Week 13 Reflection-online application review

After playing with numerous items for this week’s reflection, I have finally (and rather difficultly) chosen the two applications that I think are my favorites. I must say that all the items I played with are very worthy of recommending for one or more reasons, the following two just happen to be my favorite.



After playing with many applications in Office Suites, I must say that I am very partial to Google Docs. I have previously used Google Docs and even did my Screencast assignment on using Google Docs, but I still really think it is one of the most useful applications in the Office Suites program. My school district uses Gmail as our email provider, and Google Docs is part of that program package, so it is widely used in our district. Maybe I am more partial to this program because I am more familiar with it and am pretty good at using it, but I truly do see its great benefits and can say that it is very user friendly. I use Google Docs at school AND for personal use, too. I think there are some great features that are used within Google Docs. If you are not familiar with Google Docs and you are interested in finding out more, I encourage you to watch this shirt tutorial video, “Google Docs in Plain English,” which is posted on the Internet. I also inserted this in my screencast as part of my video. If you are interested please watch the video at: http://vodpod.com/watch/240934-google-docs-in-plain-english. By using Google Docs, it simplifies and organizes all the emails and documents you want to send and receive into one document, rather than sending multiple copies all over the place. It also organizes it into one email, with all the responses being sent back and forth throughout the same individual email. HIGHLY recommend using Google Docs in both work and/or home settings. After learning about it through my school district and playing with all the wonderful features, I even became a Gmail user mainly for being able to use Google Docs. It makes it easier to send documents to and from work after finding and creating things on my own personal computer. It is a great program that really does simplify things!


I also played with all of the image editing tools, and very much liked them all. I did however seem to gravitate more toward Picnik. I now have it saved as a favorite on my home computer….and will most do the same thing at school, too! There are so many editing tools that you can use with your pictures in this program. They are super fun to play with and create “new” pictures out of existing ones. For example, I had a couple pictures of my cat saved on my computer. I simply uploaded a couple and while playing around with the tools in the Picnik program I have created some pretty funny pictures of my cat that I am going to use on a Christmas Card this year. I know, he is a cat, but I have no children, so he is like my “fur-child.” My favorite picture is displayed below…I was able to add a hat, Rudolph red nose, and crop the picture to the size I wanted. There are so many other features to use, too. I actually put a white beard on Cozmo while playing and it was HILARIOUS, but I didn’t save it on the photo for my card. I am actually going to try using this with my third graders in the future. We are not quite to that point yet, but we will be shortly after returning from Christmas break. We need to get through the last couple lessons of Word and PowerPoint before moving on to this. I am going to have the kids find a picture from the Internet (Google images most likely) of some sort of animal, etc., then we are going to learn how to upload and “play with” adding funny features to our pictures. We will end by printing them and displaying on one of the tack strips in the hallway by the computer lab. I am excited to see what the kids come up with. I highly recommend using Picnik for any use, whether it may be school or home!

Week 11...Website

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

Here is the link to my classroom website.  I have created this to be able to actually use with my classroom/parents.  I am putting the website address in my next newletter and I plan on updating it as I move through the year.  I think this was a GREAT project and I already have lots of uses for it.  It is so fun to "play" with and direct to activities going on in my classroom and school. 

Concept Mapping: Week 10

 For years, the school district I work at does a Thanksgiving Group presentation with third graders, along with a feast of foods from the first Thanksgiving.  It is a very big deal that all the third graders participate in.  We begin at least 2 weeks in advance by mixing the kids up among all the third grade teachers into various groups.  Each group is assigned to a specific teacher that they work with three days per week for 30-45 minute sessions.  The groups that are listed on the map above are the five groups they are split up into.  Under each of the five groups, I created a couple questions for the kids to see that we are trying to find answers to.  Although each child will only be working in one of the groups, I still like to show the third grade as a whole all the topics we will be learning about, even if it is not the group they are assigned to.  Regardless of the group they are in, they will still hear all the presentations from other groups (presented in basic powerpoints, with pictures, visuals, etc) and have to listen for 4-5 facts from each group to record on paper to hand in for a Social Studies grade.  I think this map will be a great way for the kids to see all the groups and what the main questions are that we are asking them to find. 

When all the research and group work is complete, we get together as a whole class to share all of our presentations and visuals, we eat a Thanksgiving Feast together (we usually have 4-5 turkey's made, cornbread, our own whipped butter that the kids help make with the hand churn, corn, popcorn, cucumbers, venison, fish - all the foods from the first Thanksgiving).  All the teachers from the school are invited to the feast, where the kids are dressed as with pilgrims or Indians.  It is a very big deal and a great way to celebrate right before Thanksgiving break!  We then wrap the day up by playing some of the games one of the groups came up with as a whole group.  It is a great (and stressful for teachers) tradition that is worth all the time that gets put into it!

Screencast: Week 9

I decided to create this tutorial video mainly for other teachers in my district.  This year our district switched email services over to Gmail, which is a Google email account.  All teachers use Gmail to send and recieve emails.  There are many extra and cool features that are offered within Gmail, one of them being Google Docs.  As the year progresses, many documents are sent to us in Google Docs and many teachers are still unsure of how to manage the feature.  I thought that making a tutorial video would be a great way to share some "tips" with other teachers in my district.  I found the video that is added in the screencast (How to Use Google Docs in Plain English) to be very helpful.  I will be sharing this with the rest of my staff and I hope that some of my classmates find this helpful, too!  Although I hate my voice in the video, it works!  Enjoy!!!

Google Maps - week 7

View Larger Map

I have lots of “lessons” in mind that I would love to teach to my third graders. We have actually looked at Google Earth in class before, but have not specifically used Google Maps. One thing that I would love to do with my kids is to have them start by typing in their own address for the starting point, then use the destination point as our school address. Once the kids have created that simple map, I would have them print their maps. The next step would be for the kids to type specific directions (using north, east, south, west, right, left, etc.) of the steps to take from getting from point A to point B in Microsoft Word. I can’t wait to try this lesson with my kids, as we are studying cardinal and intermediate directions in Social Studies, and we have been working on our typing skills in Microsoft Word each week in the computer lab.


Another lesson that I think would be very cool would be to map out a walking trail of the Wise Farm Preserve, which is a nature center that our school district owns. The center is located just outside of town and we can take free field trips to the Wise Farm at any time throughout the year. Classes go there for fun picnics, leaf collecting and tree identifying, finding organisms, etc. There is a vast majority of things that classes have access to out there that are educational. I would LOVE to have kids be able to pull the Wise Farm up on Google Maps and map out the trail they are going to walk, or on the other hand after we did the walk I would like to have them map out the trail they already walked afterward. I have not figured out how to get the one specific location that zoomed in to conduct something like this …if anyone has a suggestion please feel free to let me know. That would be the lesson I would like to do the best, but the other one listed above would be very fun, too. I could even give the kids a Social Studies grade on the accuracy of their map description!



*For the map above I typed in my own address for the starting point and ended with the school address.

Podcasts

Below is a link to a website that contains numerous podcasts about using an interactive Smartboard...

http://teachingwithsmartboard.com/

I chose this particular site of podcasts because our entire school district recently purchased Smartboards for all classes, K-12.  The boards are very new to the teachers and some are hesitant to use them.  Many teachers do not know the potential of what these boards can do.  The numerous podcasts on the link above are ALL about the Smartboard.  The podcasts vary from how to use the baord, creating certain lessons, using various tools in the Smartboard, etc.  One of my particular favorites is the 50th episode, which lists the top 50 favorite things about the Smartboard (according to the podcasters).  There are many interesting podcasts within this site.  I will be referring teachers in my building to check this site out!  ENJOY!

You Tube video #2....week 6

I love, love, LOVE this song...especially this version by Carrie Underwood.

Google Maps...week 6

View Larger Map

This is a satellite view of the school district I work at...Hopkins Public Schools.

Embedding Videos..week 6

Static Images...week 6

I LOVE tigers...and when I found htis picture thought I'd post it!

Reminds me of "Finding Nemo" . . . DUDE!

If only our view always looked this peaceful.

Flickr page...

Week 5:
Here is the link to get to my Flickr page...enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heatherfuss/

Delicious website...

Hello classmates!  Here is the link to my new Delicious page...

http://www.delicious.com/heather.fuss

I already have some educational sites posted.  Some that I use frequently, some new!  Enjoy!!!

Wiki Site

My wiki site can be viewed at:  http://heatherfuss.pbworks.com/FrontPage

After reading "What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software," O'Reilly talks about seven different principles that make up the Web 2.0. On page two of the article the second principle is that Web 2.0 harnesses collective intelligence.  I think that this means that the web no longer displays information that is published by certain media agencies, such as Web 1.0 previously did, and that information is currently being created by users of Web 2.0 themselves.  Today you can find SO much information that covers about any topic you can think of.  Practically anything you want to find information on, you can these days!  Anyone can view O’Reilly’s article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

   One website that comes to my mind when thinking about this is Wikipedia.  Wikipedia can be found at http://www.wikipedia.org/.  At this website you can find all kinds of information, add information to existing documents, and even edit information.  Wikipedia is an on-line encyclopedia that is always changing, as things in the world around us are constantly doing.  O'Reilly states that the lesson here is "Network effects from user contributions are the key to market dominance in the Web 2.0 era." (p.2)

Another great example that fits O’Reilly’s suggestions is Yahoo or Google.  These both began as a way for millions of internet users to easily find information on a particular topic, but now has since developed numerous topics with a wide range of information to be collected.  Both of these search engines are very popular and produce such a wide range of information to users that its limits are near impossible. Yahoo can be found at:  http://www.yahoo.com/ and Google can be found at: http://www.google.com/. 

Week 2 Reflections

Heather Fuss

EDT 5410

Dr. Horvitz

Blogs: I have to admit that this is the very first blog that I have ever created and used.  I have seen other blogs created by friends before, but have never used my own.  So far, I have really enjoyed using a blog.  As I become more and more familiar with using a blog, I think that I will create another blog for personal use after the class is done.  It is a great tool to keep people updated on various things, especially family and friends that live far away.  I have been thinking about the idea of using a personal blog for work related purposes.  I am a third grade teacher and it is amazing some of the stories you can tell about the funny and creative things your students do.  I think keeping a blog would be a great way to share of the stories and experiences with family, friends, and even other teachers.  I also have really enjoyed having the RSS reader on my blog.  It makes it so much easier to see new items and articles that I would normally “hunt” for individually.  Another feature I really like about the RSS feed is that it shows you headlines so you can decide right then and there if you want to pursue reading the article or not.  It sure is convenient!  My experience to date, although short, has been a very god one.  I haven’t had any “technical difficulties” yet (not to my knowledge anyway), which has made the process go as smooth as possible.  This has been a very enjoyable and fun thing to create so far.

Blogs/RSS Feed & Dale’s Cone of Experience: I feel that both blogs and RSS feeds fit in more than one area of the Cone.  I think that the part of the Cone they both fit in the most is the Direct Purposeful Experiences section.  I think that both items fit well here because using blogs and RSS feeds are direct, firsthand experiences that are helping make up the foundation of our learning.  The experience that we are getting by actually using the blogs and RSS feed are both of “educational value and they are leading us in a purposefully to an objective or goal,” (Dale, 1969).  Another reason I feel that blogs and RSS feeds fit well in this part of the cone is because without having the hands on experience in setting them up and actually using them, we may not truly understand how they work and function.  Direct Purposeful Meaning gives us that opportunity.  I also feel that the blog and RSS fits into Visual Symbols on the cone.  I feel that blogs are appropriately placed in this part of the cone because they can give you a sort of timeline to follow.  As you update and post things on your blog, you can follow along by date on a daily basis.  If a person is using their blog daily, or even weekly, to update on specific topics there is a clear timeline to follow the events.  The RSS feed tends to resemble a sort of chart that has important pieces of information (they are also in order by date).  All the information in an RSS feed is placed in an easy to read way without taking the time to look up each individual site to find topics that are of importance to you. 

Blogs/RSS Feed & Computer Imagination: After reading through Siegel’s article “Falling Asleep at Your Keyboard: The Case for Computer Imagination,” I think a blog would work well with students to share information with other school districts, or even districts in other states/countries.  This seems to be more feasible for high school students to have more access to on a daily basis in a computer class of some sort, but I think it CAN be done at any level.  Blogging can cover various writing topics that need to be addressed in schools, and even be taken as grades.  Students can also learn how to add sound, pictures, video, etc. to their blogs, which also hit on various technology standards that are to be taught in various grade levels.  Not only can blogs be beneficial for student learning, but it is also a great way to teach them about tools that they have access to through the internet.  Blogs can be used for a variety of assignments to be completed and graded electronically, saving on paper at the same time!

RSS Feeds can be used in a student setting to find specific information related to school topics in a filtered manner.  Having an RSS Feed presents information in a clear and appropriate manner.  It also presents information in a timeline, as well.  By only showing important headings, students can easily scroll through to look for certain topics that they know may be somewhere on their feed.  I believe this would make their work and progress less time consuming, as well as being able to be edited more closely by the teacher in the classroom. 

Week 1 Reading Reflection

After reading both assigned articles, I have many different thoughts and questions arise. When looking over Beyond Technology Integration: The Case for Technology Transformation (Reigeluth, 2002), the first statement that really stuck out to me was “To date, technology has had minimal impact on K-12 education in the United States.” Although I know this article was written quite a few years ago, I totally disagree with this statement. When I look at the school that I teach at, each and every classroom is equipped with numerous forms of technology. Each classroom (K-12) has an interactive Starboard, document camera, voice enhancement, projector, etc. Granted, we did not have all this equipment at the time the article was written, but there was still some form of technology at that time. I absolutely agree that technology enhances a classroom setting and allows teachers to “transform teaching methods in ways that can result in a quantum improvement in learning.” I think technology is a very powerful tool that should be used to its fullest potential!




One statement that I do agree with in this article is that “Society is undergoing massive changes that are creating new educational needs and new educational tools that both require and enable a new, learning-focused paradigm of education …” I think that we have come a long way in the past years when it comes to integrating technology into the classroom. It amazes me to see the tools I have available now as a teacher compared to the tools we had in the classroom while I was still in school. Each year it seems that there is more and more out there to enhance the learning experience for the classroom. I think the massive changes can be very fun and exciting for many teachers, but for others it can also be overwhelming and scary. I think that the way the new technology is presented and used is a huge indicator of how teachers will put it to use. To me it all goes back to the professional development…if the new technology is presented in a clear cut manner and has continuous tech help as it is being used, it will more than likely be accepted easier and quicker.



After reading Of Luddites, Learning, and Life (Postman, 1993), I thought the article was much more “entertaining” than the first. I can relate technology in our school to Postman’s example with the Honda Accord. I can see how this example is related to a strong question that is debated still today… is all the new technology really solving the problems in education? I would describe myself as one of the more advanced technology using teachers in my school district, but I can also tell you that I cannot keep up with ALL the new technology programs and tools. I do think that technology is a great thing and I am all for it, but sometimes it sure seems like it can be too much!



I must say that I do agree with multiple points made in Postman’s article. I really like how he used everyday situations to tie into educational technology issues. I thought it was well written and thought out…even if it is rather old for a technology article!