Meaningful Technology

     Technology based rubrics are helpful for students and teachers. For students especially with an online class it is easy to see exactly what you are required and how you will be scored. Most teachers do not hand out rubrics and just hive you guidelines. A rubric online is detailed and has exactly what needs to get done  On the other hand, they are not updated that often and usually get reused without being looked at it. It is hard for some people to learn that way because all they are doing is reading something.     
     Clicker technology is something I have experienced in school. I do enjoy doing them and think they introduce a different kind of learning. It gives the class a break from the every day lecture and gives them an opportunity to do something different. It can be limited in the fact that students do not get to verbally talk about the questions and are given options to chose from. It would be had to use in a math class because students would be less motivated to work out the problem to just use mental math instead of working it out. Overall, I do think they are good and are a good activity for students to do.
      Kidspiration and inspiration are good things from what I looked at. It seems that they would both be helpful in collecting thoughts and ideas. It seems like it is good for visual learners and students who need more reinforcement on their assignments or homework. They can actually see the material and make connections with it on the program. They get pictures with descriptions talking about the pictures.
     Overall, I think these technologies would be helpful in a classroom. They give children options of different types of learning. They are all used for different things. Rubrics are good for long term projects or group projects. Clickers are good to assess the children’s knowledge on a subject or a small quiz grade. And the inspiration is good for younger students and I do not see how I could use it in my classroom.

Digital Storytelling

      Digital storytelling is when students use their creative skills to create a storyboard on a paper, use a camera to shoot their video, and finally edit their video on a computer using some software. The students usually combine text, video, graphics, sounds, etc to create their critical thinking skills. The majority of the planning comes in the beginning stages called preproduction. It gives the students the opportunity to produce their ideas on paper before filming. I think it would work in classroom because I have done similar things to this and my own classes and I enjoy it. It is a break regular school work and gives students a chance to work on something outside of the box and be creative with it.
      Other methods suggested in our book to help students in math are to use different kinds of manipulatives, computer graphics to emphasize graphing, and graphing calculators. All of these things will help students to better visualize what exactly is happening when they are working out a math problem. A lot of students know the formula or do as they are told, but do not understand the actual process or why they are doing it that particular way.
      I think that it is possible to learn from TV. It may not be the best way to learn something from the TV, but it can happen. In classroom use, it would be more efficient if the students were given a lecture or information on a topic and then watched a video on it for reinforcement. This way they have more background information on the subject or material they are learning. This way they are not basing all of their learning from the TV and have other knowledge as well.

Jonassen, DJ, Howland, JH, Marra, RM, & Crismond, DC (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

Chapter 7 and Podcasting

I learned a few new things about podcasting. I had a general idea and learned a little more from watching the video. I know some people whole really enjoy watching them and do subscribe to them. I personally have never subscribed to one, but I have watched a few of them. I do not see how I would use one in my classroom. If I was to teach resource math I'm not sure how I would include it in my lesson plans.

It is similar to other applications because it is a new way of communicating with others for example social bookmarking and especially voicethread. It is a new way of communicating over the internet with sound. You can actually see pictures, videos, and hear sound all at the same time. Also, they are all benefits to teachers who want to educate their children on technology and different forms of communication. It is different from others because you can download it onto your computer or Ipod and it can be accessed at any time without using the internet. All of the other applications need the internet to be accessed. 

Yes, I do own an Ipod and I use it when I got to the gym and work out. I usually just use it to listen to music and sometimes watch a movie. I think if I found something that would apply to my students that I would use and Ipod in my classroom. Children enjoy learning or using different things so I wouldn't mind finding a way to make it fit into my lesson plan. It could be something simple like playing classical music while they are working on an in class assignment or taking a test. Advantages of online communication is that it provides more communication and options for people who are taking and online class or just really busy and it is easier to communicate online. Disadvantages are that tthe technology is taking place of a lot of face to face interaction. For younger children it might take time away from interaction and make it all on the internet which can cause poor social skills.

Jonassen, DJ, Howland, JH, Marra, RM, & Crismond, DC (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

Chapter 6

I really like blogs and wikis. Blogs are more for writing activities and since I will hopefully be teaching math so I don't see them being too helpful. Wiki's on the other than hand could be beneficial for my students to discuss their homework instead of emailing. Wikis are easier to cross things out and then write something new. If students are struggling with homework they can post their questions on here to have other students assit them. Also, if I have my students doing a group project they can plan on wikis who is going to do what for certain parts of the project. It is good for organizing the project if the students cannot all meet face-to-face.

I like the idea of socialbookmarking. I think it keeps all of your websites very organized and you don't have to be at your home computer to access them. It is nice that other people especially teachers can also view the websites and get ideas from my websites and then I can get ideas from theirs. My students may also find it useful so they can access any helpful websites I put on there that has to do with what we are learning. I think the voicethread is the most interesting of all. It involves/combines so many things into one big website. I think it would be beneficial for online classes or a fun project for any age students but especially the younger ones.

Tapped In could be a beneficial thing for teachers. It could help out teachers communicate with each other instead of having to meet face-to-face. It sounds like a good approach to get the community involved and have them understand the teaching style and what is going on in the classrooms, but it seems confusing. I have not had a chance to explore it that much but when I did try it seemed confusing.

Jonassen, DJ, Howland, JH, Marra, RM, & Crismond, DC (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

Chapter 10

We as teachers use assessment acitvities because they can test many different learning experiences. They are a good way to see how students are doing in the classroom. It gives students a chance to look back and reflect on their work. It gives students a chance to take pride of their work and look back at all of it. It organizes students with their assignments for later when they go into the work force and applying for a job.  I feel that assessments will not be that helpful with my students considering I want to teach math. I either want to teach middle school or special education in high school so I feel with either of those it would not be that helpful. The students could possibly make a presentation or write a book about math to connect with math problems. I'm not sure the students could develop an entire eportfolio.

An ePortfolio are "a collection of digitized artifacts that may include video clips, graphics, sound, writing samples, artwork, and multimedia presentations, to name a few". It is a collection of projects or assignments and put into a portfolio and is considered an assessment. It helps students and teachers because it organizes there work and put it all together into one file. It shows off student's best performances and work. Computer-based tests are done by the students and they record their answers on the bubble or a scan sheet and then the computer scores them. I don't think computer based tests are a bad idea, I think that it is going to take awhile before they are liked. There are more online tests and online surveys nowadays and will produce a lot of hits. It will be awhile longer before all people become more comfortable with the idea.

In conclusion,  ePortfolios are a good idea for a lot of classes. For me personally, I don't think I will be using them. It just will not be beneficial for me or my students to make them produce an eportfolio. Especially for my special education students. Focusing on technology is not on the top prorities for special ed. There are different things that I will be working with my students on. Even if I decide to teach math I don't see myself using one.

Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R., & Crismond, D.  (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology (3^rd ed.).  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:  Pearson Education, Inc.

          We have to respect copyright and fair use rules because it is the law. Someone has taken the time and created it, so we must respect them and not use it and take it as our own. Someone cannot go around and stealing things from other people that is not theirs and this seems different because it is mostly done online. If you created something very important and original, you would not want random people to go out there and copying it and not giving you credit that you deserve. It is important to have our students understand this concept. One of the best ways to show how important it is is to use examples of cases that have happened. Or make them understand what it would feel like to have something of their own work copied and not gotten credit for it.

            Online safety and cyber bullying are two different things. Online safety is making sure that children/students do not reveal too much information online. Cyber bullying is when someone is being bullied over the internet. Cyber bullying is a very serious issue because the bullies feel that they can say more offensive things since they can remain anonymous. It is usually someone that the children know and is trying to put them down. Teaching our children/students not to reveal their full name, any inappropriate pictures, address, cell or home phone numbers, or videos will help to protect them on the internet. If students know not to show this information, it will protect them from online predators or sex offenders. We as teachers should take the same precautions when putting information on the internet especially if we have a website with lesson plans on it, etc.

            I did learn a lot of new information. When looking at all of the websites about copy right information I realized there are a lot of things I did not know. After taking the quiz, I was surprised at how much I still did not know about fair use and copy right information. There are a lot of small details and different circumstances that apply to the laws and rules that a teacher or anyone needs to be clear of. I did know most of the information about online safety and cyber bullying only because my parents and some of my teachers covered that with me when I was younger.

Fryer, W. Copyright 101 for Educators. 2003. Retrieved February 16th, 2011 from
     http://www.wtvi.com/TEKS/02_03_articles/copyright.html

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. NetSmartz. 2010. Retrieved February 16th, 2011 from

      http://www.netsmartz.org/