AR 3- The Invisible Woman

I went to a wonderful brunch today to celebrate volunteers in public schools. I remember the year, not too long ago where I was a recipient of one of the awards, well really I was in the photo op, but I was the author of the nomination that was selected as a district winner. So if you look closely, very closely, there I am in the back you can hardly see me there, there I am. That’s my life. Instead of me proudly standing in front proud of my volunteer team I stood in the back. The same goes for any online profile I have created. I am not a very good P.R. person for myself. So, I googled myself on a very cool website this week on an Online Identity Calculator. My name is common enough, and I am invisible enough, to not find myself. I have very well established and notable women with my namesake. If I was to be mistaken for any of them it would be a compliment. I do not have a negative profile I say and advertise very little on my Facebook account, no poor lapses of judgment with a video camera or anything distasteful.

I lack the art of positive self- promotion. I’d like to consider myself as well versed in the new generation of digital technology. I have a website for my students and any student or educator who can find it on the World Wide Web, but I need to link it to other sights so it can be found. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Connectivity! So I must start to practice what I preach.

So today I created an “About Page” using Google. com and thus creating my online identity or presence. I wrote a biography and some points of interest, professional and background information about me. Yes, me.

Professor Daniel J. Solove implied in his book “The Future of Reputation” that blogging is the rage today, that blogging is the active voice of everyday people (Solove, 2007). So if I have something to say I will say it to gain interest from others to start a conversation or discussion on education or technology in education or when adding content to my webpage that it is relevant for my students to learn from and maybe we will start a conversation. So this is my link to my very proud About Me page:

www.google.com/profiles/janabenn#about

Reference:
Solove, D. J. (2007). The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet. Caravan book.

AR 2 Blast From the Past!!!

Background:

I have taught Business Education to Adult Learners who were working towards a certificate of completion as Administrative Assistants. The book I used was, “Microsoft Office 2003”. So am I an expert? NOT AT ALL!! I knew what I know working as an administrative assistant for 6 years. Thankfully the textbook became the lesson plan and then I planned other benchmarks around it. I worked very hard to learn as I was teaching all Microsoft Office applications. I was also teaching the 2003 version when 2007 was what I had on my computer but not the school computers yet. Microsoft Access was not my thing. Actually no one I worked with was comfortable with Access. Anyway, I learned by teaching. I made a lot of mistakes in front and behind my students, but today I know Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher very well. There are many functions in these programs I rarely use or know what they are really used for, Macro is one of them. So I consider myself to have, “Knowledge of and some Proficiency” in Microsoft Office 2007.

Excel Task:

I was very comfortable working on the Excel Task this week. I did have to review “Linking Data between Workbooks”. I was glad I had my old textbook and had written on a banner on page F-7,”easier than appears”, in either 2008 or 2009. The task reminded me of a Hands-On test I would give my students. The Excel task really demonstrated how Excel a spreadsheet software application allows you to organize numeric data. The input is manual, but once it is entered you can do numerous math functions. They can be entered using Automatic or with Insert Functions. I track my finances on an Excel spreadsheet so I like to use the Insert Function. I am positive that there are some short cuts I missing, but it is easier than using a calculator or keeping a paper file. My 90 year old dad kept a paper file.

So I was OK with the task. Making the columns different colors was easy, however keeping track of the colors I used was a manual thought process. Inserting columns is easy to do I assigned grades to the Homework Column, by dragging the fill handle to increase the grade by one number in each cell then randomly mixing them up. I automatically selected the Auto Average “pulldown handle” to calculate the averages for step 3,4,and 5. The next steps I had to reread a few times and look up this information on Blackboard. I am still thinking about the Extra-Credit. Thinking is probably as far as I will get.

This task helped me experience what teachers consider when setting up a grade book. It is not only a computerized function, but also includes an important thought process from the teacher and other administrators at a school. I enjoyed this exercise.

RR 3 - My New School

Is it more unethical to deny students/teachers access to instructional-relevant Web-based tools and content than to allow threats to students/teachers like viruses, objectionable content, and hogs. The Internet is how most people get their information and resources today. A small percentage of information available on the Internet is unsuitable for children at home and at school (Shelly, Gunter, and Gunter 2010).

I believe that since the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2002, (CIPA), most learning institutions and public libraries have implemented educational controls to block objectionable websites and pages from objectionable content.

At the college I work for, in my department, we do not block content, well actually not until earlier this month. To prevent misuse I post and reinforce our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), and observe the students working in my computer lab. So if they haven’t broken the AUP; denying students access to school computers is unnecessary. There are enough precautions a school can take to make using the web a safe and educational environment. Protecting again viruses are also a requirement for the schools to institute and apply to their computer system and to education employees and students on how viruses are received, spread, and how to prevent them. There are 12 Safe Computing Tips published by Cenage in Teachers Discovering Computers; Integrating Technology and digital Media in the Classroom, (6^th Edition) by Shelly, Gunter, and Gunter 2010, and I have heard of one more tip used by some Business Education teachers. It is asking students to bring in an empty jump drives and keeping it in school to only use on their computers in the classroom.

The technology tools in my classroom are limited, it is a computer lab so we do have computers, software and the Internet, but my job is also to make assessments on my students and how to help them focus on their class work and to make gains. A few of my students have been in the program for over a year and still are not making many gains. Thinking out-of-the-box is coming.

I am tutoring students that have few good study habits. They need to do something else to remember basic facts in reading,language arts, and basic mathematics. I am going to try to have them text themselves notes, with my supervision. Yes, I have tried this and I think it may help them move from no note taking to text note taking. I want to see more gains and using online resources and encouraging cell phone use, even setting their alarm on the phone to remind them to review their texted notes or study is a strategy I will be starting this month. Students can view their texts anywhere even around other students. It just looks like they are reading a text.

In the article “Lift the Cell Phone Ban, Craik School District in Saskatchewan, Canada has experimented with cell phone use in the curriculum. Cell phone tools like taking video have been uses to video a group of student discussions and upload it through Bluetooth for the teacher to view later. This lets her view one group and then the others through the videos. Partnerships between schools cell phone and software companies have started up to keep this type of innovation progressing in schools and have even piloted some technology to turn students’ cellphones into other software instruments they can be use in class (Rapp, 2011).

In this day of quality education, we need as much innovation as possible and supporters to continue 21st Century funding for technology and higher learning.

Rapp, D. (2011). Lift the Cell Phone Ban. Retrieved 02 10, 2011, from Scholastic: www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751073

Shelly, G.B., Gunter, G.A., and Gunter, R.E. (2010). Teachers Discovering Computers; Integrating Technology and digital Media in the Classroom, (6^th Edition). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning

RR.2 -The Networked Student-Connectivity

Digital Media has changed the way our children are accessing and sharing information more than they have ever done before. These are our 21st Century students, our digital natives. In the 6-8 hours they are home from school, a day in the life of a teenager may go like this.

Derek already received 10 texted messages from classmates and family. His FACEBOOK had 5 hits from friends by now who want to make weekend plans with him and his Smartphone helped get him home from a friend’s house using my GPS APP.

This is the changing face, and fast pace life of the 21st Century native. Our children, and students.

In school how do we engage our students? Educators need to embrace Web 2.0 technology.

In the video, “The Network Student”, by Wendy Drexler and CommonCraft, “connectivity” is a term that explains how these and other technologies can best be used in the classroom to not just make learning an engaging experience but makes that student part of the connection or a participant.

So do we connect or not, that is the question! I say YES WE DO!

It is as easy as 1,2,3. Most schools have computer labs and students would rather follow a virtual scavenger hunt or WebQuest to learn about presidents, NASA, theatre, history, science, economics, you name it. The student just needs a search engine like Google and sources like wiki, or Education World to get started after the topic has been created and published. They could even create a WebQuest. This is a student-centered project using a New Learning Environment incorporating new strategies, such as; Multisensory stimulation, Multimedia, collaborative work, information exchange, active based inquiry, proactive plans and real-world-context. All you need is a computer, students, and the Internet. Ok, and The Mentor, The Learning Architect, The Teacher.

So now how do we bring this learning experience of research, critical-thinking and application out of the student? Let’s say they followed the WebQuest, and learned about an important or current event in history. What can they do to Connect? With the help of their teacher or a teacher team they can create a BLOG. Say the students followed websites and webpages on a European or Eastern cultures and important events, a timeline, and people. They may be asked to start a blog, a journal format to reflect interests, opinions, and personalities of the author and sometimes site visitors, and ask students from the other country to post comments and share ideas.

This is just an example of how the traditional learning environment is not viable today for our 21st century natives. They need to connect with the World Wide Web.

Today history is being made (instantly) right in front of us, from thousands of miles away through multimedia. We are a society that receives immediate information, anytime, anywhere and it has changed us. So our children and students are changed by it and therefore it has changed the way they need to learn.

Please comment.

Must-Have Technology

READ this eSchoolnews article it is from 2/2/11

www.eschoolnews.com/2011/02/02/survey-reveals-educators-must-have-technologies/