Mike Russell indicates that technology has not yet evolved fully into the educational setting. For our island is true. I believe the reason for this is that teachers are overwhelmed at the thought of incorporating technology into the classroom or they think that they need expensive equipment. He believes in designing for integration of technology as well as the preparation for teachers. I feel that integration and preparation are good things, but if schools do not have the means and ability to keep up with technological advances then the students will suffer and be deprived of technological skills. Student may know how to use and ipod or game system but will they know how to apply the skills that they use in real life situations. Mike Russell envisions a big impact of technology in education, I see this in the other states but it is had to say for our island and other countries handicap by the finances and other government priorities.
I agree with Mike Russell when he mentions Thomas Friedman book, basically Friedmans’s book states that technology is somewhat like a short cut. It helps us speed up the task and minimizes time spent away from more important things. I truly believe that our youth on island are not getting enough exposure to technology. If this keeps up the children of Guam will lack those essential skills needed for the 21st century.
Interesting website for Technological Revolution. http://www.tltgroup.org/resources/V_Cycle_of_Failure.html
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
Conference Topic: Google Docs & Famundo
Our class conference topic is Google Docs and Famunod. Charlene and I partnerd up and presented on uses of Google Docs in an educational setting and examples and Pros and Cons of Famundo.
Click here to link to our wiki: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Google_Docs
Uses in educational setting & Examples
Schools can use Google Docs for the purpose of bringing communication and collaboration tools to the entire academic community for free. Students, teachers and staff can share ideas more quickly and get things done more effectively when they have access to the same powerful communication and sharing tools. There's no hardware or software to install or maintain, since everything is delivered through a standard web browser -- anytime, from anyplace.
1. Spreadsheets
You can use spreadsheets to keep track of grades, attendance, student projects and assignments. You can maintain multiple spreadsheets, each for a specific purpose, and easily import data from other spreadsheets.
2. Presentation
Teachers can use presentations in Google Docs. You can create a presentation collaboratively and even co-present it online with live chat with your students. Students can easily of create group presentations and access them anywhere. The best part as well is that you could upload presentations on to your Google Docs. This allows teacher and students to communicate based on presentations.
3. Communication
Teachers can publish announcements about upcoming assignments and to monitor student progress. It is an interactive process which allows teachers to give guidance when it might be of maximum benefit – while your student is still working on an assignment.
4. Organization
Teachers will find that Google Docs can help Students learn to stay organized and keep on top of their assignments. It's easy to collaborate online with fellow students, even when they aren't in the same place. Teachers send feedback easily to students, parents, and enter updates anytime from anywhere. Students can go back to the revisions history to see how their assignment has evolved, and who has helped.
5. Documents
Students are able to do homeworks online and automatically send their assignments to their teachers that very day. The writing process can be taught and used by integrating the Google Docs document section in their teaching. It helps to promote group work and peer editing skills.
With Famundo I presented on the Advantages and Disadvantages.
Click here to view our wiki: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Famundo
Famundo has many advantages such as it eliminates one of the most stressful factors in today’s life, keeping the school and family schedules in sync. By providing a version both schools and families, a family’s schedule is automatically kept up to date. Famundo offers different community organizations you belong to like schools, churches and sports teams. Individuals can use the basic program for free and there is nothing to install. Famundo for Families PLUS is a pay-as-you-go service. Pay for it as long as you need it. There are no long term contracts, no sign-up fees and no termination fees. You can cancel at any time. It’s all hosted on Famundo’s secure servers. Basically Famundo simplifies your scheduling processes, keeps your information private and confidential and it simplifies the communication process. But of course Famundo does have some disadvantages such as you are only limited to 250MB of storage on the basic plan and if you want to upgrade storage you would have to switch to the Families PLUS plan and pay $10.00 per month. This was one of the major drawbacks of Famundo due to the pricing, $10.00 was way to much money to be paying for that amount of storage space. Another disadvantage is that Famundo families cannot invite other families to build a large user base.
Click here to link to our wiki: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Google_Docs
Uses in educational setting & Examples
Schools can use Google Docs for the purpose of bringing communication and collaboration tools to the entire academic community for free. Students, teachers and staff can share ideas more quickly and get things done more effectively when they have access to the same powerful communication and sharing tools. There's no hardware or software to install or maintain, since everything is delivered through a standard web browser -- anytime, from anyplace.
1. Spreadsheets
You can use spreadsheets to keep track of grades, attendance, student projects and assignments. You can maintain multiple spreadsheets, each for a specific purpose, and easily import data from other spreadsheets.
2. Presentation
Teachers can use presentations in Google Docs. You can create a presentation collaboratively and even co-present it online with live chat with your students. Students can easily of create group presentations and access them anywhere. The best part as well is that you could upload presentations on to your Google Docs. This allows teacher and students to communicate based on presentations.
3. Communication
Teachers can publish announcements about upcoming assignments and to monitor student progress. It is an interactive process which allows teachers to give guidance when it might be of maximum benefit – while your student is still working on an assignment.
4. Organization
Teachers will find that Google Docs can help Students learn to stay organized and keep on top of their assignments. It's easy to collaborate online with fellow students, even when they aren't in the same place. Teachers send feedback easily to students, parents, and enter updates anytime from anywhere. Students can go back to the revisions history to see how their assignment has evolved, and who has helped.
5. Documents
Students are able to do homeworks online and automatically send their assignments to their teachers that very day. The writing process can be taught and used by integrating the Google Docs document section in their teaching. It helps to promote group work and peer editing skills.
With Famundo I presented on the Advantages and Disadvantages.
Click here to view our wiki: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Famundo
Famundo has many advantages such as it eliminates one of the most stressful factors in today’s life, keeping the school and family schedules in sync. By providing a version both schools and families, a family’s schedule is automatically kept up to date. Famundo offers different community organizations you belong to like schools, churches and sports teams. Individuals can use the basic program for free and there is nothing to install. Famundo for Families PLUS is a pay-as-you-go service. Pay for it as long as you need it. There are no long term contracts, no sign-up fees and no termination fees. You can cancel at any time. It’s all hosted on Famundo’s secure servers. Basically Famundo simplifies your scheduling processes, keeps your information private and confidential and it simplifies the communication process. But of course Famundo does have some disadvantages such as you are only limited to 250MB of storage on the basic plan and if you want to upgrade storage you would have to switch to the Families PLUS plan and pay $10.00 per month. This was one of the major drawbacks of Famundo due to the pricing, $10.00 was way to much money to be paying for that amount of storage space. Another disadvantage is that Famundo families cannot invite other families to build a large user base.
Google Earth Ideas
My ideas for using Google Earth in the Classroom, is incorporating a project within Chamorro Week. Since Guam is in Goolge Earth my idea was to have students research and read different legends of Guam and get familiar with the story. Then students will have to pick at least 3 legends and place markers on where the story took place. They may add pictures or even the legend itself.
My next idea is to do a History lesson on Google Earth. Their are so many war site on Guam that students don't know about. Basically students will be teamed up with a group of five. Groups will be divided by covering north villages and south villages. Groups will then have to research on the Internet the different stories of war site and place markers on Google Earth. It is somewhat like a Historical War Tour on Guam.
My next idea is to do a History lesson on Google Earth. Their are so many war site on Guam that students don't know about. Basically students will be teamed up with a group of five. Groups will be divided by covering north villages and south villages. Groups will then have to research on the Internet the different stories of war site and place markers on Google Earth. It is somewhat like a Historical War Tour on Guam.
My Idea on Using Wikis in the Classroom.
One idea of using wikis is a classroom is peer review and editing. Group authoring - Using a wiki "pulls" the group members together to build and edit the document on a wiki page, which strengthens the community within the group, allows group members with overlapping or similar ideas to see and collaboratively build on each other's work. It also allows all group members immediate, equal access to the most recent version of the document.
Other great ideas on how to incorporate wikis can be found on Wiki FarmsA "wiki farm" is a server or a collection of servers that provides wiki hosting, or a group of wikis hosted on such servers. WikipediaWiki farms are particularly useful for teachers who want to use a wiki but lack the technical expertise or support required to host their own wiki.
WikispacesThis site offers educators free K-12 Plus wikis.
Peanut Butter WikiAllows you to make a free wiki site in 30 seconds. It's as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich.
JotSpotCreate and share documents, calendars, spreadsheets and more.
For comprehensive lists of Wiki Farms check the Open Directory Project list of Wiki Farms or the Wikipedia article on Wiki Farms.
Other great ideas on how to incorporate wikis can be found on Wiki FarmsA "wiki farm" is a server or a collection of servers that provides wiki hosting, or a group of wikis hosted on such servers. WikipediaWiki farms are particularly useful for teachers who want to use a wiki but lack the technical expertise or support required to host their own wiki.
WikispacesThis site offers educators free K-12 Plus wikis.
Peanut Butter WikiAllows you to make a free wiki site in 30 seconds. It's as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich.
JotSpotCreate and share documents, calendars, spreadsheets and more.
For comprehensive lists of Wiki Farms check the Open Directory Project list of Wiki Farms or the Wikipedia article on Wiki Farms.
What is Famundo?
Another application I was not familiar with was Famundo. Basically, Famundo helps busy families and community organizations manage and connect their calendar schedules and personal information free of charge. Famundo for Families consists of a Family Homepage, Family Calendar, Message Board, Address Book, List Manager, Family Library, and Family Vault. Famundo Organization is for use by community organizations like schools, churches, sport teams, scouts, etc. Once a community organization is using Famundo, a family simply needs to subscribe to the calendars they are interested in and their personal Famundo calendars are filled in automatically.
Click Here To View The Site: https://app.famundo.com/login
Famundo has many advantages such as it eliminates one of the most stressful factors in today’s life, keeping the school and family schedules in sync. By providing a version both schools and families, a family’s schedule is automatically kept up to date. Famundo offers different community organizations you belong to like schools, churches and sports teams. Individuals can use the basic program for free and there is nothing to install. Famundo for Families PLUS is a pay-as-you-go service. Pay for it as long as you need it. There are no long term contracts, no sign-up fees and no termination fees. You can cancel at any time. It’s all hosted on Famundo’s secure servers. Basically Famundo simplifies your scheduling processes, keeps your information private and confidential and it simplifies the communication process. But of course Famundo does have some disadvantages such as you are only limited to 250MB of storage on the basic plan and if you want to upgrade storage you would have to switch to the Families PLUS plan and pay $10.00 per month. This was one of the major drawbacks of Famundo due to the pricing, $10.00 was way to much money to be paying for that amount of storage space. Another disadvantage is that Famundo families cannot invite other families to build a large user base.
What is Google Docs?
To be truthful I was not familiar with Google Docs. I wanted to get familiar with the application before I commented on it. So, basically what is Google Docs. Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations can be created within the application itself, imported through the web interface, or sent via email. They can also be saved to the user's computer in a variety of formats. By default, they are saved to Google's servers. Open documents are automatically saved to prevent data loss. Documents can be tagged and archived for organizational purposes.
Collaboration between users is also a feature of Google Docs. Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by multiple users at the same time.
Collaboration between users is also a feature of Google Docs. Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by multiple users at the same time.
My experience using google docs was interesting. Just think about having a Internet storage of all your documents. With you being able to present your assignment or presentation from any computer. The best thing I enjoyed while using google docs is the collaboration between individuals working on one document and the option of seeing the revisions made in the document. With so many grade programs costing so much money, Google offers a free online servive. Teachers are able to store their grades on a spreadsheet and actually communicate with parents online. Google Docs has many advantages but off course their are some disadvantages such as if you don't have an Internet connection you will not be able to open Google Docs, it is not supported by Mac, and you have to create a Google account meaning a hotmail email account.
Overall, I thought Google Docs to be user friendly and mimiced the feel and aspects of Microsoft Office. The only drawback off course is that you always have to have assess to the Internet.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Getting to Know Wiki's!
I am fairly new when it comes to the subject of Wikis so while I was listening to the pod cast I wanted to research the advantages and disadvantages of Wiki’s. Here are my findings.
Advantages
- anyone can edit
- easy to use and learn
- Wikis are instantaneous so there is no need to wait for a publisher to create a new edition or update information
- people located in different parts of the world can work on the same document
- the wiki software keeps track of every edit made and it's a simple process to revert back to a previous version of an article
- widens access to the power of web publishing to non-technical users
- the wiki has no predetermined structure - consequently it is a flexible tool which can be used for a wide range of applications
- there are a wide range of open source software wiki's to choose from so licensing costs shouldn't be a barrier to installing an institutional wiki
Adam stated a lot of interesting advantages of Wikis such as; groups of people can edit each others work, students are very involved, collaborative environment and Wikis are good for incremental work.
Disadvantages
Advantages in one context, may be disadvantages in another.
- Anyone can edit so this may be too open for some applications, for example confidential documentation. However it is possible to regulate user access.
- Open to SPAM and Vandalism if not managed properly. There are easy ways to restore a page however, and on WikiEducator you must be logged in to edit pages so this reduces vandalism by automated spam bots.
- Requires Internet connectivity to collaborate, but technologies to produce print versions of articles are improving
- The flexibility of a wiki's structure can mean that information becomes disorganised. As a wiki grows, the community plans and administers the structure collaboratively.
This information was found in a Wiki (http://www.wikieducator.org/Wikieducator_tutorial/What_is_a_wiki/Advantages_and_disadvantages).
Click on this think to watch "PB Wiki-Helping Educators Educate"
http://heyjude.vodpod.com/video/64404-pb-wikihelping-educators-educate
21st Century Learning: Learning with technology!
Sheryl Nassbaum interview was very interesting. It made me want to think about when I first got introduced to technology. I remember I was in the 5th grade and my father had brought home a computer. I still remember how it looked; it was big, bulky and took a long time to set up. Now I have an Imac G5 and it sleek and only has one cord that connects to the outlet.
Technology has changed so much around us but its seems as if the schools are getting left behind in the 21 century movement. Yes, there are so many benefits of 21st century learning such as self-driven students, blogging adaptable for all subjects, peer to peer education, promotes free writing on blogs and growth for being self-actualized. But we also have to look at the bigger teachers. I agree with the host when it comes to traditional teachers having a harder time adapting to the 21st century. They really don’t have the patience to all of a sudden change the way they teach. They are pretty much set in their ways.
As, for me I am a 21st century teacher I love having technology in my classroom I find it very easy to create lesson plans and students have so much hands on experiences with the lesson. But off course I have experienced the downfall of having to go through administration to approve the lessons but not having the equipment to conduct the activity.
I believe that teachers in the school systems really want to adapt to the 21st century but are held back with financial constraints from the school system. If the school system do not support the 21st century movement, the children of the island will not be prepared for the real world.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Moodle wow!!!
Moodle is a course management system designed to help educators who want to create quality online courses. The software is used all over the world by universities, schools, companies and independent teachers. Moodle is open source and completely free to use. © Copyright 2004, Moodle
Martin Dougiamas designed Moodle under a social constructivist philosophy. This philosophy allows for a student-centered environment where learners are able to work independently, reflecting on their own work and on the work of other students, while at the same time being connected to a group of learners who can share ideas and reflect on each other’s work (Dougiamas, 1998). Rather than learning through memorization, collaborative learning encourages students to engage themselves in the process of learning.
The Moodle environment includes a platform for several features including: class schedule, assignments, participant profiles, chats, wikis, an interactive glossary, e-mail, lessons that the teacher can create, quizzes, surveys, and workshops. Chats, forums, wikis, and workshops enable students to work collaboratively. Wikis, forums, and chats serve as useful platforms for brainstorming, discussions, and debates.
I belive if I had the opportunity to incorporate Moodle in my classroom I would take full advantage of its features. But realisticlly I don't see Moodle being used in the GPSS classroom as of right now, due to the lack of computers and internet assess available to the students.
Click here for more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle
Click her to view Blackboard vs. Moddle http://www.humboldt.edu/~jdv1/moodle/all.htm
Saturday, September 8, 2007
My first experience with blogs!
My first experience with blogs was off course with Dr. Wall's class. His explanation of blogs was similar to Will Richardson. Dr. Wall stated that it was a good way to network with other people across the world, a good way to publish your thoughts/opinions and it also promoted communication and writing skills. After the semester was done I thought of many other ways to use blogs such as; online assignments, keeping track of students/parents, and also posting home works and classroom updates for parents to view. But off course there was one down fall not all households were equipped with computer or Internet assess.
While searching information on the Internet about blogging I came across many articles and a wonderful sight that has resources for students, teachers and administrators.
Click on the links below to view a very interesting articles that talk about the advantages of blogging and using it in the classroom.
Support Blogging! This site, which is actually a "wiki," has resources for teachers, students, and administrators to help understand and support educational blogging.
Teaching for the Future "Media Literacy"!
Teaching media literacy in the classroom is a very positive asset to teachers and students. But off course when living in small community such as Guam, there are limitations in regards to obtaining media equipment. Recently GPSS has been in the news numerous times for their financial problems. So, I really do not see media literacy as a priority in the classroom. I wish that the government can do research on how positive it is to prepare the students for a very technology centered future. I do believe that the use of media in the classroom has greatly improved since I was attending school. But I also think that our students on Guam are getting cheating in their education because of the lack of support in getting media in the classroom.
The video did show many advantages of media literacy but we also have to take a look at the disadvantages. There are many advantages of mass media. According to “Raising a Media-Savvy Kid” by Dr. Lorraine DeJong, children are better informed about things going on in the world, have increased vocabulary, and are stimulated to have intellectual and creative activity through exposure to the media. The author also cites disadvantages of unstructured exposure to the media. Children have a difficult time sorting through the barrage of information, and can’t form conclusions and evaluate what they are exposed to. There is also the problem of violence and sexuality that children are viewing at a young age without the knowledge to evaluate the consequences of such actions. Media contributes to the problems of adolescent sexuality, substance abuse, and violence. Teaching media literacy at a young age can be a prevention or at least part of the solution to these problems.
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