web conference week 3

Unfortunately this week I was not able to log on to any of the web conferences. They are just at inopportune times for me this course, I know it is so the web conference doesn't crash and that so many people and professors are using it during the week but somehow I think there could be another way. Another problem is that my professor is posting the chat sessions online but not the video part of it. So I am not able to view the actual conference just read what people are posting about. I wish I could also listen to the conference but yet there is no conference to listen to.

Reflection on Book Builder and use in classroom

This week I felt was going to be a long week with all the assignments, I had heard one person had taken 11 hours to make the ebook, I was nervous. How was I going to fit all this in and do my lesson planning and grading for my own classroom. But when I got ontohttp://bookbuilder.cast.org website, and then finally figured out what I was going to make a book about it took no time at all. The most time was on actually finding pictures from the internet that would go along with my topic. Well, it went great, first one I pulled up had all the pictures I needed on one picture, so I just cropped the individual ones I needed and only had one reference that I needed to site.

I can’t wait to use this in my classroom or course after the year slows down and I can actually stop and make one but I think the kids would love it, I could teach them how to make one and especially in dealing with history they could make a biography on a famous person in history and do it like a book and do the presentation on the computer. I am going to use it making notes for them to take showing them how to set up their journals this way I can do it in a lesson.

The reason I wanted to get my Master’s in Technology is because I want kids to learn more and be exposed to all types of technology and software, etc. because that is the way our world is headed and I want them to be able to be right along with the technology and not behind because no one showed them how. 

Book builder

 Had fun making a book with book builder, it was a cool website where you create your own book or look for books you might want to see, you can have the books read to the person by creating a lttle man or woman that talks what you have written, it takes a while to get used to using the site and looking for pictures, etc. but once you get started you kind of get on a role, we only had to do 4 pages, so I chose characters from the book Wonder I am reading to my students.

http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view.php?op=share&book=c6f52b0e5530b98ca7b1548d76cf5671&sid=13749

 

Web Conference on Saturday the 7th

This week I was able to catch the web conference on my phone, while I was at football games and driving around town, it was very interesting to say the least I kept dropping the call, at one point she even asked if I was still on my phone, I had to reply yes. But having active children it is hard with a weekend conference. But she explained why because so many other professors are doing it during the week the system is over loaded and dropping conferences or causing technical difficulties. Some questions came up this week about docs to go on ipads, some people actually didn’t know that it would work with speaking and other ways of using it for deaf and visually impaired students. This week we talked about google docs and how about the lesson for next week how we need to make sure we are putting everything on our wiki’s. then there were some questions about the wiki sites and what exactly we were supposed to be doing which still confused me a little bit for next week but I hope to catch tomorrows as well but will be at church and not so sure how that will work but I will definitely listen to it again. This seems to have been a longer  and much more indepth class project for just these 5 weeks and with it being the first weeks of school at the same time it has been a trying class, but I hope to just get it completed and not let my team down.  If I understand correctly this is a week of individual lesson plans, using the UDL way of doing it so I am definitely going to be learning something new this week. Have to remind myself it will be worth it in the end.

Week 2 Discussion Post

While watching the videos and reading the passages, there were several that stuck out to me, but I chose "increasing the technology available to students encourages, facilitates and supports student achievement........Technology use has similiar effects on self esteem." (pg. 391 of actual text but pg. 3 of the selection).

I totally think that some kids are more successful when being put around technology as a way to learn.  They spend so much time with technology now that sometimes they learn differently and need the technology to be successful. I use technology in my classroom as much as possible, even one of my literacy centers focuses on computer games and lessons that each child can spend at least 3 times a week on the computer doing language arts lessons. They fight to get on the computer and even hate it when we don't get computer specials each week because ours is on a Monday and we are off so many Mondays.

Kids can show how they are successful with video games, and we just have to show kids how they are just as successful when using technology to learn our lessons. I wish some kids could take all thier tests on computers, I wonder if they would be more successful than taking a paper based test. If they are successful then they have a higher self esteem, if we can take that success with the technology and move it into the classroom and be more successful in the classroom.

References:

Citation: Page, M. S. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(4), 389–409. Retrieved from the International Society of Education at http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Number_4_Summer_20021&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=830

Universal Design for Learnng and Diversite

This week was an interesting week in the reading and quick little videos. I learned about the diversity of learners. And that “One size fits all” doesn’t apply to today’s classroom, we have ones with learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD, Language barriers, and physical disabilities just to name a few. Which I totally agree with, my classroom for example is definitely not a one size fits all, the students alone are from all different parts of town, including me. But they all have one thing in common they want to learn and are in our class to learn, so we are to find that way to teach them all.  

One way is UDL, which is universal design for learners, which might include closed captioning, speaker phones, computers, etc. for these students to be able to use. We need to be more flexible in teaching and using technology.

We learned that there are 3 main areas of the brain that are where we process the What, How and Why of learning, the recognition is the gathering of facts, the strategic is the planning and performing of the facts, and the affective is the why we did the learning. I found that interesting, I guess I never thought that our brains all process things differently.

I also found interesting that the more we expose the students to the more apt they are to have a higher self esteem and it also helps encourage and facilitates the support of the student achievement. They have higher self esteems, and are more likely to have higher test scores being exposed to the learning by technology. Which I totally agree with, it is amazing that some students pick up on technology when you are teaching the same exact thing but in a different way. All kids learn different we just need to tap into a way that we can teach all the kids because kids are not one size fits all.

References:

Citation: Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). Diversity of Learners. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Citation: Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). The Brain Research. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Citation: Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). The Principals of Universal Design. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Citation: Lessonbuilder.cast.org. (nd). Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Citation: Page, M. S. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(4), 389–409. Retrieved from the International Society of Education at http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Number_4_Summer_20021&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=830

 

Constructivism, Connectivism, and the Cyborg theory

This week was the first week of EDLD 5364 and I read lots of passages and some in the textbooks and watched a few videos, it was mainly about three main points, Constructivism, Connectivism, and the Cyborg theory.

We watched a video and read a passage on the constructivism theory. The Constuctivism theory was developed by a Russian psychologist named Vygotski.  “Never sees something objectively, everything is subjective”. I liked this because the way the man described it in the video, he said everyone will hear something differently all said by the same person, because they all pick different parts and run with it in their mind. So a good teacher is trying to do that with kids, they are trying to  learn the same thing but in different ways but by hearing the same thing. I had never really thought of it that way but he is so right.This is a learner centered theory and what is so funny is you don’t have to be a kid to learn this way.

Next was Connectivism theory, this was about how a person connects with the network that a learner creates, with technology with other people. They learn from a network. He said that, “knowledge is about the distribution that occurs across the entire network.”  which to me is how I learn, either thru a network by my connections with other people, and that knowledge of learning is the way I exist with other people, and how we continue to learn throughout time and in the future.

The last one was the Cyborg theory, to be honest this was a weird video. It was about a guy that had implants of chips placed in his body which sent information to his brain and that way he was able to control things from these chips placed in his mind, I am sorry but this one was a little strange for my case, I felt like we were talking about Star Trek or aliens coming and taking over the world, butt some of you may like this so please if you enjoy learning about that click on his video lik below.

References:

·       Citation: Abbott, J. (nd). Building Knowledge: Constructivism in Learning. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F00R3pOXzuk

·       Citation: Siemens, G. (nd). The Changing Nature of Knowledge  [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMcTHndpzYg

·       Citation: Warwirk, K. (nd). Cyborg Life [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_l7SY_ngI

Teaching with technology Edld 5364 first weeks web conference

This weeks web conference was scheduled for Thursday night at 8:00, in which I rushed home from my first week at a new school to get home in time for the conference. My group members did the same, they all had first week of school activities that they had to work around for this web conference. I logged in at 7:55 p.m. CT with lots of questions for this new class, the screen came up and said that the host was not on yet and would need to wait, the conference was to start at 8:00 CT, I waited for 54 minutes, I emailed my IA and finally at 8:55 CT got a response from him saying that it had been cancelled and I needed to catch the Saturday web conference, well, I was not going to be able to make the Saturday web conference due to other activities so that is why I had chosen the Thursday night conference. I looked on facebook too at the Lamar Ed tech page and over 77 comments were about the same thing, where everyone else had waited and waited only to find out at 9:00 CT by an announcement across black board that they conference had been postponed until Saturday morning at 10:00 CT, really postponed, that was a cop out, it was already scheduled for that Saturday conference, I think it was very unprofessional of the professor and the IA to do this to the students, especially in such a big class and being the first week of the class when you need all your questions answered. I hope this is not a sign of how this class is going to be because that will be unfortunate that a class this important will be over shadowed by a screwed up first week. So basically other than griping about the web conference that didn't happen, I don't have much to say.

EDLD 5366 reflection

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and the new skills that I have learned while taking it. Creating new logos, branding yourself, making flyers, learning animation and working collaboratively on a website are just a few of the things I learned and did this class. I never before used some of the technology and thus my knowledge of technology has been expanded because of the fun I have had.

I have created flyers before but never kept in mind, C.R.A.P. (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity) of the flyer. It was an eye opener, never thought that flyers or websites for that matter should be atheistically pleasing to the eye.  But I look back and when I see a website or a flyer that doesn’t get my attention I usually throw it away or find another website.  A flyer is trying to get you to do something or buy something and a website is advertising something. This is now something I am going to keep in mind when making newsletters for my class and working on my classroom website, or even my personal blog or website. Putting my flyer on the discussion board, helped me see what other people think of what I had designed and created and I welcomed their input and knowledge of ideas I hadn’t thought of when creating the flyer.

The self- branding idea was a concept that never crossed my mind, but when I was learning about it we brand ourselves at an early age, thru social media, nicknames certain poses we do in pictures, how people think of us when they see something or someone (reputation). Our schools are branded, stores are branded, clothes are branded why not brand ourselves. I loved playing with and making a logo that described me and my classroom. Using different programs I never used broadened my knowledge of software. 

Collaborating on a website made me see how people all think different and how we all see things differently. I welcomed the knowledge of my team members that had used Weebly before, it was new to me, I had only used Google to make a website. It was exciting to watch a website come from the group up with all the pages and information.

I can’t wait to use the technology and software and knowledge I learned in this class and share it with my teammates and students.

Refrences:

Non Designers Designers Handbook by Robin Williams: https://luonline.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-921384-dt-content-rid-6183491_1/courses/EDLD_5366_ENA_2013_60_AP2/Assets/The%20Non-Designer%20Design%20Book.pdf

The Art of Self-Branding, Part 1 – by L. Alcantra   Citation: Alcantara, L. (2009). The art of self-branding. Retrieved from

http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-one/

 Creating Your Personal Brand: By J. Utecht  Citation: Utecht, J. (2010). Creating your personal brand. Retrieved from  http://www.thethinkingstick.com/creating-your-personal-brand

Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating Multimedia in the K-12 Classroom

Citation: Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating Multimedia in the K-12 Classroom. (2008, September). Retrieved from http://www.brainpop.com/new_common_images/files/76/76426_BrainPOP_White_Paper-20090426.pdf

Treehouse blogsite by Mike Rundle  (2006)  http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/how-crap-is-your-site-design

Weebly Group Website

Had a fun time creating a website with Jon and Carla, we each took two pages, I did Home page and Parents Page, Carla did Teachers and Special Populations and Jon did How To.... and Digital Citizenship
We shared all our information with each other via a google doc on google drive, Click here to check out our website.   http://csjvideoproductions.weebly.com
http://csjvideoproductions.weebly.com