Time Flies!

I cannot believe we are almost finished with week 5 and will be starting week 6, time really does fly! Since; my group met twice (once on February 11, 2009 and again on February 15, 2009) I am going to reflect on it in one blog. To start with February 11th's meeting, we met from 9:15p.m. to 11:45p.m. due to not only the missed class; but also because we had a lot to accomplish. We first discussed the links and the ISTE/NETS Standard # 4 and how we can incorporate technology in the classroom. We went over the rest of the links and I created accounts with del.icio.us, Diigo and Ning which I am still getting used to. It is helpful to have del.icio.us and Diigo on my Mozilla FireFox tool bar. I do like how Diigo highlights websites to make the information easier to obtain and not have to consistently go back to the site or try and copy/paste the information into a Word Document. As a group we then made our letterpop which was time consuming especially because only one person can work on it. However; the end result came out great and we did have fun working on it.
We decided to meet again on Sunday, February 15th from 7:30p.m. to 10:10p.m. to discuss any left over questions from week 4 and to also discuss the assignments which were initially due in week 4; but was moved to week 5 thanks to the teacher. Dr.S joined the session for at least 20 minutes which; was very helpful since she answered questions we had and told us we were doing a great job and are on track with everything. We spent a lot of the session making our group wiki project site look nice and professional, as well as creating our own sites to connect to the group site. After Dr.S added week 5 that night, I then uploaded the video: "What I Want for My Children" in the WizIQ session which; I found touching and although some what somber, it displayed an important message of how important children are to their parents and then showed a teachers point of view to the parents and the community. I thought it was nice to see a parents point of view since most of the videos have been about teachers and students point of views. We ended with looking at the link "Classroom 2.0" which we thought was interesting however; a group member raised a good point and said one must be careful in loading pictures of children since; not only does the person need permission from the school and the parents, one also has to be careful who is viewing the content of the site. Unfortunately, we are in a time when some people will use that content in ways we wish they would not; but it is something one, especially a teacher, must always keep in mind.

Web Reflection

I thought it was really interesting how the sites I chose measured up according to the evaluation surveys. The surveys asked a lot of questions and it was pertinent to the information I learned when I read the two articles. Some of the questions I would not have even thought to have asked or consider in my research for information online. One site did not measure up and I decided not to include it in my favorites due to the answers I gave in the survey. The two other sites I did and I particularly liked looking up a virtual tour. I did not want to do the same survey for each website and also wanted to find something different. I thought the questions for the virtual tour survey were interesting and also think the tour site I picked is great for students of any age particularly students in middle school.

Educational Philosophies

I completed the Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment a few days ago and am reporting my top 3 philosophies according to the test. The number one philosophy scoring a 19 was Humanism. This did not surprise me at all because I have always believed that one can control their destiny and that most people are inherently good. I also agree with the statement that "There is a natural tendency for people to learn, which will flourish if nourishing, encouraging environments are provided" (Scoring Guide) and believe this can be achieved. The second philosophy was Perennialism which did not surprise me either because I do believe it is important for students to learn about western culture and the many great works of past contributors to the arts, literature and other subject areas. Thirdly, was Information Processing which surprised me some what because although I do like to analyze how the mind works and one of my favorite subjects is psychology, I did not know that I compared the mind to a computer. I know the results vary and the description may not apply to everyone however; I can see why I fell into this category. I do believe the mind uses symbols to process information; for example we all know or should be familar with these symbols: $ @ # . $ - money, @- symbol we put between our made up name and or hosting email address site, and #- pound sign on the telephone and also is typically used when we write a phone number down (i.e. # 555-5555).

"Getting to Know you"

The past 2 weeks of Moodle has been an "eye opening" experience. I was a bit intimidated and definitely overwhelmed at first by the amount of information posted on the class site and this was before even reading Week 1! I took a fellow student's advice who has taken online classes with Dr. S before and told me to go down the list and click each item one by one. This was really helpful and made it less overwhelming to complete the readings, test files, discussion forums and making the 3 personal sites. I find blogging an interesting; but not an unfamiliar process since I do have a Facebook. I have information filled out about me and in the past have written notes; which is similar to blogging. The one difference is blogger has so many features that it makes it fun and easy to blog!

I liked the power point information on chapter one of the class textbook as well as the LoTi levels. As I posted in the discussion forum I had no idea what LoTi was and did not realize levels existed in teaching and comprehending technology. I thought the information was insightful as to how the college I am enrolled in as well as the school's I have visited, I ranked a low LoTi level. I was disappointed because I thought the college and the schools would have been at a much higher LoTi level. It took me awhile to understand the layout of FreeWebs where I have my personal website; but once I understood how to add, edit and delete pages it became much more enjoyable and I devoted a lot of time in creating the look and feel of the site. My Wiki is in the beginning stages; but I found PBWiki easy to navigate and post pictures and information.

I also thought all the videos in week 1 and week 2 were not only interesting; but surprising as to the information revealed. I did not know that only 13% of teachers used technology in the classroom. This could have lasting negative consequences on the teachers as well as the students because many young students know how to access websites, download music for their iPods/MP3 players and talk to their friends via online chatting. The students are or will be above their teachers and will not be allowed to express their knowledge; if the teacher does not know or is not willing to learn about technology. I also did not know until this class that Web 2.0 meant chatting online, pod casts, posting blogs, wikis, personal websites, staying connected to the internet via cellular phones and having a class online. I was not sure what it meant initially; but after watching the video it makes sense why they are calling it Web 2.0.

Overall I think the first class meeting went well and the most memorable moment of the class was when the entire class was on Elluminate Live and a student had a camera on her computer and we saw a video of her. I did not know one could post a live image of themself in the class sessions and think it is a wonderful tool to have in class! I also met with my group (group 4) twice; once on Monday from 7:30p.m. to 9:00p.m. and once today from 10:00a.m. to almost 12:00p.m. The first session was a bit "bumpy" due to we were trying to get used to the format of WizIQ as well trying not to interrupt or talk over each other. After a few minutes though we got the gist of it and had a succesful discussion about Moodle, course assignments and questions we had. We met again today to address any questions and/or concerns as well as discuss the following week assignments. This was particularly helpful because we posted each video from Week 3 into WizIQ to watch and make comments on together as a group instead of trying to do it on our own.

Teachnology

Technology as many know, has become a vital part to people's daily lives. I cannot imagine not having a cell phone. I do not talk a lot; but its the comfort of knowing that in case I do need to contact someone I can. I was not a fan of text messaging mainly because its a not a free feature at least not with my Verizon plan however; I added it to my plan and I have to say it makes my life much easier. Like I said I do not talk a lot; but I do like to remain in contact with my friends and colleagues and it is nice to have another way of doing that besides speaking on the phone. Obviously technology does not only include cell phones; but also connecting to the internet which is a vital part of my life.

It is vital not only due to how quickly and easily I can connect with friends; but also in my educational career. I have been doing essays, research articles, and reports since I was in middle school and as the times have changed, the dependency on technology has grown. I used the computer a lot in high school; but it was more to type up assignments then to go online for homework. Since; I have been in college I have seen teachers are requiring that assignments be done online or students are required to find articles online to critique for homework. It amazes me when a teacher actually requires that students use the library to physically look up books. I feel that although it is valuable to know how to use a card catalog and borrow a textbook, that this is an antiquated way of receiving knowledge.

I realize that young students, students even in kindergarten are required to know how to use a mouse and turn on a computer. Although I know a good deal about technology I know I can learn more and want to! I want to make sure my future elementary students not only know how to use computers and the internet; but also see in the day to day classroom the use of technology and how much fun this can be in learning.