The map shows where people in my family were born.
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Chapter 31 and My Favorite Technology Tools
Before reading Chapter 31 “Emerging Instructional Technologies: The Near Future” I had never heard of some of the new technology advances. This chapter proved to be a real eye opener for me as an educator. As technology rapidly advances, one must wonder what the future holds. I thought that as long as humans continued to have children, my job would always be secure. However, advanced technologies such as technology-based training, smartcards, electronic training jackets, and cognitive science are evolving at a pace that as educators our choices are to accept, embrace or hope that our jobs will not phase out.
Out of all the technology advances, I was most fascinated with advance performance tracking. The authors used an example of a person trying to improve their tennis serve. According to the authors using an advanced performance tracking system, a person would be able to slip into a leotard type suit that covers their body from head to toe. The suit would be made of an intricate electric grid that transmits body position and movement information to a personal computer. The PC is attached to a flat 3-D panel display system. This system provides verbal and visual feedback after you have actually served the ball a few times. This type of tracking could be useful in many settings. As a young 3’s teacher, I was amazed at how many students’ gross motor skills were not well developed. The thought of a technology tool that could help access and aide in the development of motor skills would benefit many students. This tool could also be helpful to athletes. As a basketball fan of Shaquel O’Neal, this tool could help him with free-throw shots. However, I still wonder about the side-effects of such tools. Would this be medically safe for the human body? Prior to using such tools, more research must be conducted to ensure that we are not destroying our bodies.
Even though technology is on the cutting edge and new creation and advancements are phenomenon, I ponder over the questions of what happens to human interaction when there is a technology glitch or a computer hacker gains access to important documents. Can your identity be erased or changed? Can others access you personal health information? Can human socialization be a thing of the past? As technology advances, things such as privacy, ethics and human interaction should highly be taken into consideration.
My overall experience in this course has been great. I have really enjoyed all of the assignments and projects. I must say that Blogger and Google Maps are my favorites by far. I have successfully introduced blogging to my coworkers and they are starting to use blogger to post monthly newsletters. During the presidential election, Google maps helped us to keep track of both candidates’ locations. I have shown some of the upper elementary teachers how to incorporate Google maps into their geography lessons. Even though, my current students are too young to benefit from some of the new technology tools I have learned, other teachers have informed me that they appreciate me sharing the technology tools learned.
Out of all the technology advances, I was most fascinated with advance performance tracking. The authors used an example of a person trying to improve their tennis serve. According to the authors using an advanced performance tracking system, a person would be able to slip into a leotard type suit that covers their body from head to toe. The suit would be made of an intricate electric grid that transmits body position and movement information to a personal computer. The PC is attached to a flat 3-D panel display system. This system provides verbal and visual feedback after you have actually served the ball a few times. This type of tracking could be useful in many settings. As a young 3’s teacher, I was amazed at how many students’ gross motor skills were not well developed. The thought of a technology tool that could help access and aide in the development of motor skills would benefit many students. This tool could also be helpful to athletes. As a basketball fan of Shaquel O’Neal, this tool could help him with free-throw shots. However, I still wonder about the side-effects of such tools. Would this be medically safe for the human body? Prior to using such tools, more research must be conducted to ensure that we are not destroying our bodies.
Even though technology is on the cutting edge and new creation and advancements are phenomenon, I ponder over the questions of what happens to human interaction when there is a technology glitch or a computer hacker gains access to important documents. Can your identity be erased or changed? Can others access you personal health information? Can human socialization be a thing of the past? As technology advances, things such as privacy, ethics and human interaction should highly be taken into consideration.
My overall experience in this course has been great. I have really enjoyed all of the assignments and projects. I must say that Blogger and Google Maps are my favorites by far. I have successfully introduced blogging to my coworkers and they are starting to use blogger to post monthly newsletters. During the presidential election, Google maps helped us to keep track of both candidates’ locations. I have shown some of the upper elementary teachers how to incorporate Google maps into their geography lessons. Even though, my current students are too young to benefit from some of the new technology tools I have learned, other teachers have informed me that they appreciate me sharing the technology tools learned.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Week12/"Using Rich Media"
In today’s school districts there are many educational software or sites that promise to help enhance student’s performance. The software that our district uses is Study Island. Study Island was implemented in hopes that it would help increase our student’s MEAP scores. After working with the software for an entire school year, our scores did not increase. Chapter 30 helped me realize why this particular software was not successful.
In chapter 30, “Using Rich Media” the authors emphasized the important of using visual and audio and not only text. Study Island was text based software. Students had to read the questions and chose the correct multiple choice answers. If they got 80% of the answers correct they were allowed to select answers using a game like media such as bowling or race cars. This program did not contain any audio narration or visual illustration or animation learning stimulus for students. This explained why struggling reading randomly guessed answers. According to the authors on page 320 “well-designed multimedia training appears to more helpful for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners”. If districts plan to incorporate a rich media they must first research the media they plan to implement. Just because students are engaged in a computer application, it does not mean that they are actually learning new skills.
Another excellent point referenced in chapter 30 was “learners may need scaffolding in making sense of simulation.” Study Island did not allow scaffolding. The computer randomly assigned my 26 students different areas learning based on their pre-test scores. It was impossible for me to assist the class as a whole because each student was working on a different task. Since the program lacked audio, it would have been great if I could have read each question to provide clarity. This would have been beneficial for my struggling readers.
This chapter proved to one of the most valuable chapters. I plan to share some of the ideas at our professional development meeting. If we are going to incorporate media into our learning curriculum we must conduct the necessary research to ensure that we choose the best media for our student’s. What good is using media if is does not enhance student’s learning and make student’s dread the computer lab.
In chapter 30, “Using Rich Media” the authors emphasized the important of using visual and audio and not only text. Study Island was text based software. Students had to read the questions and chose the correct multiple choice answers. If they got 80% of the answers correct they were allowed to select answers using a game like media such as bowling or race cars. This program did not contain any audio narration or visual illustration or animation learning stimulus for students. This explained why struggling reading randomly guessed answers. According to the authors on page 320 “well-designed multimedia training appears to more helpful for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners”. If districts plan to incorporate a rich media they must first research the media they plan to implement. Just because students are engaged in a computer application, it does not mean that they are actually learning new skills.
Another excellent point referenced in chapter 30 was “learners may need scaffolding in making sense of simulation.” Study Island did not allow scaffolding. The computer randomly assigned my 26 students different areas learning based on their pre-test scores. It was impossible for me to assist the class as a whole because each student was working on a different task. Since the program lacked audio, it would have been great if I could have read each question to provide clarity. This would have been beneficial for my struggling readers.
This chapter proved to one of the most valuable chapters. I plan to share some of the ideas at our professional development meeting. If we are going to incorporate media into our learning curriculum we must conduct the necessary research to ensure that we choose the best media for our student’s. What good is using media if is does not enhance student’s learning and make student’s dread the computer lab.
Online Applications
In reviewing the office suites, I found that Zoho was easier for me to use. Before this assignment I did not know that free office suites existed. When I first purchased my computer, I bought Microsoft Office not knowing that I could have used free suites. Zoho, the first suite that I reviewed was excellent. It was user friendly and possessed all the qualities of Microsoft Office. However, when transferring files the process took much longer than Microsoft. I also was not able to retrieve saved information from my flash drive. I was able to retrieve the information via internet. I would recommend this suite to co-workers and parents. Many people can not afford to purchase expensive suites such as Microsoft Office and this would give them the opportunity to own comparable software.
The second suite I reviewed was Google Documents. This suite was not as user friendly as Zoho. It took my computer several minutes to transfer information into a spreadsheet. I spent hours on this site and finally came to the conclusion that Zoho was more enjoyable to use than Google Documents. Therefore, I would probably share this information with others but would strongly recommend Zoho.
As for the image editors, I chose Foto Flexer and Phixr to review. I spent hours on both sites and found that Foto Flexer was more exciting than Phixr. Foto Flexer offered editing tools that where easy to use and the site was user friendly. I played with backgrounds, deleted blemishes and added boarders to pictures. This site proved to be fun and exciting. I plan to recommend this site to others, in an effort to help them make their pictures come alive. I played with one tool that allowed me to place a person’s face on a template body. This site was really cool. I plan to use it in the future.
Phixr was also a good site; however, it only allowed me to play with basic editing tools. This site did not have fun boarders and decorations tools like Foto Flexer. It only had the basic photo editing tools. I encountered several problems while playing with Phixr. I lost several pictures I downloaded and some of the tools distorted pictures to point that you could not recognize the image. Phixr was not as user friendly as Foto Flexer. Therefore, I would probably not recommend this site to my co-workers. Most of my co-workers are already afraid of the computer and this would probable increase their fears.
The second suite I reviewed was Google Documents. This suite was not as user friendly as Zoho. It took my computer several minutes to transfer information into a spreadsheet. I spent hours on this site and finally came to the conclusion that Zoho was more enjoyable to use than Google Documents. Therefore, I would probably share this information with others but would strongly recommend Zoho.
As for the image editors, I chose Foto Flexer and Phixr to review. I spent hours on both sites and found that Foto Flexer was more exciting than Phixr. Foto Flexer offered editing tools that where easy to use and the site was user friendly. I played with backgrounds, deleted blemishes and added boarders to pictures. This site proved to be fun and exciting. I plan to recommend this site to others, in an effort to help them make their pictures come alive. I played with one tool that allowed me to place a person’s face on a template body. This site was really cool. I plan to use it in the future.
Phixr was also a good site; however, it only allowed me to play with basic editing tools. This site did not have fun boarders and decorations tools like Foto Flexer. It only had the basic photo editing tools. I encountered several problems while playing with Phixr. I lost several pictures I downloaded and some of the tools distorted pictures to point that you could not recognize the image. Phixr was not as user friendly as Foto Flexer. Therefore, I would probably not recommend this site to my co-workers. Most of my co-workers are already afraid of the computer and this would probable increase their fears.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Webpage
Many have asked what is a Young 3's program? Therefore, I designed a site that will hopefully give others a little insight about our new program. On the first page there is a list of requirements to enter the program. Page two has a list of support sites for parent with students who are ECDD. The final page is our programs belief statements. With a little more work,I plan to use this site in the future. I hope you enjoy.
https://sites.google.com/site/tamarawarrenclasssite/Home
https://sites.google.com/site/tamarawarrenclasssite/Home
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Week 11/My Goals
When looking at the competencies of an instructional designer discussed in Chapter 27, I realized that they are similar to goals I have as an educator.
My primary goal is effective communication techniques. In order for a teacher to be successful they must have excellent communication skills. Teachers are required to communicate daily with parents, students and colleagues. My communication methods consist of creating weekly newsletters, calling parents daily to inform them of their child’s progress and conducting monthly parent-teacher socials, where parents are welcomed into the classroom to discuss areas of concern. I continually try new methods of communication in an effort to keep the parent and me abreast of new things. The one thing that has proven to be an obstacle is time. With my busy schedule, it is sometimes hard to contact as many parents as I would like daily. In chapter 27, communication was listed as an essential tool that an ID must possess.
Conducting assessment was also listed in Chapter 27 as a critical tool for ID’s. Assessing is essential when teaching. As a young 3’s teacher, I am responsible for informal and formal assessments. My informal assessment is done daily by merely observing the students as they work and play. I have a notebook for each student and I keep a notepad and pen in my packet to make daily notes. This goal is the hardest for me because organization plays an important role. After 6 years of teaching, I am still trying new ways to improve my organizational skills. By the time I have one form of assessments mastered, either I am a moved to another grade or a new assessment tool is implemented. Teachers have to be versatile because our schedules change daily.
Selecting and using a variety of techniques are other competencies listed for an ID as well as goals that I have set for myself. Each year, teachers must equip themselves with a variety of teaching techniques. As an educator, I try several ways to teach the same objective because all students learn differently. In an effort to achieve this goal, I attend numerous special education seminars and design lessons plans that incorporate the ADDIE process. Currently, all of my lessons are hands-on activities because my students are very young and developmentally delayed in some areas. An obstacle that I am encountering while trying to reach the goal is, again, time. Working two jobs and being a graduate student consume a lot of my time. My weekends now consist of attending seminars or researching new techniques that will help my students.
My primary goal is effective communication techniques. In order for a teacher to be successful they must have excellent communication skills. Teachers are required to communicate daily with parents, students and colleagues. My communication methods consist of creating weekly newsletters, calling parents daily to inform them of their child’s progress and conducting monthly parent-teacher socials, where parents are welcomed into the classroom to discuss areas of concern. I continually try new methods of communication in an effort to keep the parent and me abreast of new things. The one thing that has proven to be an obstacle is time. With my busy schedule, it is sometimes hard to contact as many parents as I would like daily. In chapter 27, communication was listed as an essential tool that an ID must possess.
Conducting assessment was also listed in Chapter 27 as a critical tool for ID’s. Assessing is essential when teaching. As a young 3’s teacher, I am responsible for informal and formal assessments. My informal assessment is done daily by merely observing the students as they work and play. I have a notebook for each student and I keep a notepad and pen in my packet to make daily notes. This goal is the hardest for me because organization plays an important role. After 6 years of teaching, I am still trying new ways to improve my organizational skills. By the time I have one form of assessments mastered, either I am a moved to another grade or a new assessment tool is implemented. Teachers have to be versatile because our schedules change daily.
Selecting and using a variety of techniques are other competencies listed for an ID as well as goals that I have set for myself. Each year, teachers must equip themselves with a variety of teaching techniques. As an educator, I try several ways to teach the same objective because all students learn differently. In an effort to achieve this goal, I attend numerous special education seminars and design lessons plans that incorporate the ADDIE process. Currently, all of my lessons are hands-on activities because my students are very young and developmentally delayed in some areas. An obstacle that I am encountering while trying to reach the goal is, again, time. Working two jobs and being a graduate student consume a lot of my time. My weekends now consist of attending seminars or researching new techniques that will help my students.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Week 10 Reflection
When looking at the readings we were assigned the past 3 weeks, I realize that instructional design and technology can be integrated into various setting. In chapter 18 it gave a description how instructional designers (ID) work in a business setting. Chapter 21 discussed the role that an ID plays in grades P_12 and chapter 22 the role they play in higher education setting. Although the ID role differs in all the setting there where at least two similarities I found with them all.
The first similarity I noticed in the various setting is that the ID is part of team. In today society team work plays an important role when trying to accomplish a common goal. In the business sector an instructional designer (ID) could be the sole designer, a consultant or a team leader. In the P-12 setting the ID is usually responsible for designing instructional systems that help to improve learning and performance. In higher education settings the ID helps to facilitate distance learning programs or faculty development. Although an ID is used differently in these various setting they are all part of a team. My school district lacks in the area of team work. My district holds a monthly school improvement meeting and monthly district-wide professional development meeting. However, the meetings are not used to encourage team work. They usually consist of listening to seminars on how to implement a new idea. Team work must be used if a district is to be successful in enhancing learning opportunities for students.
The second similarity is the process in which they use to accomplish the goal. When reading all three chapters, I noticed that the ID’s used some form of the ADDIE process. ADDIE is a systematic process. In order for one to successfully complete a project or start changing a program that already exists there must be some form of a systematic approach. In my school district this is our major problem. When implementing a change it seems as if the change is not thoroughly planned and far from being systematic. The analyzing and designing process is normally not done by the district where the change must take place. These processes are usually done by the state or government. Then the board of education and principals develop the plan. Teachers, who play the most important role, are only part of implementing the change which some are usually resistant to change. Then the state or government subject district to standardize tests which are used to evaluate the change in an effort to see if was successful. The community as you see is totally left out of the entire process. Using this type of process usually result in failure. If more business and districts learn to work as a team and use a systemic approach, I believe success would be inevitable.
The first similarity I noticed in the various setting is that the ID is part of team. In today society team work plays an important role when trying to accomplish a common goal. In the business sector an instructional designer (ID) could be the sole designer, a consultant or a team leader. In the P-12 setting the ID is usually responsible for designing instructional systems that help to improve learning and performance. In higher education settings the ID helps to facilitate distance learning programs or faculty development. Although an ID is used differently in these various setting they are all part of a team. My school district lacks in the area of team work. My district holds a monthly school improvement meeting and monthly district-wide professional development meeting. However, the meetings are not used to encourage team work. They usually consist of listening to seminars on how to implement a new idea. Team work must be used if a district is to be successful in enhancing learning opportunities for students.
The second similarity is the process in which they use to accomplish the goal. When reading all three chapters, I noticed that the ID’s used some form of the ADDIE process. ADDIE is a systematic process. In order for one to successfully complete a project or start changing a program that already exists there must be some form of a systematic approach. In my school district this is our major problem. When implementing a change it seems as if the change is not thoroughly planned and far from being systematic. The analyzing and designing process is normally not done by the district where the change must take place. These processes are usually done by the state or government. Then the board of education and principals develop the plan. Teachers, who play the most important role, are only part of implementing the change which some are usually resistant to change. Then the state or government subject district to standardize tests which are used to evaluate the change in an effort to see if was successful. The community as you see is totally left out of the entire process. Using this type of process usually result in failure. If more business and districts learn to work as a team and use a systemic approach, I believe success would be inevitable.
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