Journal 11

Focus Question 2

How can teachers and students use digital portfolios as tools for learning?

Teachers for one can use digital portfolios to build on their teaching strategies by looking on their past instructional work. Students will become more proactive in the amount of involvement and learning of new ways of using technology to create and consequently build on their skills. 

Tech Tool 11.2

For individuals who wish to obtain information in efforts to conduct a study or research, SurveyMonkey offers an easy tool that could get the job done. This service facilitates individuals in finding a selective audience an individual seeks to answer specific questions in order to gather accurate results. Simply design the survey, select an audience, and once those have been established, wait for the results. Each completed survey, however, cost $1. Therefore, depending on which type of project or amount of people one anticipates to receive results from, SurveyMonkey may serve as a valuable resource.

In summary

When it comes to evaluating students, simply assessing their knowledge on any given material or skill through testing is perhaps the most daunting task to endure for some. However, the new and most effective method is through digital portfolios. Digital portfolios provide substantial evidence of what students have learned over a period of time. In addition, teachers can evaluate their own methods of teaching when they review the tools and strategies they have used to instruct their students. In essence, digital portfolios enables one to measure the learning development of each individual student which inevitably creates greater learning outcomes, for being able to assess the skills will be much more prevalent among them.

In the future, having the students design a digital portfolio will be an advantage to me as a teacher, for it tremendously aides in monitoring the student’s progress in my class. Simply testing students and measuring their knowledge of given materials lacks the personal touch. Digital portfolios displays true results in terms of what a student has learned as a result of applying the concepts they have learned. It is a gain the most evident means used to measure the growth of each student, and it serves as a unique tool for teachers to build or recreate lessons that will provide innovative ways to teach a lesson.

Journal 9- Blended Online Learning

Remix Teaching through Blended Online Learning

In this conference, Janine Campbell explains the concept of blended online learning, its role in her classroom, and the impact it has on the learning development of her students. She describes blended online learning as a flexible online media to deliver content, particularly instructional content. She goes on about how it is a means used not as a replacement for teachers; rather, its goal is to enhance the learning of students.  Moreover, it is a combination of traditional and digital methods for learning and communicating(2012).

I found this conference to be incredibly informative. Campbell shared some neat ideas as to how she incorporated digital media for the Art course she teaches. She provided reasons why teachers should consider using such method for instructional purposes, as well as, provide questions that teachers should ask themselves before using blended online modes. Such questions include-- which system does the teacher want to use to deliver the instructional content and how? Another question asks what students will learn? When these questions were answered, teachers gathered tools necessary to effectively implement blended learning and have the students provide them with the end product online. 

Students would upload their own artwork onto the class's gallery online where other students within the class could view and critique the work in a tactful manner; this is said to build digital citizenship which Campbell believe is a critical life skill. During the time students are critiquing others, teachers use the time to analyze the result and then provide feedback as well. Campbell mentioned that blended online learning gives students control of their own learning and offers them the opportunity to learn at their own pace. Moreover, parents are welcomed to view the works of these students and know what it is that they are doing in class whether in the class or online at home.
 
Though I am very skeptical and struggle to use technology to its maximum potential, Campbell’s take on the use of technology for blended online learning somewhat alleviates my anxiety towards the concept. The learning management system she and her school are using is the Moodle. Moodle provides the students access to view previous work in case they missed it. Moodle enables her to create courses where her students would go to in order to retrieve instructions.

Campbell makes it clear how implementing the use of technology provides various beneficial methods for learning; I would certainly incorporate blended online learning for the sake of offering students an alternative means to learn rather than the old fashion teacher-student method. Also, teachers having to take a great deal of paperwork with them home and possibly encountering trouble with missing assignments are freed from such things occurring due to the blended online approach. With blended online learning, teachers will always have the names of the students attached to each assignment which eliminates any inconveniences. Teachers could grade and provide feedback to students in a timely manner.

Perhaps, the only issue I would have regarding the idea of blended online learning is that one would need access to a computer with internet in order to complete given assignments. Students without those components could lag behind.  

Reference:

Rodriguez, J. (2012, October 30). Remix Teaching Through Blended Online Learning | K12 Online Conference. K12 Online Conference. Retrieved November 14, 2012, from http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=1126

Journal 8

Focus Question 1
How can teachers use communication technologies as teaching and learning tools?
 As mentioned in the text, teachers can use communication technologies, “to enhance teaching and learning.” Communication technologies offer teachers and students more instructional time outside the classroom environment for those who have access to a computer and Internet. Depending of the topic or material that need to be covered and the (CT) being used, they may also serve as assisting aides for parents as well; for example, teachers can provide step-by-step instructions for parents to  follow along should the parent's child or children need further assistance with anything he or she did not understand while in class. Moreover, students may access information they missed during class and retrieve them online as a source of backup.

Tech Tool 8.1
TaskStream is a subscription service where a community of highly trained and competent individuals provide multiple services to administrators in educational institutions and teachers with goal planning, creating assessments and e-portfolios, to name a few. Among the services they provide, TaskStream partners with educators to help customize assessments designed to effectively challenge while increasing the level of comprehension among educational institution's students which will in turn help earn more accreditation of the schools. They also provide educators assistance in establishing goals and reaching them in order to maximize the teachers/educators' instructional capabilities.


Summary
Communication technologies is an alternate approach from the traditional methods for communicating instructional information such as, " lectures, discussions, cooperative learning groups,..."(Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards, Woolf, 2011, p.208). Communication technologies offer various ways in which one can use them as a means to convey a message to another individual or a group, for personal and professional purposes. They can help establish educational communities among administrators, educators/teachers, students, and parents all over the world--through the Internet of course. A community of educators can use them to share educational ideas through Blogging tools or forums to later implement in their classrooms, or they can customize instructional websites with their students to promote their creativity. Wikis encourage collaborative effort among student users from all over which is another benefit of communication technologies. All of these tools create and build stronger communication abilities among any group. It is because of communication technologies, we are not limited to the ways in which we communicate to others. We learn through sharing and learning through various means because of these communication technologies.

Reference:
 Maloy, R. W. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Journal 7

Focus Question 1

What are intelligent tutoring systems and how can students and teachers use them successfully?

Intelligent tutoring systems are software programs that fundamentally provide a computerized interpretation of a student’s level of learning. Teachers can best benefit from these programs to determine the area of focus for students by getting another evaluation of a student’s progress other than their own, while students use these programs as a source to reinforce material for skills that are not yet mastered.    

Tech Tool 7.1

Scratch is a site where the imagination and creativity of younger students run wild as they create their very own virtual learning game. The student creators also provide a brief description of their project to give their audience an idea of what the game is about. This approach is different from the traditional methods where the teachers search already generated materials to develop students learning. Instead, this promotes the students to produce a game made the way they will learn whatever it is to be learned.

Summary

This chapter reveals the power of software programs which are one major aspect of technology. There are several different forms of software programs such as web-processing software, communication software and antivirus software, to name a few. Different software programs known as application software serve different purpose/s. Teachers have noticed their multifaceted capabilities and have incorporated them into their curriculum to simply find riveting methods to enhance inquiry base learning and problem solving skills. Web based software programs can be easily accessible through open source alternatives or simply a commercial product; however, in terms of security, the commercial product offers more protection in comparison to the open source. Though the idea of using software programs for learning may seem ideal for many reasons, cautionary is still given to teachers who do not thoroughly evaluate the way in which they will be utilized, for most software programs may take away from the overall goal of a lesson.  

Journal 6

Focus Question
1.      What is information management and digital content?

Information management is simple organizing and managing any information obtained for any purpose.  In conjunction with the information management, the digital content, which is information found on the web, makes it much easier to gather an unlimited amount of reliable information that could be later used for enriching or enhancement.

Tech Tool 6.2

Goodreads.com

Goodreads is a neat source where people can find ratings on any type of book and to decide which book/s would be a perfect fit for whatever reason they decide to read for. It offers people who decide to join the benefit of rating the books they have read, and based on the ratings given to a particular book or books, it is made published for others to view. Also, the site provides a convenient approach (recommendation) that enables its audience when deciding to read a new book, by suggesting other books based on what they have read previously. There are games and a trivia posted on the home page on specific books and also famous quotes.

Credit to Brody on Flickr.com

Summary

Technology has made things much more convenient for teachers as well as students by providing all sorts of web resources that which will facilitate them through their search for not only obtaining relevant information but also managing them and using them. Although the web contains vast amount of information which one can easily get caught up in and lose their focus, bookmarking tools make it a lot easier to implement such task as teaching a curriculum or researching a particular topic.

Journal 5

Focus Question
1. What is the meaning of information literacy for teachers and students? The meaning of information literacy is being able to effectively search for information from various sources, which can later be used for multiple purposes.  For a teacher, this may include obtaining new and relevant information that can assist him or her with presenting new material to his or her class, a new curriculum, or simply refreshing him or her mind on a particular subject. For a student, this could mean searching for information to produce a research paper, gathering information to make a power point presentation, or like a teacher—be prepared on a given topic to discuss in a classroom setting or similar environment.

Tech Tool 5.1

Taken by Mark H. Anbinder at Flickr.com
Flickr's a useful tool that enables anyone to create,upload and edit images and then share. Images are usually powerful visual aides that can benefit students in any classroom setting. 

Summary
In general, the Internet is vast and contains a variety of valuable, as well as ineffectual, information that will more than likely be resourceful to anyone for any researchs, ideas, innovations, presentations, and many more purposes.      




 

About Me

Greetings earthlings, I am Jenny. I am your typical (all eyes on me) kind of gal with a high spirited personality. A bit conceited---ummm maybe---but definitely in a good way. Eclectic describes my kind very well. Hopefully I haven’t scared anyone yet, for  I will get to my (A little bit about me) session in a moment, but first…please do me and the rest of the world a favor, and love yourself. In my preacher voice ~~For if you love yourself first, then you will be a much happier person and live life a lot better. I say this because there are so many people living around here and I’m pretty sure around you all, and they just look so miserable. Well, I have a quick fix solution to that problem; you guessed it…love yourself. Sigh!

Now, a little bit about me. I am originally from Brooklyn, New York, but most of my younger days were spent in Miami, Florida; I am a big time city person. Contrary to my upbringing, my parents came from Haiti in a not so city place known as Cayes; however, we share a common trait which is we are very people oriented. I am very much so that I consider myself a social butterfly to the 10^th power. I apologize in advance  for those of you who don’t like math. Anyway, I am one of five children, and of us five, one isn’t very social~ I still question my mother about her…just kidding. But I do wonder sometimes. Ha!

I like a little bit of anything and everything. I like staying active doing  such things like playing various sports, singing , dancing, cooking, joking around, etc. I enjoy different genres of music, movies, TV shows so on and so forth. I love art and the many ways of it can be expressed. I love to have a good time; anything that involves people with lots of laughter and tears in their eyes, I love.

I am currently a part time student, a part time employee on campus and a full time employee at a hair place. I enjoy what I do for a living; however, I am looking to discover more hidden talents while attending college.

I have two beautiful children…scary huh! They are both like me. One a little more reserved than the other, at times.

Well, there you have it--a little piece of a lot of me.  It was with great pleasure that I wrote this to you all.  Have a wonderful life, and remember--- to love yourself first.

Credit to Dick Jensen on Flickr.com