The Big Ten

1. Web 2.0 Technology reaches all types of learners by engaging many of the learning traits at one time. With a plethera of choices the sky is the limit for engaging everyone.

2. Digital story tellling, learning is enhanced by the "wow" factor. My students' iMovies kept them on task and learning the entire time. I often found them in the lab during recess because they enjoyed it that much.

3.The Wiki I set up for my 6th graders increased my student engagement ten fold as they had hands on access to endless learning activities. Their writing skills were used far more often as they commented on their classmate's posts, and completed the assignments I assigned.

4. Teacher Tube Resources are easily and quickly accessible. It is a safe site to send students and parents too for homework help. I used this one a great deal.

5. Starfall for my younger students gave one on one engagement. Sites like this can be individualized according to the student's needs with the right software.

6. Teacher collaboration through blogs, websites, ning, wiki, etc offer so much, just about anything a teacher needs to perfect her craft is available. If it is not, just ask, start a discussion, an answer is just a few clicks away.

7. Edsitement, ArtsEd, Edutopia, brainpop, aplusmath, funbrain, kidport, thinkfinity, (just to name a few) all provide lessons for sharing and the adaptations are endless.

8. Creativity has no limit through software, hardware, and the Internet just about any dream is possible. My student completely enjoyed using HTML to create websites. For them to understand how computer language works to make something appear gave them a whole new appreciation for the amount of work and talent it took to start it all up in the first place.

9. Home and school communications and sharing are limitless with such sites as moodle, webgrader, parent connect.

10. Google docs/sites is a great place to place video lessons, homework, student work, which can be posted on protected sites for absent students.

It is hard for me to fathum a classroom where technology is not used but unfortunately I do see it every day. Due to all the reasons mentioned above, behavior issues are almost non existent in the computer lab. Students want to work, to have that hands on engagement, to be interactive with their learning, not passively sitting and listening to lecture. Technology is their future, it must be used to prepare them for it.

Be in the Know

Understanding how a computer operates and being informed on peripherals helps the consumer make wise choices when it is time to make that expensive purchase. In my 11 years as a computer teacher I have had to make many large purchases for my school and I am always amazed at how much technology changes just over the course of a few years. What was hot last year is not going to be the same this year. The consumer really has to know what her needs are in order to make a wise decision.

The benefits of being prepared for computer disaster are numerous. Unfortunately there are those with evil intent in our society and abroad who wish to compromise the safety and security of the Internet. One must be aware of these situation and be proactive. Not only can the Internet be a threat but hardware and software are not foolproof and can fail at any moment. Backing up is always a wise move.

I have always been very proactive when it comes to my precious photos. Walgreens has proven to be an easy and safe choice to store my pics. I found out the hard way that by backing them on CD proved to fail me when it was time to retrieve. Software upgrades make the old versions obsolete rendering the CD’s useless. Talk about disappointment, I have years of digital photos I will never be able to retrieve and I am a big photo buff. When there is a family function requiring photos, I pride myself in being able to produce bits of the past to share.


Navigating the dangerous web takes knowledge and skill. For years I believed Norton’s antivirus was written by those that created the viruses. It seemed those who used it suffered the most attacks, me include. My 50 Mac’s at school never fell prey to those attacks hence when the home PC got so fouled up it couldn’t run, an eMac found it’s way into our home. I am happy to report we are still safe both at school and home.

Week 3 Computer Architecture

Revisiting network security couldn't have come at a better time. As I close up shop for this year and plan for next I need to take a good hard look at this issue. I do have two hard drives on the server, one for back up, but having an external would not be a bad idea. I think I will invest in that not only at school but at home as well. This week's class sparked some ideas for security and back up.

I made a quick call to my tech and he is coming in to help me look at some options. I will pick his brain for my research paper. The last time I looked into this, I was overwhelmed at the options available. When one talks of network security a host of situations come to mind. What needs to be secured must be narrowed down and defined. Over protecting can mess things up as well, and slow down everyone in the process. Stopping the bad from coming in is really my main focus. So with that in mind, I will begin my research. Until we meet again........

Linux

I am really beginning to wonder about Bill Gates. After watching "Triumph of the Nerds" II, I have my questions about what kinds of person he is. His competitiveness almost scares me. I don't care much for Microsoft, I have had too many greedy experiences with them. The greed being on their end. I feel they should be more helpful to schools and their software should be free to any and all educational institutions. If they are worth over one billion dollars, they certainly can afford it. No, they want to charge and keep on charging us for any and all help. Now Apple on the other hand lends out all kinds of free help to schools. Thank goodness I work in a Mac world at my school. I always receive lots of free information from the generous tech support at Apple and I always get a real human within minutes of dialing.

The information in the videos was interesting but disturbing for all the reasons mentioned above. I learned about the origins of the operating systems and software and how IBM made the largest mistake of the company's existence and beyond, but found all a bit overwhelming. It is funny to see the little man rise above the corporate gods. Bill does seem to take an interest, or at least he did at the time of those videos, in his employees, however, it still erks me the way his company treats the public.

I agree with the philosophy of Linux. So far my experience with the freeware OS on my mac has been OK. I am so afraid I am going to screw something up by using it though. But the free word is great and I am really going to make an effort to start using it as Word works like $%^& on my Mac! Must look into using more freeware with the kids at school. That may make for an interesting unit with my Jr. high students!

Under the Hood

This week’s course work was fun and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This was one of the best classes of this entire grad program. I feel I got a lot more out of the way this information was presented. More than if we met and it all had been thrown at me at once. I was able to go over the information in digestible pieces and re-watch or read anything I needed. Thank you Louis!

Although I have seen or heard this all before, it was good to have a review as it is not often we think about how a computer works. I am forced to deal with the inside of computers on occasion but it is my least liked task in my job. I have a basic understanding, but like I always say, I know how the mechanics of a car work but I don’t attempt to get in there and wrench it myself.

Knowing how it all works does help me with troubleshooting when problems arise. I know the weaknesses of certain models of the machines in school, so I can make pretty accurate calls on the hardware problems. Or at least know if it is hardware, software, or the network that is not functioning properly.

IRB-Reflection

This process has taught me how to look up research articles on the library search and what to look for in reliable research. I have learned how to look at research in a very critical way in order to summarize it in detail. The steps involved require very specific information that is found in the research, and to be able to determine what the research is really all about. My advice to those doing the IRB process for action research is they find a professor who can direct them with names of those who have done similar research in the past. Using the library search can be time consuming like finding a needle in a haystack if one does not narrow down the research to a very direct question. Development of that question can take many turns before the question is precise and complete.

Action Reserch

To say I am disappointed with the next 9 credits of this grad program is truly an understatement. There are so many other things I need to learn about instructional technology and now I am spending my hard earned money and time on action research, which is so little of what I do. This grad program needs a critical review. We have not covered video conferencing or explored networking, hardware, and have spent very little time on actual educational software. We have spent a lot of time on Internet software which has been rewarding but there is so much more we need to do. I don't even know how to use the smartboard in the Greendale library!

I do see the benefit of action research for the regular classroom teacher, but for me, it has very little value. I am learning a lot, however I will not use most of it once this coursework is complete. I only get to see my students once a week for 30 minutes and concentrating so much time and effort and money on that one 30 minute session is fruitless.

Our Professor is excellent and I mean no disrespect to her. She knows what she is doing and is very good at instructing us in our goals. However, she did cause us some stress when she said if we are confused now, wait until 549! I would not expect to be confused in a grad course as instruction thus far has been laid out quite clear (for the most part). I would hope, if there is known confusion it would be cleared up prior to the course being taught? I hope this not to be the case and all instruction in 549 is presented in way that will allow us to learn without the interruption and stress of confusion.

Hopefully this research will confirm what I hope it does and I will see an improvement in my students' skills. That will be great for their teacher and them but for me there are far greater issues I am not addressing in this action research.