ILP "Participation"- Lynda Tutorial

     For my second independent learning project, I did a Lynda tutorial on how to embed contact forms on a website. I chose to do this specific tutorial because I wanted to make a contact form for a website I have that contains some of the poetry I have written. During the tutorial, I learned primarily how to use WordPress contact forms and how to select certain ones based on their purpose. I also learned that contact forms are rarely filled out if they are long and contain many prompts for information, but this can sometimes be helpful to weed out certain people who may respond.

      The learning experience through the Lynda tutorial was very thorough. There were many links inside the videos so I could choose which areas I wanted to focus on, and I really enjoyed that. The only thing I did not like was that it was geared toward WordPress, and I am more accustomed to using Wix. Besides that, there was still lots of helpful information that made choosing a contact form much easier.

blog post 10

     As a teacher, I believe data collection could become important. It could help me to survey students and gauge their needs as well as get a general feel for where the class is struggling and needs more instruction. This would be useful for classes of all ages. Excel would be another tool I could use for all classes. It could help me organize students' grades, personal information, and it would allow me to inform students of what kind of grades they would need to keep getting in order to pass the class.
     When reviewing classmates' blogs, I found it interesting how they were set up. Some of my classmates spent a great deal of time organizing the look of their blogs and these blogs are very appealing to the eye. Others focused more on the writing and it was interesting to see how they interpreted the prompts and answered the questions.
     Next, I would like to learn how to type in a book formatting, with page numbers and chapters and the like. To do this I hope to do an online course of sorts that will help me to set up an aesthetically pleasing book. I want to do this because I would really like to become an author at some point, and by seeing how my writing would look in actual book form, I feel that it would motivate me to keep working toward the final product.

blog post 9

     The flipped classroom is a new, but controversial way of teaching students. Rather than taking time in class to teach student's a topic, teachers using a flipped classroom model will instead send kids home with material to learn, and then use classroom time for more hands on instruction and answering any questions that students may have. While this might be helpful for students who do better in an active classroom environment, it puts a lot of weight on the students to teach themselves and use their free time solely for school, rather than for other valuable extra-curricular activities. khan academy

     Open content is content that is available for student use without worry of infringing on copyright. This is a useful tool for students because it allows them to take certain resources and manipulate and modify them in order to create something unique to them. This way, students can make the source fit their specific needs, which they know better than anyone else. Windows 10 is an example of open source software that students can use. open source software

     For the first PowerPoint assignment, I definitely learned a lot. I learned how to manipulate the slide master in order to customize the slides to fit my needs. I also learned how to voice over a slide and then save it as a sort of video. I feel that this may be helpful in the even of sharing lectures with students online. I did not like how long it took to create the PowerPoint. Formatting everything took quite a bit, but I think it turned out well. I also learned a lot from the second assignment. I had never thought much about using PowerPoint to create a game until this assignment. It is not as hard as I thought it would be.

blog post 8

     Adaptive technologies allow students to learn at their own pace and in their own way, which can greatly reduce stress and a feeling of general "behindness". Concept mapping is one way that students are able to make sense of things their way. By using concept mapping tools, students can organize their thoughts in a way that makes sense for them personally, which can improve their comprehension. Technology can also be used to help students who speak other languages. Through the providing of comprehensible input, technology can help students overcome the language barriers they face.
     I am not personally familiar with the use of adaptive learning technologies. I feel that it may be difficult to ensure that students are all getting where they need to be. It is great that students can work at their own pace, but at some point they should all be at a certain level, and guaranteeing that happens may be difficult.
     Using powerpoint could be a great way to help students learn at each level of Bloom's taxonomy. For the remember level the powerpoint could show students simple facts, such as definitions. For the understand level the powerpoint could include visual graphs that help further explain what the facts shown previously actually mean. For the apply level the powerpoint could offer up real life examples of the concepts that are offered early in the powerpoint. For the analyze level the powerpoint could include graphs to show how the information can be categorized and grouped together. For the evaluate level the powerpoint could include different persuasive arguments about the theories being discussed to offer students different points of views. For the create level the powerpoint could include rewritten definitions in different terms based on the students level of understanding.
     
forbes

     Forbes is a good way to stay up to date on the latest trends, even in technology. It provides rankings for different categories of technology and descriptions on what these types of technologies do.

     From Twitter I have been able to learn a lot about social networking as a tool for knowledge dissemination. Not only have I found interesting and informational articles, but I have also found discussions about these articles from various users. These discussions allow me to view multiple opinions and views about the same problem or solution. Altogether it helps me to be a more well rounded individual, evaluating something based on many different angles. So far I have had no issues using twitter, though I do wish that searches for certain people or posts could be made easier.
     The web page design assignment allowed me to use creativity, which I really enjoyed. It helped me to really think in terms of the viewer and try to make everything included in the page as clear and easy to understand as possible. One thing I did not like about the website design was the editing tools from the creation site. They were a bit confusing to follow and made some things, such as changing the font of a text, way more difficult than they had to be.

website 

     With Diigo, I have learned about how to edit articles in order to make them more clear for educational purposes. By being able to highlight and add notes, I am able to pick out key points of a website and make the clearer for students. The sharing tool also makes Diigo helpful when trying to collaborate with others. If you share a page with people of a certain group you can get their feedback and opinions on articles instantly. For my own personal usage, I think Diigo would be helpful to pick out important pieces of information and make sure that I understand them, perhaps by cross-referencing them with other articles.


     

ILP "Design"- Prezi

I have also been interested in educating people on the history of modern Irish dance. I tried to make a Prezi on it a few months ago but did not find the time to get very far with it. As part of this ILP I decided to complete my Prezi and make it in a format that would be easy to understand for people who are not familiar with the topic. In order to do this I included many visual examples, from pictures to videos so that people would better be able to visualize what I am discussing.

Prezi

Blog post 6

     The school web page that I chose to look up is that of my old high school (http://www.fairbanks.k12.oh.us). Though I only attended Fairbanks for high school, the school is for children K-12. On the school's site you have access to the newsletters, staff and their contact info, academic and athletic calendars, and board of education information. All of the information that is public is helpful to keep the parents and children engaged in the school's most recent activities and plans.

     In order to accomplish my professional goals as a teacher, I envision myself using technology such as database management software. This software will enable me to keep track of my students and their information. It could potentially help me to keep track of student grades as well. In order to do that I could also use portfolio assessment software which would enable me to track student progress and cross-check it with standards. In this way, I could make sure my students were on track.

     In the sandbox, I found many of the technologies fascinating. In particular, I think the virtual reality could be very useful in the classroom for visual learners. For instance, if I wanted to take my students on a field trip to a place that is too far away, I could use the VR to take them there. Then, with the help of the VR, I could show the students different aspects of the place that they would not be able to experience from a simple slideshow on a computer screen. With the VR I could also help my students to visualize shape and dimensions, particularly in math. As a kid it was very difficult for me to understand 3D objects in math, but with VR in the classroom, I believe I could better explain to students why the math actually works.