Databases

A database is, “a simple but powerful productivity tool that can help students refine the data-collecting process.” (THE DATABASE America’s Presidents, April 1998 Learning and leading with Technology). What makes them unique from other technologies used for learning is that when the students collect their own data they can instantly compare the data and make sense of it by making a database. Even if their results are not presented in a fancy, way the information doesn’t need to be graphically pleasing to the eye because the information is there.

Databases are important because they can produce charts and graphs that different types of learners can find appealing and beneficial. Some students might understand the basic number expressions in a database, and other students might possibly read a pie chart and understand it more. Databases are also important in education so that teachers have databases not only for their educational resources, but also for the data basing of students. Students can be grouped by different learning abilities so teachers can better meet their scholastic needs.

Having students collect their own data, and make their own databases is a great idea in almost every classroom and I will definitely look into assigning data base assignments to my students as a teacher. When I am teaching I would consider using a database to group students to differentiate them into groups. Instigating higher order thinking is a general purpose of database assignments. Databases requires that students categorize, classify, and define separate entities of their database material.

Bridging the Digital Divide, and Wikis. Wikis are awesome.

Growing up, I remember that the ONE computer in the back of the classroom was only for killing time and playing games AFTER my assignments were finshed. I definitely anticipate feeling "old" when I relay that story to my future students.

I think that every classroom should have at least a couple of computers, or have the lab very close by. The funding to provide students more computer time (before/after school) is definitely an issue, and hopefully the new president modifies the funds for the NCLB (less testing maybe.....?) so that providing students with more computers (and more readily available to them) is less of an issue. I defintely find interest in the computer stations and collaberative work.



Ha, "access and equity are not the same", so true. When I am a teacher I will make sure that all of my students know how to properly opperate a computer. And if they don't, I will be more than happy to assist them, or at least point them in the direction of assistance. As a student mysef I know the importance of having good computer skills



The article reads, "This experience can challenge teachers to increase the instructional use of computers in their classrooms." Immediately I thought, "What if the teachers don't WANT to increase instructional use of computers in the classroom?" and I immediately rebuted to myself, "Max, you've learned all semester about how much of a USEFUL tool technology in the classroom is." And I reflected......... and feel like a moron for even thinking it in the first place.

I will definitely ask myself the 3 important questions at the end of the article, when I am a teacher. How are the computers organized? Who gets to use them and when? What do the students do on the computer?


And Wikis! I really like the idea of wikis, ESPECIALLY in the classroom. Collaberative work is a must for students, and group work while communicating without voices or phones is a rewarding challenge. As long as the work is distributed evenly and the teacher is grading individual students on performance and not just the group as a whole, Wikis are a great tool for student group work.

The ease of iMovies....

I was extremely surprised at the lack of complexity to making an iMovie. I think that if we filmed more scenes, we could have even had 3 completely different movies. I wanted to do that but time did not allow. The cameras are pretty easy to use too. The most challenging part of the assignment for me was having the patience to deal with fitting the scenes in order (it's hard dragging scenes while scrolling through other scenes, sideways).

In a classroom I could have the students recreate historical scenes, film, and create their own depiction of event on film. Teaching students to use iMovies would take little or no time, after all they are kids. And I've noticed that people are afraid of delving in and just clicking things. Once I learned about the power of the "Undo" button, I felt a lot more confident about trying something out. I would stress the importance of trying new things, and heaven forbid, having to use the "Undo" button.

There are many useful ways to incorporate iMovies into a history class. They can almost recreate any scene, and I wouldn't grade prop value. They can do historical timelines too, that would be something I would like to see if I were a teacher.

I heard students in a conversation talking about how hard the upcoming week is going to be a rough week of class. I assured them that apple products are easy to worth, I used iTunes as an example. I like that because iMovies are simple to make, you can focus more of the effects and other utilities.

Copywrongs

There are lots of things that I thought were okay to copyright, that actually aren't. For instance I wasn't aware of the time restraints involved in not only the amount of time allowed for the subject, but the I find if funny how http://www.educationworld.com is firm with their belief: Repeat after me: , "The Internet is not in the public domain. The Internet is not in the public domain. The Internet is NOT in the public domain.". I find it interesting that before 1978 the copyright is good for 75 more years. It has to be interesting for the investigators that are looking into pantomimed and choreographed work. I think that it would be very hard to distinguish body movements and such. I wonder what things would be like if copyright laws DID extend beyond facts and ideas. I find it interesting that the “fair use” agreements are not more defined. I agree with them, but compared to how strict the other copyright laws are the four guidelines are lenient. Educationworld.com tells about relating internet resources to print resources as a way to distinguish is the copyright is being infringed. I don’t really understand why posting a link with a small description is considered vandalism, but posting the URL and title of a site is legit. As I recall I can think of a lot of sites that do such a thing.

Questions: 1. Why is it okay to post an URL and its’ title, but creating a short description (even after being linked to another site) and another link is taboo?

2. Is poetry copy written the same as all other literature?

3 teacher sites

http://www.mrshealeysclass.com/
I chose this site because not only is it very informative, but it is also attention getting. The home page has lots of bright colors that jump out, and it also has rain drops that fall across the whole page. The site has pages about each student, that tells about their interests, a little bit about their personal lives (a little too much, ie: who they live with), and a self portrait of themselves. The site has upcoming events, and even has an option to see the schedule of a typical day in the classroom.

http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/as/aboutourclass.html

This site is dedicated to autistic children’s classrooms. It has 27 helpful links, within the page and away from it. This gives the person on the site many good options. It has schedules, pictures, and lots of information on autism, and how to teach autistic children.

http://www.westampton.k12.nj.us/datkinson/

This is a great site to help develop kids reading skills. It has reading games for 1st through 6th graders. It helps students take tests, it has many other reading/teacher links, and even sites with more games. This site has a ton of games for 1st through 6th graders, and interactive sound boards.


Reading: The electronic editing process is very interesting and fairly new. The site writes about E-mail, Electronic dropboxes, and Personal folders on the server, as a way to preview and critique student writing before final submission. Blogs could even rough drafts too. Blog comments and feedback about a students’ paper could be beneficial before turning it in.
The “track changes” function of word is great, and the comments part of it is awesome too. Being able to immediately turn back the students’ paper back to them is good because it’s instant. I’m a fan of “instant results”. As a teacher I will use comments on my students work indefinitely.

Student created videos

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/studentvideo/index.htm

This site is from the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, so I immediately knew it would be useful. It gives the objectives, the process, the limitations, and links, associated with student created videos. It explains why student created videos are useful, and it lists six reasons. It provides aid by going through the 8 step process. It also gives links to multiple video editing sites. I believe this site would convince most skeptical teachers that student created videos are a good learning tool.


http://www.teachwithvideo.com/

This site is for a product that teachers can buy to help integrate student created video in their subject matter. It's a $40 dollar book/guide which includes a CD with printable handouts and examples of student created videos. The site is somewhat unclear with some things, such as the "forum" and "workshop" options to choose on the main page. Both point you in the direction of contacting the moderator of the product. In general, this site is a good place for a teacher to start, and if I were a teacher $40 might be worth the investment.



http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/blog/2007/05/tips-for-successful-student-created.html

I like this site because it immediately gives the questions (or issues) that are most appropriate for the typical student to ask. It has a lot of links to different sites that can answer questions more suited to what the student needs help with. It also discusses the common issue of cf converting docx word files to earlier word files via Zamzar (http://www.zamzar.com/), a site that converts it and also compress audio and video files

Evalutech 3/26/08

Evalutech is a crazy good resource for teachers. It hooks teachers up with links to a ridiculous amount of teaching resources and well.... more links. The site, " adheres to specific criteria" so that all the information is valuable, and I'm guessing spam free as well. If I were a teacher I would indefinitely read the newsletters every month. This months newsletter informs teachers about the Apple Learning Interchange (API), which is a great interface because it allows teachers to upload and share lesson ideas and exercises with each other. I would be very interested in API if I were a teacher. Unfortunately there are sixteen states included in the SREB department, and California isn't one of them. The "online professional development" function of the site would definitely appeal to me. I would use this tool a significant amount, and especially as a new teacher. As a handicapped person myself I can appreciate the option of making technology more accessible to students with disabilities. The Evalutech site has six links to different organizations and sites that help make technology more accessible for disables students. If I were a teacher with disables students I would go to the Southeast DBTAC Accessible IT in Education Portal link because it is the best one, and has lots of information and data from the k-12 level. I would also use the "Resources Reviewed by Other Organizations". This page has links to reviews, awards, and research on technology for students. Another really good part of Evalutech is the software evaluation of six companies. I'm guessing that these are six of the biggest companies in the business, and if I were a teacher I would look into these companies indefinitely.