My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete!

Well guys I just want to say it has been a pleasure being in class with everyone. Especially BJ and Jen!! I love you both! I can not believe how fast this semester ha gone by, however this week seems to be taking forever and I know none of us have gotten much sleep trying to do all these projects!!!

I hope everyone did well on all their projects and their final and I hope everyone has a safe and exciting summer...See y'all next semester!!!

Last Post : (

Did I learn anything in this class this semester??? hmm let me think!!! Of course I did! I think I learned more in this class than in any of my other classes. I learned how to do blogs, podcasts, power points, excel spreadsheets, and much more!
I can say the only thing I am curious about is Microsoft Access because I have never used it. I would have liked to learn how to use that and relate it to education.

The Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

The Edible Schoolyard video is about the students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkley, CA. These students are planting, harvesting, and eating what they grow in their garden. The teachers incorporate Social Studies, Science, Math, and Life Skills into this project. The children grow it, cook it, and eat it. They learn values as well. Most families today are not like they were back in the day. The children are learning how to cook, where there food comes from, and how to set a table. The students do not feel like they are in school but they are learning. They also learn the values of sharing and talking with their classmates. They learn about compost, ecosystems, photosynthesis, building community, and how to cooperate.

The program was started by Alice Waters who is a chef that wanted to improve school lunch programs. She refers to the program as a "Delicious Revolution". From this video I have learned the importance of teaching children simple values that they need that they may not be learning at home. I think this project is fundamental for middle school age students.

Heifer International is a company that has Global Ranchs throughout the U.S. They donate livestock to impoverished countries around the world. The video was about a group of kids who spent a night at one of Heifer Intl. ranches. The ranch is divided into different poverty stricken countries. There is Guatamala, Thailand, Zambia, Appalachians, and a Refugee Canmp. Each village is given different supplies to survive through the night. The only village not given anything is the Refugee Camp, wo must go around and see if they can have food from one of the other villages but they must only use non verbal communication.

The students that participated realized how important it is to help others and got a feel for what it is like to live in a poverty stricken country. They learned what its like to go to sleep hungry. I think that because these kids voluntarily did this it built character in them. These children understand now what this is like. I have learned that children really do care about whats going on in our world and not just about video games and television.

iTunes University

iTunes University is part of iTunes where instrustors and administrators can distribute educational media. The best part of this is that it is free. Professors can share their information with with their students and students from other colleges as well. Their are videosand podcasts. There are many different subjects that you can research. There are featured topics as well. There is business, fine arts, teaching, education, history, humanities, and literature are several categories that iTunes U has.

If you are interested in a particular University, you just search for the University and you are taken to their iTunes U page. From there you can search different subjects and view featured topics.Once you click on a topic you will be directed to the course homepage where you can view the audio or video. It is FREE!!! As a college student and a person in the U.S., free is a good thing in our economy! I think that having these free lectures is great. The video is a great way to learn how to use iTunes University.

This program is useful to students. If a student is doing research they could use iTunes U to access credible information. It can also be useful to the students that are in that particular professors class. They can go back and listen to the audio from the professors lectures. The videos can also be useful to those that need to watch the professor speaking.As a student this would be particularly helpful to me because I can listen to how other teachers explain things and learn from their lectures.

iTunes U is also useful to other professors. Other professors can use these lectures for their classes as well. I think that it is important for people in education to be able to shar ideas. As a teacher this could be very useful to me when I need to get information about certain subjects, whether its information in special education, or information on a topic I would like to cover in my own classroom. iTunes U is definitely a great program that I will use often in my college education.

iPods in the Classroom

In my search for articles about iPods used in instruction, I found an article about the positive use of iPods in the classroom. School CIO: Strategies for K-12 Technology Leaders is the website I found this article "iPods in the Classroom" by Susie Meserve.

Meserve's article explains why iPods are a good thing to use in the classroom. Meserve states,"According to Robert Craven, education technology coordinator for the Orange County Department of Education in California, iPods offer astounding possibilities for education. Administrators can record meetings, administer professional development activities, and keep contact information for every student and faculty member in the district. But the real benefits are for students, who use iPods to count calories, to record themselves reading, to make podcasts—even to get to the moon." In her article she interviews Mr. Robert Craven asking him what his reaction to the iPod when it first came out,and what the eductional possibilities are. He says that the first time he heard about the iPod his first thought was about the way they could be used in education. He points out the fact that you can use music in your lectures and intergrate video as well as let the class listen to famous speeches.

On the Wired website I found an article about Duke University giving their incoming freshman iPods. The article states that Duke gave their 1,650 incoming freshman 20GB iPods preloaded with an academic calender and freshman orientation information as well as the Duke fight songs. They did this because they wanted the students to use this technology. Katie Dean, the author of the article states, "Students also will be able to use the devices to download course content, recorded lectures, foreign language lessons, audio books and music from a special Duke website modeled after iTunes. The school will supply voice recorders for some classes, enabling students to record notes while working in the field." I think this concept makes very much sense. From what I have learned in my EDM class, I can agree that technology is growing and that by using iPods it makes things easier for students. In my experience with note taking it can be very strenuious. By having an iPod it can ease that stress of note taking.

Review of Dr. Christie's Site

While viewing Dr. Christie's site the one thing that caught my attention is the Virtual Field Trip Workshop that she does. I read about the reasons for them and how they work. Dr. Christie explains that with gas prices, and the country's economic situation, field trips may not actually be in the school's budget. With videos, audio, and pictures your class can go on a virtual field trip.

As a future Special Education teacher I want to allow my class to partake in thses virtual fieldtrips. I think that one of the best ways for children to learn about something is through experiences. By taking a virtual field trip, the class can have a field trip in the classroom without costing anyone anything. I think the idea itself is genius.

I think that it is a great idea to share the Virtual field trips with other educators. Dr. Christie talks about other educators sharing their virtual field trips. One thing I have learned through my experience in classrooms is that sharing successful lesson plans and information with other teachers can help the students learn. Although you as a teacher may have great ideas, others hae great ideas too.

I think some good ideas for Virtual Field Trips that would be useful in my classroom are virtually visiting farms,zoos,and beaches. We could discuss the different types of animals and compare and contrast the different enviroments. I think this idea of virtual field trips has endless posibilities to where your class can go on their virtual field trip. I enjoyed looking at many different things on Dr. Christie's site, but I must say this was the most interesting thing in my opinion.

Can Wikipedia be trusted?

Throughout my college education I have been told many times when doing research do not use Wikipedia. Because it can be changed, it should not be trusted. I have never used Wikipedia as a source for any type of research for school related assignments. The only time I use it is to just find out information about some things I google. From the articles I have read, it seems that people go in and change the things that relate to them. For example, the Church of Scientology changed some of their information, as well as the Catholic Church has changed their information. From the Wasted website article I learned that people can see who is editing Wikipedia. This article has some very interesting information. It says that someone from the Diebold company deleted information about the company. It also stated that Walmart changed the site saying they paid double minimum wage, when before it said they paid less.

I do not think anyone should completely trust information that they get from Wikipedia. If someone is doing research for something that is school related they should not use Wikipedia. My professors are right for informing other students and myself of this. I think that if someone is researching something that they are curious about they should look at reliable sources as well as wikipedia just to be sure of their findings. Some reliable sources may be actual articles by creditted sources such as newspapers and magazines. If a college student is researching information for school they should go to their libraries website and look at one of the databases the college pays for. I think its great that the college pays for these research databases for its students.
The USA libraries databases are extremely helpful.

CHECK YOUR POSTS!!!

For anyone trying to view my blog! Just this morning I realized my posts had not posted to my blog for the past 2 weeks. If any of you write your blogs in Word make sure that you check that they posted correctly. My apology to anyone who tried to view my blog and got a blank page.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

My first thought of Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was "Wow, this man is dying and he is being so positive about his life." I have a lot of respect for him getting on stage and giving a lecture about his childhood dreams because I know if i was dying and having to talk about all the things I wanted I know I would be crying and be sad. He seemed like he had come to terms with the fact he was dying and he wanted to make the best of the time he had left.


This lecture was most definitely the best last lecture. The fact that we all have childhood dreams is important because its something that we all have. We all have dreams of what we want to do with our lives. We may not have as many as Randy Pausch but we all have some sort of dream. I enjoyed the way he set up his presentation by informing us of all his dreams and then explaining each one and how he has accomplished them.

Randy talks about Motivation. He says that motivation is important to following your dreams because you can not let anything drag you down. He says to not give up and not to get discouraged. I like what he said about "brick walls". He says that Brick walls are important because they come in the way to make sure that if you really want something you will work hard for it. He says that they keep out the "other people". The "other people" referring to people who don't want to work extremely hard for what they want, or people who do not really want something.

One of Randy's dreams was to be in the NFL. He loved football and he says that football is not just a game but it teaches life lessons. It teaches people teamwork and perseverance. I also enjoyed listening about his dreams of becoming an imagineer for Disney and they offered him a job, and all the things he has done for Virtual Reality is amazing. Randy Pausch has accomplished so much in his life and he has had a great influence on his students and colleagues as well. He is a positive role model for many people in many different ways. I have learned a lot listening to him and hope that I can have a positive effect on my students lives.

Karl Fisch "The Best of 2007" blog review

May 2007

Karl Fisch's post is about customer service. He posts a video where you here this guy making a call to HP customer service and he ends up getting hung up on. I have worked in customer service as does Karl Fisch. I can relate to the way Karl feels. I would never hang up on anyone but I understand how you want to get your job done and you would rather "half ass" it than not get it done at all. Karl talks about being a tech and helping people with their tech problems but not having the time to teach them how to fix it themselves. I can relate to that. But I think that when it comes to customer service we should not assume that the representative is going to be rude but assume they are going to be nice and helpful. In my experience with customer service I would have to say that m phone company has never let me down. They are always polite, professional and very helpful.

I think that it takes a strong person to admit fault. Face it! No one likes to be "wrong"! Karl admits to needing change when it comes to his "customer service". He also explains that he needs to do this because of his firm belief in having all teachers and students technologically literate. Before I finished reading the blog the first thing I thought was that Karl Fisch is a hypocrite saying that teachers need to learn stuff but hes not willing to help them. But he has admitted fault for that.

Last Semester's Podcasts Reviewed

The first Podcast I listened to was the 24th Podcast. Carrie, Autumn, and John interviewed Professor Dr. John Strange about his blog. "A Cultural Revolution". I thought that the students had well formatted questions, however, practice would have helped them significantly. I do not know whether they had a script, but if not they should have. They all repeatedly said, "um" and stumbled over their words.

I liked that they had some humor in their podcast. I enjoy listening to podcasts that are informative but also have a bit of humor. The students asked Dr. Strange what a "pippin" was. He had to look back at the article because the article was written back in 1995. This was humorous to me. Overall, I learned that a script and practice is helpful for podcasts.

The second podcast i listened to was the 20th Podcast. Brandy,Amanda,and Daniel talked about Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. I think they did a good job informing the audience about Randy Pausch, however, I think the group should have talked about the facts before doing the podcast. There was one part of the podcast where one of the hosts did not know the facts. I think that has taught me the importance of not mentioning something unless I am completely sure of the facts.

Their overall presence was very nice a few parts of the podcast was not very professional. For example, their was slang used and it had an effect on the tone of the blog. I think that for this group they should have had a script. I know that my partner and i will have notes that we can go by to stay on topic.

Karl Fisch's Blog- my response

I have to say that I agree with Karl Fisch. He made, in my opinion, very good points about why it is not good to be technologically illiterate. In today's society, technology is thriving. The students that we have today have been accustomed to being around technology and because of that, so should the teachers. How does it make the teacher look if a student knows more technology than the teacher?

I like the comparison Fisch made about teachers admitting they were technologically illiterate would be like a teacher saying they could not read or write. Yes, it is extreme but our world IS changing whether people like it or not. Computers are in every school and students as young as elementary grades are being taught how to use them. Parents are teaching their children how to use computers at a very early age. I believe that it is extremely important for ALL teachers to become familiar with computers and technology today.

When Fisch talks about how other staff members ask him questions, he says that he "becomes depressed". In my opinion, I find this to be very negative. I can understand that it may agitate him that other staff members may not have the education in technology, however, atleast they are trying to learn. By asking questions that means they want to gain knowledge about technology. If I were in Fisch's position I would definitely have a much more positive outlook on the situation at hand.

Reading through the last few paragraphs of the blog, Fisch makes a good point about how illitearate people back in the day could get good jobs. Today, is very different. Businesses will not hire people unless they have atleast a high school diploma and in order to get a great paying job you must have atleast a B.A. In the future one can assume that technology is going to be prevalant in all jobs. When Fisch explained this, I completely understood why he is so passionate about technology. Our world is changing and Technology IS the future.

Podcasts

The first Podcast I listened to was a SMARTBoard Lesson. The hosts of the show are, Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. Their podcast is from Canada. The episode that I listened to was Episode 128: "Learning from Other Professions". They were recording the show at the "Fork" in Winnipeg. The "Fork" is where the Assiniboine River and the Red River join. The reason that they decided to record at this location is because the rivers are joining and the purpose of the episode was to determine how principles of business and other non education information can be used in a classroom setting. I tried listening to atleast 5 different episodes of the SMARTBoard Podcats and I honestly did not retain any information. These podcatsts reminded me of goofy radio show hosts talking about their personal lives on air.

The second podcast I listened to was Dan Schmidt from KidCast.The podcast was just Dan speaking and delivering information. The episode was about Podcasting & Fieldtrips and how we can reinvent the field trip with todays technology. After listening to the first podcast I was very disappointed but after carefully listening to Dan Schmidt I retained much information from his podcast. He started the podcast talking about fieldtrips and the excitement of going on a fieldtrip. This brought back memories of the fieldtrips I had went on when I was in school. Dan was making a point that it is important that the students know this isnt just a time where they get out of the classroom but that it is significant. The purpose of field trips is to learn by experience and sight. It is important to gain information from actually being there in the museum or wherever you are. Dan said that it is important that the students have questions written prior to actually going on the field trip. He said that reflection can help the students to retain the information. Recording can be helpful as well. This podcast was extremely insightful.

The episode of EdTech that I listened to was about Mass Notifications in schools. The host talked about the different types of ways of mass notification. The host then introduced people to go into detail about the technology that goes into the different types of mass notification. This podcast was more serious than the other podcats I listened to.

MacBreak Weekly was more like a radio show like SMARTBoard was. There was the humor and different people speaking about tecnology. The episode I listened to was about the iphone and its potential. They relayed a lot of information while laughing and incooperating laughs for the audience. The last podcast I listened to was This Week in Photography. Similar to the last podcast I listened to this one was a group of men talking about photography and the way they photograph. They compared stories. They even talked about the different lenses they used. Even though this podcast was not my favorite it reminded me of my late father. He really enjoyed photography and would have loved this podcast and the technology of photography today.

International K-12 Schools that Blog

In Dunedin, New Zealand there is a school right by the beach. This school is called Tomahawk. The students there are young children. They are only 24 children in the school. By looking at their blog I learned that at the school they truly care about the environment. All their posts had to do with recycling as well as eating healthy. The first post I read explained how they enjoyed making monsters out of "rubbish" from the classroom.The picture at the top of the page is a picture of the children making their monsters. They also had a post about how they made an edible garden. They mixed compost and soil in pots and then potted the plants. They planted rainbow silver beets, pansies, thyme, rosemary, and lettuce. They also made a worm farm and planned to use the fertilizer from their worm farm on the plants. This seemed very interesting that they care so much about the environment. I personally think that its great that the teachers are doing this blog to inform the public about all the good they are doing with these children.
The second school blog that I came across is another school in New Zealand. Its called the Bucklands Beach Intermediate School. The blog that I found is done by 10 and 11 year olds. Their blog is about The Diary of Anne Frank. Two girls in the class wrote letters to Anne Frank about what their life is like today. While reading these letters it was amazing to me that childhood innocence is very prevalent in the world. These girls are so sweet. One of the girls who wrote a letter in response to Anne Frank's diary said that her three cats wold keep her (Anne) company.I thought it was very kind of that child to write that. On their blog you can also hear their podcast of the two girls who wrote letters.

K-12 Blogging in the Classroom (U.S.)

While searching for K-12 blogs, I came across an elementary school in Nebraska where every teacher has a class blog. Willowdale Elementary is located in Omaha, NE. The students write something and give it to the teacher for her to post on the class blog. One of the blogs I enjoyed was Mrs. Brown's Kindergarten class. I found that their blog on making a gingerbread boy was very cute and creative. The class made a gingerbread man or "boy" as they call him. When the class took the cookie to be baked, they pretended that he ran away. They acted out the story and then went back to the classroom and ate the gingerbread "boy".The picture on the left of this page is the Kindergarten class making the gingerbread.The class also was reading a book called, Snowmen at Night. On the blog the children have summarized what the snowmen like to do. That was very cute as well.
The other class blog I looked at was Mrs. Sempek's class blog. She teaches fourth grade. One of her students wrote about how good it is to donate winter clothes because people need them. That is a very important life lesson and makes me feel good knowing that teachers are teaching children about giving to those in need. Another post from that class was about a food drive that the school had. These students realize how great it is to give to the needy. These blogs are also helpful to parents to let them know whats going on in the classroom.The photo on the right is of Mrs. Sempek's class collecting food for the food drive.

ACCESS

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide, also known as, ACCESS, is a distance learning program for high school students. This purpose of ACCESS is to provide these high school students with the knowledge and technology that they will need for their future. The ACCESS program “provides classroom courses and Alabama certified teachers via technology.” This program is also supposed to prepare these students with the skills that will prepare them for college.
The ACCESS program is web based and it also has real two way video and audio. This may help students feel more comfortable as far as questions go. I have taken online classes that have not had meeting times and have felt confused about something. Sure, I emailed the teacher but it would have helped if I had the tool of video, so I could ask the professor questions over video. People who don’t agree with the program may argue that students may not do as well if they don’t have the face to face conversation. This tool is the answer to that question. This first started in October 2005 as a test to see how it went.
With the program there are two different things that are required for the program, for the online (web –based courses) “schools must provide students with onsite access to computers with reliable internet sources”, and for IVC courses (Interactive Videoconferencing) “schools must provide a reliable Internet-connected computer access to an IVC equipped H.323 standard school lab.” The ACCESS distance learning program is used during the school day, and during the normal school hours of operation. This is a good thing because these students would not be distracted and wouldn’t have to change their normal school schedule.
There are many credited people/organizations that support distance learning, the governor, Alabama legislature, State Board of Education- State Superintendent of Education, Appalachian Regional Commission, Bell South Foundation, Access Task-Force/Executive Board K-16 Representatives, and Southern Regional Education Board. This program is changing the environment and the way children learn. Technology is our future. Our students and children will have a great education and be a part of the history of education.
• All information in this post was retrieved from: ACCESS WEBSITE

"Did You Know?" video review and thoughts

The video, “Did You Know?”, had some very interesting information to back up what it was presenting. It is a fact that many other people from other countries speak more than one language and that they think, analyze, create, and apply information that they gain. I think that we do need to prepare our students for the future. By using technology in the classroom we can all make a difference in these children’s lives for their own good and the good of their future. By introducing our students to different subjects we could impact the teachings for the future.
This video made me think about education in the public school system. When I was in school I remember the same way I was taught, my mother was taught in the 50’s and 60’s. In my opinion, if our world is changing, shouldn’t the way we teach in school change as well? Because technology is widely used, why not have more technology in the classroom? When I think about the basic skills I learned in elementary school, I think about the fact that I still use that information today. Reading, writing, and basic math skills are learned at an early age. If children are taught more “advanced” skills today they could very well retain that knowledge and it would stick with them. The information I have learned in my 3 ½ years of college, I only use computer skills and teaching skills. The other classes I took I don’t remember very much about them. I only remembered that information for the test and passing the class. Teaching useful skills that children will use for the rest of their lives is for the benefit of the child. Using technology in the classroom and teaching more advanced skills could have a better outcome in the lives of children. We must empower them because they are the future. In my next post, I will discuss ACCESS, which is the Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide.

Katelyn Post #3

ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. This website lets gives you information on the requirements of education for each grade level, lets teachers view lesson plans for different subjects, and lets you create a “workspace” for your information. There are eight different icons when you go to the ALEX website. There is a lesson plan icon that allows you to choose the grade level, and subject that you need a lesson plan for. This is a great way to find lesson plans that you know will be appropriate for your students. There is another icon for Professional Learning. This icon allows you to navigate to different websites that have information about Alabama school information. I was personally interested in this section because they had information on Special Education which is my major.
This website is particularly useful for students as well. Now that I know about this website I can use it to access information that I will need for my classes. There is also a search and a help icon which can come in handy when looking for information. I think that is website can be useful for parents as well. They can look up requirements for their child before they start school to gain knowledge on what their child will learn in the future. As a student and future teacher and parent I am looking forward to using this site.
Technology in the classroom is one of the great things about teaching and being a student in today’s society. It makes learning more convenient. Instead of having to go to the library to find books for a research paper/project, students can go online and find information. Another useful website is ACCESS. The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide is an actual distance learning program for students. Students that are in high school can take classes online. I think that in today’s society with the amount of technology there is, why not have distance learning available? This site was created to improve students’ abilities. Some of the courses that are offered on the site are Geometry, Physics, Biology, and Algebra I. These classes may be difficult for students and they may want to take classes online with written explanations. I think that distance learning is a great thing.
These two sites were particularly helpful to me because I plan to be a teacher. I need to gain more knowledge as a student and ALEX had a good amount of information on Special Education and IEPs. I enjoyed reviewing the lesson plans and I know I will find then very useful as I continue in my education and when I start teaching. The ACCESS website was new to me. I had no idea that there was distance learning for high school age people. I think that it is wonderful that students can come online and take classes just like college students can. The technology that we have today is amazing and I look forward to using it in the future.

Katelyn Post #2

I’m twenty one years old. I’m from Maryland. I lived about 30 minutes from the Nation’s Capital, Washington D.C. I have lived there my whole life and miss the metropolitan area very much. I enjoy walking the streets of D.C. and people watch. I love to grab a cup of coffee when I am in the city. The coffee shop I prefer is a bar, restaurant, bookstore, and coffee shop all in one. It’s called Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café & Grill I love this place because it has everything I enjoy, food, books, coffee, and cocktails! They have a very wide variety of books.
I enjoy reading fiction. For the past few years I have been reading vampire novels. A few of my favorites are the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer, The House of Night Series by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast, and The Blue Bloods Series by Melissa de la Cruz. I have always been a big fan of reading. I grew up in a hous ehold of educators, so my parents read to my sister and I every night and now we are both book lovers.
You may be wondering why I came down south if I love the city so much? Well, I wanted to focus on school and get my B.A. in Special Education. My good friend lives down here and told me to apply to the University of South Alabama. I checked out the college online, applied, and was accepted. I drove 1,055 miles from my home in Maryland to check out the campus. I was very pleased with what I saw. I found an apartment and now I am in my second semester here at South Alabama.
I live alone in my apartment, which I do not mind. I have only made two friends here in Mobile. I love having friends and hanging out but I am a bit shy at times. I would definitely like to make some friends this semester. I feel like such a loner at times because it seems like a lot of people here know each other. One of my goals this semester is to not be so shy and to associate with people so I can make some friends.

Katelyn's First Post

My first post is about using this blogging website. The site seemed very simple to edit information, however, at a second glance I'm a bit overwhelmed about all the different things I can do to manage my blog. I'm very interested in learning how to use this site and take advantage of the technology that we are going to learn this semester.