New Software!

Camtasia Requirements:	School Computer:	Does it meet the requirements?
Operating System: Windows XP or Windows Vista	Operating System: Windows XP Service Pack 3	Yes
Processor: 1.5 GHz single core but recommended Intel 2.0 GHz dual-core or better	Processor: 2.26 GHz Intel R Core (TM Duo CPU	Yes
Screen Resolution: Display dimensions of 1024x768 or greater	Screen Resolution: Min. 800x600 and Max 1600 x1200	Yes
Memory RAM: 500 MB RAM minimum ~ Recommended: 2.0 GB	Memory RAM: 1.95 GB	Yes
Video Card:	Video Card: Mobel Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family	Yes I think
Removable Media Options: Dedicated Windows-compatible sound card, microphone and speakers	Removable Media Options: 6 USB, internal microphone and speakers the option to have external	Yes
Microsoft DirectX 9 or later version	Not loaded at this time.  Need permission from Technology coordinator to load onto computer	No
500 MB of hard-disk space for program installation	Hard Disk space: 148 GB, available 126 GB	Yes

 

I went to JourneyEd to download Camtasia onto my school laptop.  I did not actually try to download this onto my school computer because I already knew that as a classroom teacher I do not have administrative rights to download any software onto my computer.  If I want something downloaded onto my computer I must electronically file a Management Information Services (MIS) request to have a school based technology coordinator that is at our school 3 times a week to come into my classroom at their convenience to load the software on my computer.  They will ONLY load this software if the software is on an already established list of approved programs created by the school district.  Because it is such a hassle to have software loaded onto classroom computers, I suggest teachers should establish a great rapport with their technology coordinator at their school.  However, I had no trouble loading it onto my personal MAC laptop at home.  This is the computer that I have to use to do all of my homework for my Graduate course “Fundamentals of Technology for Educators.”  Camtasia requires the computer to have a lot of extra removable media like microphones and speakers.  This would require additional hardware to be purchased separately so that I could use Camtasia on my school and/or personal laptop.  Also, I was not familiar with what having Microsoft DirectX 9 was.  But after I went to a Microsoft website for Microsoft DirectX 9 , I left with a limited understanding that it has something to do with the graphics and video card on a computer.  Before getting stuck on doing a search on Microsoft DirectX 9, I felt that I had always had a pretty good understanding of the  “inner works” of any computer.  While reading Chapter 4 of the textbook “Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom” by Shelly, Gunter, and Gunter, I was able to review some of the hardware that is available to computers.  Some of the hardware that was mentioned that I use on a regular basis are input devices such as the keyboards and digital cameras, and output devices such as interactive whiteboards and printers.  Because I am continuously expanding my knowledge of the hardware available for computers, it allows my students to have a more interactive experience in the classroom.  For example, when talking about transformations in class we discussed how sometimes reflections can also look like translations unless you label the different vertices on the polygon.  I represented this by creating a star in an interactive whiteboard program and made instant copies of this star and showed how reflecting it over the y-axis and translating to the left looks the same until I labeled the vertices of the star.

Before installing this program, I have been working on writing a grant to have Camtasia used in my classroom to create vodcasts (a podcast with video included) of examples from the lecture.  This grant will also allow students to create vodcasts of questions from the homework that were particularly difficult for many of the other students.  These vodcasts would then be posted online for students who were absent or even students who just wanted to review a particular topic.  By using Camtasia in the classroom, the students are getting the opportunity to create vodcasts to relay their understanding of the material, which will also benefit other students who are still trying to comprehend the material.  These vodcasts will reach both visual and auditory learners.

Overall, to actually load new software onto my school computer requires me to get permission from many sources including Administrators at the school and the county office for technology.  I feel it is worth it.  My best advice is to talk to your technology coordinators and administrators to get them excited as well to make it a smoother experience.

 

 

 

Digital Reputation AR #3

Digital reputation:

As Daniel Solove stated, “The Internet makes gossip a permanent reputational stain, one that never fades.  It is available around the world, and with Google it can be readily found in less than a second” (Solove, 31).  After reading this I decided to look at many of the different social networks that I have contributed to such as Facebook to look at it from an “outsiders” perspective.  I found some positive pictures and quotes from my mission trip and memorable quotes from the bible and a recent movie I watched Eat,Pray,Love.  However, I also found a few pictures of me celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays that may lead some people to have a more negative viewpoint of my reputation.  “Once information about us finds its way into the minds of others, we can’t control what they think about it.  Our ability to exercise control consists of being able to limit the circulation of information about us.” (Solove, 35)  For this reason, I only allow friends and family to access my Facebook account and have chosen not to link it to my blog.  On the other hand, while I was looking at the information that I found while searching MIT's Personas project there was some information about me that was left out because I had a name change at the age 20. I was published under my previous name and it is not connected with my new name when I did a search. It made me wonder, once a girl gets married and changes her last name is she now starting over with a new digital identity and losing her old?  I am very proud that I am published and it bothers me that people will never know this unless I give them my former name. 

As Solove says, “Hence the conflict: we want information to flow openly, for this is essential to a free society, yet we also want to have some control over the information that circulates about us, for this is essential to our freedom as well.” (Solove,35).  As a teacher and as a role model to my students I feel I need to be more aware of the pictures and comments my friends and I post on the social networks, keeping in mind that the audience that sees this information may not always be what I initially intended.

References:

Solove, Daniel J. (2007) The Futureof Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet, New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

 

When was the last time you…?

When was the last time you…? 

This week I found myself asking this question to many of my colleagues and family.  Before this week if you asked me what I felt my comfort level was with productivity software I would have told you I am very comfortable and would refer to myself as somewhat of an expert.   Now my answer would be, it depends on the last time I used the program.

For example, when I first moved to Florida to teach middle school math 6 years ago I decided to integrate Math Jeopardy Microsoft powerpoint presentations as a tool to help my students study for an upcoming exam.  I created this powerpoint with buttons and hyperlinks and sounds to each question which would link back to the original board of categories and amounts.   Once I created the first game all I had to do was change the categories and questions within each category to create a new game for another topic.   If you asked me today to create the buttons and hyperlinks again it may take me awhile to figure out what I did to get all the slides linked, or I might suggest one I found online that has more “bells and whistles.”

Also, as I was working on the excel spreadsheet for our activity for my graduate class “Fundamentals of Technology for Educators,” I kept thinking that this would be so much easier if I was just able to use the online grade book our school uses www.mygradebook.com.  I continually throughout the week was asking colleagues and family to help me remember how to do many of the functions such as sorting the columns by the students test average and making the names appear on four separate worksheets and be able to make changes to one worksheet and it will automatically change the other three.  The online grade book has all the formula’s embedded into the program and all you have to do as a teacher is enter in the grades for the students once you have set up the database of students.  A teacher from the high school told me that the grading program that the high schools are piloting this year link the attendance and the grades so that teachers don’t even have to worry about entering in student information into a database because it is set up by the county.

My strengths with productivity software is that if you ask me how to do a particular function in any type of program I know the basic stuff, and if it isn’t basic I can usually figure it out by playing around in the program.  My biggest weakness is that I don’t use the programs enough to remember the more complicated functions the programs are capable of doing and a lot of times it is easier to look online for already created lessons that were created in the productivity software I use at school.  Just today, I knew I was going to be absent on Friday so I looked on the Promethean Planet website to get already created flipcharts (like powerpoint presentations) by other teachers so that the substitute just has to click through the charts and the students are still getting the notes they need when I am absent.

As a teacher that is planning on getting my master’s in technology, I feel it is necessary for me to start creating more using the productivity software that I have at school like: ActivInspire, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Movie Maker.  I also think it is important to take classes/watch tutorials that will broaden my knowledge of this software.  Lastly, now that I recently purchased a Mac computer I think it will be a good idea for me to also become more familiar with iMovie, iLife, and Garage Band.  The challenge will be to find the time, but it will be worth the effort in the end.

 

Overprotective Parents…Opps! I mean Schools

Overprotective Parents…I mean Schools

“Is it more unethical to allow threats to students/schools, or to deny students/teachers access to instructionally-relevant Web-based tools and content?”

I do have to admit that this was a very hard question to answer for two reasons (1) There is a lot of garbage on the internet and (2) while trying to find which sites are blocked in Volusia County, I realized that the filtering software has been down for the past three days. But, if I have to pick only one side to defend I think it is more unethical to deny students and teachers access to instructionally relevant material.  In the past three days, we have already had a few incidents of students logging onto sites that are normally blocked by our security.  Although these incidents occurred, they have not gone on without discipline to the students that made poor choices, because our media center has a program on the teacher’s computer station that views all the computers in the lab and our media specialist was able to catch these students.  We also have a student code of conduct that specifies what students can and cannot do while they are on the computer.  I find it a little overprotective when we have forms the students are required to sign agreeing to use the internet appropriately before they can go on the internet, we have a program that monitors what they are doing on the internet and filtering software county-wide that does not allow students to access certain sites on the internet.  Having these limitations is not the reality they are going to have as adults.  I feel for these students to be successful in the 21^st century we need to allow them the opportunity to have access to all educational content the internet has to offer.  In Devaney’s article she quotes “TCEA Board President Elect Lacey Gosch said today’s students expect classrooms that use digital tools in every step of the learning process. “Only through the use of technology can we make their expectations a reality,” she said (Devaney, 2011). The same is true for teachers.  If we are to be considered and treated as professionals then there needs to be a level of trust from the county and administrators of their staff.  They trust us with educating these young minds but don’t seem to trust us to monitor the students internet use and facilitate and model moral judgment when it comes to using the internet as a tool in the classroom.  I think it is a good idea for teachers to create curriculum pages.  Curriculum pages are web pages created by teachers with hyperlinks they selected that have been previewed before the students access the sites.  This makes it easier for the students because they are no longer typing in URL’s and not spending too much of their time searching the internet for relevant sites (Shelly, 495).  Overall I feel there has got to be a better way to filter what students have access to without the use of such restricting filtering software. Without this software it will enable teachers to teach and model appropriate etiquette for internet usage.

 

References:

Devaney, Laura (Feb. 9, 2011) eSchoolNews.com TCEA seeks to remove barriers from tech access Retrieved: Feb. 10, 2011

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/02/09/tcea-seeks-to-remove-barriers-from-tech-access/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=url&utm_campaign=slider

Shelly, G. B., Gunter, G. A., & Gunter, R.E. (2010). Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom Sixth Edition. Boston, MA: Cendage 

 

ABC - Week 3 FETC!

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend FETC (Florida Educators Technology Conference).  What an exciting day.  I was able to attend two sessions that I felt would benefit the work that I have been doing for my Graduate classes.  The first session I attended was about a school that has integrated Ipods/Iphones into every classroom.  Giving a ratio of 1:1.  According to their research, they have found that students are not as connected to the technology unless they have it in their hands.  I was also able to follow discussions and questions addressed in this session via a "social network" called Edmodo.  After the morning sessions I was able to go to the Edmodo booth and ask a lot of questions about how this site works.  I think it is a great idea, but it needs to expand to meet the needs of the students and teachers.  I suggested that they talk with the textbook companies to get interactive homework where students can turn in their work paperless and online.  The second session that I attended was on vodcasts.  I attended this session because I am thinking about writing a grant where I can integrate vodcasts into my classroom for absent students to view via the internet or for students that need a little refresher on the material covered before the test from home.

My favorite booth that I attended at FETC was Promethean’s.  Promethean has created a Interactive whiteboard that uses pens and also touch to use as a teaching tool in the classroom.  They have also teamed up with Cyper Science to create 3D models of things in the different sciences including: Anatomy, Zoology, Botany, Biology, Chemistry, Earth, Paleontology and Engineering.  While I was at the booth, I was able to take apart a frog layer by layer and also click on different parts of the frog and a label would show up and identify the part I was clicking on.  To be able to integrate this into a classroom, a teacher would need to have a DLS projector that can show 3D images and also a set of 3D glasses.  Although the projector is about the same expense as a regular projector, the glasses run about $75 each.

Who needs teachers anyway? - Reading Response #2

Reading Response #2 - Who needs teachers anyway?

While watching the video “The Connected Student,” I got the impression that in the 21^st century we as teachers will be quickly moving towards a different kind of educating.  For example, we will no longer be standing in front of the class lecturing on how to graph equations on a coordinate grid.  Instead we will be giving our students the tools they need to research how to graph equations and how these equations relate to the real world.  I was also thinking about how this is a lot like learning a foreign language.  It is one thing for a teacher to stand in front of the room and teach you how to say all the words, but to really learn the language a student should immerse themselves in a country that speaks that language.  This allows the student to take ownership of their learning and make it more memorable to them.  Some may say there is no need for teachers than.  But, I agree with the video when they talked about how the role of the teacher will become to facilitate learning by modeling proper etiquette for contacting and interacting with peers on the web, creating a scavenger hunt like activities to guide them, and giving them search tools to help them have a successful and positive experience when using technology.

I also visited a site called “ FAMS Math Weblog.” I found this website to be a valuable resource because I am a middle school math teacher.  There were a lot of links of movies students created to explain how to do many of the middle school math concepts learned.  I found myself thinking back to Bloom’s Taxonomy, where the highest level of learning is creating.  How awesome was it for these middle school students to create videos showing others step by step how to do different types of math problems.
Lastly, I came across an article at school from the Weekly Reader magazine that talked about a school district in western Ohio that was no longer going to have “snow days.”  Instead, the students would have to sign-on to their computers from home to do learning via the Internet.  I think this is a wonderful idea that could even help school districts that don’t need snow days to save on facility bills if students had research days where they didn’t come to school and had teachers that created activities that promoted the students to research on their own from the comfort of their home.

Week 2 - ABC

This week I was able to integrate a few of the lessons created by Texas Instrument to replace some of the lectures that I taught this week.  For the sixth graders we started a unit on rational and irrational numbers.  The activity begun with having the students view a movie from the web called "Weird Numbers" (http://ciese.org/ciesemath/number_town.html) Although I thought this was a wonderful way to get the students thinking about the different types of numbers, the movie was a Quicktime movie and I did not have the option to view it full screen.  The picture was about 6 in x 6 in on the board.  I was wondering if I downloaded the Quicktime player Pro that you pay for, if I would then be able to make the movie bigger on my screen?

Once the students watched the movie, the calculator guided them through manipulating circles and triangles to learn about irrational numbers.  Often times I feel as a Pre-Algebra teacher we don't get to cover as much Geometry as we should.  So, I really liked how this activity integrated introducing irrational numbers with circles and triangles.

Tech Trouble-

(1) Students are not getting files when they log onto the Navigator.  The only solution that I found was having the students log on again and the file would usually show up.  If not, I was able to force send it again from my computer.

(2) The Quicktime movie could not be shown full screen.

(3) I still have a lot of communication errors from a lot of the calculators.  I think it is kind of funny how these students are supposed to be so advanced with their technology skills, but as soon as these calculators give them any type of error they come directly to me to fix it for them.