Class 2/6/07

Class last Tuesday was pretty much awesome. And I do believe the entire class felt just about the same way as I do.

RSS and Bloglines is great. Now if we could just get every website out there to have an RSS feed it would be great. Can you imagine? No checking say the school's website to get updates you simply get on your bloglines and see if they have anything new right along with checking everyone's blogs. It definantly has made checking the class blogs alot easier. Sadly for everyone else, I havnt been on my blog until today (sorry guys).

Del.icio.us is also a great innovation. Over the years through my multiple computers and multiple reformats of those computers as well as surfing the web at friends houses or on campus, keeping up with favorite bookmarks has been a huge hassle. I had even started simply emailing my self links which clutters up your inbox. This will all stop now. I wont loose my bookmarks, I can access something even when I'm not home, my friends can easily access my bookmarks without me having to email them the link, I wont have to spend an hour or two saving all my bookmarks before reformatting my PC, etc, etc. I was so impressed with this website that I called two friends on the drive home and shared the information with them. One friend will especially benefit as she does not have internet at home and uses various PCs when shes at family and friend's homes.

If all our classes this semester continue to be as informative as these first two, I anticipate a great semester.

Class 1/30/07

In class on Jan 30 we learned about MAPping the internet in order to validate website. My group had the quite humorous Tree Octopus web page which was pretty obvious that it was fake. It was very interesting to run through the various exercises and dissect the website to learn about it. I feel I learned valuable tools that I will be able to apply in the future to determine a site's validity.

We also talked about how search engines order their hits. I feel this will be helpful in the future when I am searching for things on the internet. In the past I thought all websites ordered according to the page's relevance. Searchenginewatch.com is a very helpful site for learning about the different search engines. The one thing I haven't seen that I wish I could find is a listing/chart of the major search engines in one column and how they order their hits in another column. I may end up compiling this myself and posting it on here. If I am just missing it, someone tell me where it is please :)

New Addition

Ok, Im completely off topic for this class, bu what can I say. I love animals and Im excited about this new addition to our family. Announcing Malbut's Smoky Bandit!! Yeah I bought a new stud dog. Isnt he GORGEOUS!!! Not only is he pretty but hes a sweetheart. FYI, I am offering him to outside females if anyone knows of someone needing a merle stud.

Week 3, Group 1, Skills and Definition

Definition

The implementation and utilization of electronic medium as an aid in education to create reflection, empowerment, and individuality among students.

Wants

Microsoft WordMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Powerpoint-
More advanced options
specifically integrate video
Microsoft Outlook
Beyond the basics
MoviemakerCreate and develop a website
Specif javascriptHow to efficiently use PhotoshopCommunicating with Skype on the internet
Effective online learning communities

Shares

Microsoft office except access-Charlie
Excel-Jeremy and Clara and Brent
Word-Clara
Inserting pictures/designs into a document and being able to write over it with text-Brent
Dreamweaver-Charlie
Photoshop-Charlie
Web CT-Charlie

My desired skills

I am grateful to say I am fairly computer literate. Here is what I would like to learn:

Microsoft Powerpoint-the more advanced features.
Photoshop or similar photo program-I know how to use paint pretty good, but its a very limited program.
Websites and Blogging-I would like to become more familiar with some of the better sites with customization options.
Not quite a skill, but I want to learn about different educational software that can be purchased for classroom use.

What I'm already good at:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Powerpoint-I can make a presentation, but they could definately become more polished

Educational Technology

I searched the internet and the journals looking for definitions of educational technology. And I came up with multiple long winded definitions such as:

"Technology is the technical means people use to improve their surroundings. It is also a knowledge of using tools and machines to do tasks efficiently."
http://www.bergen.org/technology/defin.html

"Policymakers and the public often pose questions concerning the effectiveness and cost of technology in education, implying that technology is, in itself, an educational activity. In fact, as in business, technology in education is a tool; a means to an end with endless specific implementation possibilities"
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR682/ed_ch1.html#RTFToC2

"Educational Technology - also known variously as e-learning, instructional technology and learning technology - is the use of technology to support the learning process. Although the term can refer to all kinds of analogue technologies, eg photographs, film, video, audio recordings etc, it is usually used to talk specifically about digital computer technology. "
http://edtech.twinisles.com/

And last there is the one I like the best from Wikipedia
"Educational technology is the systematic and creative blending of "idea" and "product" technologies with subject-matter content in order to engender and improve teaching and learning processes. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_technology

But what does educational technology mean to me? To be short and blunt, I view it as the technology we use to aid in the education of students. I believe this to be a simple but informative unconfusing definition. Any sort of technology that is utelized in the education of students should be considered, at least at that moment, to be educational technology. That technology could have other noneducational uses, but in that application it was educational.

My Philosophy Rough Draft

Teaching Philosophy Rough Draft


All teachers have past experiences that shape their life and the way they teach. These past experience whether good or bad impact their beliefs, habits, preferences, and abilities inside the classroom. These combine into what is referred to as a teaching philosophy. Just as each person is unique, each philosophy will be different. It will become obvious that my philosophy is a combination of pragmatism, realism, and constructivism.

We educate our children in order to empower them with knowledge to obtain gainful employment and make good, smart, fact based decisions. It is the teacher’s job to create an environment suitable to the learning process and facilitate learning by the students. It is therefore the students’ jobs to apply themselves to the learning process and all the resources provided to them in order to learn as much as possible. The teacher should challenge the students without overwhelming them and the students should provide feedback so the teacher may properly gauge their level of understanding.

I believe that there lies in most children a natural desire to learn and it is the teacher’s responsibility to teach in a way that grabs the students’ interest and plays upon this desire. Students however are human and as every human is different, all students will not learn identically. Subsequently, it is the teacher’s job to provide variety when teaching so that all students are supplied with a learning method they can relate to. When carrying this out, there will be some redundancy that will further aid the learning process without apparent boring repetitiveness. For example, a teacher could first lecture over the material, then provide visual aids, and finally assign a hands-on activity. Students will not only see the material three times, but they will hear, see, and do the learning. This leads into my next point that material needs to be learned instead of memorized. Students who memorize material will usually forget that material shortly after being tested on it. For classes that build upon themselves, this is dangerous to the student’s performance in the latter part of the term. I feel lecture is an important part of teaching. Lecture alone is not a sufficient teaching method, however when properly combined with visual aids and hands-on activities it can become an invaluable tool.
Perhaps it is my background in agriculture and sciences, regardless I believe in the importance of hands on learning and laboratories. However, the presence of a laboratory section does not mean the teacher should purely lecture. For classes where a laboratory section is not feasible, small in class activities or homework assignments that require performing a task can be very beneficial to the student. If access to a computer lab is available, there are many computer based activities or simulations available. Activities will not only enhance learning, but allow an avenue for students to explore.

With my interests lying in the sciences, I see great opportunities for employing technology in my classroom. Naturally, employing the internet as a resource is almost a given anymore. However there are more and more technology based learning aids being developed especially for our laboratories. Nevertheless simply providing opportunity will not ensure learning. We must hold our students accountable for themselves and their learning. In turn it is their responsibility to demand quality teaching from us their teachers.