Desktop Video Conferencing http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr120.shtml
I feel that Desktop Video Conferencing will greatly affect classrooms, as this will help students receive more diverse views of people their age. Students only need a camera and a connection to the internet to get connected. This type of conferencing can help people learn more about areas around them and experts that may be unable to visit one’s school. For example, if students wanted to view animals and talk to a zoo expert, they may not have to go to the zoo; instead, they could do this via video conferencing.
For my future students, I feel that I will have one more tool at my disposal. This will help my students receive more viewpoints that can be direct conversations. My students will be able to communicate verbally and visually with other students around the country or world. As long as my the program being used is safe, I feel this will greatly help the students diversify their information they receive. I also think that it would be a different to do this with elementary students, perhaps this would work better if I was a junior high teacher.
E-books http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march03/diaz/03diaz.html
E-books in the classroom would be an added benefit; however, it would have some drawbacks. The mains drawback would be that students would not actually read the information they might simply to a search on the page by pushing “ctrl-f” or something similar. I feel that students can skim books, but at least they are receiving some information, whereas an e-book would let the computer do the skimming. Other than this drawback, there are many benefits to e-books. First, the costs would be less. With lower costs on textbooks, districts could order more books, thus enriching a student’s exposure to diversified information.
As a teacher, I feel this would definitely have merit in the classroom. I feel that my classroom would work well with this software if there was an available source of computers and e-books for the students to use. This could also work well for my students to have independent study, as there may not be enough computers for the students to use. If students were at home, then this would help students, as they would not need to carry a textbook to and from class.
Virtual Reality in the Classroom http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/shaffer.htm
Using Virtual Reality in the classroom in a classroom can help students greatly as they have the opportunity to learn a subject that involves more of their senses. In the typical classroom, it can be difficult to involve auditory, visual, and kinesthetic students all into one lesson, but in a virtual reality, this can be possible. Students will receive a more interactive classroom that will help them learn in many subjects, including math, English, and others.
When I teach students, this will help include students that may not work well with direct instruction or group projects. Additionally, it may be more realistic for students to receive a virtual reality of certain settings than a textbook picture. For example, student may be learning about the moon, and a virtual reality would be more helpful than looking at photographs and reading about the topic. My students would receive more direct learning with virtual reality.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Engaging Students with Concept Mapping Activities!
I think it is important to include the various intelligences in one’s classroom. Students can learn visually by drawing out their ideas. These ideas can be expressed on computer programs. For example, a program like Paint would work quite well. It is easy, and it would give students the opportunity to draw out their ideas and add text.
When students create their maps, they need some form of organization. Students can create shapes to correlate with a concept. The students can connect these symbols with various lines and arrows. This gives students the opportunity to have visual organization. Other things include flow proofs, which are just bubbles moving in a horizontal fashion. Third, one can have the family tree approach, where the ideas are presented in a sort of hierarchy. The leaders, or older people are on top, then it shows where the rest of ideas relate with respect to the leaders.
After the students have created the visual representation, they need to express what they are visually writing. Many students will do this in essay for, so one must simply follow the steps on the concept map.
When students create their maps, they need some form of organization. Students can create symbols to correlate with a concept. The symbol will have some kind of direct relationship to the concept. In addition to the symbol, the student will briefly write what the symbol represents. The students can connect these symbols with various lines and arrows. This gives students the opportunity to have visual organization. This concept is often called the spider web approach.
Another way of using concept mapping is drawing a sort of flow proof. To connect ideas more linearly, a student may want to draw bubbles that go in one direction. At times, there may be several bubbles for the concept; in this case, the related ideas will be presented vertically. All of the ideas will move in a horizontal fashion, from left to right.
Concept mapping changes how students may view situations. Concept mapping can give students the opportunity to view a situation in a more abstract fashion. Instead of going through a list, a student will be able to see the many connections that are present within a concept. These broad connections can be more difficult to show if one is strictly writing.
When students create their maps, they need some form of organization. Students can create shapes to correlate with a concept. The students can connect these symbols with various lines and arrows. This gives students the opportunity to have visual organization. Other things include flow proofs, which are just bubbles moving in a horizontal fashion. Third, one can have the family tree approach, where the ideas are presented in a sort of hierarchy. The leaders, or older people are on top, then it shows where the rest of ideas relate with respect to the leaders.
After the students have created the visual representation, they need to express what they are visually writing. Many students will do this in essay for, so one must simply follow the steps on the concept map.
When students create their maps, they need some form of organization. Students can create symbols to correlate with a concept. The symbol will have some kind of direct relationship to the concept. In addition to the symbol, the student will briefly write what the symbol represents. The students can connect these symbols with various lines and arrows. This gives students the opportunity to have visual organization. This concept is often called the spider web approach.
Another way of using concept mapping is drawing a sort of flow proof. To connect ideas more linearly, a student may want to draw bubbles that go in one direction. At times, there may be several bubbles for the concept; in this case, the related ideas will be presented vertically. All of the ideas will move in a horizontal fashion, from left to right.
Concept mapping changes how students may view situations. Concept mapping can give students the opportunity to view a situation in a more abstract fashion. Instead of going through a list, a student will be able to see the many connections that are present within a concept. These broad connections can be more difficult to show if one is strictly writing.
Teacher Web Reflection
Teacher Web is valuable resource for students, teachers, and parents. Students have another resource with this product, as they can look for things they may not have see in class: for example, they may want to know what the math homework was. Teachers have another resource to help their students succeed. Parents can help keep their children accountable by looking at announcements, class grades, and other resources. I don’t like the way Teacher Web makes one type in the password for every little thing; it makes things a bit of a hassle. Also, I think that I would want a free service if I wanted an online website. I think the website would be improved if it was a little more visually appealing.
I would use Teacher Web to communicate homework, announcements, and grades. This comes from the previous paragraph: parents will create accountability, and teachers and students will have resources to help student progress.
I would use a teacher website to engage students by giving them information on the website for them to go to help them grow academically. For example, I could have a web links section for them to look at to create interests. Also, students generally feel more comfortable in class when they are aware of their grades. This way, the students will have one thing less to worry about, so they can focus on their learning.
I would use Teacher Web to communicate homework, announcements, and grades. This comes from the previous paragraph: parents will create accountability, and teachers and students will have resources to help student progress.
I would use a teacher website to engage students by giving them information on the website for them to go to help them grow academically. For example, I could have a web links section for them to look at to create interests. Also, students generally feel more comfortable in class when they are aware of their grades. This way, the students will have one thing less to worry about, so they can focus on their learning.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Blogs in Education
1. The results are fairly similar when I searched for Education Blogs using Google, Live, and Yahoo. The top result in each search engine was educational.blogs.com. After that, there were some differences for the top results, but generally, each search engine had similar results at different parts of the page.
2. Blogs can be used in the classroom to help teachers and students have a “sound board.” It gives students the opportunity to give ideas and thoughts about topics in the classroom. Another blog is used with video conversations. It is always available, and it gives people the opportunity to share ideas with each other. Also, people can save the videos, so one can view them later. Another teacher used the website “Animoto.” This website gave the teacher the opportunity to add photos, music, and a slideshow. This gives students the opportunity to view a slideshow if they’re sick, or wanted to see it again.
3. RSS readers and aggregators help people save time on the internet. Instead of going to individual sites for the news, one can view many links of the pages in a separate browser or location. If I wanted my students to use a variety of news sources for a project, I could give them the list of websites to put into their RSS; this would give the students an easy way of sorting through the websites.
4. Blogging and RSS readers will ease the availability of various resources to students. The RSS reader will help students have set of websites that give students easy access. Furthermore, blogs will help students communicate with each other easier. If a student has a problem, he can go online to the blog to communicate with other students. This will help students with privacy concerns, as they will not have to worry about giving away contact information. Furthermore, it gives more access to teachers for students.
5. Blogs and RSS readers can be beneficial to classrooms, but they do have their drawbacks. First, if a student does not have easy access to technology, she will be disadvantaged. Another issue is that the internet can go down, so students may not be able to access a specific blog. Positives of the RSS readers and blogs are they give students and teachers easy ways of communicating with each other in a forum. Another advantage is that students will be able to organize specific websites easier, as they will have a list to go through.
2. Blogs can be used in the classroom to help teachers and students have a “sound board.” It gives students the opportunity to give ideas and thoughts about topics in the classroom. Another blog is used with video conversations. It is always available, and it gives people the opportunity to share ideas with each other. Also, people can save the videos, so one can view them later. Another teacher used the website “Animoto.” This website gave the teacher the opportunity to add photos, music, and a slideshow. This gives students the opportunity to view a slideshow if they’re sick, or wanted to see it again.
3. RSS readers and aggregators help people save time on the internet. Instead of going to individual sites for the news, one can view many links of the pages in a separate browser or location. If I wanted my students to use a variety of news sources for a project, I could give them the list of websites to put into their RSS; this would give the students an easy way of sorting through the websites.
4. Blogging and RSS readers will ease the availability of various resources to students. The RSS reader will help students have set of websites that give students easy access. Furthermore, blogs will help students communicate with each other easier. If a student has a problem, he can go online to the blog to communicate with other students. This will help students with privacy concerns, as they will not have to worry about giving away contact information. Furthermore, it gives more access to teachers for students.
5. Blogs and RSS readers can be beneficial to classrooms, but they do have their drawbacks. First, if a student does not have easy access to technology, she will be disadvantaged. Another issue is that the internet can go down, so students may not be able to access a specific blog. Positives of the RSS readers and blogs are they give students and teachers easy ways of communicating with each other in a forum. Another advantage is that students will be able to organize specific websites easier, as they will have a list to go through.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Learning Styles
According to the test, I am naturalistic and logical. Naturalists find common traits among items and rank the items by significance. Logical people analyze abstract ideas and attempt to find consistency. I enjoy spending time outdoors, so this helps to show why I enjoy nature. When I learn or walk around, I am often analyzing situations. Generally, I try to see how to improve the efficiency of situations by breaking down systems into their components. For example, if I am walking, I will look at the fastest route; I will look at varying factors: how direct the route is and the obstacles associated with the route.
Logical students generally like to analyze problems mathematically. This could be self-discovery learning. For example, a student may need to determine where pi comes from. A teacher would have the students measure the circumference and diameter, then divide the circumference by the diameter. Naturalistic students want to organize and sort information. In the classroom, a student may want to find properties of a leaf, and then explain how this makes the two leafs different.
I will support logical students by offering open-ended assignments. I will let the students make their own inductions about the information they are learning. Furthermore, the students can debate with other students to help express their opinions. For naturalistic students, I will provide ways of showing ideas visually. While doing a pre-write explanation in class, I could draw the “spider web,” where students will connect ideas of a draft visually.
Technologies to support the logistical intelligence are generally based in mathematics. For example, while doing a lab, students could use a measuring scale to compare the various masses of rocks. In this same lesson, naturalistic students may want to use a microscope so they could visually see the differences on the rocks.
My attention to multiple intelligences will affect how interested my students are in the topics. To grasp my students’ interest, it is necessary to have them understand. If I am not teaching to their intelligences, then I am losing portions of their abilities to understand.
Logical students generally like to analyze problems mathematically. This could be self-discovery learning. For example, a student may need to determine where pi comes from. A teacher would have the students measure the circumference and diameter, then divide the circumference by the diameter. Naturalistic students want to organize and sort information. In the classroom, a student may want to find properties of a leaf, and then explain how this makes the two leafs different.
I will support logical students by offering open-ended assignments. I will let the students make their own inductions about the information they are learning. Furthermore, the students can debate with other students to help express their opinions. For naturalistic students, I will provide ways of showing ideas visually. While doing a pre-write explanation in class, I could draw the “spider web,” where students will connect ideas of a draft visually.
Technologies to support the logistical intelligence are generally based in mathematics. For example, while doing a lab, students could use a measuring scale to compare the various masses of rocks. In this same lesson, naturalistic students may want to use a microscope so they could visually see the differences on the rocks.
My attention to multiple intelligences will affect how interested my students are in the topics. To grasp my students’ interest, it is necessary to have them understand. If I am not teaching to their intelligences, then I am losing portions of their abilities to understand.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Day 1
Today's class has spread new light on the expansion of ideas. The Internet has various resources for one to spread opinions and facts. Indubitably, there are many resources to spread personal feelings, yet Blogger has shown to be one of those resources.
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