Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Reflection post

Overall I did not like the class, because I am not a people person nor am I an online student. I thank you for at least putting up with me even though I probably wasn't your favorite or more promising student. I however do know one hundred percent for certain that I will never be a online student and do not plan to take these types of classes again. The textbook was a hard read, but I think its constant references to other sources annoyed me the most. I kinda got it towards the end of the year that the book was trying to validate itself (unnecessary) and was opening us opportunities to examine additional research to prove the subject matter to us. Which is fine, but I think the further I got into the class the more I realized that technology is a hindrance to education and does not really help it at all. The discussions were my fault you and I both know I paid them little attention at all, but I can see for other students who actually participate in them they can be very helpful. I think you found this out to be true but I noticed students would travel as far as the second page and would continue to post the same sentences just with different subjects. For example a generic formula to their responses (not all but some) Hi my name is ____, that post was so inspiring. I absolutely loved ____ and how you _____ with this _____ isn't it so cool that we ____ as educators? Awesome post. Those who used that response format didn't help much, but there were a few who clearly showed they read your post and actually responded with real substance those I actually felt were worth reading.

As for the learning outcomes I think you found the best possible way to address each one. It was simple to see how every project tied in to the lesson, but I'm not very good at independent studies I guess. All the dates were there so we couldn't act surprised we didn't know something was coming up it was very neat and organized. The project I loved the most was the PowerPoint I think that taught me how technology when properly analyzed can be used as a support role.
What I mean by that is if I told you I had a bad day that has one meaning.






 
 
Now if you asked me how my day was and I showed you this picture 
 
 

 
 
Then what I am saying has so much more meaning. That lesson has sunk in the best out of all of them. Which you I think have commented time and time again about how my visual pictures help enhance what I am saying. Which I say thank you very much professor. Also the cave of Chauvet is another cool part of this class (Cave of Chauvet 2013). It gives students and shows educators that we can show the world to our students in our classroom and can have them interact with the images they see in order to draw comparisons.
 
References:
 
The cave of Chauvet retrieved from culture.gouv.fr April 24th 2013. 
 
Maloy, R., Woolf, B., & Edwards, S. (2011). Transforming Learning With New Technologies. Boston : Pearson Education, Inc.
 
April 24th 2013
 
 
 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Post #11

Focus Question #4:
 I personally have used the student participation system at my school and I absolutely loved it. The teacher whenever we had a review would create a computerized web sheet to which we could answer the questions A-D and when it was finished he saw a listing of which questions people got wrong. Coincidentally it was also a math class. I found that more students were willing to participate and distractions were taken away seeing as how the review was timed and the highest score could get a bonus on the test. Another interesting part of this is that he would hand out the remotes numbered one through twenty five and would have already known which number went to who because he would write that number on the clipboard and see how that number compared to the other numbers, but because they were random every time we never knew who had which remote. Another cool thing about it was we used it to take tests and when the tests were finished we instantly knew how we did on the multiple choice sections of the tests and would then be able to figure out how we did on the short response questions in order to know our grade in the class.

Tech tool: Taskstream
This tech tool is more for the entire school to decide whether or not they should use it. Taskstream appears to promise a lot of security on a school's sensitive student personal files. Taskstream offers constant encryption with the promise of a Https: secure URL site where as the current site collier county is using does not own rights to the Https name. The site also follows the federal section 508 guidelines along with W3C WCAG recommendations. So this site offers a large amount of security and ease with their product along with a mountain of features to incorporate. however I would not suggest this tool to any school below eighth grade, because then it serves no real purpose except for a respected performance analysis software. For the most part this site appear to be a complete package which would then advise a huge cash deposit be made for the enculteration of this product into our school system so no real decisions can be made until real problems occur with the angel program. This is because even if the Taskstream site works so much better and easier for everyone teachers will still need time to relearn all the information they have gathered from the angel program which we all know was a slow transition to begin with.

Summary:
For the most part this chapter is about the proper way of assessing and increasing the amount of teacher and student involvement in the course.
For some teachers it is not fair that their entire career be put to the test by a standardized test. Also because so many teachers place so much value to that test they start to make beginner mistakes and only cram testing information down their students throats and thus the students do not learn anything. Now I know the argument if a teacher cannot educate their student enough for them to pass a test then they are simply not fit to educate. That is a good point and so far through my observations I have not found one single teacher's job be put on the line by their students test results. However government's pensions based on a school's overall improvement on this test may lead some teachers to fall in this trap and go unnoticed for many years until it gets out of control. Which then leads to the opposite side do teachers need to be given full reign as to what to teach then with no boundaries? I do not believe in this solution either and whereas I was at first skeptical of a review board member coming into my class critiquing my educating style it now seems like an easier method with a lot less focus aimed at a simple test. However I believe the real sollution is choice, why not let educators choose which way they wish to be evaluated either by a set passing limit of their students passing a standardized test, and those who wish to partake in a self and third party member evaluation of their teaching style.
Students are not alone in this as well students can evaluate their progress along with the teacher's recomendations. A teacher can present a class rubric to be handed out on the first day and it can take the form of a check list of: I understand it, I do not understand it, or maybe a evaluation on the different components that make up a student's grade. For example when students record their test results they can then analyze the results and see where they need improvement on and which chapter is posing the most problems whether it was the homework, quizes, etc.
Finally the most noteable part of this chapter is the studdent participation system to which I refered to above. To me I find it amazing and extremely helpful to all those who actively participate and it gives great opportunity for those who chose not.

Reference:

Maloy, R., Woolf, B., & Edwards, S. (2011). Transforming Learning With New Technologies. Boston : Pearson Education, Inc.

TaskStream.com 2013. Retrieved from: https://www1.taskstream.com/solutions/

Friday, April 5, 2013

Journal Post #9

Focus Question #3
Teachers can use videos in their class room in four ways:

Using the pause and rewind function-
Using the pause and rewind function can greatly contribute to student's ability to accurately discuss what they have viewed. I know for our introduction to diversity class we give great importance to facts and opinions. For example a fact may be in America most firetrucks are colored red or yellow. Whereas an opinion might be the best way for people to see emergency vehicles is if they are colored red, white, or yellow. So when a students creates a statement saying that they heard a certain sentence we as educators can rewind the movie to either validate or disprove a student's theory. Thus we can see student's thought processes as they watch the movie, how capable they are at discussing what they have saw, and can educate them on the importance of facts compared to our own opinions.

Ask students to write responses-
When students know they have to write a response to what they are viewing they become more alert and pay more attention than they would normally. Teachers can then read and examine students thought processes, as well as ability to pay attention while viewing a movie clip by these responses.


Minimize the amount of class time movies take up-
Although movies can be helpful they can also be hurtful. For example if students know ahead of time what they will probably have to write a response about they will only pay attention up to the point they have gathered enough information to write about and then lose interest. When showing a movie students are switched to sit and watch mode and their brains will find new ways to occupy its new found time. We as educators definitely do not want to hurt our student's learning opportunities.





Turn off the sound or the picture-
By turning off the sound and picture we then force students to be placed in a situation that is new to them, whether they have to try to use context clues to come up with narrations to a series of passing scenes or to use their mental abilities to add images to sounds and descriptions. This seems to be very useful for preparing students for the FCAT as they will need these skills in order to be able to correctly analyze and answer the many questions of the test.


Tech tool Futures Channel The Futures Channel -
As a young student I was always so interested in math and science, but the question my teachers always hated me asking was why? 2+2=4 why? why 4? where did we come up with the number 4? Did someone see four floors and go that looks like floor to me. I think my most favorite part of this website is the fact that they have relevant videos to the materials we are learning in class. For example the video on rollercoasters is fun, because, except for very extreme cases, every student has at least hear or developed an idea about rollercoasters. What they may not know is how these terryfingly thilling amuzement rides have come from and how they work. Or possibly an educator has a classroom filled with animal lovers and need a documentary on cheetahs it is all right there with  organized and detailed subjects on the left hand side to make searching for the proper material a breeze.

Summary:
For the most part this chapter discussed how we as educators can incorporate visually apealing material into our class curriculum. As I'm sure we all know having taken EME 2040 the visual appeal of our lesson plans can be just as usefull as the lesson plan itself. Students attention seems to be decaying and as educators we must find a cure for this ailment, and not simply blame kids by saying they just do not listen.
This chapter also found it important to note that by making students film active documentaries on topics then a fun project is created, but also an enriching experience is created too. Students really seem to enjoy filming according to our book because it gives them a chance to have hand on experience with the subject at hand.
The book then talks about the point and shoot cameras which has a fixed lens and with only a few options. It also talks about digital single use cameras which are the disposible cameras we can get at a local walgreens. These devices can capture small videos as well as pictures but the most efficient tech tool to be able to use is the Single Lens Reflex Design Cameras which are cameras that give a general outlook at what one would see if the picture was taken at that moment and can offer big rewards to those who have a chance to film with those.

References:

Maloy, R., Woolf, B., & Edwards, S. (2011). Transforming Learning With New Technologies. Boston : Pearson Education, Inc.