Everything went pretty smoothly this week. The Emerging Technologies activities were all very straight forward and the directions were easy to follow. I have participated in a Blog before, so posting an image was not difficult. I was a little frustrated when tried to save the homepage of a website into .jpg format. With the help of a co-worker, I was able to do this quite easily using Photoshop software. I have created a wiki in a previous class, so adding the links and information to the class wiki was not a problem. I was a little nervous with the Social Web and the Virtual World activities. Signing up and creating bookmarks with Del.icio.us was a very user friendly experience, unlike what I had expected. I felt very overwhemed when entering Active world.
I have never liked communicating through anything besides letters (yes, handwritten and mailed), the telephone, and an occasional e-mail. Working within the Educational Media program has gotten me used to other forms of communication and sharing, but I am still not sold on the virtual worlds...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Emerging Technologies - Blog
Safari Montage-Video on Demand is a visual instructional technology that the district wants teachers to integrate into our curriculum plans. The site has seemingly endless educational videos for all subjects and grade levels. There are many different publishers to browse through, like National Geographic, PBS, A&E, Disney and more. The lessons come with downloadable worksheets and guides. The site gives you the ability to create your own playlists to be able to revisit or save for the next year. Close captioning is also available along with the compatibility for use with electronic whiteboards.
I have used a few of the math lessons with my students. Their responses were mixed. Some students loved it and others thought the lessons were too "cute" or too slow. I think it is a great idea, and in some subjects, the wealth of information, and videos of real life, scientific, and historical happenings are unbelievable and can improve learning exponentially. In math though, I am not sure just watching a video and pausing to discuss problems is the answer. A few of my co-workers and I are slightly skeptical. Some of the department use Safari Montage resources daily and others intermittently. School wide, this product is used daily in many classes. I will keep searching through the many videos for what will work well with my students, and use this to technology to teach and supplement the grade level curriculum.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Troubleshooting Reflection
Let's see, I am sure there are plenty of better examples I could use, but my mind can't seem to recall any major instances unless you count the red ring of death on my XBox 360. That brought a tear to my eye...when was I going to be able to finish Fallout 3?
Anyway, back to the real world. This reflection is about the time I created a Jeopardy game for my math students. I spent over an hour creating the question and answer slides. The next morning I was exited to play the game with my advanced students. They were exited also. The first few questions played out smoothly...
Shortly after starting the game, the question slides did not match the answer slides. Everything was a mess. I was so mad at myself for not previewing the whole game before introducing it to the class. I tried three times to move the slides around and get the correct placement for matching questions and answers to no avail. The students still had fun because we played using my hard copy of the questions. Technically, it took about 24 hours to resolve my problem because I gave up and waited until my co-teacher came in the next morning. She was able to fix everything within five minutes by copying and pasting information. I felt silly, but at least I had the game saved for future classes.
What can you do to alleviate stress and frustration? Take a deep breath and count to ten, go with the flow, be flexible, laugh a lot...use the help desk if applicable or computer savvy friends. Or just try to balance on one foot with your knee raised for 20 seconds..suprisingly enough, you forget about that stressor or issue bothering you for awhile.
Anyway, back to the real world. This reflection is about the time I created a Jeopardy game for my math students. I spent over an hour creating the question and answer slides. The next morning I was exited to play the game with my advanced students. They were exited also. The first few questions played out smoothly...
Shortly after starting the game, the question slides did not match the answer slides. Everything was a mess. I was so mad at myself for not previewing the whole game before introducing it to the class. I tried three times to move the slides around and get the correct placement for matching questions and answers to no avail. The students still had fun because we played using my hard copy of the questions. Technically, it took about 24 hours to resolve my problem because I gave up and waited until my co-teacher came in the next morning. She was able to fix everything within five minutes by copying and pasting information. I felt silly, but at least I had the game saved for future classes.
What can you do to alleviate stress and frustration? Take a deep breath and count to ten, go with the flow, be flexible, laugh a lot...use the help desk if applicable or computer savvy friends. Or just try to balance on one foot with your knee raised for 20 seconds..suprisingly enough, you forget about that stressor or issue bothering you for awhile.
Introduction Due Jan 21
Welcome to my first blog.
This may sound crazy, but I am not fond of the idea of writing about myself or my life for just anyone to read. So I will not be getting personal here.
What am I willing to share? I am working towards a Masters degree in Educational Media. Graduation is in sight now...In my spare time I have been learning to play the violin. I have written three books yet to be published. I love cats. And I just earned my yellow belt in Karate.
I look forward to visiting all the other class blogs. Thanks for visiting:)
This may sound crazy, but I am not fond of the idea of writing about myself or my life for just anyone to read. So I will not be getting personal here.
What am I willing to share? I am working towards a Masters degree in Educational Media. Graduation is in sight now...In my spare time I have been learning to play the violin. I have written three books yet to be published. I love cats. And I just earned my yellow belt in Karate.
I look forward to visiting all the other class blogs. Thanks for visiting:)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
My Computer
Browser settings? Browser tunings? File Management?
This week I learned how to zip files. Learning this actually helped at my work place. A co-worker requested I resend numerous files regarding a math skills series. I was excited to realize that the job would not take much time because of my new knowledge of compressing files and file management.
My computer knowledge has always been more or less "an understanding of the surface." I really had no idea about the inner workings of the machine or programs. This week I began to snorkle, so to speak. I learned about the"cache" in my browsing history. I had no idea that the computer saved previously visited sites and that I may not link to the most updated page because of that history. The tips and tricks section was also new to me. I have already played with the different tricks to find dialogue boxes and opening new windows...Although I could not get the font to change on the website. I was pleasantly surprised to see I have been taking advantage of the bookmark feature by having built my own favorites bookmark.
Overall, I was shocked to see that I knew so little about my computer, but I dived right in and have enjoyed exploring some of the different settings and features available to me. I do wonder what I have messed up though...
Kelli
This week I learned how to zip files. Learning this actually helped at my work place. A co-worker requested I resend numerous files regarding a math skills series. I was excited to realize that the job would not take much time because of my new knowledge of compressing files and file management.
My computer knowledge has always been more or less "an understanding of the surface." I really had no idea about the inner workings of the machine or programs. This week I began to snorkle, so to speak. I learned about the"cache" in my browsing history. I had no idea that the computer saved previously visited sites and that I may not link to the most updated page because of that history. The tips and tricks section was also new to me. I have already played with the different tricks to find dialogue boxes and opening new windows...Although I could not get the font to change on the website. I was pleasantly surprised to see I have been taking advantage of the bookmark feature by having built my own favorites bookmark.
Overall, I was shocked to see that I knew so little about my computer, but I dived right in and have enjoyed exploring some of the different settings and features available to me. I do wonder what I have messed up though...
Kelli
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
