Blog 16: Entering a Credential Program

I've now entered an online teaching credential program at National University. I just love learning online. I also have received my Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit and recently passed my Algebra, Geometry, and (hopefully) Calculus CSET tests. I am really looking forward to having my own classes and have already started thinking of inciteful wall decorations for a math classroom.

Check out my filamentality page for learning about polynomial addition: http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listpolynomiac.html (A math sheet that's a Word document and uses Microsoft Objects to produce math symbols for the equations goes with this web page btw.)

Blog #15: Concluding the Technology Class

I had a great albeit frustrating time learning about technology. I think that just the nature of technology makes it difficult for anyone to continue to know everything about technology, since it changes every second. The course content taught me a variety of software and internet tools to use in my classroom. Instead of entering into teaching wondering how I'm going to create a cute web site for my classes listing all the homework, I know how to do this. I also know how to do this quite professionally.

The instructor gave us very thorough instructions which I tried to follow carefully. In team projects this was more difficult to do, but I tried my best to find a way to follow the directions. I think with the video project there were some direction issues. 1) Students should be strongly encouraged to buy computer sticks with 1+Gigabytes to make their movies portable. 2) The reflection document submission instruction is incorrect. It says to use WebCT mail when the instructor wants it submitted through the assignments submission area.

In regards to the Blogs, the instruction to "respond to 2 classmates blogs" is unclear. This statement does not state "respond to 2 current classmates blogs." I got docked a few times for responding to older blogs, since few classmates had done their blog for the week when I was responding to blogs. If all the classmates do their blogs at 11pm on Tuesday, how is it possible to respond to "current" blogs which actually is never stated, accept verbally. I think that this response requirement needs to be restated more clearly and rethought about the feasibility of it.

With all things considered, the instructor did a marvelous job of teaching. She generally had excellent and specific instructions to follow. The above are just areas that could be improved upon. I was also amazed at how responsive the instructor is to our questions via WebCT e-mail. I'm impressed. She really puts her heart and hard work into her teaching. Cheers to a great technology class!

Blog #14: I-Movies & Articles

Although the filming of the I-Movie was fun, the editing of it was not. Interfacing my Cannon digital camera was a bear and Cannon's website did not support the camera with software, so we couldn't work on it on Wednesday night. Once I downloaded the film clips at home and brought it to the computer lab, we finally got it downloaded to the desktop and started editing it. Our sound attachment broke, so we rescheduled a team meeting on Saturday. Some thoughtless instructor scheduled an all day seminar in our computer lab on Saturday without putting it on the lab schedule!!! We waited and waited for a break in his class, but the maverick instructor never stopped talking!!! So we did our blogs while we waited for a lunch break and downloaded the i-movie on a stick with a lot of memory that Ian brought in. I think as a team we created a magnificent i-Movie.
It just was hard as heck to do with all the comedy of errors. I-Movie is an easy movie editing software. I've used another movie editing software that Cannon supplies which is not easy to use. I really liked the different layers for sound. That was awesome! Each sound clip could have the volume adjusted to blend well with the rest of the sound. I also liked how the clipping of clips was soooo easy. It was easy to pull the clips around to position them properly. I liked the transition and clip effects on the software as well. These effects were quite easy to use once we could get to the computer that we had created our movie on. Oh, the special effects were fabulous. I loved how the rain could be blown around by wind! To cool!!!
I think that there has GOT to be more instructions on what students need to download their i-Movies onto, so that the movies are portable from the beginning. Saving to the desktop in the lab is definitely NOT the way to save. I can't repeat enough how frustrating waiting to get the movie off the desktop was. The windbag just kept going on and on. We did get other 422 assignments completed while we waited.
The Article, Splicing Video into the Writing Process by Tammy Pandina and Diane Harding was interesting. I felt that they had "too many cooks in the kitchen." They should have had different groups in the class do different educational content standards for their state. That way the students would have to wear more hats when creating these i-Movies and learned more about storyboards, scripting, editing, filming, acting, etc. By doing several different content standards the films could educate all the groups during the final film viewings. This not only would teach the students how to create i-Movies, but teach them the curriculum for the course. This is parallel scheduling, a typical project management technique---"killing two birds with one stone" as they say.
I enjoyed the enthusiasm that the teachers displayed, but I felt that there was too much effort on the students' part to learn a very narrow section of creating an i-Movie. Their final project also only met one content standard. I don't know how these teachers could sell to their administration so much time to this class project. How were these students ever going to meet all their content standards and prepare for national testing that would rate their school? If these teachers had been more creative with their planning multiple film projects that covered multiple content standards, it would be an easier sell to the administration and benefit the students and school even more.
I realize that this is a callous viewpoint to such a wonderful start to using technology in the classroom, but I've experienced and seen a lot of great ideas that were badly implemented and failed miserably. Better initial planning per project management techniques is more successful than maverick approaches. Education is not a place where maverick approaches should be used. I know personally about that. I was part of the experimental generation of California students that never learned how to diagram sentences, because someone decided that we would be better served just writing and learning while we wrote. We became the laughing stock of the nation for being stupid at English. We were more creative in our approaches to writing and turned out better pieces. We just had weak sentence construction.
As far as viewing other classmates' i-movies, I've been waiting for these movies to be published, but my WebCT does not show any available for viewing. I have no comments about this topic, since I have no information.

Blog #13: Databases

The World Wide Web article was very informative. I found it interesting that there are html tutorial sites on the web. I also found it interesting that the web is interactive and html is just a fixed page. I know so little about html. I guess that it's a good thing that so many new software packages from Ciris and Microsoft can bypass the need to know html in making web pages for your classroom. I wonder how teachers today store their web pages, since they are too large to store on their computers?

The Americas Presidents article was intriguing. I liked the idea of having a database where students can all participate and add data to it. Can you imagine how powerful that database will be after years of various students entering in data? I'll have to think carefully about what type of database would be appropriate for my math classrooms, so that I can build on that database year after year.

The Bells and Whistles article taught me a lot of jargon. I always thought of pop-ups as irritating advertisements. Now I know that there is another usage of that word---a field that has choices that pop up and are to be selected with no alterations possible. I didn't know what a value list is. I've used them a number of times filling out this application and paying that online bill. I did know about check boxes since I've used them in my marketing surveys when getting a marketing certificate. We would have drop down menus for certain check boxes selected on our product surveys to determine which demographic would be most inclined to buy our product.

All in all I thought the articles on databases very helpful. I look forward to the ease of the new database and web page softwares that will make my technology life so much easier!

Blog #12: Abiding by Copyright Laws

I found the article Schools, the Internet, and Copyright Law by Nancy Willard to be very useful. It had several examples of how to properly convey copyright law concepts to students using the computer system. I loved the tool of teaching the students the value of copyrights by having them copyright material on the teacher's website. Once the students understand the value of copyrights and how copyrights protect them, they will probably not violate someone else's copyright. The article also had a great example of how to solicit permission to use a copyright for a specific educational purpose. That was quite useful.
"The Internet is not in the public domain!" per the article, Copyright Law and New Technologies Part 3 of an Education World series on copyright and fair use by by Linda Starr. I know that I have been guilty of copying pictures and putting them into my Project Management Power Point presentations. Oooops! I was also shocked by this article on some of the items listed as violating copyright laws, "deep-linking to an interior page of a site. Bypassing advertising or identifying information on a site's main page may deprive the copyright owner of revenue." This completely makes sense, but I just had never processed the loss of profits before for the party who has the website. I'm guilty again! I liked her final line, "When in doubt, ask permission!"
The article, SOFTWARE PIRATE GUILTY OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT UNDER NET ACT was quite illuminating. I had no idea that there were organizations that were self designated software pirates and proud of it like the Pirates With Attitude. I'm glad that the penalties for software piracy reimburse the victim twice the gross gain to the perpetrator or twice the gross loss to the victim depending on what's greater. Usually, the perpetrator goes to jail and the victim just loses money. This is a modern legal consequence that I really appreciate.
With all things considered, copyright laws are important to understand and follow. As educators we should be the front line regarding dissemination of copyright laws, since our students are future creators of copyrighted material. By teaching them the value of copyrights to protect their works, they will appreciate the values of copyrights to others.

Blog 11: Bridging the Digital Divide

The first part of the article discusses schools not having classroom computers and students not having computers at home. At my kids' grade school they had computer labs. These labs were not available to students before and after school, even though there was a minority of economically challenged students. The computer lab time only occurred if the school technical aid had scheduled time for the class or a technically savvy parent like me taught the class how to use programs to enhance their computer skills (typing) so that they could type their assignments using a computer.
I typically see in my classroom observations only one computer and it is for only the teacher to use. I did see about ten computers at a minority school in the classroom. I was happy that they had time to learn how to use the web to find subject matter for their assignments. Typically schools with higher levels of income did not have more than one computer. They must assume that there are computers at every home. That assumption leaves the minority lower income students at a disadvantage.
There's a lot of educational software out there that is not extensive or alluring enough for the students to benefit from it. There are ways to gain funding to purchase software, but who is evaluating it and is it evaluated with student input? The Digital Divide is a real issue, and I liked how the article touched on many technology issues that are prevalent today.
I was a bit frustrated with getting to the appropriate screens on the Filamentality web site, but eventually I figured it out and became quite good at navigating the site. I loved using the Filamentality program, too, and will definitely use it in my classes.

Blog #9: The Midterm in EDUC 422

I had never taken a midterm purely on a computer before. I found it a good challenge and representation of what we truly had learned from class to that point in time. The midterm instructions were presented in a clear way, even though I typically have a hard time following directions. Once I learned how to communicate with and understand this instructor, following directions was easy.
I admittedly didn't know how to do a screen shot for the midterm, but Jenny has taught me, since the midterm. The aspect that I liked about the midterm is that it made me realize how far I'd come since the first class. I've learned inspiration, a program that is very useful for teaching. I know more about Power Point than my husband! ;) I also realize how to use this wonderful presentation software in a way that will keep my students' wandering attention. I also know a lot more about Microsoft Excel and can professionally communicate to my superiors how my classes are doing.
All in all I felt that the midterm was geared to show how much each student has learned from our classes and assignments.

Blog #8: WebQuest Thoughts

A WebQuest is defined, by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University, as "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet." Five steps are used to make a great WebQuest site: Focus, Orchestrate, Challenge, Use the medium, Scaffold high expectations.

Critical attributes of a successful cooperative learning environment for positive independence are promotion of interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing. Samples of great WebQuest pages include titles of "Task, Background, Process, Resources, and Conclusion. This is defined in terms very close to a project managed with project management techniques: "Introduction, Background, Objective, Statement of Work, Organization, Risk Management, Conflict Resolution, Schedule, Budget, Project Termination, and Conclusion (a reflection of how to do the project better next time." Perhaps Bernie Dodge and others teaching about WebQuest will eventually add some of the other sections of effective project management. Project management skills will be used for the rest of these students lives in their home, workplace, and sports and hobby aspirations.

As far as the Filamentality lesson this week, I thought it very useful for the classroom. When reading about WebQuest, I noticed quite a similarity between the two tools used for students to do their classroom projects.

Blog #7: The Use of Excel Spreadsheets in Class

Microsoft excel is one of the most commonly used and useful software programs. It can process data for businesses, home budgets, and classroom monitoring. For the classroom it can monitor the reach of the learning of students. It can also organize grades and easily process retake scores with no more effort than the teacher just putting in the new number.
I loved the colorful effects that the program has and the way of presenting the data with bar graphs and pie graphs. It had various formulas to choose from to process data, so it's a very flexible program. It will also be a wonderful tool in presenting to the school administrators, since it has such visually appealing pie charts and bar charts to display the data.
The excel quiz was very simple after reading the tutorial. I ended up getting a 9 out of 9 on the first try. It did learn about some equations that I had never heard of before the tutorial.
In the reading, "Teaching Students to Use the Internet as a Research Tool," I discovered ideas that I hadn't thought about. When I do an internet search, I never thought about using more specific search engines like Argos and MathSearch. Other search engines index the entire web which makes the researcher use very specific Boolean techniques or else they'll have thousands of results. Using other search engines also make the researcher have to check the validity of the web page and see what biase it has and if it has credible supporters who have linked to that page. The article also had a lot of web sites for teachers to use, so I'll definitely look at those after I finish tech class and have more free time. :)
In the meantime, I'll be doing some software testing. So far I've found www.riverdeep.net a keeper! I've been not only testing it for potential use with the Algebra II tutorials, I've been using it to study for my CSET on March 17th. At least the CSET is making me test software that is VERY relevant to upper level math right now. I think that I'll let some of my new math teaching friends about this web site, so that they can show how quadratics are used in real life. That's a question that I keep hearing students ask, "Why do I need to know this?" Those tutorials definitely answer that question and teach in a visual and auditory style that keeps my attention.

Blog #6-Evaluating Evalutech Software

On www.evalutech.sreb.org/criteria I found a plethora of useful classroom tools. Not only was there disaster preparedness software, but Praxis tests for the teacher to study for a credential test! Education software was available for all ages to purchase. The lastest computer hardware was also available to purchase.
I really enjoyed the math link with free classroom visual aids. "Great Circle Navigation" was fabulous. You can rotate the world around to look at it at all points of view. If you click on one major city and the click on another major city is computes the distance and shortest path from city to city. Now I clearly understand why my husband flies over the North Pole to go to London from San Diego!
This math area also had various interactive geometry problems that could be put up on a projector and run from a computer so the class can watch. For instance the liquid in a cone fills up a cylinder. Before you have the program pour the colorful fluid, you have the students guess how high the liquid will go into the other body. I had a great time with that.
There is also sections for showing various shapes so you can name them. There are areas for drawing various geometric figures, unit conversion areas, showing the difference between chords and inscribed angles.
There were also free lesson plans for various subjects. That's how I found the math links. I can't wait to go back and look what there is for physics. Now that would be a wonderful subject for computer visual aids of the same quality that the math visual aids are.
All in all, I think that I'll remember this website. It was fun, colorful, attention grabbing, and a fabulous tool for teaching.

Blog #5: Power Point and Bloom's Taxonomy

I find Microsoft Power Point a necessity. Anyone who does presentations uses Power Point. It conveys topics clearly and can be printed out with three to six slides per page for students to have after the presentation. (If the hard copies are handed out before the presentation then the students will look at the paper and not listen to the expanded remarks during the presentation.) Using the techniques learned in the last class makes the slides more easily understood and effective at conveying ideas. I loved the jeopardy tool. I used to do jeopardy when I taught School of Religion and all the kids had their hands up and were participating. The priest even came to my class to see how I was motivating them to learn religion so well. So I will definitely use that jeopardy Power Point tool!
I didn't know about the notes feature and have now used that in my Power Point presentation to the ASB (Associated Student Body) at San Dieguito High School on Monday Feb. 26th. I only wish that I had time to take digital photos of the Lomas Santa Fe underpass which was built with sidewalks to put into my Power Point. I'm proposing with Power Point slides that the Student Officers get a petition circulated among the high school students to make the City of Encinitas put in side walks on the North and South sides of Santa Fe Road's I-5 underpass, so no more of our students get hit by a car and die like Ryan Hwang just did. Using Power Point I can clearly deliver a proposal for a new project for these students to do that will timelessly benefit their community and provide community service hours to a plethora of students at SDA.
We can use Power Point effectively using the tools that we have learned in class to develop readable, artistic, communicative slides. With this magnificent presentation software we can relay important lessons and ideas and hopefully have the students transcend Bloom's Taxonomy Pyramid: Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
When I read Bloom's Taxonomy I remembered how education failed me at UC Berkeley. I tutored my peers and then they got better grades than I did in the class! The tests that were given did not follow Bloom's Taxonomy. They only tested knowledge, but not understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Anyone can cram and have knowledge and pass a knowledge test, but can anyone pass a discussion test as presented by Bloom's Taxonomy? No! They must truly learn a subject to pass a Bloom's Taxonomy test.
The realization that UC Berkeley's educational testing practices failed me came during my engineering design class. I flunked all my tests but got an "A" on my design, since I had evaluated all my courses and had truly learned. I would have loved to take a Bloom-like engineering test!
We had to use all our engineering classes to design Dove Library skylight covers to hold the heat in during the winter and reflect the heat during the summer to save on energy. In 1985 I designed a dual layer fabric with a Venitian blind center on motorized tracks to cover the skylights. The outside fabric reflected the sun with a metalic weave. The inside fabric was a light color so it wouldn't absorb the inside heat in the winter or heat from sunlight in the summer. The Venitician blinds blocked out all light when closed. The air space between the two fabrics and blind created a heat layers to prevent heat transfer from the inside to the outdoors or vice versa. Today my design is used as a standard window covering called Silhoutte blinds. My professor must be rich!
So if UC Berkeley had used Bloom's Taxonomy to test their students I would have gotten a much better GPA and my classmate's lack of learning would have been more apparent. I will definitely utilize Bloom's pyramid and his questioning techniques when I become a teacher. Knowledge is easily forgotten, but understanding to the evaluation stage of learning sticks with a student for years and sometimes a lifetime.

Blog #4: Mapping Student Minds

I found the article, "Mapping Student Minds," by Ariel Owen a fascinating approach to teaching students how to collect, organize, process, and analyze data about nature. In business it is always difficult to determine the root cause of multiple symptoms which decrease profit and increase work loads. This article taught the kids to find the root cause for reduced water quality---deoxygenation of Pine Creek. Chemical fertilizers from farms and manure, for instance, added phosphates which fed algae which sucked up oxygen that the fish and plants needed to survive. I would have liked the students look for crawdads, fish, and frogs in a set area and analyze that data twice a year too. Animal life is essential for healthy creeks. Each animal performs a task in maintaining a healthy creek as well as the native plant life for that watershed. It all has a balance that changes with the seasons.
Data collection is a fabulous way for students to realize that just because it looks like issues are related does not mean that they really are once you analyze the data. The student's mapping of their data showed the extent of their data collection, that they had preconceived ideas of what data that they should collect, and how it related to the issue of water quality by using technology to process the data. Their thought processes were thorough for their age. I was very impressed with that approach.

Blog #3: Oh, the Changes

In the article, "Oh, The Changes" I had to laugh at remembering old 1980 technology and using a Compaq 64 in college. It was one of the first computers. The software was so basic, since there was only 64 bytes of memory. The Compaq 128 was twice as fast at 128 bytes! Oh, boy! That was in the BI (Before Internet and Al Gore lol) time period long ago. Now in 2007 we're at 1.2 Gbytes memory. We have so much opportunity at our finger tips. I can't wait to see what technology will be like in 30 years. In ten years I bet computers will just be a screen and keyboard with ports.
As far as software changes, page 7 of the article "Oh, The Changes" made me really chuckle. It referred to our basic software with questions in green text on a black screen prompting answers like Q-card quizzing and learning. Now with "Roller Coaster Tycoon" people can learn in vibrant graphic art about G-forces during their build/test of their roller coaster design and find out what levels of these forces create nausea or death. My son really liked making his riders have nausea. lol
"Sims City" taught people about city management---a very complex system of requirements to understand. It taught the subject matter in such a nonthreatening way that it was easy to learn. It also taught people how to build thriving cities and make ghost towns if they screwed up. "Sims People" teaches people about life and relationships. "Sims Pets" teaches people about how to do graphic arts and create pets as well as keep them happy and alive. Children can now have pets without the mess. Oh, joy!
Technology certainly has made learning easy. My children have learned so much more than I could at their age. Information is just a key stroke away on the internet now. I look forward to how much my grandchildren will learn.

Blog #2: Teaching Understanding

This week we learned how to use Apple computers and CSUSM's WebCT6. It was a VERY difficult transition from a PC to an Apple computer. I'm not looking forward to using an Apple Computer when teaching in a classroom. It is not as user friendly as I've always been told. You do have to memorize the commands for an Apple Computer which are not obvious to a broad spectrum learner.
As far as WebCT6, it has been very difficult finding which browsers are compatible with it using an Apple Computer at school and a home PC. It is not written for the broad spectrum learner as well and kicks a user out with fatal errors often. As a former software tester for Applied Materials I would probably frustrate the programmers of WebCT6 who want to design an exceptional software, because I don't think like a normal person. That's why Applied Materials always had me test the software. I was known to blow up most of the new custom network software in the late 1980's. If a program could get by me, it was acceptable for the company.
As far as teaching understanding, I think the new software designers need to understand that "inherently obvious" may pertain to narrow spectrum learners but not all types of learners. The learning software for Microsoft Project Management was fabulously written. I think Microsoft learning software is one of the best. They definitely know how software learners understand at all ages. So far I haven't run into a Microsoft program that I can blow up easily. Schools should definitely look into Microsoft products for teaching while using technology.

Hi Class,
When I taught typing to my son's 4th grade class, we used the school's typing programs. I found that the kids enjoyed using the computers and learned rather quickly the basics without much help from me as I was observing and hovering over the students that were having difficulties due to learning disabilities. Each stage of the typing lesson was only available to the student after they had mastered the previous level. The students were so motivated to ascend levels that they learned how to type much more quickly than I learned how to type in 7th grade using typewriters and trying to type 60 words a minuter with few errors!
The program also told the student their error count and speed which spurred them on too! They were so proud of themselves as they learned how to type faster and faster. I even researched the top typing scores at the school and found that this class was doing a fabulous job of learning.
That experience has taught me how valuable a well written children's software program can be to accelerate learning. Every generation to come will learn so much faster than the previous generation as we all ascend to new heights of enlightenment of how to properly write software for learning and using technology.