THE END!!

I just reread some of my entries from the first day of class and it is hard to believe that I learned soooo much. I honestly thought this course would be a little easier for me than others since I was at the end of my MI Program. But, in retrospect, I think I learned just as much as everyone else, if not more! Prior to this class I had been familiar with, but never created, my own blog, wiki, and webquest. I DID have a class website, created through an internet provider, but had never used Dream Weaver. Now I feel competent enough to even teach someone else how to get started!

I had never completed a thorough evaluation of a website, but now know to look for not only credibility in the information, but with the author, objectivity, currency, and authenticity too.

I had used several online tools in my classroom before, but am glad to have the additional resources linked to our syllabus and provided on the wiki by some of my classmates.

Creating the webquest was an eye opening expereince for me because I was able to understnad that this type of online project needs to have a higher order thinking component and reasonable uses of the internet for it to be considered authentic. It is easy to create tasks for students to complete pertaining to a specific unit, but it is very challenging to make sure that the students are seeing the bigger picture.

While I have had a lot of experience with teaching students about netiquette, I enjoyed the discussions we had in class about various ways to ensure that our students are following proper internet usage rules/policies. I will definitely implement the idea of creating my own classroom Internet Usage Policy form for parents/guardians and students to sign.

Finally, I was eager to take the LoTi survey again because I couldn't remember what I scored last year, and I never received any information about the interpretations of my scores. I think the scores I received this time are indicative of my competence with using technology in the classroom! It was useful for me to learn the various components of each LoTi level...the video clips really helped reinforce that!

While there were MANY MANY questions asked during class time, I really enjoyed the overall atmosphere of this course. I felt comfortable sharing assignments online as well as face to face in the class with my colleagues. I felt comfortable enough to ask for help from the professor when needed, and I learned a tremendous amount about technology that I have already begun to implement in my career. This is one of only a few classes that actually provided me with resources that are applicable to my teaching! I can't wait to share the information I have learned with my friends, students, and colleagues!
Thanks for a great class!
Holly

Africa

ok....so here are a few pictures from EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY conference I attended last week!! Enjoy...

Webquest is finished!!!

I just finished making the recommended revisions to my webquest. I feel pretty confident that it is a structured, organized, motivational online project which requires critical thinking skills. I want my Anthropology students to explore various types of marriage institutions, as well as to be able to understand that marriage is a universal insitution. I also want them to understand how marriage traditions have changed over time. I will implement this unit about half way through the semester this school year and am excited to see how the students will react. I know that there will be things tht work and things that don't, but now that I am comfortable with using DreamWeaver, I can easily make modifications later in the year!

Constructive Criticism

Today in class we evaluated our classmates' webquests and provided constructive criticism. I know I have a lot of work to do on my project and their feedback was very beneficial. I will make the changes today and then submit it on webct...this is officially my last class, so in a few hours I will be finished with my masters!!!!

WebQuests

I am glad we had a lot of time in clas today to work on our WebQuests. I apparently seemed to have gotten myself into a real mess with saving templates from the syllabus and trying to use them in my newly creadted Dream Weaver site, which I am not fond of by the way! I feel somewhat competent using the software, but would much prefer something else a little easier to manage! Also, it is frustrating to know that I am going to lose this page once I leave UD, which is in just a few weeks!

Anyway, with much help from Jeff I was able to link the WebQuest to my homepage....and it is working...yeah!! It is in very primitive form right now, basic black and white,...very little color, and have yet to figure out how to attach pictures!! hhmm....this should be interesting to present tomorrow...having already looked at several others in the class, my WebQuest is definitely lacking!

Hiatus

ok, so I have had a little hiatus from class, as I attended the 2005 iEARN conference in Dakar, Senegal. It was truly an amazing experience, and I cannot wait to share the stories and pictures with my friends, family, students, colleagues, classmates, etc. I will post some of those later this week!

I arrived back in the States late last night and with a little nausea and jet lag, I tried to get some sleep. I spent most of today organizing my thoughts on the final project for this class. I had originally thought I wanted to do a webquest on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, but after having traveled to Africa this past week I encountered something so intriguing that I am contemplating changing my topic. I want to create a webquest on Marriage Practices, with a specific emphasis on polygamy. I met several Senegalese men who practive this form of group marriage, and I would love for my Anthropology students to explore this phenomenon!

Dreamweaver

Well, I have successfully created a webite through Dreamweaver, and completed all of the required components. There are a few things I have not mastered yet, but in time they will come. However, I was not able to download the Dreamweaver free trial onto my laptop, so I will not be able to maintain the site I created. I'm not so sure I would want to continue with this program though because I am content with Webspawner. You can update/modifiy your webspawner website through any computer that has internet access (no need for special software). I am glad that I know how to use another source to create websites though and feel somewhat competent teaching others how to do so. .....I only wish I had taken this course as the FIRST class in my MI program, as opposed to the last. I would've been able to use the innovative ideas and tools I've gained in all of my other classes! Hindsight is 20-20!

Digital Storytelling

I looked over some of the sites on our WIKI and came across Digital Storytelling. I watched some of the clips and would love to know more about how to create one (for personal and educational use). I am going to try to find more information and begin my own!

World Clock

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ I found a site that will link my students to an interactive place to learn about timezones! I can use it in my webquest for the transatlantic slave trade...as students can determine the lengths of the voyages on the Middle Passage. TRY THIS BRAIN TEASER: I am leaving JFK Staurday at 6pm....will arrive in Paris at 7am (accounting for a 6 hour flight).....I have a 9 hour layover.....then leave Paris for Dakar, Senegal at 4:30pm (Paris time).....arrive at Dakar at 8:30 pm (Dakar time)....how long will my flight from Paris to Dakar take???? Holly

Telecollaboration

As I have mentioned previously in this blog, I am a huge proponent of online collaborative learning. I have been a member of iEARN for two years and have implemented online projects which incorporated problem based learning. The students learn how to work collaboratively in group to solve real world problems. In class today, and mentioned in some of the readings for tonight's module, using chat systems is becoming more and more popular. IM has become such an efficient way to communicate that we can even use it on our cellular phones now! Many educational websites have discussion forums which allow students to communicate, but it is much like a an email system, where an immediate response is not guaranteed. The use of a chat would provide live immediate communication. However, in order to most effectively use a chat in the classroom, you would have to plan for specific times to be logged on. This is one of the problems that iEARN encounters because it incorporates students from all over the globe; essentially, from every time zone in the world! For example, when my students collaborated with students in Uzbekistan, we had to account for a six hour difference. It was nearly imposasible for us to set up a chat during which time both schools were in session.

Also, I use IM frequently, for personal and professional use, but I have never played around with all of the options. For instance, I did not know that there was a "talk session" option, in which two people could communicate live using Real Media. I learned that my laptop has a built in microphone, so I am excited to get home and try this!

Evaluating Webquests

I just finished evaluating a Social Studies WebQuest and found this assignment to be worthwhile because now I feel I have a better understanding of how to develop one myself! While
"All Roads Lead to Rome" was a well planned out webQuest, there were several inconsistencies which I hope to learn from. For example, the teacher created numerous questions from which the students could choose to research. The questions were not asked in a way that would help students develop critical higher order thinking skills. There was no real world authentic problem to be solved by completing this online project.
I think I need to make my WebQuest more appealing to teenagers than the one I explored today. I want to add color, animation, graphics and statements/questions that will hook my students....make them WANT to participate!

Scavenger Hunt

Today in class we learned how to create a scavenger hunt for our students to find answers to questions by following links provided by the teacher. I created one pertaining to the transatlantic slave trade, on which I asked sstudents to define Triangular Trade, desrcibe the Middle Passage, and develop a chronology of the transatlantic slave trade. I would love to implement this in my classroom by assigning students a partner and having them share their findings with the entire class. This might also be a fun extra credit assignment to post on my class website!!

WebQuests

WOW...I learned a ton about WebQuests today. I expored several Social Studies WebQuests during my first year of teaching, but only implemented one in class. I chose an activity pertaining to the Renaissance, in which my students had to write journal entries as though they were living during this time period. I did not fully comprehend the objectives of this WebQuest, nor any other I perused, and simply followed the step by step instructions listed in the process section. I also did not do a good job evaluating student progress from the already developed rubric.

I now know that it takes a great deal of planning and preparation to create an EFFECTIVE WebQuest. There must be an introduction, established task, process list (steps and resources), a conclusion, evaluation rubric, and a teacher page. The introduction should be several paragraphs long and be specific about the project. The task section should pertain to the content of the acticities. It is typically one concise sentence. The process section includes several options for students to choose a specific acticity. It should also list resources (links), and tools for organizing information. The Conclusion is self explanatory. The Teacher Page is, in essence, the lesson plan. It could include the target learners (age appropriateness), standards, notes for the unit, examples of student work, list of books or other materials used, etc. Finally, there should be an evaluation rubric so the students can see the difference between exemplary, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory levels.

I am excited that the final project for this class is actually applicable to my teaching practices. I will most definitely use the WebQuest I create in my classes next year, as well as attach them to our TeacherShare Drive, which all faculty can access. Although I have not given it enough thought yet, here are some possible ideas/topics I have for creating my own WebQuest: political Revolutions, the Civil War, Nationalism, Slavery. I am really hoping to eventually create a WebQuest for each of these areas (as they are major units of study in our 9th grade World & U.S. History Integrated curriculum). .....I am also thinking that since I am traveling to Dakar, Senegal, Africa in a few days that I will return with a plethora of materials pertaining to the institution of slavery. Dakar was one of the world's leading slave trading posts during the transatlantic Slave Trade Era.

LoTi

I learned a lot in class today about the LoTi Survey. I took the survey as an inservice teacher during the fall of 2004, but no one ever mentioned how to analyze and interpret the results. I don't remember my scores, but I know that I had to have improved over the past year. While I felt somewhat comfortable with technology use (personally and professionally), I know I am much more competent having completed a Master's of Instruction with a specialization in Educational Technology. I have also learned a lot via trial and error, as well as working on a year long professional development cluster through the Delaware Center for Ed Tech. I completed two portfolios that demonstrated my mastery of incorporating online collaborative projects in my classroom. iEARN (international and education resource) is the largest non-profit organization for K-12 students and their teachers to communicate through a password protected website. The communication entails various levels of technology implementation, most importantly the goal of establishing problem based learning via the World-Wide-Web. Students learn how to work collaboratively with others from across the globe to solve real world problems exponentially.

I took the survey again tonight and scored a 6 on the Personal Computer Use Section, a 6 on the Current Instructional Practices Section, and a 5 as the LoTi score. I think these scores may be a little high, but I DO feel competent in the implementation of technology in my class. However,
as I learned today, not every lesson will score the same. It is not feasible to create Level 4a lessons for my ninth grade students on a daily basis. But, as members of iEARN, my students are able to develop higher level thinking skills during student-centered lessons.

In the assigned readings, I noticed that most teachers range between a level 2 (exploration) and 4a (using materials developed by other teachers). I would think that most school districts would strive to help their teachers become more technologically proficient by providing appropriate technology training. .....With the $33 million renovation, Caesar Rodney High School has just begun to provide this type of assistance to its teachers. However, I am not sure it is being done in the most effective manner. For instance, on the last three inservice days we had six hours of tech training, which included Intro to Excel, Intro to Outlook, and Cleaning up Your Computer. These workshops mihgt have been useful for some of the older more traditional teachers, but most of us who gradauted from college within the last 10 years are most likely already competent with computers.

Search Engines

Today in class we covered the topic of "search engines." I have been taught a plethora of ways to research a particular subject, such as quotations, using words such as "and," & "or," but today I learned that the web has reached a point of infinite information. Thus, it is pointless to use these terms, and is more beneficial to simply type the KEY words of your search. - I also learned that there are dozens and dozens of search engines, other than Yahoo and Google, and even a site to evaluate them!
The question posed in class pertaining to the highest mountain east of the Mississippi helped me understand that when searching for a topic only use the key terms I really need. For insatnce, I it would not be necessary for me to type "east of the Mississippi" in the search line because that is information I can figure out in my head or using a different source (atlas).
I also learned that you can register your website with any search engine. It is a simple process, but I never knew it was a possibility. The websites I created (through www.webspawner.com) gave me options for entering key words to be submitted to Yahoo.

Pictures

Response to Readings From Module 2

One major concern I will have in using a blog or a WIKI in class is assessment. I already use numerous ways to assess the knowledge and insight my students gain from daily lessons. But, I always struggle with how to best accommodate different learning styles and needs. I think this will become even a larger concern when I allow my students to use the internet as a source of class-work and home-work. One of the articles I read from tonight's module provided several options for how to most efficiently grade and assess online assignments:
1. give students a specific assignment (don't make it too broad)
2. start slowly (maybe once a week)
3. post netiquette and usage rules in the classroom
4. involve stuidents (ask for input and self evaluations)
5. give a grade for grammar and one for style
6. use a 5 point rubric
7. model effective posts

I think all of these methods will help me in better assessing the progress of my student's online.

The second reading I chose to read in depth dealt with blogs and WIKI's, both of which I was familiar with prior to this class, but had never created, nor explored. I have learned a lot about these communciation tools and will most definitely use both of them in my class, when I return this fall.

.....Blogs and WIKIS will make my life easier as a teacher. I can now require students to reflect on a lesson or excerpt from the book via the web. I can eliminate carrying 120 spiral notebooks home in order to read and grade journals. I can simply log on in the comfort of my own home and access all of the reflections students posted!

The third site I perused was the PDF attachment pertaining to On-line Collaboration. I have a great deal of experience with project based learning via the World-Wide-Web, and would like to reflect on that here:
......I have been a member of iEARN (international and education resource network) for two years. I entered as a member of a DE professional development cluster and was immediately hooked. Through this non-profit organization, which is mulitdisciplinary and can be aligned with any curriculum, I learned how to connect my students to the rest of the world via the Internet. In a password protected website I was able to assign my students usernames to let them explore and meet new friends. Once they were comfortable with simple computer navigation, we then learned how to create power point presentations, communicate via email, use a Chat room, and upload digital pictures. My students were given specific tasks to complete using these types of technological skills. We partnered up with several countries to learn about our various cultural norms and taboos. It was truly an amazing experience. For more information please visit www.iearn.org
...this form of project based learning, not only allows my students to learn various technological skills and about cultural tolerance, but also requires that they take on roles (such as becoming a leader), learn how to work collaboratively, and to be creative in developing critical thinking skills.
Holly

My first Blog

When I was in elementary, middle, and high school I used to keep a journal of every activity I participated in, feeling I endured, and academic insight I gained. So, I am very excited about creating this blog, as it is the more modern way of documenting real life stories. While I am aware that this site will be used predominantly for entries about my performance in EDUC 632, I may find it a source of inspiration for future blogs (for personal use).

Reading Response for Policies, Laws, and Practice...
In perusing the statistics on the Netiqutte site, I came across some astonishing numbers. It is sad to know that about half of today's parents do not know that there is software to help prevent their children from entering inappropriate sites and that nearly just as many don't monitor what their children are doing. I am not a parent, so it is hard to say what I would do if in these parents' shoes. But, I know that I would be interested in monitoring their activities.I also find it interesting to know that most kids are communicating with their parents via IM language, most of which is incomprehensible to the older generation. As a 28 year old I did not grow up with IM, Chat, and E-mail access. While I feel competent in my technology use, I still relaize that there is a lot I have to learn! For instance, (from the reading), I never knew what POS or P911 stood for!

Holly

This is a picture of American and Iraqi teachers at the 2004 iEARN (international education and resource network) Conference.