15 Last Blog

For my last blog of the semester I decided to just write about anything that came to my mind, whether or not it's related to technology, classes or even college in general. So once again, since the weather is nice and I'm in a summer mood I think I'll write about that. I am very excited for the end of the semester, which is in 15 days for me. It will be nice to go home, be with my friends and get to relax. It will definately be a strange adjustment, moving back home, and back to rules, but it will be nice too. This summer is going to be particulary great because being away from home taught me to appreciate it more. I live at the Jersey shore, Point Pleasant to be exact, and many of my friends from school vacation in the area. They always ask what its like to go to the beach every day, and if i can surf and things like that. To be honest I don't go to the beach that much, and i don't surf. I spend most of my time poolside, riding bikes and working. I can't wait until this summer though because i am definately going to take advantage of my surroundings. I love school, but there really is no place like home, especially my home.

14 College Students and Technology 2

The past few days here at Marist have been beautiful, the sun shining and it hit 80 degrees. It's funny though because even despite the beauty of the outdoors, students cannot bare to give up there i-pods, laptops, and even video games. days like this are not meant for surfing the Internet, they're for surfing the waves at the beach, witch is why there are no outlets in trees and rocks. It seems so strange to me that people can't give up technology to enjoy nature anymore. I understand when you want to listen to music, i completely agree that any outdoor adventure is improved by the proper play list, but Facebook can stay indoors. That's what rainy days are for anyway, and there's no shortage of them in the Hudson Valley. So if any of my fellow classmates are reading this now, pick up a frisbee, go for or jog, or even just lay out in the sun, but i promise it's OK to disconnect every once in a while. Besides, that's why away messages were invented.

13 Distance learning

In doing research for my portfolio, I looked at a lot of different articles about distance learning. It seems to me like an excellent way to spread the growth of education. Of course there is the problem of getting the technology for such classes. The development of distance learning fits in with the current technology trends today, which is basically, shrinking the world down. Technology makes people in England, or as far as China easy to reach, and just like close neighbors. But back to distance learning. Each Thursday my Learning Through technology Class using Elluminate, an online classroom. We also experimented with second life education. The problem with relying so much on technology is that many students simply don't understand how to use it to it's full advantage. It takes a lot of exploring, trial and error, and hard work to master any type of computer software, but its the same as a video game, and plenty of teenagers today have that down. I think distance learning is definitely going to be great for the future, if it becomes easily accessible, and easy to understand.

12 Creating Lesson Plans, and Getting Ideas Online

Between my Foundations of Education class, and Learning Through Technology class, I have had to write many lesson plans this semester. The Internet has been an excellent resource for me. It's a great place to find creative ideas for lesson plans. Plus, most have been tried out and are rated by other teachers, so you know they work well. You can also find tons of information, pictures and videos to use in a lesson plan you create yourself. Last week in class we looked at United Streaming which is a great resource for teachers. We also used another website, powermediaplus.com which had videos, pictures, and pod casts. The great part about this website was that it could be used to organize and create a lesson plan, and media could be directly attached to it. I made up a lesson plan about the underground Railroad. This ties into my project on websites very well. It shows that not only parent, and students should be able to use websites, but they can be very helpful for teachers as well. They are an excellent way to stay neat and organized, and an excellent resource.

11 Open Source Software

In class we were talking about different types of open source software. While researching for my project on websites, I came acoss Nvu 1.0. Nvu 1.o is a free software download. It is for very basic web design for Windows, Mac and Linux and is available to anyone for download. It is based on Mozilla Composer, and lets users create quick and easy websites, without having to know HTML. The software ALOS includes some more options like JavaScript coding and CSS support. Tech support and documentation are common weaknesses for Nvu. There is a forum for posting questions to other users. You will still need a hosting service to post your website. Some features include WYSIWYG editing of pages, and makes web creation as easy as typing a letter with your word processor. It includes integrated file management via FTP. You just have to login to your web site and navigate through your files, editing web pages directly from your site. There is reliable HTML code creation that will work with all of today's most popular browsers. You can jump between WYSIWYG Editing Mode and HTML using tabs because tabbed editing to makes it easy to work on several pages at once. There is support for forms, tables, and templates. It is the easiest-to-use, most powerful Web Authoring System available for Desktop Linux, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh users.

Career Conference

I was skeptical at first about attending the Career Conference. I have always been pretty set on teaching, and I didn't think that i would find anything very interesting there. I dragged my friend Alicia and we walked around once, looked at the posters, asked a few questions, but really didn't accomplish very much. There were represenatives from Target, The Gap, RiteAid Pharmacy, Madison Square Garden, NYPD, and many other companies. There was also a ton of free pens, candy and other handouts to entice the students. Then Alicia ran into her Rugby coach, and she told us about who she was representing. She was from an organization called ability deyond disability. The position she told us about was that of a Life Skills Instructor. Th job consists of helping disabled people become involved in their communities. They participate in work, recrations, leisure time, and volunteering opertunities. They create a safe and friendly environment, and make sure the days run smoothly. Some events include the Penguin Plunge or The chrysalis Gala. It's a demanding job, but definately a fulfilling opertunity. I think next time I visit I will be more prepared, with more questions, and a resume. I would have liked to have done a littl more preparation for the event, but it was still a helpful expiriance.

10 How the internet is "flattening" the world

With technology as it is today, people are able to travel the world without every really leaving their own homes. With streaming video and vivid digital photography it is easy to see anything you really want. Granted of course nothing beats the actual experience. It is amazing what technology today can do. In class we talked briefly about how some McDonalds orders are received and placed in India. I'm sure a lot of people complain that this is taking away American jobs and hurting the economy. However it seems to me if they had to go to so much trouble to develop technology to make this occur, then obviously no one here was jumping at those jobs in the first place. This is true with a lot of major corporations as well. When you need help fixing a computer or something like that, many times you end up speaking to representatives from all around the world, while sitting in your own home office. This technology could also be used in education. Classes and lessons could be held and attended by anyone at any time. This provides endless opertunities, if the technology is easily accessible. If not, then i guess it's back to square one. But it's no doubt that technology will thrive and grow and create endless possibilities for us all.

9 Using games in class

I've been doing a lot of research on how to implement websites and the internet into class. For example in my high school French class we would use games and online quizzes to reinforce what we learned in class. When I was younger I would always play games on the computer that involved simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I was having fun, as well as learning. Now many classrooms are well equipped with computers and the internet. Or at least most schools have compute labs with such a set up. When kids use games to learn, most of them don't realize the benefits. Many just see that they're playing a game, not memorizing addition facts. Computer games are a lot more accessible now if the internet is available. The trick is teaching kids what is helpful, and what is just fun. Using internet games helps children surf the web at a young age, and prepares them when they get older when they need to filter information for a paper or project. Board games were great, as were flash cards, but today all kids want is technology. Hopefully the old methods won't become completely obsolete, just revised.

8 Technology in the Classroom

Over Spring Break I did some observation at my old elementary school. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the classrooms were equipped. each classroom had desktop computers, and each teacher had their own laptop. They used their laptop to create lesson plans and do research for class work. One teacher had her computer hooked up to a projection screen and she was able to show her students a Venus Fly Trap, when one of the children asked what it was. The Library had been converted from an index card organization system, to a catalog on the computer. The computer lab was in the process of getting updated machinery, and the students were busy intalling and updating software. The middle school students carried around Thinkpads with them at all times. Thinkpads are compact keybords with a small screen. The students can type on them, and then hook them up to a computer at a later date to upload their work. There are efficient, they don't take up a lot of space and are very useful. I was most surprised when i walked into my kindergarten classroom. When I was in kindergarten we had a loft that had cassette players, now there are 4 desktop computers up there. It was refreshing to see that even if not much has changed as far as the teachers and lessons at St. Peter's, at least they technology is being updated and incorporated into the curriculum.

7 Digital Photography

Over the past few weeks my Mom has been begging me to send her pictures of the snow and of the Frozen River, and thanks to digital photography, she is able to see what i wake up to every morning. I love taking pictures and after I got a digital camera for my 17th birthday, I became official photographer of any events where I had a camera. It's great being able to edit out red eye, crop pictures and print out what quantity and size I need on my own time. I'm not sure if it really saves me any money between buying photo ink and paper, but it has taught me a lot about computer programs and printer options. Even with simple software any picture can be edited, distorded, added to or anything like that. Last year i was editor for my school yearbook and it was the first year we began to use digital photography. We had one team picture, the ice hockey team, where a player was missing. They left a space for him in the photo and then took another seperate photo of him a different day. We were able to paste the individual into the group shot virtually seamlessly. It was much easier for layout and design when you could see the photos right on the moniter. It was a big step for our school's yearbook, and it made the process of cropping pictures, and organizing pages a lot cleaner, more organized and simple. Digital photography is definately one technology I couldn't imagine not having. The "old method" seems virtually obsolete now.

6 Power Point and Word

In grammer school I learned how to use programs such as Microsoft Word and Power Point, but since then I have learned both of these programs are both more complicated and useful. Before this class I never knew about many of the features of these programs. For example in grade school I learned how to make a simple pwere point presentation with slide transitions, text and graphics. Lately I've been discovering a lot of other great tools that are part of powerpoint. You can use it to publish a website, show movies and make a great game of jeopardy. I have also learned a lot more about Word, and Excel including how to make graphs, flow charts, tables and all sorts of visual aids. Schools should teach students more then just the basics of these programs, because most students don't know about all these features. The problem could be that many instructors don't know the full extent of the programs either. Most programs come with instruction manuals as thick as phone books, and no one wants to read all of that. There are many "Dummy" books that try to make these programs easier to understand. As time goes on the programs continue to get updated, but the consumers fail to keep up so many of the benefits are lost. So I guess my point is that everyone should explore these programs a little more. There are lots of simple ways to get creative witht them.

5 Technology In College: Resaerch

One of my good friends really surprised me this morning when she asked me "How do I find outside sources for my paper?" I of course assumed that this is the kind of thing that everyone learned to do in high school. She needed to find "Scholorly articles." for her paper. She said she had been using google, but wasn't sure what articles were considered scholoarly. Luckily for her, i had just gone over this in class. I told her a few quick things like addresses ending in .edu or .gov were usually pretty reliable. I also explained to her how a website like "wikipedia" would not be a good rescource because anyone can go in and edit the information.
Being confused by what's "good information" and what's "bad information" makes sense. It is hard to tell who is a professional and who is just making stuff up. At Marist, it's easy to find good information because so many of the texts that are found in the library can be found directly online. Then you know what you are finding is legitimate information.
Tonight I also learned about a website called www.whois.com which gives information about the publisher of the website. The most common example to show how deceiving websites can be is www.martinlutherking.org. What seems like an informative website, is actually headed by a white supremacy group. If you searched "Martin Luther King" through Google this website would come up. Most people wouldn't notice such a mistake. So I guess the point of my blog this week is that everyone should be taught how to research online and find the best sources for their project.

Second Life Education Buildings

After exploring Secondlife for a while, I did eventually figure out where to find some educational buildings. I searched topics such as "classroom," "campus" and "education" and finally got to explore a little.

First I went to "Edunation" . There I discovered "The Consultants-E". I even managed to get a picture ...
The main purpose of this building is to help companies and higher education institutions use instructional technology, design online courses andhelp to train educators in online teaching and learning. They also screen other online recources and help teachers learn how to use them. aThe Consultants-E have woked since the mid-1990s and in 2003 they became a limited company. What's good about "Edunation is that it is PG so students' don't have to worry about nudity, obscenities etc. It is strictly a learning environment.

Another location that I visited was a location for Seminars. Here is a picture of it...Now to be quite honest i wasn't sure exactly what to do here at first. However if you search around, you will find a small laptop which has a choice of slide shows on it. My guess is that an educator could put together a slide show and either a class, or anyone who is interested could watch it on the big screen. This feature i will have to look into more. I think the reason second life may not be the best learning environment is it can be confusing. It almost offers too much. You would need someone very knowledgable to intruct people on how to get where they need to go.

I teleported to several different areas including a few art museums. I went to one, The Linden Gallery of Resident Art, which i liked most. I'm not sure if you could consider them a learning environment, but I would. It's a way for people to see and learn about art without having to take a trip to big museums in NYC. It may not be Monet, but all art can be appreciated. As for learning. Students may have to write up critiques. There may even be a way for those who are interested in digital design to post thier own works and begin to create a portfolio. Or it could simply be a fun and relaxing learning expirience.

Finally I traveled to Campus Second Life. If you search "campus" you will come across anything from virtual NYU to Wizard schools. There were 33 classes at the campus including "Exploring Creative Writing," "Contemporary Performance" and dozens of others. This location we offers teachers some land on a temporary basis to use as a 'headquarters' for their class to meet. Details about Campus: Second Life can be found here: http://www.secondlife.com/csl. On Campus there is a public meeting area, a sandbox for building, a pictureboard for sharing photos, and a sculpture garden.

I still say that second life is grat oppertunity for learning. It is easy to access, and once you get the hang of navigating, ver efficient. There are thousands of people willing to teach there skills and even more who are already using this program to learn. To me it seems safe, especially with the many pg areas. Many places also have rules to which you abide like a regular citizen. I am definately pro secondlife education, and i hope that maybe i will get to "take a class" with it too. If you want to read up on it at all, check out this link http://secondlife.com/education.

Teaching Video

This week we watched a video on a teacher's first year at school. Jennifer is an eager and excited first grade teacher who is ready to take on her job. The video shoes how she prepare before the school year starts, how she deals with parents on the first day, plans future lessons, and takes care of her class. It also showed some of her student teaching experiences. It follows through how she handles school life and home life including a new addition to her family and tries to find a balance (and time to sleep).You can find the video at this link http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4196998872085873728&q=first+year+teacher&hl=en.
At first I was a little shocked by the video, the way they spoke about the first year of teaching and took a negative attitude towards was intimidating. However, my mom is a teacher, so I heave heard from her both the good and bad about teaching. Whether it be troublesome students, overbearing principals or long hours, I've seen my Mom work through it all. I can't say that this video really changed my perspective on teaching. I know that it is going to be tough especially the first year. It will be a lot of work to build a portfolio.
As for dealing with parents, it was good to see that they were receptive to a young teacher. I think as long as you are prepared, parents will trust you. She prepared well for the parents and was able to answer their questions. She was also able to keep her students in check as well. She taught them lots of songs, and encouraged their get togethers like Halloween. As a teacher, seeing students have fun and sing and learn is the most rewarding thing. I think Jennifer definitely has her priorities strait when it comes to teaching.
A few other teachers and administrators had positive things to say about Jennifer, and teaching in general. One teacher described the first year as a "bear." But that is to be expected. The teacher who helped Jennifer with her student teaching told about how creative Jennifer was, how enthusiastic she was and how that is often the case in new teachers. They had positive feedback about how Jennifer re-evaluated lessons. She knows when to speed up, slow down, and go over things again.
I liked Jennifer's comment about how there would not be doctors or lawyers without teachers. I know that my parents were skeptical at first about my major choice. But i continue to remind them about the benefits of teaching both intrinsic and extrinsic. I do worry about "teacher burnout" but i could see that happening in any career. Hopefully I will never have to deal with a situation like that.
Overall I think that Jennifer did a good job handleing her students especially while being pregnant. She was good with her students about telling her students about the baby, handleing pagents at school, and taking care of discipline and learning as well.

4 Technology in College: Second Life

In my learning through technology class we are working with the virtual world known as Second Life. It is more or less a virtual world where you create your own character ad live as that person. You can explore, get a job, buy land, and do basically anything that you could do in real life. It could also be used as way to educate. A teacher could set up a virtual classroom where students from all around the world could meet. I personally think it is a great way to educate. You can "meet" people and interact with them safely. Of course as with anything else a student would have to be careful about sharing information, but that is just common sense. I myself have not done a lot with second life, but I plan on getting more into it as the class progresses. Some people argue that second life is not a good educational tool because of the innapropriate content that it contains. However I beleive that if a portion of the world was regulated and used specifically for schools, it would not be a problem. After all, such things occur in the real world and teenagers learn to deal with them.

3 Technology in College: "YouTube" and digital video

I had never really visited the website "YouTube" until getting into college. I have to say it is not only interesting but entertaining. In the beginning of the fall semester, my friends and I loved recording videos and watching them online. I also used it as a way to "Introduce" my friends at college to my friends back home. It was as instantaneous as using a web cam, but it still got the point across. I've also used "YouTube" in a few of my classes while doing presentations. I am a visual learner so being able to sow a film clip that goes along with what i am presenting always seems to help. It can make a topic seem clearer, show an example, or even provide some comic relief. For example, last semester I used some videos I had found about airbags for a project. The first demonstrated how airbags deploy in an accident. The second showed what happens in a car without airbags. The third was simply a humorous clip of an old woman hitting a mans car with her purse, causing his airbags to deploy. All the videos went over well and were an interesting way to get the point across. Using digital videos, or videos that are online are much more efficient then using a video camera. In high school I often did video projects, and many times, the cables weren't correct, or the TV did not have the proper jacks. It was always frustrating. However technology is ever evolving and making tasks even simpler. As I read in chapter one though, things are sure to change again rapidly and digital video may one day become obsolete.

2 Technology In College: Online Classes

Last semester I was enrolled in a hybrid class, half online half in class, but it was very confusing so I dropped it after two classes. This semester I found myself in a similar situation, except this time I plan on sticking with the class. My Learning through Technology class is sometimes taught online, and last week we used a program called "Elluminate" where we could chat with each other, view a power point, and follow our professor to other websites as well. It was pretty cool and definitely a great way to learn. Two of my friends watched and sat around as I listened to the lecture and watched the PowerPoint. Neither had ever seen any class taught like it before. This shos that technology is not always being used to its full potential. They both agreed that it was a creative and effective way to learn. After all a class about technology should include lots of hands on experience. That is what is good about this class so far. In addition to meeting online, we post a weekly blog. This also exposes us to more uses of the Internet. It is one thing to sit in class and take notes for hours. real learning occurs only when you apply what you are learning.

1 Technology in college: the internet

Technology is very helpful now that I'm in college, specifically the Internet. My family and friends from home love to send me e-mails or chat with me on instant messenger. My aunt in particular is always sending me e-cards and online jokes. I also use "Facebook" to keep in touch with my old classmates. My graduating class also has a database where our e-mail addresses are located so it's easy to get in touch with each other for reunions and just to hang out. "Facebook" is great for communicating ideas on campus as well. The first time i talked to my roommate was on "Facebook". It was a lot less awkward then a phone conversation. I got to see what she was interested in, what she looked like and other things like that. In a class i had last semester we also wrote a weekly blog as a way to get to know each other. It was a lot of fun, and a good learning experience because I had never done anything like it before. I can't imagine being at Marist without all the technology that surrounds us every day especially the Internet. For example, when working on research projects last semester, I did a lot of research online. I hope that libraries won't become obsolete, but online periodicals, encyclopedias, and criticisms are all easily found online. The Internet provides almost instant satisfaction when it comes to keeping in touch with everyone back home. It also helps keep my cell phone bill low, which is something my dad loves. Everyone benefits from the Internet in my family.

My first Blog

Hey everyone, my name is Julia And this is my first blog. I've never had one befor, so i hope you enjoy reading it!