LAST BLOG!!!

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This is a monumental day of my life. Last blog. I am sad to see them go. I actually really enjoyed the blogs. I didn't enjoy writing them, but I liked reading my classmates blogs and I especially loved leaving Cameron love comments.. I enjoyed giving everyone comments, but Cameron's were in another league. It was cool to be able to have the blogs and be able to see what our classmates got out of the readings. It was also a pretty cool way to get to know my fellow students personalities. For example, because of the blogs I now know that Alan hates Dane Cook. If it weren't for the blogs, I would have never known that fact of his life.

This class has been a great opportunity for me to increase technological abilities. I always knew how to do the bare minimum in Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel, but now because of this class I know how to do all sorts of effects. That makes me cool. Although it has nothing to do with education, the next technology related skill I want to learn is photoshop. I love photography and would love to be able to edit pictures like a champ.

I know that I am supposed to be talking about educational related stuff in this last paragraph, but the truth is that I'm not sure if I will still be an education major next year. I may switch my major to photography to pursue something that I really love. I'm glad that I took this class, though, and was able to expand my knowledge of education in America and about the technologies that correlate. No matter what my major is next year, all of the information I learned in this class will stick with me for a while.


I'll miss you, SAM.
oh wait. thats a lie.

web based tools. cool.

When researching web-based tools that i may be able to use in my classroom, i found a lot of websites that encourage having a class webpage. I think that having class websites is a really good idea. I rely on blackboard for a lot of my college courses and think that it could be very beneficial to high school students as well. I think that its a good idea because most students today are very technologically inclined and will be able to use the website with ease. Teachers will be able to contact parents through these websites, too. Students can email other students in the class to get missed homework assignments if they are absent.

I also think it is a good idea to have a class website such as blackboard so that students will be able to keep track of their grades. There is no wondering what your grade is with these types of websites. If the teachers keep up with it, the students will be able to log in anytime to see their averages and will be able to see exactly what they are missing and what they need to do to improve their grade. If the students are able to look up their grades online, the teachers wont have to waste in-class time calling each student to his/her desk to tell them their grade and what they are missing. I think these websites are very efficient.

I think that one web-based tool that can be used to help teachers is a jeopardy game maker. I don't remember what its called, but we watched a video about it once. You can put in your own questions and point values for whatever subject you are studying and the program turns it into a game of jeopardy. I think this program is really cool because its easy and fun. All students like to play games and i find the subjects that i did the best in were subjects that we played games in. It turns it into a competition and makes learning the material much more fun.

chapter 8. yo.

This chapter dealt mostly with security issues in computers and with emerging technologies in education. cool.

There are a lot of different threats to computers such as viruses. Viruses are potentially damaging computer programs that are designed to affect your computer in negative ways without you ever knowing it. I learned that while viruses can occur in both PCs and Macs, they are much more likely in PCs; just goes to show that cameron owns all of you!!! I also learned that there are three types of viruses: boot sector, file virus, and macro virus. Luckily there are all sorts of softwares and programs available that can protect our computers from these viruses.

We are in what people are starting to call the digital media revolution. More and more technologies are advancing and are being adapted to use in the classrooms everyday. I read about a school, Vail High School, that in 2005 became the first school to become all wireless, all laptop, all digital public school. I think that within the next few years we will see more and more schools follow in the footsteps of Vail High School. I do not think that the digital media revolution is a trend. I think that it is here to stay. From what i read in this weeks chapter, I think that schools will become more and more based on technologies and less and less based on actual text books.

Since the last class, I have become very familiar with power point. I feel like this will really come in handy when i am a teacher because it is such an easy way to display notes. Not only can i help my digital students by having my notes on powerpoint, but i can also print them out so that students can write their notes on the sides of them. I think that powerpoint is really easy to use, and really easy to understand. I'm glad we spent so much time on it because it will only make me that much stronger as a teacher.

chapter 6

This chapter is purple.

In the purple chapter, I learned about curriculum (the knowledge, skills, and performance standards students are expected to acquire in particular grade levels). Specifically, I read a lot about curriculum frameworks and guides. These are documents that schools are provided from the state departments of education that describe curriculum standards and benchmarks for learning. They include recommendations and examples of how students can create lesson plans based on the curriculum. The chapter focused a lot on ways to keep students on track. Two examples of ways to make sure that students learn what is required of them are grade level expectations (GLEs) and mastery objective checklists. The chapter went on to discuss integrating technology into education. Shocker, I know.

One thing that I found really interesting in this chapter was the ASSURE model. The ASSURE model was created as a guide to planning and delivering instruction that will incorporate technology into the classroom. The model is composed of 6 steps:

• Analyze the learner
• State the objectives
• Select Methods, Media, and Materials
• Utilize Methods, Media, and Materials
• Require Learner Participation
• Evaluate and Revise.

The model is said to be a very effective way for teachers to use technology in the teaching process. It is important for teachers to be able to understand these new technologies because it will increase the teachers ability to effectively communicate with their students as well as educate them.

Since the last class, I have continued to learn new ways to incorporate graphics into Microsoft Word. I learned how to make tables, check marks, drop boxes, etc. I feel that this will help me in the teaching profession because I will be able to make newsletters to communicate with the parents of my students. I will also be able to make legit looking tests. That will be pretty cool, too. I have also learned from the last class to never let Cody play with the pianos-- because he will never stop.

chapter 5

In chapter 5, I learned the difference between digital media and multimedia. Digital media is defined as those technologies that allow users to create new forms of interaction, expression, communication, and entertainment in a digital format. Multimedia means 'more than one media'. The book says that multimedia incorporates a variety of elements including text, graphics, audio, video, and animation. I also learned about a lot of cool software applications that can be used in the classrooms such as Computer-Assisted Instruction, drill and practice software, educational games, tutorials, educational simulations, and a lot of integrated learning systems.

My favorite part of the chapter was the part about virtual reality--mostly because i went to Disney Quest (5-floors of virtual reality) this weekend and OWNED the comic villain game.. thats right. 1st place. It didn't have anything to do with education but i thoroughly enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed reading about the interactive white boards. My geometry teacher from high school recently got one of these and I have heard that they are really cool.

Since the last class, I have learned that I hate the SAM program. and I hate practice tests that are 120 questions. No but really, all jokes asside, I have learned that the Introdcution to Education Technology class is more a class based on multimedia education than on digital media. I also learned how to make my searches more specific when using search engines such as google. Since google owns the world, I feel like this is a really valuable skill to have.



Also, I love Cameron.

Happy February =)

In Chapter four, I learned a lot about the different components to the computer. For example, I read about the motherboard, the central processing unit (CPU), the control unit, the logic unit, the system clock, the different kinds of memory (read-only memory, random access memory and flash memory). I also learned that there are many devices that are can be plugged into the computer for extra memory storage such as flash memory cards and USB flash drives. I also ready about things I have been familiar with for a long time, such as the keyboard and mouse. I enjoyed this chapter because I was able to read about the different ways (other than the mouse and keyboard) to input information such as the trackball, touchscreens, joysticks, and pointing sticks.

When talking about what I have found entertaining and interesting about my classmates blogs, I believe the question really becomes what have I found entertaining about the comments we are required to leave. Just kidding. No, but really. I have enjoyed seeing how the other students in the classroom have interpreted the text. It has also been fun to see how each student's opinion varies and how each student has a different idea of the role that technology should play in the classroom.

Since the last class, I have learned how to use the program Inspiration. It will be very helpful when I have my own classroom and need to make outlines or concept maps for anything. I enjoyed the the program was so self-explanatory and that there were graphics suitable for almost any subject. Except sign language... I'm still a little bitter about that, actually.

Chapter 3

In this chapter, I learned about application software. Application software are programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, ad email programs. Although I already knew WHAT they were, I learned HOW they are relevant to the teaching profession. Application software is a very reliable way to keep track of your student records and to effectively teach all students regardless of their varying academic needs. I also learned about System Software which are programs that control the operations of the computer and its devices.

On page 148, I read about a program that students can use to take notes. I thought that this was really cool because it allows you to enter typed text, handwritten text, graphs, drawings, and sketches anywhere on the page and saves as an electronic document so it is easy to reuse and share. This program is perfect for "digital students" that we read about in chapter 1.

Since the last class, I have become more comfortable with graphics in documents. It has become easier for me to put pictures, columns, and text boxes into my Microsoft Word documents. I feel this is a very important knowledge to have whether or not you are going into the education field. If you are, it will make your life much easier when it comes to making tests and newsletters. If you are not, we have increasingly become a primarily technological world. And it would suck to be technically illiterate. Your kids will know more about computers that you do .. and that's embarrassing.

Blog post #2

Once again, while reading this chapter I felt as if my intelligence was being insulted. Growing up in the generation that we did, most of us have known what a WWW site is since the 4th grade (not to mention the definition of 'the Internet'). We are also pretty familiar with what communications is and the basic parts of the computer. But, once again, I also learned a lot of cool stuff about how to integrate it into the classroom.

I have learned that it is important for schools to network their computers for three main reasons: (1) To share hardware and software resources, (2) to enable communications among schools and other organizations, and (3) to connect students and teachers to the Internet. I also learned about the growing popularity of wireless connections in schools, especially college campuses, today. Out of all of the reasons that networking is good for the classroom, I think that the most important benefit of this technology is that students, teachers, and administrators can all have instant access to all sorts of resources available on the Internet.

Since my last post, I have learned a lot about Microsoft Word and how to incorporate graphics into my documents. I feel that this is an important knowledge to have because, as a teacher, I will be responsible for making handouts, newsletters, and tests. The assignment in class last week taught me the proper format to make tests and quizzes. I thought the newsletter assignment was really fun. It gave me practice in incorporating graphics into my documents and it was also fun to use my imagination to plan what my classroom will someday be like.

Chapter 1: Computing in the Digital Age

When I began to read this chapter, the first subject I came across was "What is a computer and what does it do?" I was then dreading to read the rest of the chapter because I had to conception that it was all going to be this basic information that I already knew. Most of the chapter was filled with facts that I already knew, such as the different categories of computers and the different types of software that are available to use on computers. I did, however learn a lot from reading this chapter.

For example, I learned about Digital Students. I had assumed that digital students would be students who are technologically inclines, but i learned that the term digital student can be used to describe kids who are multitaskers and can do several things at once or kids who are goal oriented and often times multiple goal oriented. I also learned about the ARCS motivational model which was created by John Keller in 1983. The model is used to link differences in students learning styles to the amount of work and effort they are willing to put in to their learning. The model is separated into four areas: Attention, Relevance, Challenge/Confidence, and Satisfaction/Success (A.R.C.S).

The chapter also summed up the basic reasons that it is important to use technology with education. Technology enables schools to communicate with other schools in their school districts, forming a better bond between the two and helping to establish a community of education. Also, it has been found that when you use technology correctly, it has a very high change of increasing students achievement levels. I also learned about many organizations, such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) that are working to keep the use of technology alive in the educational systems as well as supporting teachers along the way.

January 9th, 2007

I am not a super-genius when it comes to technology, but I'm not clueless either. I know what I'm doing when it comes to facebook, myspace, AIM, microsoft word, and powerpoint. Since I'm a big fan of myspace, I am pretty good with picture hosting and layout codes.

In this class, I hope to learn technologies that will help me in my future profession as a teacher. I would like to learn how to use Excel, as well as gradebooks (setting up points, and curves).

I learned that I am an extreme visual learner. I learn best when I can see what im being taught. I am also very creative. I don't like classes like math where there is only one solution to a problem. I like to be able to do my own thing and discover new ways to solve problems.