Web Quest

After learning about webquests and looking at a few in class, i will use them in my future classroom. It is a great way for students to work in collaborative groups under specific roles and use the web in order to research and present on different topics. Not all the webquests on the internet are "good" for students to use, some have complex instructions that would take weeks to complete. These type of webquests require a lot of time for students to work together in class on completing their projects. Sometimes long term quests have their advantages, they focus on deeper understanding and reach the evaluation and analysis levels of bloom taxonomy. Short term quests are better when focusing on specific content, students reach the lower levels of blooms taxonomy (Knowledge and Comprehension). Personally i think that web quests are more beneficial for students and allows them to participate in high order thinking. Scavenger hunts are good for introdutions but webquests have an end product produced by students.

Assistive Technology & Inquiry-Based Learning

If your a standard education teacher or a special education teacher, it does not matter, you will come across assistive technology. Especially with today's focus on inclusion and differentiated instruction, students with special needs will more than likely will be present in your classroom for either the entire day or a certain period of time. Learning about different types of assistive technology and how they work is important because if the student doesnt know how to use it, you will need to be able to activate it or attempt to get it to work in order for the students in your classroom to recieve the best education possible. These technological devices allow students to participate in tasks that they were not able to do before or tasks that they previously had difficulty in completing. Keyboards with pictures inplace of keys is a common type of assistive technology. This keyboards can be used independently of a computer or connected. They may spell a word on the computer screen or say the word aloud. If a student is unable to speak they can use a series of keys to communicate what they want/need (communication boards(. Another type of assistive technology is a device that holds a book and turns the page for students. There are also simple adaptive devices such as books with large print, computer screen magnifiers, hearing aids that connect to a microphone that is worn by the teacher and much much much more.
Inquiry-based learning engages students in an active process of learning based upon scientific methods. Students are to create new models that tie into what is learned in calss, they are parallel but using their own knowledge and ideas to make a connection to the real world. This type of learning pulls on prior knowledge encouraging and boosting the self eestem of students. My favorite part of inquiry-based learning is that it makes a connection to the real world, students can reach a deeper level of learning when they connect it to their life experiences.

Bloom's Taxonomy and Scavenger Hunts

Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification system of learning objectives in the field of education. It's main purpose is to help educators figure out what level of vigor they are requiring students to use for the completion of school work. Also to ensure that students have using high order think whenever possible, because just having the knowledge of something doesn't help a student to become fluent in the area. The skills in the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy are 1) Knowledge 2) Comprehension 3) Application 4) Analysis 5) Synthesis and 6) Evaluation . They range from lowest order processes to highest. Each level has key words associated with them, for example knowledge: list, find, name, state etc. Having key words that are associated with each level is helpful to teachers when constructing test questions, essays, and projects because using the right words depends on what outcome you expect for your students.
I believe that Bloom's Taxonomy is necessary for all teachers to use. It is a great way to ensure that you measure learning correctly according to your goals and the curriculum's goals. I also think that using Bloom's Taxonomy with technology is a great way to ensure student progress and the new verbs associated with each level make it easier for educator to apply the objectives. The new verbs are 1) Remembering 2) Understanding 3) Applying 4) Analysing 5) Evaluating and 6) Creating. It removes a lot of confusion to what each verb means.
In class we participated in a couple of scavenger hunts, i believe conducting them in the classroom is a great way to boost student participation. They are fun, can be challenging and adaptable to all subjects. Students can be given scavenger hunts or create they're own for their classmates. Competition can be introduced or the teacher may feel that it is better not to include it. Competition can make student learning/participation more desirable because there is often a reward following. The teacher may break the class into teams and have them race to answer the most questions correctly or individually challenge them to beat there best score. The Internet can provide information that students to know off hand and encourages them to use the web to search for answers. Infusing technology is always a plus in the classroom, as long as you do it right. Scavenger hunts are easy for teachers/students to create and a great way for teachers to introduce new subjects, they can be used in all subjects/ grade levels and follow bloom's knowledge or remembering level but teachers can make them more difficult to reach high order thinking.

Podcasts

After learning all about podcasting and creating one with my classmates, i have found that they are fun and enjoyable. I believe that students would love to create a podcast that have educational value. They incorporate voice narration, sounds (jingles etc.), and pictures. It makes education fun, informational, visual, technical and interactive. Garage band is a software that is not too difficult to use with a small amount of basic training. Students can easily record their prepared information and add sounds/pictures to illustrate their ideas.
Some problems that i can foresee happening when creating podcasts in the classroom are time and software. The main reason i would decide not to have students create pod casts is that they take time and preparation to create. Students need to prepare a script, find pictures, edit and save their podcasts. This can take a long time, especially if it is a large part of a students grade. In order to carry out this project student would need lots on in class time to work on their projects. Especially because some students may not have access to a computer at home, or one with the software required to make and publish a podcast. Even the school may not have garage band and itunes installed on every computer in the school.
Young children may also have problems with creating podcasts, and may need more help then provided. In this case, a teacher could become overwhelmed and the project may fail miserably. I think podcasts would work best with upper elementary school age children, middle school and high school students. Some good ideas to have students create projects are for a travel brochure, creating stories, reporting on a broad topic and making newscasts. Having students work together will encourage teamwork, problem solving and creativity.
Another way to use podcasting in the classroom is for the teacher to create a podcast to teach a lesson to his/her students. This can spice up a lesson and engage students in learning. It is a different and interesting way to incorporate technology in the classroom. The music and pictures enhance the lesson. When teachers use podcasting they do not have to worry about teaching all the students in the class to use the software required.

Desktop Publishing

Desktop publishing is used to create pages that incorporate text and images. In education, desktop publishing can be very useful. Educators and administrators can use various software applications (microsoft word, adobe pagemaker and more) to create newsletters, calenders, advertisements, presentations, certificates and much much more. Students can also use these programs to create flyers for events, the school newpaper, books and projects.
"Principles of Design" by Jacci Howard Bear describes the general rules that can be used to create appealing and effective desktop publishing designs. They include balance, proximity/unity, alignment, repetition/consistency, contrast and white space. Elements on the page should be evenly balanced in order to avoid sending the wrong message. Unless you want to have the elements unbalanced to emphasize a particular part. Proximity/ unitiy refers to how close or far apart the elements are to one another and if the content is in order. This will organize your creation and not cause to much clutter or confusion. Alignment is how the publisher decides to place text and graphics to make it easier for the reader to read. Using to many fonts and graphics can also cause confusion for readers, sticky to only a few fonts and graphics can allow readers to get the point without being overwhelemed. Contrast refers to the size of different elements and the colors. Designers should use colors/patterns/fonts that are readable and important information should be bigger. The last principle, white spaces, is the amount of space between graphics and text to make it easier to read.
Besides the principles of design, there are "12 rules of desktop publishing" by Jacci Howard Bear, they are:
1.Use only one space after punctuation
2.Don't use double-hard returns after paragraphs (pushing enter after each paragraph)
3.Use fewer fonts
4.Use ragged-right or fully justified text
5.Used center text spairingly
6.Balance line length with font size
7.Use all caps with the right fonts
8.Use proper typographical punctuation
9.Use frames, boxes, borders with a purpose
10.Use less clip art
11.Use more white space
12.Reset software document defults
*All these rules are the authors personal selection, the designer shoud base everything on what looks best for their end product. As long as it is readable and send an effective message.

Powerpoints and Webpages

Powerpoints are great for teaching lessons, expecially when there is a lot of information. A good power point presentation only notes the key points for any given topic. Using paragraphs of information is not the correct way to construct one. Bullet points are great to list pieces of information that the students need to know for future tests and projects. Then they are able to go back into their radings or notes that they have taken and study or do a project. Powerpoints work best when the students are able to read them, using dark background and light text works best. The font and pictures (centered with text) should all be reasonably large.

Webpages, when used in the classroom and in everyday use really sould be creditable. Using Cornell University's, 5 Criteria for Evaluating Webpages, can ensure this. They are 1) Accuracy: author provides contact information and the article is purposeful 2) Authority: the author(s) are qualified and is published in appropriate URL 3) Objectibity: Who was the website written for and is it biased 4) Currency: website is upto date with no dead links and 5) Coverage: website is free of cost and all information is viewable. If the website meets this criteria it is considered a "good" website. This is important because you don't want to use information that is inaccurate and teaching/ preacticing this criteria will help your students in the future.

Having a class website is a good way to enform students and their parents on what is occuring in the classroom. Assignments and events can be posted online to provide easy access to students. This information should also be available offline to students who do not have internet access at home. This website creates a connection to parents and guardians that do not always have the time to be involved activley with the school. It also creates unity, where students can access articles that you find interesting or are needed for projects.

Last class, we spent alot of time reviewing for the spreadsheet project. After completing this assignment I have found that excel is a very useful tool to use in the class room. It cuts done on the use of paper and allows you to quickly do math with the click of a button. I also like how you can create charts, if I deleated the names under each bar, I would be able to share the average to the class. This would just provide a visual to show the students where everyone is in the class and why we must review or continue on. The spreadsheet also provides me with a structured, orginzed view of all the students grades. It makes comparison easier on the teacher and helps them decide what areas need to be reteached or approaced in various other ways. I believe i will use excel in my classroom and hopefully be able to teach my students the different things that can be accomplished with this program.

In my previous blog I mentioned the different web 2.o programs that I have explored and how useful they can be to myself and others. I still find that my protopage is very useful in condensing the many website i use daily into one area. I also helps me organize my life (work, test, birthday etc.) and do research. One new thing i discoved is that you are able to import different widgets from other sites. Widgets are applications or tools that can be placed on websites and blogs that is marked by a specific code. Examples include clocks, calenders, weather and pictures. They are very similar to adding an application on an ipod/iphone.

At the end of the last class, we explored in groups the different National Educational Technology Standrads for teachers and students. These standards incorporate positive was to include technology in the classroom and encourage digital learning. Each standard has varioud componets that better describe what is include in the main standard. For example, the teacher standard #3 is Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. Underneath this standard are the detaits- "Teachers exibit knowledge, skills and work processes representitive of an innovative professional in a global and digital society." It then list bullet points of what teachers a spefically to do. I think these standards hold the student and teacher accountable for understanding and using technology to increase learning. It gives them some structure and instruction on where to start and what is expected of them.