Tonight was the first class where we got to use Blackboard.
https://fairfield.blackboard.com/webapps/login/
We were to complete a list of various assignments, such as readings, watching a videos, and creating an iGoogle and Wordle frontpage.
The discussion question was...
"As a part of your discussion, consider the technology assessment which you took in class. Part 1: What did you learn about yourself? The expectations of 8th grade students? As you read through the ISTE standards, could you see the implications on this assessment? How does that relate to the revised Bloom's Taxonomy? Part 2: What do you think of the clip 'Did You Know 4.0?' Surprises? Expectations?"
I responded with...
Part 1
From the first class I learned that I am not nearly as tech
savvy as I thought I was. I believed I was a pro at all technologies because I
could use Facebook and check my email on my phone. I’ve even laughed at my mom
because she can’t figure out how to move files on her computer to an external
hard drive. I think what really made me realize that I know little to nothing
about technology is when we were given the checklist of all the different
programs that we will be learning about this semester. The majority of my
checks were in the “I’ve never heard of this” column. I, of course, then showed
my mom the syllabus and she said she knew of about half of the programs we’d be
learning. I felt ridiculous because the tables had turned. I would say that just
from the first class I am more aware of the technology that surrounds me.
I think the expectations that Branford Public Schools has of
their 8th graders is outrageous! Even though the assessment that we
took was not part of our grade I still felt it was a direct reflection my
overall knowledge of everything, not just of technology. The first question
that I got was asking to put how to write and email in sequential order. I
immediately ran into trouble because I couldn’t figure out how to move the sentences
from one side of the screen to the other. Not being familiar with the
assessment’s interface caused an immediate incorrect answer. There were
definitely other implications of this assessment. I found that I had trouble
paying attention being surrounded by other students whispering the questions to
themselves and listening to the constant clicking of their mouse. I also
thought the wording of the questions were difficult to understand. It took me
one or two incorrect questions to realize that you could/had to select multiple
answers. I found the wording of the questions had terms that I either never
seen or had seen maybe one other time in my life. There was a question about
Word and they asked to locate, on the ribbon (toolbar), where you would change the
size of your font. I had never heard the term ribbon before this assessment. I
will also admit that I failed, with a whopping 65, and am still in shock that I
am not even close to having the competency of an 8th grader!
The ISTE Standards for students and teachers are kind of two
fold I think. They are very specific in where students and teachers should be
in their knowledge of technology, but do not specify how in depth one’s
knowledge should be. As I read over the standards, I think that, yes I can do
a, b, c, d in each of these categories. But after diving in the recent
projects, like the blog, iGoogle, and Wordle I realize that, no I really can
only do a and b of each of these categories. I think this relates to Branford
Public Schools assessment because most 8th grade students have
experienced technology only to a certain level. I think teachers are generally
apprehensive to introduce technology in its fullest because of the safety and
risk factors that can often accompany some types of technology. An example
would be YouTube. You can type the word “puppies” in search box and not only
come up with videos of puppies rolling around in all their cuteness, but videos
of things that aren’t even closely or appropriately related to puppies!
Bloom’s Taxonomy is an interesting way of looking at
categorized and ordered thinking. The article says, “you cannot understand a
concept if you do not first remember it, similarity you cannot apply knowledge
and concepts if you do not understand them.” This can relate to the Branford
Public Schools assessment because most of the questions contained concepts that
I had knowledge and some comprehension of, but very little application or use
of. If I did not have those previous steps mastered then I obviously could not
remember them. I may have gotten the question about how to write an email
incorrect because maybe I do not have the needed knowledge and comprehension
necessary to reach the higher order thinking skills (HOTS) of evaluation and
was unable to recall the steps in sequential order. Although, I’d like to think
I got it wrong because I was distracted and could not figure out how to move
the sentences from one side of the screen to the other.
Part 2
I thought the clip ‘Did You Know 4.0’ was fantastic.
I think we often forget how much technology we rely on and how much technology actually surrounds us on a daily basis. The fact that I found most ridiculous was that there are 240,000,000 televisions in the United States alone, but 2,000,000 are in bathrooms. My first thought was “who on earth would put a television in the bathroom?” I told my boyfriend this fact and his response was “why wouldn’t you put a television in the bathroom, in the future we are going to have television microchips implanted in our brains, we will be able to blink and turn on or off the television.” Initially I thought this comment was a bit extreme, but now looking back on it after watching the entire clip of ‘Did You Know 4.0’ it doesn’t seem that outrageous, especially if everyday we accumulate and put televisions in more absurd places in our homes and our general usage and need for technology continues to increase. I also found it interesting that Wikipedia was launched in 2001. I was 15 years old when it started. But the amount of times I’ve used in the past 11 years makes me feel like it has been around forever. It also blows my mind that it is produced in 200 different languages. I don’t think I could name half of them. I found it intriguing that among United States companies, 17% disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies. The first thing that came to mind was Facebook. I think it’s fair to say that pretty much everyone and their mother has Facebook now. I know my mother does and uses the news feed as daily news in which she reads to my poor father everyday. She often reminds me not to post comments or pictures that may make me look like less than the person that I really am. I remember listening to a story on the evening news where a company was requiring, upon hire, that employees give them access to their Facebook accounts. Many people were appalled by this, but in all fairness if you are willing to post a comment or picture publicly on the internet you are already agreeing to let everyone view it, so why not an employer?
I think we often forget how much technology we rely on and how much technology actually surrounds us on a daily basis. The fact that I found most ridiculous was that there are 240,000,000 televisions in the United States alone, but 2,000,000 are in bathrooms. My first thought was “who on earth would put a television in the bathroom?” I told my boyfriend this fact and his response was “why wouldn’t you put a television in the bathroom, in the future we are going to have television microchips implanted in our brains, we will be able to blink and turn on or off the television.” Initially I thought this comment was a bit extreme, but now looking back on it after watching the entire clip of ‘Did You Know 4.0’ it doesn’t seem that outrageous, especially if everyday we accumulate and put televisions in more absurd places in our homes and our general usage and need for technology continues to increase. I also found it interesting that Wikipedia was launched in 2001. I was 15 years old when it started. But the amount of times I’ve used in the past 11 years makes me feel like it has been around forever. It also blows my mind that it is produced in 200 different languages. I don’t think I could name half of them. I found it intriguing that among United States companies, 17% disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies. The first thing that came to mind was Facebook. I think it’s fair to say that pretty much everyone and their mother has Facebook now. I know my mother does and uses the news feed as daily news in which she reads to my poor father everyday. She often reminds me not to post comments or pictures that may make me look like less than the person that I really am. I remember listening to a story on the evening news where a company was requiring, upon hire, that employees give them access to their Facebook accounts. Many people were appalled by this, but in all fairness if you are willing to post a comment or picture publicly on the internet you are already agreeing to let everyone view it, so why not an employer?
iGoogle...
http://www.google.com/ig
http://www.google.com/ig
My iGoogle page is titled Live, Love, Learn. It is divided
into four different columns, each representing a different area of interest in
my life. The first section contains several different types of social
networking and email address. I like to be connected. The second section has
gadgets that link you to various cooking and baking websites. I hope to own a
restaurant or bake shop one day. The third section contains pictures of nature
and anything National Geographic. I love to look at pictures of animals and
people around the world without actually leaving the comfort of my own home.
The forth section has gadgets that keep me updated on any news about autism and
how to be a better, more creative educator. The background is colorful and
vibrant and I believe suits my personality well.
This assignment immediately started with problems when I
could not open the example document on how to create an iGoogle frontpage. The
document was composed in a newer version of Word, which I do not have on my
computer. Fortunately, my boyfriend is an engineer and possesses an incredibly
powerful computer with every version of Word one could ever need. He was able
to open the document on his computer and email it to me.
I fall in the middle when it comes having to make a decision
on whether or not like liked or disliked this activity. There were things I
thoroughly enjoyed and did not enjoy about creating an iGoogle frontpage. I
enjoyed the idea that I could create a custom, more semi-custom, page according
to the interests of both my life and job. I used the term semi-custom because
the only thing that makes it custom is being able to choose from an already
prefabricated set of backgrounds and gadgets. I would’ve liked the option to
use a background of my choice, a picture of my dog perhaps! But there was no
application that I could find that would let me use my own photos. I liked that
there were gadgets for almost everything. But I disliked having to look through
the incredibly high volume of gadgets to find one that I thought would look
best on my frontpage. An example was that there were literally hundreds of
weather gadgets and after already picking one I found myself continuing to
scroll through the next 5 to 10 pages just to see if there was another one that
I may have liked better. I like that the pictures on the gadgets change. I
found myself just sitting watching the changing pictures instead of actually
clicking on them to get me to the link. I like the idea of being able to have
everything that interests me stuck to one page in my web browser as opposed to
having to open multiple browsers.
I think this could be used in the classroom because it would
give kids, especially those who are may be shy, a canvas for personal
expression. Due to its semi-custom and prefabricated backgrounds and gadgets it
would be a safe way for kids to express themselves, yet it would still give
them a sense of being independent because they can choose how and what they
want on their iGoogle frontpage. Students in a classroom could share, like we
are doing, why they like or dislike it and the reasoning for why they chose
certain gadgets.
There are definitely benefits to iGoogle. Some I’ve already
discussed before; being able to share your personal interests with others and
having all your interests in one web browser. Student benefits would include
being able to share it with other peers and teachers could feel safe allowing
students to navigate it independently. The drawbacks to iGoogle are not being
able to fully customize your frontpage and having to sort through thousands of
gadgets. Student drawbacks would may be the overwhelming amount of gadgets to
choose from may cause a distraction of focus from the original goal of creating
an iGoogle frontpage.
Wordle...
http://www.wordle.net/
http://www.wordle.net/
I liked this activity. I thought the website was easy to
understand and even easier to navigate. It explained what Wordle was and what
it did; it’s a “toy for generating word clouds from text you provide.” Simple
enough! It’s also nice to see examples of other people’s word clouds on the
bottom of the page. I think it gives the creator a sense of what to expect
before they hit the ‘create your own’ button. The button to start the activity
is clearly visible. The woman talking on the instructional video said she
copied and pasted her list of words from another source. I composed a brief
list of things about myself and my interests into a TextEdit document and then
pasted it onto the box. I hit go and got my first Wordle frontpage, the letters
were black and the background was white. I hit randomize once and my second
World frontpage was letters in white and the background in black. I then chose
custom settings. I enjoyed playing around with the fonts, layout, and color
scheme options. I also thought their names and choice of words were clever. It
makes sense for them to do that since it is a website based on word play.
I think this could definitely be used in the classroom. The
first thing that comes to mind is having students use this activity for
creating poetry. The schools that I work in do a whole month of poetry;
students read, write, and are exposed to different forms of poetry. It would
allow students to be able to customize and show their poetry in a unique way. I
think no matter how you choose to place your words or what you do with your
fonts, layout, and color schemes, each end result is beautiful and exciting to
look at.
The benefit of creating a Wordle frontpage is that it’s fun.
It shows your personal words in a different way than just typing them in a Word
document. It also allows students to add their own spin through the editing
tools. The drawbacks are there isn’t really anything academic you can learn
from this. The only thing you may learn from this is how to read directions and
to follow the steps given to you.
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