Review of Online Applications

Google Documents

This online application has so many uses, I feel that it is the most versatile of the 3 choices given to review.  The only thing that could hold the use of this application back is that the user must have a gmail email account in order to use it.  A gmail account is free and has many other benefits, so I think people would be willing to sign up.  Google documents allows users to share and work collaboratively on word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and/or data collection documents.  Since the documents are saved and stored online, you can access them from anywhere which is a huge benefit.  One drawback of this is if you do not have access to the internet you can not modify the documents.  The editing tools are familiar if you have had experience with the Microsoft Office Suite.  For the most part, you can modify the documents the same way as you could in Microsoft Office.  The "presentation" suite does not have as many options for slide themes and layouts, but the ones included are pretty good.  The last feature that I found very helpful is the "history" tool that allows anyone with access to the document to look back at all the changes made to the document.  This is nice when working with a group, in case one member deletes something important or makes unwanted changes.  Overall this online application can be used and shared easily while allowing as many people to collaborate as needed.

PicMonkey

This online application is an image editor but has so many features and tools you can do much more then that. I really liked the do it yourself cards and invitations.  I am an avid scrapbooker and am always looking for new ways to be creative.  PicMonkey allows the user to easily choose templates, or start from scratch to create so many different kinds of materials.  I also tried out the photo editor, which is very simple to use and can really transform a picture.  My husband is a photographer and uses photoshop to edit.  Photoshop is so expensive, and he has tried to show me how to edit photos on it several times and it is just too complicated for me.  PicMonkey has a basic menu that allows the user to change the picture in may ways, including cropping and resizing, filters and effects, adding text, overlays, frames and banners.  You can even add props such as a mustache or pirate eye patch to a person in a picture!  I like this online application for its ease of use and variety of features!

Classroom Website

Below is the link for my classroom website created for this weeks assignment. I chose to create a place where parents and students could visit to get information about school, calendar dates, and recent assignments. I chose to include the news gadget to give parents a place to find out what is currently happening in the world of education. I also used the calendar gadget to help students stay on track for due dates and upcoming events. I feel like I am constantly sending home notes, reminders, and extra homework sheets for those who have lost theirs. This way, students and parents can be held more accountable for the "happenings" in our classroom!

3rd Grade Team Meyer

Concept Map

This concept map represents the idea of specialization as it relates to the fur trade between the French and Native Americans. I would ask my students to create this type of map after studying and understanding the fur trade to show all of the jobs of each individual involved in the fur trade. From the jobs, the students could also connect the materials related to each job. It would help students solidify the vocabulary and connections between each person. I may choose to use another type of concept map software because I feel my students would benefit a lot from adding pictures to represent the material. The assignment would include students changing the colors of the bubbles to help show differences. I can see many more options for using this type of technology across all subject areas.

Screencasting

This screencast was created to help my students edit a current piece of writing. We do not have classroom computers, so my students are word processing their writing in their computers class. The computer teacher can easily show the video so that the students know my expectations. The students can then watch the screencast as many times as necessary to ensure they have completed all of the steps. On another note, this assignment was rather difficult for me because my computer is too old and would not allow me to download the Jing software. I was able to download it using my husband's computer, but I am not used to using his which made this task more difficult. I also tried to video several times before I really got the hang of it. Once I was ready to capture the video, I sent my dog outside so that there was no noise from him. You will hear near the end of the video that he is scratching the door to come back in! I redid the video but that happened to be the best take so I used it. I hope the noise is not too distracting!

Meyer Travel Map

I chose to update an assignment my students have done for the last 3 years.  I teach 3rd grade and the Social Studies standards I am required to cover are all about Michigan.  We begin with a unit on the state which includes the regions, geography, and resources.  My students are each required to write a one page narrative about a place that they have visited in the state of Michigan and are expected to include at least one picture or illustration.  We then create a map on a bulletin board in my classroom that has a numbered sticker for each student showing the location of their entry, and the sticker corresponds to a page number in a book that we put together with each students written page.  The students really enjoy seeing where others have visited, and I get a good idea of the depth of understanding my class has about places in our state.  The book then goes into our classroom library and the students can choose to read it any time they want.

   Rather than creating this map on paper, we could use the google maps engine to create it!  Each student could create their own map, like the one I posted below, to show various places they have traveled within the state.  We could also create one large class map that everyone could contribute to.  By assigning different icons to places, we could compare the activities each of us has done in the state to show all of the options for activities because of our diverse geography.  We could also see patterns, like on my map almost all of the places are close to the Great Lakes, where I prefer to spend most of my time!  I have also included a picture of the bulletin board from my classroom this year to show the dramatic difference between the computer generated version and my previous one!  Each student could write a short summary of their visit to the place, like I have, and add a picture so that those who have not visited that area could have a much better understanding of what it is like there!  I wish I could figure out how to add a personal picture, but I was only able to add a picture from the internet.  I am really excited about this new idea!

Week 7 - Podcasts

TED Talks Education

TED talks are engaging and exciting to watch, my husband and I watch them through Netflix regularly.  Listening to the podcasts is equally as interesting.  The scope of topics is vast, and the people who present the material are so excited about it, the energy is infectious.  Some people discuss their own stories in education, others give a new way of teaching, and still others talk about how education has changed and will continue to change.  With so many different topics to hear about, you can always find something that interests you.  

NPR Education

I have listened to NPR for years on the radio, and this section of NPR focuses strictly on issues in education in our country and around the world.  The stories vary dramatically from one to the next.  I listened to one on the importance of whole milk in the diet of young children, as well as one about how universities are falling behind in helping educate and support people with mental illness.  The range is interesting and always current.

Teacher Created Materials

This podcast and website has so many resources for teachers and gives great advice on how to implement them into the classroom.  The site offers printables that go along with some of the lessons described on the podcasts.  The material on the podcasts is delivered by educators and professors, making it valuable and realistic.  The strategies are also standards based and strive to follow common core, as well has help understand it!  I listened to a few podcasts on vocabulary, comprehension, and differentiation strategies.

Arusha, Tanzania

View Larger Map

Embedding Media - An Important Video

My New Nephew - Willem Clayton Laucht

Photo Sharing

The link below will take you to my Flickr Photo Sharing page, enjoy!

7.meyer flickr

Delicious

I have linked my social bookmarking page below.  It offers some of the various websites I have been using and reading.  Hopefully it will continue to grow and change as I find new content.  Enjoy!

https://delicious.com/meyer07

WIKI

This week I have been learning a lot about the nature of change with the internet, and how the web has moved into an era of Web 2.0.  As people continue to use the internet for more and more reasons, and companies realize how to tap into the collective intelligence of the users, the web will continue to change.  Check out my Wiki below to see what I have learned!

Web 2.0 Wiki

Response to Week 2 Discussions Articles

        This is my first experience using a blog as well as an RSS feeder such as Feedly. After a few days getting used to the setup and the tools for each, I feel more confident using them.  I am not as impressed with the blog as I am with the RSS feeder.  I have read and followed other peoples blogs in the past and they seemed much more exciting than my own.  It almost feels like I am keeping an online journal, but not one that anyone would want to subscribe to.  I am sure once I have added more content and possibly some links and pictures it will be more interesting and exciting.   I do not have “followers” yet either, so it lacks the instant feedback of people liking and commenting on it.  The RSS feeder on the other hand is much more engaging.  I have enjoyed adding content areas of interest to the feed to see what links came up right away that I would have missed otherwise.  It is amazing how much information is “out there” on the web, and the RSS feeder essentially funnels and sifts through it to show me only what I am interested in.  The feedly set up is easy to start up and to add and remove content from, very user friendly.  I also appreciate that the information is essentially just for me, because as far as I can tell, no one else can see MY feedly.  So much of what we do online is public and I like to read the stories of my choice without having to share thoughts or opinions with others. 

         Using my personal experience setting up both the blog and the RSS feed as a reference I read The Cone of Experience and found that these two services could be used to enhance several “levels” of the cone.  It seems that there are parts of each band from the demonstrations level all the way up to the visual symbols level that could accommodate a learning experience. The experiences from demonstrations to still pictures on Dales cone “provide experiences in which the student is an observer rather than a doer…he is a thoughtful, critical witness to such experiences, but he has little direct responsibility for the way in which the learning event will develop.” (Dale, 118)  Because each of these bands involves an iconic understanding in which a student learns from a pictorial experience, a blog or RSS feed would be appropriate.  For example, a student could read or look at pictures of a person making a cake from a recipe and learn from that visual representation how to bake.  There are several blogs and sites a person could subscribe to through feedly that would allow for this type of experience.  Students could also follow a blog or feedly from a museum and see images related to an exhibit of Native American artifacts and bring the abstract understandings into their consciousness.  It is hard to place the blog on the cone of experience because once a student is writing and putting their own understandings out there, they have already internalized the abstract ideas into their own known symbols.  I feel that the blog lends itself to understanding if a student is reading others posts rather than creating their own.  The feedly on the other hand can be manipulated to filter a certain genre of material to the student and help them gather information and symbolic representations of the topic, therefore giving them a deeper understanding. 

            I feel the blog and RSS feeder could be used in combination with each other to provide students with a rich experience of reading and responding to information.  For third grade, the activity would have to be very much teacher guided.  The first step would be for students to set up a feedly account in which they would choose several areas of interest and read some articles that could be used to summarize or compare and contrast information.  Then, the students could respond to the readings through their blog and receive feedback from their readers.  Often, with my students one of the biggest struggles for writing is understanding the audience who will be reading their material.  Having an authentic group of readers who will be responding to their work would be helpful because the students would have to be more clear and detailed in their writing.  Siegel wrote about using computers to “tackle difficult issues through collaborative and interactive situations.”  If my students were able to connect with other users in various places around the country or world who could challenge their thinking I feel that they would develop a better sense of how their own knowledge can affect others.  The ability to collaborate with students from anywhere would help them tremendously.  They in turn would gain “the power to become effective thinkers and doers.”

           

            To relate back to the Postman article from week 1, I do feel that each of these tools can be used to answer a problem.  The blog offers a way to answer “How can we connect with others in society who may have the same beliefs or interests as us?”  while the feedly tool can help solve the problem of “How can I sift through all of the information on the Internet and find what is most useful and interesting to me?” 

Response to Week 1 Discussion Articles

             There is a potential in education for technology to be highly influential, and also for it to be detrimental to student learning.  In my experience as an educator the use of technology has certainly been both.  I have taught in situations that have given me the opportunity to use many types of technology and for students to have access to them as well, and in places that were totally void of technological resources.  In both situations, my job was the same regardless of how I was able to teach the material, I still had to find a way to engage the students and foster their understandings of the material. 

            With the ever-changing standards and methods that teachers are expected to conform to, it is hard to keep up with the newest technology.  Even if a new tool comes out that can “change the face of education”, it will take a long period of time for teachers to master it, schools to adopt it, and students to be comfortable enough with it to use it independently.  By then, another invention will come in a sweep it out of the way.  Even then, if students have access to the technology at school, that may be the only place they are able to use it, which creates an issue of not being able to solve the problem in the same way outside of the classroom.  I agree with the first article that “transforming” the educational system to be more attainment-based rather than time-based would serve the students better, but I am not sure that everyone who needs to be involved in the transformation is willing to invest as much time and money as it will take.  It cannot be something that the educational system is solely working towards, but that society as a whole deems important (Reigeluth, 2002).  The author spoke about how “our teaching methods might not only shift from active to passive learning, but also help develop initiative and responsibility in learners for their own learning.” (Reigeluth, 2002, p.10)  Developing this drive in students to be responsible and motivated is something technology cannot help us master, as of now I am not aware that there is an app for that!

            The second article struck a chord with me as it introduced to idea of technology by stating “If I do harbor any hostility toward these machines, it is only because they are distractions.  They divert the intelligence and energy of talented people from addressing the issues we need most to confront” (Postman, 1993).

I agree that students, teachers, and administrators alike are distracted by all of the shiny bells and whistles of the newest and greatest technologies.  Often in my own classroom, I feel that I need to put on a show, jump and dance in front of my students, in order to keep their attention.  They are so used to watching an action packed episode of their favorite show that includes exciting music and the newest graphics that listening to me talk or show still pictures bores them.  I even hear my 3^rd graders talk about wanting to check their facebook to see what’s happening during the day, as if other students their age are busy posting their status rather than engaging in lessons in their own classrooms. 

            The author also discussed the information overload that is associated with increased technology.  “These technologies will give our students greater access to more information faster, more conveniently, and in more various forms than has ever been possible” (Postman, 1993).  I feel that this can be considered both a blessing and a curse.  The ability to access and apply information is the basis for learning, but if a student is overwhelmed with the amount of information and is not able to apply it, then there is no use for the material to begin with.  In my classroom, I feel that I am fostering the relationship between students and the knowledge they need to gain, and if information is coming in too quickly for students to grasp I am unable to do that job. 

            Children are fascinated and stimulated by technology as it grabs their attention and in most cases allows them to be engaged easily.  We must be careful as educators though because we must also ensure that students are learning about how to behave in social situations, solve problems without resources, and take care of their own needs.  Not all situations in life will require students to be technologically proficient.