Assessment of 8 tech tools on the Web

1. MOODLE

1. I have been using Moodle off and on since October 2010 depending on the instructor.
2. It is very useful if:
   

i. Instructor is organized

1. For an online course one of my instructors has set up an assignment page but has craftily stuck additional assignments in the topic page and in the forums. It takes a great deal of effort and cunning search to find all the assignments for that instructor. I’m still not sure I have them all.

ii. Student has to understand how to use the site

1. If you do not know where to look and how to contribute you cannot make full use of the site.

2. It can be more hindrance than friend.

3. It is easy to mistrust the site when it is used for an online course.

iii. With that understood the use of the site really makes it easy to communicate from the instructor to the student. The instructor can place notes, presentations, reading assignments, handouts, etc., on the topic page and the student can download them at his leisure.

iv. I rate this three pirates out of five because usage is very dependent on the ability of the instructor.

2. Firefox
1. As so many did I started out with Internet Explorer but it did not satisfy. I moved on to Netscape but that too failed to satisfy. Firefox was the answer for me. The controls are user friendly and do not require a lot of mouse usage. I prefer hot keys whenever I can get them. Using the mouse interrupts the flow of work on the keyboard.
2. Starting at the top we have an easy to see and use tab system. You can cycle through the tabs with a ctrl-pg command. Tap the alt key and you have access to the working menus. It is easy to add apps to the menu bar and access them from there.
3. I give it five pirates because it beats any other browser hands down for ease of use. I understand other browsers may have useful features too but I do not see the value of using multiple browsers.
3. Google apps
1. The value of a tool is whether or not you are going to use it. My problem is that ADHD gets in the way of being a consistent user. Google has a very nice calendar function that others can access if allowed, that can have overlays of calendars to account for other facets of our lives, that can do lots to coordinate the days of our lives… but you have to use it and keep it up to date. So calendar is useless to me.
2. Google docs might be a better fit. If I get into a situation where I need to work with someone else on a document it will do well.
3. The photo album is pretty good. My sister-in-law uses it to document their life in Alaska and I like the notifications I get when she adds another block of pictures. The system is easy to use but once more my use would be intermittent.
4. Google Reader looks pretty good. I can use it to follow blogs. When I opened it for the first time I found the blog I had to create for ED641 waiting for me. I have since added the blog for ED609. I can also open RSS feeds for those sites that I want to watch but that do not run a podcast.
5. I give it five pirates because it may do more to help me in class management than any other tool I have seen.
4. Jing
1. My ADHD interferes with my ability to concentrate when reading. I have found that I need to take the text and disassemble it and then reassemble it into individual lines and put them back together. Generally I scan the text into a photograph, read the text from the photo with Microsoft OneNote, paste the text into Microsoft Word and edit out the mistakes made by the software. In the process I end up absorbing the text. I can highlight important items for further study and get the job done. This is a time consuming process and difficult but it is the only way I’ve found that will allow me to read the dry texts I have needed to read. Say what you will this process, in one form or another, played its part in getting me from a GS-1102-5 to a GS-1102-13.
2. Jing allows me to copy text off the screen for pages that do not allow copying by any other method. Then I can inject the picture into the process I outlined above. It also allows me to pick up pictures and whole web pages for further study. Jing is my new best friend.
3. I give it five pirates based on its full head-on usefulness.
5. Wix
1. I have never thought of having a website. I did look at how to make a website once upon a time out of curiosity’s sake but gave up the pursuit because of the programming languages needed. I should have known it would be simplified tremendously given time and technology.
2. Wix is about as simple as it gets. Choose a template and replace all the filler pieces with your own content and you are off and running. I have begun construction on a website for my classes for the coming school year and the only thing slowing me down is the content. It’s hard to come up with all those words and pictures.
3. I give it four pirates based on nothing more than the persnickety way I do things. It may not have a future with me because I am lousy at keeping things going.
6. Animation and cartoon sites
1. In the course of the course I experimented with a number of cartoon and comic strip sites. I did not develop a favorite but I can see how these would be popular with the students. I can foresee cartoons and comic strips being a preferred medium for projects.
2. I tried one site that makes cartoon strips, Make Beliefs Comix. The student creates a comic strip with up to four panels. The site provides characters in different poses along with various backgrounds and speech/thought balloons. It has great potential for students to make their own strips with insights on the subjects under discussion.
3. It is a little complicated to use, though. The controls allow a lot of freedom in placing characters but there is very little room in the panels for characters, background, and speech.
4. I rate it, and the other cartoon sites, four pirates for the interest it will hold for my students.
7. Animated Atlas of African History
1. I am a history teacher and Africa is one of those areas of the world that does not get enough time in high school classes. With the Animated Atlas of African History I can illustrate my teaching time. I can also send students to that site to coordinate their homework and reports with a view of what was happening in that area. It’s a good idea overall but it is not well thought out.
2. The map is pale grey on grey with controls similarly understated. The controls are not intuitive at all. In order to turn on one of the features you need to UNcheck a box. There is no explanation of what the viewer is looking at. Though it is a good idea it seems to be an idea as yet unrealized.
3. I give it a rating of two pirates now but I will keep an eye on this site. For a history teacher it has a lot of potential.
8. Son of Citation Machine
1. This is possibly the most useful site I know of when I have a paper due. In this age of computer access to so many different forms of media valuable information may be found in boos, magazines, as pages on a website, in a podcast, etc. Buying a style guide or looking up the information on O.W.L. may work but you still need to find exactly the right style for each choice. Son of Citation machine gives the student a form to fill out with easy instructions on what to put where.
2. The site covers four of the styles required by most colleges, MLA, APA, Turabian, and Chicago. Selecting one takes you to a list of source types in both print and nonprint forms. From books (either straight book, anthology, or reference work like an encyclopedia) to journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, down to electronic versions of books, online journal and magazine articles web pages, university documents and a range of government documents. There is a method to adjust the form for multiple authors and instructions in red for each of the entries. At the bottom pressing “submit” forwards the student to a page with both the citation and an illustration of how that citation is to be included in the body of the paper.
3. I give it five pirates for sheer usefulness as well as appreciation for the number of times I have relied on the site.

Assessment of Eight technologicaol Tools From the Web

1. MOODLE
1. I have been using Moodle off and on since October 2010 depending on the instructor.
2. It is very useful if:

i. Instructor is organized

1. For an online course one of my instructors has set up an assignment page but has craftily stuck additional assignments in the topic page and in the forums. It takes a great deal of effort and cunning search to find all the assignments for that instructor. I’m still not sure I have them all.

ii. Student has to understand how to use the site

1. If you do not know where to look and how to contribute you cannot make full use of the site.

2. It can be more hindrance than friend.

3. It is easy to mistrust the site when it is used for an online course.

iii. With that understood the use of the site really makes it easy to communicate from the instructor to the student. The instructor can place notes, presentations, reading assignments, handouts, etc., on the topic page and the student can download them at his leisure.

iv. I rate this three pirates out of five because usage is very dependent on the ability of the instructor.

2. Firefox
1. As so many did I started out with Internet Explorer but it did not satisfy. I moved on to Netscape but that too failed to satisfy. Firefox was the answer for me. The controls are user friendly and do not require a lot of mouse usage. I prefer hot keys whenever I can get them. Using the mouse interrupts the flow of work on the keyboard.
2. Starting at the top we have an easy to see and use tab system. You can cycle through the tabs with a ctrl-pg command. Tap the alt key and you have access to the working menus. It is easy to add apps to the menu bar and access them from there.
3. I give it five pirates.
3. Google apps
1. The value of a tool is whether or not you are going to use it. My problem is that ADHD gets in the way of being a consistent user. Google has a very nice calendar function that others can access if allowed, that can have overlays of calendars to account for other facets of our lives, that can do lots to coordinate the days of our lives… but you have to use it and keep it up to date. So calendar is useless to me.
2. Google docs might be a better fit. If I get into a situation where I need to work with someone else on a document it will do well.
3. The photo album is pretty good. My sister-in-law uses it to document their life in Alaska and I like the notifications I get when she adds another block of pictures. The system is easy to use but once more my use would be intermittent.
4. Google Reader looks pretty good. I can use it to follow blogs. When I opened it for the first time I found the blog I had to create for ED641 waiting for me. I have since added the blog for ED609. I can also open RSS feeds for those sites that I want to watch but that do not run a podcast.
5. I give it five pirates.
4. Jing
1. My ADHD interferes with my ability to concentrate when reading. I have found that I need to take the text and disassemble it and then reassemble it into individual lines and put them back together. Generally I scan the text into a photograph, read the text from the photo with Microsoft OneNote, paste the text into Microsoft Word and edit out the mistakes made by the software. In the process I end up absorbing the text. I can highlight important items for further study and get the job done. This is a time consuming process and difficult but it is the only way I’ve found that will allow me to read the dry texts I have needed to read. Say what you will this process, in one form or another, played its part in getting me from a GS-1102-5 to a GS-1102-13.
2. Jing allows me to copy text off the screen for pages that do not allow copying by any other method. Then I can inject the picture into the process I outlined above. It also allows me to pick up pictures and whole web pages for further study. Jing is my new best friend.
3. I give it five pirates based on its full head-on usefulness.
5. Wix
1. I have never thought of having a website. I did look at how to make a website once upon a time out of curiosity’s sake but gave up the pursuit because of the programming languages needed. I should have known it would be simplified tremendously given time and technology.
2. Wix is about as simple as it gets. Choose a template and replace all the filler pieces with your own content and you are off and running. I have begun construction on a website for my classes for the coming school year and the only thing slowing me down is the content. It’s hard to come up with all those words and pictures.
3. I give it four pirates based on nothing more than the persnickety way I do things. It may not have a future with me because I am lousy at keeping things going.
6. Animation and cartoon sites
1. In the course of the course I experimented with a number of cartoon and comic strip sites. I did not develop a favorite but I can see how these would be popular with the students. I can foresee cartoons and comic strips being a preferred medium for projects.
2. I tried one site that makes cartoon strips, Make Beliefs Comix. The student creates a comic strip with up to four panels. The site provides characters in different poses along with various backgrounds and speech/thought balloons. It has great potential for students to make their own strips with insights on the subjects under discussion.
3. It is a little complicated to use, though. The controls allow a lot of freedom in placing characters but there is very little room in the panels for characters, background, and speech.
7. Animated Atlas of African History
1. I am a history teacher and Africa is one of those areas of the world that does not get enough time in high school classes. With the Animated Atlas of African History I can illustrate my teaching time. I can also send students to that site to coordinate their homework and reports with a view of what was happening in that area. It’s a good idea overall but it is not well thought out.
2. The map is pale grey on grey with controls similarly understated. The controls are not intuitive at all. In order to turn on one of the features you need to UNcheck a box. There is no explanation of what the viewer is looking at. Though it is a good idea it seems to be an idea as yet unrealized.
3. I give it a rating of two pirates. I will keep an eye on this site. For a history teacher it has a lot of potential.
8. Son of Citation Machine
1. This is possibly the most useful site I know of when I have a paper due. In this age of computer access to so many different forms of media valuable information may be found in boos, magazines, as pages on a website, in a podcast, etc. Buying a style guide or looking up the information on O.W.L. may work but you still need to find exactly the right style for each choice. Son of Citation machine gives the student a form to fill out with easy instructions on what to put where.
2. The site covers four of the styles required by most colleges, MLA, APA, Turabian, and Chicago. Selecting one takes you to a list of source types in both print and nonprint forms. From books (either straight book, anthology, or reference work like an encyclopedia) to journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, down to electronic versions of books, online journal and magazine articles web pages, university documents and a range of government documents. There is a method to adjust the form for multiple authors and instructions in red for each of the entries. At the bottom pressing “submit” forwards the student to a page with both the citation and an illustration of how that citation is to be included in the body of the paper.
3. I give it five pirates for sheer usefulness as well as appreciation for the number of times I have relied on the site.

Kids need to learn & AT can help

KIDS NEED TO LEARN AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP

As a teacher all humanity breaks down into two groups, those who need to be taught and those who have graduated. Subsets of those groups are possible but not important. If a child is in need of an education it is the duty of the teacher to teach. It’s that simple. Most students do not need help to participate in class and study outside of class. But there are some students who do need this help and in the 21^st Century there is help available.

Disabled students must be included in our classrooms because it is the law. The Rehabilitation Act passed in 1973 requires public buildings, including schools, to be renovated to accommodate disabled people. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was passed in 1975 and updated in 2004. It provided for free and public education for all disabled students. The Rehabilitation Act was amended in 1998 to require that electronic and information technologies must be accessible to people with disabilities. The Assistive Technology Act of 1998 provides funding for states to create programs to provide assistive technology to disabled people. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) provides for disabled students requiring them to have access to the general education curriculum taught by highly qualified teachers,

But there is more to it than that for many teachers. They revise their lesson plans to include disabled kids because it is the right thing to do. These kids have been handed a challenge and it is up to us to help them meet that challenge. Every kid who passes through our classrooms has an impact to make on society. Nobody knows what that kid will do once he enters the real world beyond the schoolhouse doors. But we can make sure he is armed with the best education we can offer.

Anything the teacher does to encourage participation will improve the lesson plan and offer the disabled student a chance to reach his goal of a good education. As such room must be made for wheelchairs and adjustable desks. Lighting must be adjusted for a visually impaired student. Lessons need to be taught and questions asked in such a way that the disabled student has an opportunity to shine just like the other students. The adjustments could be minor or could require major adjustments but making those adjustments would be worth the trouble. And the teacher needs to educate himself on the types of assistive devices and computer programs that would help the student.

Probably the single most important assistive device is the laptop computer. With the right peripherals and programs the disabled students can study, research, do their homework, submit the homework, and communicate with other students. The laptop is portable and can travel to school with the student and be available at home also. Assistive devices are available to help students see the screen or hear the text if sight is not available. There are devices that enable the student to use the keyboard no matter what the disability is.

There are some who see the changes required to add a disabled child to the general education population as too difficult to handle or they consider the child to be unteachable. They must speak from some form of laziness or phobia. They do not seem to see the kid as another mind reaching for the light, yearning to see what the next page holds, fighting to be free and independent as much as humanly possible.

There is an added benefit. The teacher models behavior that the able bodied students need to see and learn. The able bodied students will be out there in the real world alongside the disabled adult that child will grow to be. It is in the schools that those able bodied kids learn that the disabled kid is first and foremost another human being who deserves a chance.

So it behooves us to learn to deal with all kids no matter what their physical or emotional state is. We are teachers. The students are waiting for us to do our job. The devices are there to aid us and the student in the educational process. And when those kids walk down to get their diploma we will know we have done the right thing, the moral thing, the best thing we could be doing. We teach.

Sources:

The Family Center on Technology and Disability. (2011). Assistive technology laws. Retrieved from http://www.fctd.info/factsheet/atlaws

Smith, D.D., & Tyler, N.C. (2010). Introduction to special education. Upper Saddle River, Columbus: Pearson Education.

Lesson Plan #1 Essay

I have written my first real lesson plan. It was interesting to write one after all the classes and practice. I knew where to find the content standards, I found the one that fit my intended lesson plan, I filled it out with a method using a group learning technique called the jigsaw, I included writing a rubric with the students to use as an assessment tool and the interactive student notebook to get the students to journal about the work and its outcome.

I believe NETS*T 3., Modeling Digital-Age Work and Learning, paragraph a.iv, would apply to this lesson. I would be modeling and facilitating “…effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).” In the lesson plan the students will be researching using the Internet, creating a spreadsheet of data, questioning that data, and developing a knowledgeable presentation to transmit their findings to the rest of the class.

At this point the lesson plan is a simple job of finding data and analyzing it through the use of a spreadsheet. The students work in teams to do this. One possibility to make this more challenging would be to have them come up with the headings for the data without my prompts. They could brainstorm the headings and information. It has to be the same for each group so they would have to work together to make sure they are all working with either apples or oranges.

To accommodate students with disabilities, since I chose a speech impairment as the learning disability, I would give the student time to formulate answers to any questions. I would monitor that student’s group to make sure the other members are treating him with respect and tolerance, I would have already worked to make the classroom a welcoming and relaxed arena in which he could excel.

I like this assignment because it is one step in a long term path to the students understanding the position the USA has in the world today. Over several disconnected lessons I will cover the basic events that the USA was involved in and lead the students to connect those lessons into an understanding of how we became the militaristic nation we have become.

I would like to be able to get outside the box and do more with the lesson and get the kids farther into the technology available to them.

Sources:

International Society for Technology in Education, . (2008). Nets for teachers 2008. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx