Week Eight: Computer Netiquette and Security

Many are those who have opened their email only to receive an affront of some sort. The particular affront that I am speaking of is concerning "net ettiquette" or "netiquette". There is nothing that can ruin one's day so fast as to receive a very discourteous email from someone - especially if it is your boss. Security and computers...that's a big topic as well, so I will focus on these two topics as they apply to education.

Envision this scenario. You have had a hard day at work. The kids have been wild enough to be featured on Animal Planet; you have picked up and drank the coffee that had been sitting on your desk for three weeks now; and you have paperwork that was due last week. You then drag yourself to your work station to check your email and what should be there but the figurative cherry on top of the whole day - an email from the powers-that-be that isn't exactly written in the nicest tone. Don't you wish everyone knew about the rules of netiquette and actually applied them?

One must be very careful when communicating in type. This communication mode is lacking one big component of effective communication, which is body language. Sometimes it is hard to pick up on the nuances and subtleties of conversation if one cannot see the facial expressions or the body language of the other person. Therefore it is extremely important to remember a few things about online communication (without visual).

1. Be polite. Do not be abusive. Do not "flame" others (flame is netspeak for abusive, incendiary language).
2. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS WHEN WRITING. NOT EVEN A SINGLE WORD. It is considered loud shouting. This one is my personal pet-peeve.
3. Be tolerant of the beginning user.
4. Use appropriate language. No profanity.
5. Do not give out any personal information.
6. Protect the privacy of others.
7. Realize that email is not private.
8. Respect copywright laws (Goldberg, 2011).

Security and students is a big issue in education and one that can certainly give a teacher pause-for-thought concerning their use of it in the classroom. Now more than ever, opportunities for trouble are lurking around the corner.
As a teacher, one must be aware of what his/her student may encounter on the internet. These are some guidelines which were provided to our class by Dr. Cristine Goldberg, online professor at The University of the Cumberlands. Students must be taught to:

• Withhold their names and personal information, including their Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, or ages, from people they do not know online



• Protect their passwords from unauthorized persons



• Never open suspicious attachments to their e-mails



• Reject automatic downloads



• Reject cookies from unfamiliar Web sites (Education World, Inc., 2007)

By using the above precautions, it is very likely that your experiences, as well as the experiences of your students, will be much more pleasant and panic-free. And with teaching today? Who needs anymore unpleasantries or panic?

Picture retrieved from: http://1u1n.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/FrazzledCat.jpg

Week Seven: Educational Software

This week, I am pondering educational software. Good software can be an essential and indespensable component of the teacher's toolbox. There are many, many different types of software that can be used in education. It is also important to know the difference between the most basic types of software - application and system. Application software allows the user to perform specific tasks on the computer. Systems software is the software that commands a computer or operates it (Goldberg, 2011). Though there are different types of software, the heart of my discussion will be pertaining to educational software. I have chosen the web-based educational software program called Study Island to review. As mentioned above, Study Island is a web-based software program, available for a fee to schools and districts. At its heart, it is designed to tutor students in their particular state's core content. The program is aligned, for example, with Kentucky's Core Content. The software gives a written lesson on a topic within a subject for example "cause and effect" within Kentucky pre-KCCT subject of Reading. It also offers options for the new common core standards, as well as math, science, and social studies areas of study. After the student has read the lesson for the particular topic, he is then given a brief quiz for which he receives immediate feedback for each answer in the form of a "wrong" or a gold star. The parameters for a student to pass are set by the teacher as long as the administration allows this function. I set my passing parameters to 70% which would be considered proficient by Kentucky Standards. Once a student passes with a 70% on a topic, he/she receives a printed out blue ribbon certificate and may open the game option. The game option allows the student to continue with lessons and testing but in gaming mode. The gaming function is meant to increase student interest in the program and I have found that it works. My objective in using Study Island was to identify weak areas for response-to-intervention students as identified by the assessment program, ThinkLink, (from Discovery Education). I then programmed lessons for students in Study Island which correlated to the identified weak areas in the ThinkLink. At the end of the programming and student usage, I implemented a probe in ThinkLink to see if any gains were made with the use of Study Island. Surprisingly, there were some visible gains. Once the third ThinkLink test of the year had been given, I did see a very clear relationship between Study Island programming and ThinkLink results. Some students (as many as 2-3 students in each grade level with which I worked saw some "above average" gains" in the number correctly answered. There were several students who progressed from Apprentice level of performance to Proficient level. At least two students progressed from Novice level to Proficient level. There are some definite considerations when using this software program (or any other educational software program for that matter). First of all, one must be aware that the repetitive nature of this program may be come tedious after a while. If a student is struggling too much to earn a reward, it is helpful to set the passing parameters down to allow the student to experience a victory. This usually rebuilds enthusiasm for the program. It may be a good idea to create periodical incentives for great performance on the program. Some students may struggle with the independent reading portion of the program, but there is a text-to-speech feature on the program as well as options to adjust student difficulty. I believe that educational software offers a viable alternative to learning for students who may not respond to other classroom interventions. I believe that most educational software programs can be successfully used with students as long as one is proactive concerning interest-level and aware of the ability and frustration level of the student users. Credit for information concerning software goes to Dr. Cristine Goldberg, The University of the Cumberlands.

Week Six: WebQuest

This week I learned a lot about something I knew very little about - WebQuests. I had mistakenly assumed that a WebQuest is an activity that your students do on the Web which consists of whatever it is that you may want them to do. I was very much mistaken.

A WebQuest is a very structured endeavor that consists of seven parts: introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion, credits, and teacher page. Lets break these parts down and explain each of them.

The introduction functions as a "hook" which gets the student's interest. It introduces the topic and it is a good idea to make it relevant to the student.

The task provides a brief description of what the students are going to accomplish with the WebQuest.

The process breaks it down for the student and guides them in what they are to do to accomplish the task. Remember that, ultimately, the student should be able to guide himself so the outcome is only going to be as effective as your process directions are.

The evaluation part of the WebQuest is where you put a guide or a rubric that shows the student exactly what it takes to accomplish the task completely and correctly.

The conclusion is the place where the student may be given questions to reflect on concerning what he/she learned while working with the WebQuest.

The credit section is where you give credit to any resource that you have used in creating your WebQuest. Remember your ethics. It doesn't hurt to give a nod to anyone who introduced you to the process, as well.

The teacher page is self-explanatory. This is where your information is directed toward the teacher who may want to use your WebQuest. This is where you give the process for the teacher and give hints or helps for best use of your WebQuest.

Some of the same principles that apply to PowerPoint apply to the WebQuest. It is a good idea to for the WebQuest to be visually attractive with complimentary colors and images, as well as the PowerPoint. The rule of less is more applies to both WebQuest and PowerPoint. Avoid any overcluttering of fonts and images.

There were some challenges that I had to overcome while creating this WebQuest. First and foremost, it is very lengthy process if it is to be accomplished with quality. I was also surprised at how much weeding through resources that I had to do before I found exactly what I needed - appropriate for age and relevant. I also had a difficult time finding visual images that were royalty free. Sheesh. But when all was said and done, I was satisfied with what I produced.

Yes, producing a quality WebQuest is very time-consuming and takes some patience, but when you are finished you have a fantastic higher-level learning experience for your students and a resource that you can use over and over again!

http://questgarden.com/123/17/5/110402191052/

Week Five: Online Communication Tools

Another week and another great tool to add the ol' teacher's toolbox. It has been an informative journey thus far and I feel as if I am collecting everything that I need to have a thoroughly technologically up-to-date classroom.

This week's topic is online communication tools. There are several from which to choose.

Blogs are, well, you are obviously looking at one. Blogs are becoming increasingly popular after it was predicted they would pass on to the cyber-heap around approximately 2007. Never underestimate the human need to talk about himself, although blogs are used for many other reasons besides personal. Educational blogs are very popular as well.

Email is probably the most familiar of the online communication tools. If you haven't used email yet, I doubt you are looking at this blog and more likely rearranging rocks in a cave somewhere. Email is a basic and controlled asynchronous mode of online communcation. It is widely utilized in many different venues. Asynchronous modes of online communication are those which are different-time, same-place. Synchronous modes of online communication are those which are same-time, different-place.

Chat is very popular, especially with teenagers, who virtually thrive on chaos and are very adept at talking in hyper-speeds. Chat is executed in real-time and I have seen my daughter on chat with 31 other people at the same time. My head hurts just thinking about it, but it certainly explains classroom ambiance.

Web, audio, and video conferencing are same-time, different place modes of online communication. All allow the users to be different places at the same time and still communicate. These modes of communcation are frequently used in business and are becoming increasingly utilized in education. They provide opportunities for students to experience different views from different regions in the United States and all over the world. Very valuable tools for expanding sociocultural and educational experiences through seeing and hearing.

Of these, my favorite is the discussion board (another asynchronous tool) because it utilizes a couple of different modes of communication which are contained within the board, such as email, private messaging and real-time chat. Discussion boards are usually private and web-hosted. They allow a platform for discussion and education and are often used for hobbies and special interests, self-help and personal support, and education. For educational purposes, I can't help but believe this one would be a formidable tool for teachers for several reasons.

Since topics may be posted at any time and from anywhere, discussion boards would be quite useful for any time out of the physical classroom for both teachers and students. Boards are also handy for collaboration between general education teachers, special educators, and paraprofessionals as well as parent communication. Students can also collaborate to create projects within the board as well as participate in lively, moderated (of course) debates. It is also a great authentic venue to teach netiquette.

While there are some possible concerns regarding the use of a discussion board, I believe the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. I am looking forward to implementing the use of a discussion board (as well as other modes of online communication) into my classroom!

Week Four: Computer Presentation Programs

This week's topic is concerning computer presentation programs - specifically Microsoft PowerPoint. My first real experience with using PowerPoint came in college. My big project was to create a PowerPoint presentation geared to middle school students. I was so enthusiastic that it degraded to a complete mess. One of the biggest mistakes that users of PowerPoint can make is to overdo animation and sounds. I had animation and sound on every single slide. This was a great distraction from the content and caused many technical problems during the presentation. Yes, I was a PowerPoint freakshow barker - not a presenter. This leads me to my next point.

For this week's assignment, I was asked to create a PowerPoint presentation that I could present to the students that I am currently teaching. Being somewhat of a...ahem...creative enthusiast, it was very difficult for me to downshift to creating a PowerPoint for first-graders. I had to be very careful and controlled with my content, length, and bells and whistles. I was surprised at just how difficult it was for me to create a suitable presentation for six-year-olds.

The presentation itself was about Main Idea, with which a great deal of my students have difficulty. I was afforded an opportunity apart from my scheduled computer lab time and took advantage of an empty room and the equipment. I was very pleased to see that the students seemed to retain the information from the PowerPoint and enjoyed the sound-effects. The aspect of this presentation that I am most satisfied with is its simplicity. It is clean, uncluttered and straight to the point. (It certainly helped that I had to use an old PowerPoint program.) I am also proud that I successfully used sound. After the first presentation faux pas, I had pretty much avoided using any sound in my presentations. The only thing that I would do differently would be to use a newer PowerPoint program which would allow for more clip art choices.

So this week, I leave you with the example of effective simplicity and I continue on in my journey of changing thoughts and ideas.

Week Three: Desktop Publishing and Word Processing

I have certainly taken for granted that I know all I need to know about the basic aspects of technology required for teachers. Even with word processing, I am learning that there are many uses that I had never thought about. Desktop publishing is a concept that I have not adequately utilized in the classroom. While I have learned this week that word processing is progressing to the point of being as creative a tool as desktop publishing, there are still a few bells and whistles that desktop publishing possesses that word processing does not. Both of these programs are fantastic for use with special education students. I have learned valuable uses for these programs with exceptional children.

Word processing is quite a handy tool when working with exceptional children. Its many features such as spell-check and thesaurus allow for a level of accomplishment that may be difficult with handwritten assignments. Children with difficulties concerning fine-motor skills can find working with a word processor particularly rewarding.

Desktop publishing is a wonderful avenue for students to create brochures, journals, posters, books, and articles. Students could work collaboratively on a class newspaper or magazine. The biggest advantage of desktop publishing is that one can produce very professional-looking material, which could certainly create a great degree of excitement about an assignment.

As a teacher, the possibilities with using word processing and desktop publishing are endless. At the most basic, parent-teacher communication can be much more interesting. People are busy, in general, and I have found that it often takes a little creativity to get the attention of some parents. It is a must that forms of written communication between school and home be attention-getting. What I have learned this week will be very helpful with my future publishing endeavors. Here is an example of a parent newsletter from my first year of teaching. It could certainly use some improvements. It is definitely not visually appealing and would most likely not catch anyone's eye. That it lacks color is the most obvious error.
























Here is the after version of my newsletter:

Maybe not as fancy as it could be, but a definite improvement nevertheless. At least most of the yawn factor was eliminated by adding color and shapes. Clip art makes it easy to identify the context. Although the images posted her are a bit blurry, it emphasizes that the more colorful letter tends to "jump out". Unfortunately, the program I used is a bit outdated. Just imagine what one could do with a more sophisticated program! The possibilities are endless!

Week Two: Spreadsheets and Databases

Spreadsheets and databases in the classroom can be very helpful tools for both teacher productivity and student learning. As I have learned in this week's lesson, there are many ways to use these valuable technological tools.

For example, spreadsheets are a wonderful venue for mathematics lessons. Graphing and probability are just two mathematics concepts that can be featured using spreadsheets. Science presents many opportunities to use spreadsheets as well. One can chart lab time, experiment results and statistics using spreadsheet software. Spreadsheets are also useful for tracking student achievement and for setting goals.

Databases can also be very valuable in the classroom. For student use, one can record events in history, works of art, names and kinds of books which students have read in a database format. For teacher productivity, databases may serve as storage for attendance, grades, and student information.

The most surprising aspect of using databases and spreadsheets for me was to what extent that they can be used. Before, I had only thought of spreadsheet programs for accounting purposes or for office purposes. I only thought of databases in the context of the medical field. The most surprising use of either of the two was with Excel and mathematics. I had not realized to what extent that Excel could be used to teach mathematics.

In the past, I have not used a database at all. I had only used Excel for goals calculating concerning state testing. What a narrow view I had.

For more information, search for spreadsheet and database use in the classroom. Here is a URL which I feel could be helpful with using a database in the science classroom: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/examples_data.htm

Good luck with your quest for using spreadsheets and databases in your classroom!