Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Blog Journal #10

The topics I found most interesting from reviewing other peoples blogs was one called google for educators. As one of the students mentioned, google for educators can help your students learn a lot by taking virtual tours and learning about different things relevant to teaching. It gives insight to different countries and their learning techniques. I would definitely use this to teach my students.

I don’t really know what else I would enjoy learning on the computer. I really don’t enjoy much. It is all confusing to me. The only thing I would like to know more about is powerpoint because it is really fun, and I think it vamps up anyone’s project. Other than that, I do not really feel the need to use any of the other items we have learned.

Ways I would achieve my future educational technology-related goals is to keep practicing what I have learned and apply it to everyday use. From now on, for projects, instead of typing up something boring, I could use powerpoint. Also, I could use excel to create charts or graphs to better be prepared for an assignment.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Post #9

An interesting web-based tool that I would probably use in teaching a classroom would most likely be wiki. I am not to familiar with different softwares, but I am pretty sure that wiki would be the best tool, since if I am going to be teaching, it will most likely be English. I believe wiki would be most beneficial because, the children are free to make up their own websites and venture into making and creating different stories and projects by themselves. http://www.wikispaces.com/

I am not too sure what technology-related skills I would like to learn next, because I am still pretty much stuck on a few of the ones many of my classmates have mastered. I feel like we flew by Microsoft word and excel. Even though we did get training for the two for a couple of weeks, it just frustrates me that I haven’t been able to master it myself. Sometimes, I feel that it is because I have a Mac, and they sometimes operate differently. I will still try my best to catch up and teach myself how to do those skills. Other than those, I am not sure what I would like to learn, maybe about all the possible online resources I may have looked over while searching the web.

I believe I will achieve my future educational technology-related goals by practicing and applying all that I have learned in this class. I will also like to extend my learning to further education. I believe once that I use these skills in my other classes, as I get into my major, the easier it will be for me and the more comfortable I will become.

Research Promt #4

I haven't really learned a great deal more on how to study better, or different ways that will help me. I just need to start studying ahead, and not try to cram everything in the night before. I also need to find a quiet place to study, where I am alone and free from distractions. I always gt everything done and completed right away, when I am alone and there is no one to distract me by talking, or a television blaring. Next semester I definately need to always put studying the right way first.

There is a great deal of difference between reading for fun and reading for learning. Unless it is something that interests you, reading for learning is not going to benefit me. I could think of a million other things that I could be doing with my time when I am reading informational books that I know I'll never use again. However, when I am reading for fun, it is usually something that greatly interests me, like literature. I can learn a great deal of information that I can put into use when I read something that I am really excited about learning. That is the difference.

Whenever I get confused about what I have just read, I try to re-read back over the material. If that doesn't help me, then I will try techniques, such as making flash cards and quizzing myself, or outlines. This way, it is much more organized for me and the information is spread out in steps that I can better understand for my benefit.

The next time I take a class that requires me to do a great deal of work outside of class time I will think about my future schedule. Do I have a lot of classes that seem difficult, that I need to focus on. If so, I may take the one that interests me the most, otherwise, I will be in big trouble when there is too little of time to do all the work that is required of me from all of the classes. If it the only class, I would take it and just try my hardest and work the longest I could on it to get a good grade and feel better about myself!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Research Prompt #3

Each week, I am trying to decide what is most important to do by figuring out what it is that I am good at and what I need a little more work on. I try to spend the most time on larger projects that are worth more points and that I need to focus harder on as opossed to blog entrys that could take me five minutes. Sometimes it doesn't always work out the way i planned and I don't spend as much time on projects that I should really be giving my all to. I am really involved in my sorority and other classes, and it is a really stressful semester for me! I try my hardest to do my best and try to complete my assignments on time. I need to start asking questions more when I have a problem with stuff on my assignments.
Until this week i didn't know how to use excel. I had seen it in my office and I worked on it over the summer, but I didn't know all of the stuff you can use on it, especially like adding in numbers and getting averages.
So far in this class, I have figured out that to understand what’s going on, I have to pay attention to my professor and ask many questions when I am in class, so that I can understand what is going on and not have to be confused when I don't ask questions and try to do it by myself.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Research Prompt #2

I believe for the most part my powerpoint payed off. I feel like I may have been forgetting a few items that needed to be there or somthing may not have been good enough because I am not too creative! This week I will try to ask more questions on my excel project so that it is completed and 100% perfect. I will change the fact that I need to spend probably a little more time on my project so that I can get a perfect score. That is my goal for this week.
This week the most important thing I got out of class was learning how to do excel. I didn't know a lot of the different items used on this program. I still have a lot of questions, but I know I will be able to accomplish it because it doesn't seem too complicated. This is just like last week. I was really worried about my powerpoint because I had never used it the way we were supposed to, but once I got the hang of things it was really easy for me to do.
There is a definate relationship for this class and how you do the assignments. Without coming to class, I don't think anyone would fully understand how to accomplish these tasks, unless you were really talented on the computer. You really need to come to class to see how the teacher presents the information and how she would like you to apply it to the assignments that are to be completed.

Research Topic #1

This class will play a very important role in my academic plans for many reasons. I plan on going into the education field and I feel this class has greatly prepared me. I know now how to use many different programs on the computer I once knew nothing about. I feel better prepared to use lesson plans and make them on my computer. I also feel better prepared to go on to higher, advanced classes. I feel that learning about the basic essentials such as word and powerpoint will help me to be more creative with my projects in the future of higher learning.
The one assignment I worked most on this week was powerpoint number two. I didn't realize how easy it was once I got the hang of things. It's kind of tough because I have an Apple computer, and I did a lot of the assignment on the pc's we have in class. My apple works a little differently and it took a little getting used to. I had to ask my roomate who had an apple as well how to work a few of the items on powerpoint. It took about a week to complete the project. I would save it on my computer and work a little bit on it every day until it was completed. I did my presentation on William Shakespeare's works of art. I am an English major and I found it useful and interesting seems as though I am an english education major.
The most impotant thing I got out of class this week was how to do these sort of presentations on powerpoint. I wasn't sure how at first to link the powerpoint windows together, but I learned how to hyperlink the pages and set them up accordingly.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Blog #8

Today I just read chapter 8 of my textbook. I have learned a lot reading this and would like to discuss it. On of these things was security issues on a computer. Many computers can receive viruses. A virus is a computer program that is used to purposely harm your computer. I learned about how you can protect your computer from these such viruses. There really isn’t any way you can protect your computer from not receiving them at all, but a person should know what they can do to possibly avoid getting one. A virus can be transferred from the internet and you should avoid opening any emails or download anything to your computer that isn’t secure. I also learned about computer ethics which is the moral guidelines that govern the use of computers and their unauthorized use of computers, hardware, software and information theft, and information privacy. This speaks about the issues surrounding privacy and copyrights. The last thing I want to touch on that I learned is about emerging technologies. The types of emerging technologies I learned is digital media revolution, the worldwide web, educational software on DVD, assistive technologies, web and video enhanced digital textbooks, and web based distance learning.
I have learned since my last posting a lot about power point. Since we weren’t able to do it in class, my cousin taught me all I need to know and I feel like I could use anything on my computer. I also am learning more on Microsoft works and am able to handle more than I did before.
I am hoping that in the future, I am able to use powerpoint and master it. I want to go to either law school or graduate school and get my masters in psycology. No matter what path I choose to go down, I know I am going to need to know and master different functions of a computer, whether it be in an office typing up presentations, or in a classroom with students.