CEdO 515 (Using Productivity Tools Effectively) has been a very interesting experience. I was able learn how to use more of the applications that are found and stored online. This is very useful in the fact that it is accessible to anyone who has internet access. Embedding things into blog posts and websites also will be able to help with my instructional ability since I would then be able to have students access specific online resources that I need them to from my Moodle site. An example can be seen below of one minor project that I needed to embed.
As you can see, I can improve on some things (such as formatting), but overall, I have learned how to get improve many of my uses of technology. With the use of embedding, I do not need to use local server space in order to have videos that are available online for my students to see them. I am able to either link to them, or embed the video for them to watch. (an example is below)
Overall, I have been pleased with what we needed to learn in class. I hope to be able to put most of the things we have learned into practice in my classroom.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Graduate School Affecting Real LIfe?
This week we were supposed to answer the following questions in our Blog: "How does what we are studying affect how you are teaching - what did we cover this week and how does it impact you?". Overall, many of the topics that we have discussed in CEdO 515 have impacted how I am approaching my teaching. Since I have started this graduate school program, I have started to suggest to my students that they sign up for a gmail account in order to have access to their documents anywhere they have access to a computer (using Google Documents). I have also found many resources regarding how to integrate technology into my classroom. I also have found that according to some of the surveys we have taken that I am pretty good at having my students use higher order thinking in my class. I just need to figure out a way to integrate the technology into that learning experience while still keeping my students on track.
Another thing that we have been learning about is how educators should choose software and online applications to use in the classroom. We have been given many different rubrics that we were asked to take a look at so that we would be able to explain which we would use and how we would then be able to use the rubric we chose in order to be able to choose software or apps that would be able to be effectively used in the classroom.
The last thing that we covered in class that I found would be very helpful for my class is the introduction of Google Sites. I feel that this is one of the sites that will be most helpful to me in my instruction. I plan on using my Google Site for Cardinal Stritch as my portfolio that will allow me to give a link instead of having to print out a dead tree version of my portfolio. I also am planning on using Google Sites in order to give my students another resource where they would be able to find what we have been doing in class, as well as links and experiments they would be able to do to further their understanding of the subject matter.
Another thing that we have been learning about is how educators should choose software and online applications to use in the classroom. We have been given many different rubrics that we were asked to take a look at so that we would be able to explain which we would use and how we would then be able to use the rubric we chose in order to be able to choose software or apps that would be able to be effectively used in the classroom.
The last thing that we covered in class that I found would be very helpful for my class is the introduction of Google Sites. I feel that this is one of the sites that will be most helpful to me in my instruction. I plan on using my Google Site for Cardinal Stritch as my portfolio that will allow me to give a link instead of having to print out a dead tree version of my portfolio. I also am planning on using Google Sites in order to give my students another resource where they would be able to find what we have been doing in class, as well as links and experiments they would be able to do to further their understanding of the subject matter.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
InTime Videos & their usefullness in the classroom.
The InTime Video that I chose was Water Quality in the Greenhills Stream. In this video, students were taught about how scientists did not just pick up instruments and use them. This video showed the importance of keeping your instruments calibrated for the use that you need them for. The students were able to also use their probes to check for various types of data including: turbidity (cloudiness), pH and temperature.
In my classroom, the major ideas of being able to go out and measure data from a place that is dedicated to nature is not really something that would be able to be done multiple times in order to take samples and readings due to the location of my school as well as the short amount of time that students are in my class. To be able to go gather data in the fashion that was shown in the video, I would need to create a field trip including transportation for my students to get this experience. I would also be at a huge students to teacher ratio of ~1-2 teachers to 150+ students. This would promote students to go off task and then lose sight of the purpose of the field trip. If the focus was learning how to gather data multiple times and then comparatively analyze the date to prove or disprove hypotheses, I would think that it could possibly be modified to be done. I would love to be able to get the students "in the field" where they are able to step into the role of a scientist and actually collect real data which would be relevant to their lives. The other point that would be relevant from this video is to have students be reminded that the tools scientists are not infallible. They need to be taken care of and recalibrated when necessary. If this is not done, any data that is gathered using these instruments would be erroneous. It can also be used to remind students that other technologies such as computers are only as good as the user. If the user is not familiar with the abilities of the computer, either it might not be used to its potential or in a way that would create errors.
In my classroom, the major ideas of being able to go out and measure data from a place that is dedicated to nature is not really something that would be able to be done multiple times in order to take samples and readings due to the location of my school as well as the short amount of time that students are in my class. To be able to go gather data in the fashion that was shown in the video, I would need to create a field trip including transportation for my students to get this experience. I would also be at a huge students to teacher ratio of ~1-2 teachers to 150+ students. This would promote students to go off task and then lose sight of the purpose of the field trip. If the focus was learning how to gather data multiple times and then comparatively analyze the date to prove or disprove hypotheses, I would think that it could possibly be modified to be done. I would love to be able to get the students "in the field" where they are able to step into the role of a scientist and actually collect real data which would be relevant to their lives. The other point that would be relevant from this video is to have students be reminded that the tools scientists are not infallible. They need to be taken care of and recalibrated when necessary. If this is not done, any data that is gathered using these instruments would be erroneous. It can also be used to remind students that other technologies such as computers are only as good as the user. If the user is not familiar with the abilities of the computer, either it might not be used to its potential or in a way that would create errors.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Spreadsheets and the Classroom
This week for CEDO 515, we were working with spreadsheets. Spreadsheets were some of the first "killer apps" after the personal computer came to market and made a place for the IBM PC in the business world. There are many different versions of spreadsheet software or online spreadsheet apps that are available for use. Even though there are many versions, they all serve the same general function. They are able to hold, sort and modify data that is stored in them. One thing that is nice is that you are able to create specific cells that rely on the data from another cell or multiple other cells and a function to calculate the data in the cell. Our class, one of the exercises we needed to attempt was to use a spreadsheet to create a modifiable recipe. The recipe that I used was from the Betty Crocker website for a Lemon Meringue Pie. The only problem that I could see with using this recipe and modifying it would be that if you use # of servings that is not a multiple of 8, you would need to make individual sized pies.
One of the reasons I would use spreadsheets in my 7th Grade Science classroom, would be to have my students organize and analyze the data that they collect from doing their science projects. One one of my favorite websites for my class is called Sciencebuddies.orghttp://www.sciencebuddies.org/. On this site, there is a page that explicitly shows how to not only use spreadsheets (specifically Excel) to organize the experimental data, but to able to be able to create a graph that will allow the viewer of the experimental end-product to easily understand the relationship between the control data and the experimental data. The specific page with this info for using spreadsheets in the context of science is here.
One of the reasons I would use spreadsheets in my 7th Grade Science classroom, would be to have my students organize and analyze the data that they collect from doing their science projects. One one of my favorite websites for my class is called Sciencebuddies.orghttp://www.sciencebuddies.org/. On this site, there is a page that explicitly shows how to not only use spreadsheets (specifically Excel) to organize the experimental data, but to able to be able to create a graph that will allow the viewer of the experimental end-product to easily understand the relationship between the control data and the experimental data. The specific page with this info for using spreadsheets in the context of science is here.
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