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Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Discussion #2 - Web Design and Development
The important elements of Web design for teaching and learning is including adequate interactive features, accurate content, relevant content, ease of use, eye catching layout, interesting visually, organized in a rational manner, links to resources, and relevant graphics, videos, etc.
From a teacher standpoint I would want my Web course to be easy to navigate, have a Quick Links drop down menu, easily found links to the most important things on the home page, such as, assignments, grades, and resources. I would also want to make sure I have helpful tutorials to go along with lessons. From a learner’s standpoint I would want much the same thing. I have been on the learner’s end for so long – it is how I think in regards to how I would do it as a teacher.
My tips for colleagues would be to make sure you have it organized well, think through as the user, plan the ultimate goal and work your way back, visit as many other class websites and look for what you think works and what doesn’t work. Make sure you have accurate content. Make sure you are creative and interactive.
From a teacher standpoint I would want my Web course to be easy to navigate, have a Quick Links drop down menu, easily found links to the most important things on the home page, such as, assignments, grades, and resources. I would also want to make sure I have helpful tutorials to go along with lessons. From a learner’s standpoint I would want much the same thing. I have been on the learner’s end for so long – it is how I think in regards to how I would do it as a teacher.
My tips for colleagues would be to make sure you have it organized well, think through as the user, plan the ultimate goal and work your way back, visit as many other class websites and look for what you think works and what doesn’t work. Make sure you have accurate content. Make sure you are creative and interactive.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Discussion #1 Blog in Education
Blogging in education can have a great impact on communication and writing skills for students. Students can see their work published and see an immediate result of their work. Students can blog while learning and using new technologies. Blogging can help their writing skills, but also increase technology use skills. They can use the forum for discussion and group work. Students can easily share their blog with friends and family. This is also a great format for students to create a portfolio and a lot more fun for them to create. Students have time to reflect before responding and can potentially come up with more insightful creative answers. Blogging gives students the time to reflect back on what was learned and put it into their own words, thus teachers can check for learning while giving the student a fun way to express what they learned. Blogs also can show learning over the year and the development of the writing of the student over time.
Blogs give students who may not otherwise participate in class the chance to be a part of the class without the fear of messing up in front of everyone. Blogging can give students the confidence they may not have otherwise.
Blogs are challenging for teachers because students have to learn social skills also and having students just sit and type at the computer is not the way to go. Teachers have to balance appropriate times to blog. There is also the privacy issue. The Internet can be dangerous for users and teachers must follow all district guidelines when letting students blog. Teachers also have to watch closely for content and make sure content is appropriate.
I do not use blogs in teaching, since I do not teach, but I will use them when I teach. I have experienced blogs in courses and think it is a good tool to teach me how to use various items and pull them together in the blog. I think it is a great portfolio and I really like being able to store it where I can access it from any Internet connection. This makes it easy to update and edit as needed. For example, last semester I took a course I had to create a blog and use it as my blogfolio. This was the first time I completed a blogfolio. I was able to access my blog from home and work to work on it as I had time during lunch or before work began or at home. This made the course less stressful for me in knowing I wouldn’t forget my work at home.
Blogs give students who may not otherwise participate in class the chance to be a part of the class without the fear of messing up in front of everyone. Blogging can give students the confidence they may not have otherwise.
Blogs are challenging for teachers because students have to learn social skills also and having students just sit and type at the computer is not the way to go. Teachers have to balance appropriate times to blog. There is also the privacy issue. The Internet can be dangerous for users and teachers must follow all district guidelines when letting students blog. Teachers also have to watch closely for content and make sure content is appropriate.
I do not use blogs in teaching, since I do not teach, but I will use them when I teach. I have experienced blogs in courses and think it is a good tool to teach me how to use various items and pull them together in the blog. I think it is a great portfolio and I really like being able to store it where I can access it from any Internet connection. This makes it easy to update and edit as needed. For example, last semester I took a course I had to create a blog and use it as my blogfolio. This was the first time I completed a blogfolio. I was able to access my blog from home and work to work on it as I had time during lunch or before work began or at home. This made the course less stressful for me in knowing I wouldn’t forget my work at home.
Assignment #2 - Blog
Here is my blog address for Assignment #2.
http://it648rrvowellblogfolio.blogspot.com/
http://it648rrvowellblogfolio.blogspot.com/
Assignment #1 - Web Searching
1. International Telecommunications Education and Research Association (ITERA)
http://www.itera.org/
ITERA is an international association with nineteen university members ITERA’s mission is to advance the science of telecommunications through research and education, with particular focus on telecommunications networks. Other than its research and education statements in the mission statement the website does not really give me a clear picture of what the site is for other than to give a little bit of bio about the fairly new organization. Maybe as a member you would get more, but that is unclear.
2. Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC)
http://www.ptc.org/ptc/index.php?q=resources
This organization seems to be pretty large. It states that its members span over 60nations. The mission of PTC is to promote the development and use of telecommunications to enhance the lives of people living in the Pacific hemisphere. The website advertises a conference each year (held in Honolulu, Hawaii, which promises to showcase progressive technology and help build relationships and networking opportunities. This organization was founded in 1978. This website seems to be more open and informative that the previous one I reviewed. The website is easily followed and gives just enough information to peak the reader’s interest into wanting to find out more about joining the organization.
3. Center for Telecommunications Education and Research (CTER)
http://cter.eng.uab.edu/index.htm
CTER’s mission is to provide technical support, research expertise, knowledge, and continuing education programs to organizations in the telecommunications industry. The focus of CTER is in the medical field. Some of the companies they have done research or an educational program for are AT&T, BellSouth, General Motors, and Hewlett- Packard. The website does a good job telling me about what CTER does and what programs they have going. They also tell all about the people who formed CTER, who carry the torch now, and where the organization is headed.
4. National Education Telecommunications Network (NETN)
http://www.netn.net/103.htm#DIRECTION
NETN partners with US West to focus on education and helping teachers, educators, parents, administrators, government, and the community. This website has many links to resources. It is broken down into the subject are you are interested in. There is a list of the sub-categories, but also a search feature. There is plenty of guidance on the site. So far, this is the best site of content, but the visual appeal leaves a bit to be desired and is almost confusing. You have to read and look for things, but the content and resources are well worth the effort.
5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Quest (NASA Quest)
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/
NASA has created a website featuring interactive Web-based explorations for k-12 classrooms. This website is fantastic for educators to let students explore so many aspects of science, engineering, weather, airport design, communications, etc. This site also allows users to create their own page. Users can bookmark something they would want to read, keep a list of their top playlists and feeds, keep up with shuttle news, and read their favorite blogs.
PART II
1. Cuil
www.cuil.com
According to the website - Cpedia by cuil takes the keywords you type in and summarizes cites that match the search, but also removing the repeats. They make the search relational. This may bring up results you may not have thought of. Cuil sifts through the pages and “extracts the unique ideas” and then cluster them together by topic. You can use Cuil with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and some others. Cuil can connect with Facebook and bring you results about your friends.
One thing I did not like about this search engine is that when I typed in Wiggins, MS it brought up four other things first that did not include all that I typed. It did not bring up all the things I normally see on Google – which is what I was really looking for. However, I can see this being useful as a support, but not as my number one search engine.
2. Bing
www.bing.com
Bing was online June 2009. As of January 2010 it is the third largest search engine. Bing is a product of Microsoft. It includes s list of search suggestions and list of related searches.
Bing brought up what I expected when I typed in Wiggins, MS. They also include related items on the left and at the bottom. The items were useful and more of what I was looking for. Bing is easy to use and the site is clear and concise. I also liked having the search history for things I look for often.
3. Steve Yuen’s Ultimate Search Page
http://dragon.ep.usm/~yuen/search/engine.htm
This site has directories, metasearches, maps, newsgroups, references, people, and other tabs to allow for more search opportunities.
Steve Yuen’s Ultimate Search Page has multiple search engines. When I typed Wiggins, MS in AllthWeb.com it brought up pretty much the same results as Bing, but I really liked the three tabs at the top: Web, News, Pictures. This was great! Other search options are AltaVista, Excite, Google, HotBot, Overture, WebCrawler, and Lycos. This is a great site, especially if you want to search multiple the search engines to find as many resources as you can. This pretty much is the one-stop convenience store.
4. dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com
Dogpile searched Wiggins, MS on Google, Bing, and Yahoo! Search and returned the results. Next to each return it lists what search engine it is listed. This site gives the options to click on Images, Videos, and News once you search. At the top there are also tabs for searching the Web, Images, Video, News, Yellow Pages, and White Pages. This site is useful in that it provides the basic items I expect, but nothing to write home about.
5. AltaVista
http://www.altavista.com/
AltaVista has the options of searching the Web, Images, and News. Below the find bar they have Answers, Directory, Shopping, Travel, Yellow Pages, People Finder, and more. There is an easy option to submit a site and add AltaVista as your home page. When I typed Wiggins, MS it returned the results I expected, just like Google and Bing. There are sponsored matches to the right and also below other searches.
http://www.itera.org/
ITERA is an international association with nineteen university members ITERA’s mission is to advance the science of telecommunications through research and education, with particular focus on telecommunications networks. Other than its research and education statements in the mission statement the website does not really give me a clear picture of what the site is for other than to give a little bit of bio about the fairly new organization. Maybe as a member you would get more, but that is unclear.
2. Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC)
http://www.ptc.org/ptc/index.php?q=resources
This organization seems to be pretty large. It states that its members span over 60nations. The mission of PTC is to promote the development and use of telecommunications to enhance the lives of people living in the Pacific hemisphere. The website advertises a conference each year (held in Honolulu, Hawaii, which promises to showcase progressive technology and help build relationships and networking opportunities. This organization was founded in 1978. This website seems to be more open and informative that the previous one I reviewed. The website is easily followed and gives just enough information to peak the reader’s interest into wanting to find out more about joining the organization.
3. Center for Telecommunications Education and Research (CTER)
http://cter.eng.uab.edu/index.htm
CTER’s mission is to provide technical support, research expertise, knowledge, and continuing education programs to organizations in the telecommunications industry. The focus of CTER is in the medical field. Some of the companies they have done research or an educational program for are AT&T, BellSouth, General Motors, and Hewlett- Packard. The website does a good job telling me about what CTER does and what programs they have going. They also tell all about the people who formed CTER, who carry the torch now, and where the organization is headed.
4. National Education Telecommunications Network (NETN)
http://www.netn.net/103.htm#DIRECTION
NETN partners with US West to focus on education and helping teachers, educators, parents, administrators, government, and the community. This website has many links to resources. It is broken down into the subject are you are interested in. There is a list of the sub-categories, but also a search feature. There is plenty of guidance on the site. So far, this is the best site of content, but the visual appeal leaves a bit to be desired and is almost confusing. You have to read and look for things, but the content and resources are well worth the effort.
5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Quest (NASA Quest)
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/
NASA has created a website featuring interactive Web-based explorations for k-12 classrooms. This website is fantastic for educators to let students explore so many aspects of science, engineering, weather, airport design, communications, etc. This site also allows users to create their own page. Users can bookmark something they would want to read, keep a list of their top playlists and feeds, keep up with shuttle news, and read their favorite blogs.
PART II
1. Cuil
www.cuil.com
According to the website - Cpedia by cuil takes the keywords you type in and summarizes cites that match the search, but also removing the repeats. They make the search relational. This may bring up results you may not have thought of. Cuil sifts through the pages and “extracts the unique ideas” and then cluster them together by topic. You can use Cuil with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and some others. Cuil can connect with Facebook and bring you results about your friends.
One thing I did not like about this search engine is that when I typed in Wiggins, MS it brought up four other things first that did not include all that I typed. It did not bring up all the things I normally see on Google – which is what I was really looking for. However, I can see this being useful as a support, but not as my number one search engine.
2. Bing
www.bing.com
Bing was online June 2009. As of January 2010 it is the third largest search engine. Bing is a product of Microsoft. It includes s list of search suggestions and list of related searches.
Bing brought up what I expected when I typed in Wiggins, MS. They also include related items on the left and at the bottom. The items were useful and more of what I was looking for. Bing is easy to use and the site is clear and concise. I also liked having the search history for things I look for often.
3. Steve Yuen’s Ultimate Search Page
http://dragon.ep.usm/~yuen/search/engine.htm
This site has directories, metasearches, maps, newsgroups, references, people, and other tabs to allow for more search opportunities.
Steve Yuen’s Ultimate Search Page has multiple search engines. When I typed Wiggins, MS in AllthWeb.com it brought up pretty much the same results as Bing, but I really liked the three tabs at the top: Web, News, Pictures. This was great! Other search options are AltaVista, Excite, Google, HotBot, Overture, WebCrawler, and Lycos. This is a great site, especially if you want to search multiple the search engines to find as many resources as you can. This pretty much is the one-stop convenience store.
4. dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com
Dogpile searched Wiggins, MS on Google, Bing, and Yahoo! Search and returned the results. Next to each return it lists what search engine it is listed. This site gives the options to click on Images, Videos, and News once you search. At the top there are also tabs for searching the Web, Images, Video, News, Yellow Pages, and White Pages. This site is useful in that it provides the basic items I expect, but nothing to write home about.
5. AltaVista
http://www.altavista.com/
AltaVista has the options of searching the Web, Images, and News. Below the find bar they have Answers, Directory, Shopping, Travel, Yellow Pages, People Finder, and more. There is an easy option to submit a site and add AltaVista as your home page. When I typed Wiggins, MS it returned the results I expected, just like Google and Bing. There are sponsored matches to the right and also below other searches.
Introduction to my blog!
I created this blog as a requirement for IT 648. I will be posting all required assignments. I will also be posting my experiences with the assignments. This is the third course I have had to create a blog and I am glad to have the additional experience. The more I do it - the better I will get at it! I am not currently teaching, but my goal is to teach online classes. I hope to start doing that soon!
The assignments through the semester I will post you can check out are below - click on the title to access it:
1. Assignment #1 Web Searching
2. Reflection on Assignment #1
3. Assignment #2 Blog
4. Reflection on Blog, Introduction of Me! & Introduction to my blog!
5. Discussion #1 Blog in Education
6. Discussion #2 Wep Page Design and Development
7. Assignment #3 Twitter
8. Reflection on Assignment #3
9. Discussion #3 Web-based Instruction
10. Assignment #4 Diigo Social Bookmarks
11. Reflection on Assignment #4
12. Discussion #4 Acceptable Use Policies and Filtering Software
13. Assignment #5 Google Sites
14. Reflection on Assignment #5
15. Discussion #5 Desktop Video Conferencing
16. Assignment #6 Webquest
17. Reflection on Assignment #6
18. Assignment #7 Eyejot
19. Reflection on Assignment #7
20. Final Project Blogfolio
21. Reflection on Course
The assignments through the semester I will post you can check out are below - click on the title to access it:
1. Assignment #1 Web Searching
2. Reflection on Assignment #1
3. Assignment #2 Blog
4. Reflection on Blog, Introduction of Me! & Introduction to my blog!
5. Discussion #1 Blog in Education
6. Discussion #2 Wep Page Design and Development
7. Assignment #3 Twitter
8. Reflection on Assignment #3
9. Discussion #3 Web-based Instruction
10. Assignment #4 Diigo Social Bookmarks
11. Reflection on Assignment #4
12. Discussion #4 Acceptable Use Policies and Filtering Software
13. Assignment #5 Google Sites
14. Reflection on Assignment #5
15. Discussion #5 Desktop Video Conferencing
16. Assignment #6 Webquest
17. Reflection on Assignment #6
18. Assignment #7 Eyejot
19. Reflection on Assignment #7
20. Final Project Blogfolio
21. Reflection on Course
Introduction to Me!
My name is Rebecca Vowell. My major is Technology Education, Business Technology emphasis with a minor in Instructional Technology Education. This is my third semester in the masters program. I received my bachelor's degree from USM in Business Technology Education.
- I have worked in many different office environments – non-profit, government, church, education.
- I have taken 12 prior online classes – I am currently taking 2 more.
- I am experienced in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, QuickBooks, and have a decent knowledge base of HyperStudio and Access. I work with PDF some and am familiar with HTML development and Concept Mapping.
- I have used Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and QuickBooks for years at various jobs. I have used HyperStudio and Access mostly for classes I have taken.
- I use email every day for work and personal use. I have used discussion boards, listserv and chats for classes. They are “ok” to use – some I find boring.
- I have created blogs, watched podcasts, video clips, and created a WIKI – all for classes.
- My expectations of this class – I want to teach online classes – so this is definitely something I am going to learn a lot from. I expect to learn the needed information to help me reach my goal. I am taking this class because my BTE class that is comparable to this one did not have enough signed up to make.
I have been married to a fantastic man, Steven, for 18 years. We have had four children, one son and three daughters. Our daughters are Victoria, 18, Savannah, 15, and Kristina 14. Our son’s name is William, deceased. He would have been 16 years old June 4 this year.
I work at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. I just started the job in August 2009 after finishing my degree in May 2009 and getting 2 grad classes under my belt in the summer 2009 and 2 more in the Spring of 2010.
I love to hang out with my family and friends. I love to read, watch sports, play sports with my kids, and go to church! I am a Roman Catholic and attend church regularly at St. Francis.
- I have worked in many different office environments – non-profit, government, church, education.
- I have taken 12 prior online classes – I am currently taking 2 more.
- I am experienced in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, QuickBooks, and have a decent knowledge base of HyperStudio and Access. I work with PDF some and am familiar with HTML development and Concept Mapping.
- I have used Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and QuickBooks for years at various jobs. I have used HyperStudio and Access mostly for classes I have taken.
- I use email every day for work and personal use. I have used discussion boards, listserv and chats for classes. They are “ok” to use – some I find boring.
- I have created blogs, watched podcasts, video clips, and created a WIKI – all for classes.
- My expectations of this class – I want to teach online classes – so this is definitely something I am going to learn a lot from. I expect to learn the needed information to help me reach my goal. I am taking this class because my BTE class that is comparable to this one did not have enough signed up to make.
I have been married to a fantastic man, Steven, for 18 years. We have had four children, one son and three daughters. Our daughters are Victoria, 18, Savannah, 15, and Kristina 14. Our son’s name is William, deceased. He would have been 16 years old June 4 this year.
I work at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. I just started the job in August 2009 after finishing my degree in May 2009 and getting 2 grad classes under my belt in the summer 2009 and 2 more in the Spring of 2010.
I love to hang out with my family and friends. I love to read, watch sports, play sports with my kids, and go to church! I am a Roman Catholic and attend church regularly at St. Francis.
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