August 30, 2010

We visited this site first to get a look at WebQuests.
Click here to visit WebQuest.Org

Today in EDU3040 we learned about WebQuests.   A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet. This assignment can be done separately or as a collaborative effort. The students start out with a clearly outlined set of tasks to complete. 

This is my first attempt at making a WebQuest and I'm really enjoying it!   I found out that a WebQuest is a good way to help children learn in a hands-on, non-traditional way.  By non-traditional I mean the pencil and paper, old-school way of learning. 

Remember those days in school when you thought the day would never end?  Well, this is a way to make the day absolutely fly for those children!  WebQuests are a wonderful way to bring technology into teaching. 

Our class time was spent in the computer lab looking at other WebQuests to get ideas of what we were up against in the class assignment.  Our assignment is to make our very own WebQuest for the next class which will be held on Tuesday, September 7 ~ and I can't wait!

P.S.  I was not sorry that the quizzes are over!!!!!

Our ISTE Standards and How We Apply Them

Please Click on the Small Picture to View Large Picture

August 23, 2010

          Today in our EDU 3040 class we reviewed our new websites that we made over the last week for class.  We shared an abundance of information that will make the next website much easier to build.

       We learned about Instructional and Assistive Technology for Students with Special Needs.  Assistive technology is specially designed hardware that is designed to aid individuals with disabilities.  There are many ways that students with special needs can be accomodated. 

          Some of the devices that are available for use with special needs children are on-screen keyboards, intellikeys and voice recognition.  I also learned that an alternative to computer monitors for vision impaired students can be made by using a voice synthesizer.   Computers and calculators with print output can be used to help students who have difficulty writing. 

          Students that have speech problems are able to communicate with the help of a communication board.  The board can be something as simple as a piece of cardboard with pictures and words on it. 

          We learned many useful things in class tonight.  I'm excited that I got the chance to build a website.  This is information that I will use from now on.  It is also something that I had been wanting to learn for a long time.  I am also excited because the next thing that we are going to learn is about Webquests, this is something else that I will be able to use in my career as an educator.

Copyrights and Copying Wrongs Web Video

          During our last EDU 3040 class our instructor, Dr. Damiri asked us to view this online video and write a summary of what we learned from it.

The website for the video is: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

          This video is on the top right-hand side of the website. It was about 52 minutes long and it is about copyright laws and fair use policy. The video is from Law.gov and it is in a video workshop format. Law.Gov workshop: A Revolution in Legal Affairs.


          The panel during the workshop included: Anurag Acharya, Google, Lead engineer behind Google's case law project on Google Scholar; Carl Malamud, Public.Resource.Org; Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law School and was moderated by Roberta Morris, Stanford Law School. This video was filmed at the Stanford Law School on January 12, 2010.


          It is a video workshop hosted by Stanford University. During the video there were numerous speakers from colleges and universities.

          The reason for the workshop is to attempt to make both the federal as well as the state governments make it easier to access information. Gaining access to information can be a costly, expensive undertaking. There are quite a few people that need information, but cannot get it because they cannot afford to get access to it.

My Classroom Website - created for EDU3040, Summer 2010

Please visit this sample website that I built for my EDU 3040 class on August 23, 2010:

https://sites.google.com/site/kendrasedu3040/

August 16, 2010

Today in my EDU 3040 class We were to read chapter 8 in our book. This chapter was about Security Issues, Ethics, and Emerging Technologies in Education. We had our daily quiz #6 over chapter 8.

Our classroom activities for today were:

Computer security: Risks and Safeguards

Computer Viruses

Virus Detection and Removal

Unauthorized Access and Use

Hardware Theft and Vandalism

Ethics and the Information Age

Parental Controls

Educational Controls

Other things that we looked at in class were sample teacher websites for classroom use.  My favorite sites were:

• Schleehauf's Investigations: http://schleehauf.weebly.com/

• Mrs. Trela: http://teacherweb.com/HI/KahaluuElementary/Trela/apt2.aspx

Both of these sites had good information in them. Both of these sites were very much related to the individual teacher’s classroom.

There were also some websites that I didn't like quite as well:


• http://teacherweb.com/FL/PineViewSchoolfortheGifted/Bradly
• http://teacherweb.com/LA/JHMS/JBUSH


These sites were extremely “busy” looking because there was so much information included on the site that it was confusing to look at.

Some of the links that we used in class were:
• Copyrights and Copying Wrongs file - http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
• Google Site Tutorial # 1 file - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1B_q_EiVHI
• Google Site Tutorial # 2 file - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW3OElLssgE
• Copyright 101 for Teachers file - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzlry1c76nc
• Copyright Law file - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2jmapccuK0&feature=related

EDU 3040 - Monday, August 9, 2010

Today in our EDU 3040 class we took a Quiz #5 over Chapter 7.  Today was the day that our Website Evaluations were due.  I evaluated three, quite different educational websites.  My websites were:  http://www.emtech.net/index.shtml, http://www.eduhound.com/ and http://www.educationworld.com/.  Each person in our class had three sites to evaluate.  These sites have practically unlimited information on how to integrate technology into your own classroom.  These sites had lesson plans, links to good educational sites and educational clip art.  The best thing about these sites is that they are free to use and the sites are easily navigated.
Today in class our class activities were: 
· Evaluating educational technology software, source of information, and web recourses

· Evaluating the effectiveness of technology integration

· Assessment tools

· Integration strategies

· Curriculum integration activities

· Workshop: Creating your own blogs and wikis on your own web page

Here is a good site to go to to learn how to blog using this site:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY.  A good site to use to learn about Wiki's is the one that our instructor, Dr. Damiri used in our class:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY.

My favorite part of today's class was when we reviewed each educational website.  I also really enjoyed the instruction about using Excel to make a grade book.  Also, I am looking forward to learning about how to make a web page!