and easy to use!

Post #7

Class websites are a great tool to aid in the organization and effectiveness of a classroom. They help with teacher, student communication and serve as a tool to post assignments and due dates, as well as grades and even weekly updates. E-Office Hours is a web-based resource that aids teachers in creating "Virtual Classrooms". The website is created "by educational instructors and software engineers who have blended the latest, cutting edge technology with years of teaching experience to develop the most advanced teaching tool and website available, VirtualOffice". The purpose and intent of the site is clear. It is to be used as a resource for teachers and students to view classroom information and serve as a communication tool. The resource is accurate and current in its information, evident by its creators. The site is very well-designed and has great usability. It allows the user to select different options for fast, effective use of the resource. The E-Office Hours website can be accessed by following this link:
http://www.eofficehours.com

I can use excel as a teacher to create many effective teaching assignments. For example, if I was an elementary science teacher I would use excel to create graphs showing the rate of extinction of select plant and animal species over time. Then I could use the data to ask the students questions like, how many more species will be extinct by the time you are 20? Using the spreadsheet tool would allow me to create these charts ad graphs and would serve as a great tool to teach students and keep them engaged and interested.

One case that used Excel creatively in the school setting is Illinois middle school teacher Kelly McMahon's use of spreadsheets in her math class. She created balance and spending spreadsheets to aid her students in the math learning process and problem solving. Spreadsheets are easy to use and answers are displayed with the click of a button, what could be easier?

Post #6

Using the concepts in Chapter 8 I critiqued my own PowerPoint 1 assignment, the first concept is writing. The spelling and grammar in my presentation is correct and I kept my points short and simple like the assignment asked, I would mark the writing as Excellent. The next concept is content, in which I would give myself an Excellent because I included all of the necessary graphics and visuals and the information was all there, and easy to absorb. Navigation is the next concept and I would give my presentation an Excellent because I included "next page" arrows on each slide, and by clicking the mouse the user can easily navigate through the slides and their content. For the screen design concept I would give myself an Excellent because the format I chose is simple yet pleasing to the eye, I use multiple bullets, graphics and animation are incorporated to engage the viewer, and the font is easy to read.
Development of the presentation is the last concept addressed in Chapter 8 and I would mark my presentation as Excellent because I followed all the guidelines included in our assignment and executed it correctly.

In the classroom I can use peripherals like printers and cameras to take pictures of insects with my students, upload them to a computer where they can research and label the parts of the insects, and then they can print their pictures and show them off to their parents! Other non-computer audio-visual technologies I can use in the classroom are tape recorders and televisions. Tape recorders are a fun tool for students to work with, and they can record their own voice, say for a Spanish project, and play it back to themselves to make corrections and listen to how they sound. Television are a very useful non-computer tool that I could use in my classroom to show my students videos, view the local news and weather, and see the day-to-day school announcements.

During the last week we learned in class and from practice how to create PowerPoint presentations and work with the formatting options and tools. I think this skill will be especially useful because PowerPoint is a great tool for the classroom, especially for presentations. It keeps students engaged and interested and it is easy to manipulate and create for yourself.

Post #5

By going in numbered order using the rules presented in chapter 6 I visually critiqued the website for the Rolling Stone newspaper. The link to the site is http://www.rollingstone.com/.
Viewing the website you can tell that rules 1 and 2 are present because the general design principles used for the website are based on research, it includes the principles mentioned in the book, and the user is oriented because they know that they are at the sites main page. For rules 3-8 the site measures up for each because the text is justified appropriately, the style types and colors are limited and there is a color scheme, the page is enhanced with graphics and photos, and superfluous items are not present. The site also covers rules 9-15 because upper and lower case as well as single spacing is used, text lines are short, the structure is simple and the focus is limited to music and news, while providing emphasis where need be and knowing who their audience is and supplying them with the information they need and want. Rules 16-23 are also followed in the sites visual design principles because there is no flashing or vertical text, bulleted lists are used, navigation throughout the website is consistent and several graphic types are incorporated, the site is organized, sizes are proportionate, and placement is visually attractive to the viewer.



Presentation software is a great technological tool for the classroom. Not only does it provide an entertaining way to present information to younger students, it is easy for the instructor to create and the students to follow. Presentation software like PowerPoint allows students to organize facts quickly and remember them better. At the same time I do believe that the amount of presentation software used in the classroom should be limited.


PowerPoint can be used to support student learning in the classroom at each knowledge dimension. I could create a lesson using many multimedia tools to help the students remember, I would sort out information appropriately and in a list or conceptual map to enhance the students understanding, and by conceptualizing my lesson plan before creating the presentation I could use my technology skills to help students apply it themselves. For analyzing the the ideas students can compare facts and work together to create flowcharts as well as evaluate the presentations and create a finished, accurate project that is appealing and logical.

Post #4

As a teacher I would teach my students how to create outlines, idea maps, and storyboards because these are all useful ways of organizing and relaying information. Outlining is one of the best tools available for students and learning to create a good outline is very important for their future. I would take advantage of MS Word when outlining because the students can work with bullets, indents, columns, and word art to create their outlines. From the outline phase I would then assign the students to create idea maps from their outlines. Inspiration and Visio are two great computer tools for idea mapping. The next step in the process would be creating a storyboard. This process teaches the students how to hypermedia presentations and work with design principles such as graphics, text, video, audio, and navigation. Using storyboards to branch their ideas and create a final finished product will not only make the students feel accomplished, it will teach them fundamental organizational skills.

I would encourage my students to work with outlines, idea mapping, and story boards. Outlining is a great teaching tool because it causes students to start thinking about the topic and organizing their thoughts in an efficient manner. Idea mapping causes the students to think more in-depth about the information in their outlines and link it together logically, and story boards allow the students to expand on their presentation and include design principles and higher technologies such as hypermedia presentations. Also by building on their information in this manner students can see where they went wrong and go back to correct their mistakes.

Within the past week I have learned how to efficiently search Google for information and what questions to ask when I am evaluating a website to make sure it's information is accurate and the site is an authority. I think these skills will be especially useful to me in my educational career because when searching for topics I want to discuss in class or information I want to share I will be able to efficiently find the information and determine if it is useful and accurate. I think the skills I have learned in the past week of class will be very useful for my future teaching career.

Carly's Podcast

This podcast tells you a little about myself, enjoy!

Post #3

One lesson plan I would create that uses technology would be a workshop on concept mapping. Imagining that my class would consist of first or second graders, I would use concept mapping to help students with outlines and help them map concepts in preparation for a written composition. Students will learn how to organize sentences to form paragraphs and paragraphs to form compositions. The lesson would be for a language arts class and I would show them how to organize papers.

Some concerns I have about being a teacher who supervises students in a technology environment are the subject matter of the websites my students can visit (adult subject matter should be prohibited from viewing), the students using the internet to find answers to questions without answering themselves, and students becoming off-task due to internet games, fun sites, etc. The grade level of my students would preferable be 1st or 2nd. As a teacher I would make sure my classroom computers had many child-safe security preferences and would not allow them to access website with explicit materials.

One web-based tool I found very interesting, that I may use when I teach, are the online essays and reports by practicing teachers. The articles contain information on every subject matter and grade level and I think they would be very useful in helping a new teacher like me by jump-starting my thinking and getting me on the right track. The following link contain a lot of educational information and peer reviewed lesson plans: http://www.glef.org

Post #2

As a student I have seen many of my teachers using Microsoft Word, in fact it has been one of the main teaching tools they use. I have been using MS Word for years, throughout my career as a student, to complete assignments, type essays, and simply save to-do lists. I like using MS Word because it has so many useful options available like using bullets and tables, as well as spelling and grammar check, you can also insert images or charts and graphs, create outlines and borders, and even use the thesaurus. I have seen my teachers use MS Word for years for creating tests and quizzes, teaching students to experience with different formatting, like creating a newspaper, initiating problem solving, and work on spelling and sentence mechanics.

A good example of a case that uses MS Word creatively in a school setting is the creation of weekly newsletters and flyer's, keeping students informed about their school and promoting school events and fundraisers. I think it's a great way for students to feel involved in their school because they are writing and reading about it. The great thing about using MS Word to create these newsletters/flyer's is that many graphics can be added and many formats can be used. If the school wants the newsletter to appear as it would in The Tallahassee Democrat the students can experience with different formatting to create the look of a real news article. I think this creative use of MS word helps students release their creativity as well as learn new formatting skills.

Of the skills I have acquired in class so far I think the most useful to me in my educational career are creating and saving paint documents, using folders, and creating tests and quizzes. Paint documents are simple to understand and useful for saving or obtaining information. Personal student folders would be extremely useful because the students could save all their work in one place. Creating tests and quizzes is a very important part of MS Word for all teachers because we will be utilizing these tools throughout our careers.

We are practicing MS Word 2007

1. EDF2040 class
   

hey hey hey

Blog #1

I think computers and new technologies are important parts of the educational experience because they are becoming widely used as standards and reforms are created and modified. Cognitive tools aid in learning problem solving, acquiring facts, and thinking critically. Using the computer as a cognitive tool will promote good processing skills and information management. There are critical concerns related to how teachers and students use computers. Obviously as a teacher I would need to have a "big picture" of computers and their uses. I should be familiar with the computer tools and know the functions of them as well as have the basic computer skills of any student in my classroom. Also, when something goes wrong I would need to know how to fix the problem and remain positive and knowledgeable. I agree with the issue raised in chapter one about teachers needing to know just as much, if not more, than their students about computer technology because we don't want role reversal to take over the classroom and the students to think they know more than the teacher.

In my classroom I will take a constructivist approach to using computers so as to engage my students and make them feel as though they are taking charge and learning along the way. Problem-based learning would also be an important part of my teaching because it lets the students work alone or with a group to construct their own learning, problem solve, and generate a solution. Both constructivism and problem-based learning help to give students higher-order thinking skills like predicting outcomes, and comparing and analyzing problems and solutions. One day I hope to use these skills in my own classroom to promote these abilities. In this class I hope to learn how to create an effective learning environment, incorporating these skills, in which my students will thrive. I also hope to learn how to properly use spreadsheets and other data analysis tools to teach my students.

I have changed my major many times over the course of my FSU career and I think I have finally settled on what I want to do with my life. It's amazing to type that.. I realize that the one thing I want to do the most with my life is help others. One day I hope to become a guidance counselor rather than a teacher because I want to work in a more one-on-one setting and really get to the root of the problem or predicament. I am excited for my future in education and I am truly looking forward to learning a lot from this class.

Practice

practice practice

Blog Journal #0

I have a lot of experience using technology including a CGS 2060 class at FSU. Ever since elementary school when we had scheduled "computer lab" hours I have been interested in learning more about technology. I use a computer almost everyday to check e-mails, Facebook, research, and visit Blackboard. I am technological proficient yet I would like to learn more.

In this class I hope to learn more about computer programs and the application of technology in the classroom. I want to improve my knowledge of Microsoft programs like PowerPoint and become familiar with blogging. I also hope to learn more about my learning styles.

Today was very fast paced and I learned that I need more time for setting up foreign accounts or learning new websites. I also learned that I sometimes get caught up on little details (such as setting up a profile) when I should continue on and not loose the class. My learning style is more reflective, intuitive, visual, and I am more of a sequential learner. As a reflective learner I tend to think about my work before, during, and after I complete it, and I prefer to work alone. As an intuitive learner I am all about innovation and discovering possibilities and relationships. I have always known I am more of a visual learner. meaning I remember best what I see. Being a sequential learner I like to follow logical steps and directions to find solutions.