Week 10 Website

Social Science Website

This week’s assignment was pretty scary to me. I have a hard time using a new program for the first time. I have used other website designing programs before. I always have a hard time getting started on a project. I will sit and worrying about the project, then I start it. I realize that I can handle the task at hand. I thought that I would not like creating this site but it turned out to be fun. I think that if I was actually a teacher, I would have an easier time creating the site. It has been a long time since I have been in school. I have not taken any teaching classes, so it was a little harder for me to construct a website for students.

Having a class website would be convenient for both parents and students. As a teacher, I could put the assignments on the site for parents and students to have copies. If a student lost his or her assignment, it could be found on the homework page. Parents would know what the child must complete every week. The homework page would help the parent be able to plan out his or her child’s homework time. One of the best benefits of a class website site for the parent is knowing what the child has to complete for homework. One of the things that I learned about a child is that if he or she does not want to do any homework then he or she will simply say, “I don’t have any homework”. Or my personal favorite, “I lost my homework papers.” If the teacher puts the homework on the website, then parents can just print out the lost homework.

The website cannot replace the face to face interaction. But it can make the teacher’s job easier. Most students have access to a computer and internet, so it teacher could put links to sites to use as a subject study aid. The teacher could create practice test on the site, so that parents can make sure that their child understands the information in the class. If the students do not understand the information, the parents can look at the many links to get more information. And there are some subjects that parents could use some help understanding the subject also. I had to use different sites to help my niece with her math homework.

Week 8 Project

WEB CONTENT EVALUATION
WEB DESIGN EVALUATION
PUZZLE
TRACKSTAR
TEST
TEST ANSWER
RUBRIC

I really enjoyed working a this week’s assignments. At first, I was looking at all the parts of the assignment and I was a little afraid. If you look at the assignment as a whole, there is a lot to the assignment. But when I started working on the assignments individually each part was fun. My favorite parts was creating the puzzle and test.

Web evaluation is important to me as a parent. While I was completing the the evaluation on content and design, for the first time I really looked at the site. I evaluated a site created by Mr. Dowling a Social Science teacher from Knoxville, TN. He created a great site. It is a great site for both parents and children. The site is eye-catching and easy to navigate. The site has information on almost all the subjects in a sixth grade social science class.

The puzzle was the best part of the assignment. I made about seven puzzles for the fun of it. I loved the site. If I was a teacher, I would use it for my students. I did not realize the things for teachers on the web. The site is easy to use. Parents could get on the site to create puzzle to help their children study.

I looked at the other students Trackstar site before I started mine. I was a little afraid at first. I thought that completing this part of the assignment was going to be the hardest part. But it turned out to be fairly uncomplicated. I really enjoyed making my trackstar. Using this site in your class would be great for your students and parents. You could put all the sites that you think would be good for your students. The parents and students would not have to search for examples, because all the examples would be all in one place.

The Test Maker site was great. If I was a teacher now, this would be the site for me. I would use this site weekly. I really enjoyed creating the test. The only thing that I enjoyed more was the puzzle. I created a few test just to try out the site. I researched my subject online. Then I created my test. The site made creating the test easy.

The rubric was the first part of the assignement that I created. I worked with the rubric site to get the rubric the way that I wanted. I was worried about this assignement. A lot of my instructors have used a rubric to grade me. I learned a lot from creating the rubric.

Week 7-2 Asynchronous and Synchronous communication

What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous communication?
Asynchronous communication is communication that occurs at different time. Synchronous communication is communication that occurs at the same time. Asynchronous communication does not require that all parties involved in the communication need to be present and available at the same time. Some examples of electronic asynchronous communication are email, discussions, and mailing lists. Synchronous communication is simply communication that happens at the same time, immediately, a give-and-take. Some examples of electronic synchronous communication are chats and videoconferencing. We use mainly asynchronous communication in our online class. We use our blogs to communicate with each other. We email each other with questions and answers. Dr. Wang emails us the assignments each week. One of the advantages of asynchronous communication is that you can complete assignments when it is the best time for you. It allows you to have a flexible with your schedule. You can complete your class work while the kids are sleep, on your lunch break, or while you are waiting for breakfast. One of the advantages of synchronous communication is that you can interact with other students and instructors. You can ask questions when the information is fresh on your mind.

Name and describe the Internet communication that fall into each category.

Electronic mail is a form of asynchronous communication. E-mail is key communication tool provided in the networked environment. The author compares email to mail delivered to the post office. The inbox of your electronic mailbox is the same as the mailbox at the post office. You can sign in and check your mail. When you sign in, it is like using your key in your post office box. Your log-in name is unique to only you. Your log-in name is how the server knows which mailbox to open. Other people can send you mail, and you can check it and respond at your convenience. You can delete any of the messages that you do not want to keep. You can create folders to save you important messages.

Discussion is another form of asynchronous communication. Sometimes discussion is called a bulletin board, club, conference, or forum. Discussion allows one user to communicate with many users. In this class we created this blog, which is a form of a discussion. Discussion can be private or public. If a discussion is private, a user can only participate if he or she is invited to join. Public discussions are available to anyone.

Mailing lists are a form of asynchronous communication. Listserv is a mailing list. This tool automatically delivers emails to those who subscribe to the list. The messages are sent to an umbrella email address of the list itself and then appear on in inbox of all the subscribers. The list can be set up to where everyone on the list can post messages that will be emailed out to every other person on the list or set up so that only the administrator can list personal email messages.

Chats are a form of synchronous communication. A chat is a service offered by some ISPs and some other Internet sites that set aside a space in which two or more users can meet in real time. This space is called a chat room. The participants type their message and it is post for all the participants to see. This allows other participants to respond to the post in real time. The user can download the chat software on their computer to participate. Chats can be private or public. Instant messaging is a form of chat that is commonly used.

Videoconferencing is a form of synchronous communication. Videoconferencing software allows users at either end of a synchronous connection not only to hear each other but to see video images of each other also. You must have a video camera connected to the computer. Most laptops come with a web cam. The quality of the video is based on the internet connection. Because the video is transmitted through the internet, the quality is only as good as the speed of on the download from the internet. As the bandwidth and speed increase, the quality will get better.

Week 6 - Flyer, Grading Chart, and Quiz

Flyer Link

Grading Chart Link

Quiz PowerPoint Link



I really enjoyed working on my flyer, grading chart, and quiz. I forgot how much fun it can be to get to be creative. I have not ever create and quiz using PowerPoint. It was a lot of fun. I love to create things like this.

The flyer was the easiest for me to create. I have made a lot of flyer in the many classes that I have taken. I have taken a lot of computer classes. Most of my classes required me to create a flyer. But I enjoyed creating it.

The grading chart was fun. I found cute art clips to put on the sheet. I use Excel on a daily basis at work. I have to create chart from information on the sheets daily. I have gotten good at using Excel. I have to use my teaching skills at work to show other employees how to use Excel correctly. Someone is always calling me to help create a chart in Excel.

The quiz PowerPoint was the best part of the assignment for me. I truly enjoyed creating the quiz. I went on the internet on found art clips and sound effects. I found pictures on Mesopotamia. I took my time to create it the way that I thought would be the most eye catching for young students.

Week 5-1 Productivity Software

What is productivity software? How can it be adapted to benefit teaching and learning?
Productivity software is usually generic business-application software that educators can use and adapt for the administrative and professional tasks they must address. A few examples of productivity software are word processing, spreadsheet, database management, and presentation software. The software program can be purchased individually or in a bundle or suite. The most popular is Microsoft Suite, which contains Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Access. My favorite software to use is PowerPoint. It is so much fun to use. I create a lot of PowerPoint presentations at work. Using PowerPoint can make a presentation more interactive and visual.

Using PowerPoint in the classroom can be beneficial for the teacher and the student. You can create presentation for lecture. You can insert examples of the class work. You can create quizzes for the students to make sure that each student understands the information that is being presented to him or her. The teacher can insert short films into the PowerPoint to show the students.
Microsoft Word is the most used productivity software. Word is word processing software. Word took the place of a typewriter. As a teacher, you can create documents to use as handouts for your students. You can save the documents and add or delete information to it when as needed. You can add pictures and graphs to the documents. One of the many advantages of Word is spell checking. With the typewriter, the typist had to make sure that he or she had all the words spelled correctly. I remember typing reports for a class and getting points deducted from misspelling words. Word also checks for sentence fragments.


What are the advantages and features of electronic spreadsheets? How can you see them as a benefit in an educational environment?
Electronic spreadsheets software is to numeric data what word-processing is to text. There are many features of spreadsheets. Below are a few of the features and benefits:
1. Spreadsheets and workbooks:
a. Organizing numerical data.
b. Creating and testing formulas.
c. Formatting data to produce and concise reports.
d. Creating customized grade books.
e. Tracking students’ data.
f. Presenting clear reports.
2. Auto formatting:
a. Teachers and students can create professional-looking reports
3. Charts:
a. Tool for visual presentation in student reports.
b. Tool to view saved data visually for better understanding.
c. Can used as a way to visually explore alterations of the numeric data
in a spreadsheet.
d. Can be used for preparing visual of abstract mathematical relationships.
4. Formulas and Functions:
a. Create and test formulas.
b. See changes in mathematical relationships as data changes.
c. Teachers can demonstrate math concepts in action.
d. Test and use appropriate grading formulas.
e. Show students how final grades are calculated.
5. What-if Analysis:
a. Seeing the impact of data changes in math problems.
b. Testing and demonstrating relationships of data.
c. Explaining how different grades will affect the student’s final grade.
6. Archiving:
a. Saved data files are easy to access and update to keep records current

Week 4-3 Tecnology in the Classroom and Virtual World

Technology is getting more advanced every day. You can buy a new computer and software, then in a few months it can be outdated. With the new advancements, virtual education is becoming more of a common occurance. If every student had a laptop, then he or she could look up information about something that she or he does not understand during the lesson, not when he or she gets home. I purchased a new mini computer that weighs about five pounds. I purchased a laptop about four years ago that weighed about fifteen to twenty pounds. My new computer is a lot lighter and more compact to make for easy storage and carrying. My new computer’s battery life is double the size of my old laptop. Even though my new computer is smaller , it has more storage space than the old laptop. Because of my professional schedule, I have a travel every few weeks. I can complete all my assignments from the comfort on my hotel room. Most hotels have wireless internetor what is called WiFi (wireless fidelity), and it is standard for laptop computer to be wireless enabled. You do not have to worry with plugging your computer to a phone line.

The author’s talked about clickers in the classroom. Clinkers allow the students to choose a answer to the question. Using clickers in the classroom could allow the teacher to make sure that all the students understand the materials. Because the teacher is getting instant feedback from the students, she or he can modify the lesson to make sure that everyone understands the lesson. The responses are anonymous from the other students, so evertone can feel confident enough to answer the questions. The shy students do not have to worrying about raising his or her hand to answer questions.

Virtual environment is a combination of hardware and software that when combined can create a digtial environment where you can interact with others. Students can use virtual environment to look at all angles of an object without actually having to have the object in his or her hands. The possiblities are limited only by imagination of the teachers and the students. By using the virtual world students can learn about things that they were never able to learn before. A social studies student can examine an ancient artifact from Ancient Middle East. Or a science student can conduct an experiment on the computer without using fire and chemicals. By conducting experiments on the computer instead of in a lab with the actual chemicals, the school with also save money.

Week 3 Formative and Summative Feedback

Formative feedback occurs during the event or process. Summative feedback occurs at the end of the event or process. An instructor that likes to make changes during the process uses formative feedback. But if the instructor likes to complete the process, and then get feedback, she or he would use summative feedback. DID model use a feedback loop to insure that each step in functioning properly. DID model uses both formative and summative feedback to make sure that the instruction is up the standard needed to teach the students all the information he or she needs to be taught.

Formative feedback is used to ensure a way to keep a continuous flow of information as a process or system is implemented. Formative feedback is used during the process so that correction and modifications while the instructors is going the steps before she or he uses the process with the students. If the instructor goes through the process, and asks himself or herself a few questions, it will make it easier for the students to understand the information in the long run. Below it a few questions that the instructor can ask:
• Am I responding to all the learning styles?
• Are my objectives targeting the performance I intended?
• Is the environment nurturing and secure for all students?
• Are the technologies I have selected appropriate to the content and pedagogy?
• Is the data to be gathered from the assessment useful to determine necessary revisions?
Summative feedback is used always returned at the end of the process. Summative feedback is used to revise each step of the process once the entire process in completed. Summative feedback is used as a final check to the process. Below are a few questions to ask yourself while using summative feedback:
• Did the design successfully meet the needs of the learners?
• Did my objectives accurately capture, in performance terms, the essence of the content the students needed to learn?
• Was the learning environment that I established effective in promoting learning?
• Are the teaching and learning strategies sufficient for and effective in meeting the objectives I identified?
• Were the technologies I selected successful in supporting the targeted teaching and learning?
• Does the summative evaluation provide the data I need to determine whether the objectives were achieved?

Dynamic instructional design (DID) model will serve as the basis for designing technology-rich instruction. An instructor can use DID model as a guide to conceptualize how you will create your instructional unit. DID model have three basic parts: 1) Design 2) Plan 3) Act. You will use formative and summative feedback in the planning stage. You want to make sure that your process is effective before you get the acting stage. The acting stage is where the learners are involved. You really want all the kinks worked out before you try to teach the students.