Blog 8 - Chapter 8 - Skipped by Permission

Technology and Curriculum Integration

For everyone who is not a teacher and does not know, a curriculum is defined as the knowledge, skills, and performance standards students are expected to acquire in a particular grade, or through sequences or clusters based on subject matter units of instruction, such as language arts, mathematics, science, English, history, or physical education. It is often designed at the state or school district level by a team of experts. The State Departments of Education also provide their school districts with documents that describe the curriculum standards and benchmarks for learning, called the curriculum framework or guide. Some states and districts are also incorporating Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) into their curriculum.
The curriculum standard or goal defines what a student is expected to know at certain stages of education. A benchmark or objective is a specific, measurable outcome or indicator that usually is tied to a curriculum standard.
Technology integration is the combination of all technology parts, such as hardware and software, together with each subject-related area of curriculum to enhance learning. Mastering this integration is no an easy task. Much training and practice is required to help gain insight into this application. Integrating technology into the curriculum is tricky but if you identify what you are trying to accomplish within your curriculum, you are on the road to success. As a teacher you must also recognize that each student has a different learning style and the more ways you can present the information the better.
Technology has become increasingly more important in today's society and therefore it must be incorporated into the classroom. An example of integration is the Sunshine State Standards. The standards are completely online and sorted by area and grade level. If you have a question, just go on the website and look it up and compare. Technology has become so second nature to us that we don't realize how much we use it until it is not there.

Integrating Digital Media in the Classroom

Chapter 5 explains different ways to integrate digital media and educational software into your classroom. First I must explain some basic terms. Technology was the first term associated with computer use in the classroom, multimedia means more than one media and incorporates a variety of elements like text, graphics, audio, video, and animation. Digital media is defined as those technologies that allow users to create new forms of interaction, expression, communication, and entertainment in a digital format. Digital media software refers to any computer-based presentation or application software that uses multimedia elements. Multimedia consists of text, which consists of characters that are used to create words, sentences, and paragraphs and is a fundamental element used in all multimedia applications. Graphics are digital representations of non-text information, such as a drawing, chart, or photograph, audio is any music, speech, or other sound, while an animation is a graphic that has the illusion of motion if played back at the proper framing rate. Lastly, video consists of visual frames that are played back at speeds of 15 to 60 frames per second and provide full motion in real time.
Now that we are familiar with some basic terminology, we will discuss some applications of digital media. First a digital media application involves the use of digital media technology in education, business, and entertainment. I am going to discuss some examples of some applications. Computer-based training (CBT) is a tool that allows individuals to learn by using and completing exercises using instructional software on computers. Electronic books and references allow you to have millions of tools at your fingertips. An electronic book allows users to read, save, highlight, bookmark, and add notes to online text. How-to guides have become digital and show step-by-step instructions and interactive demonstrations to teach you practical new skills. Newspapers and magazines have become digital lately too.
Educational software applications in grades K-12 refers to computer software products used to support teaching and learning of subject related content. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is software designed to help teach facts, information, and/or skills associated with subject-related materials. Educational games help to teach students through repetition and practice and allows students to compete and challenge themselves. Tutorials are teaching programs that are designed to help individuals learn to use a product or concept.
As you have seen there are many digital media programs and educational software programs out there that are available to teachers. Research has shown that digital media applications are highly effective teaching tools, so incorporating them into daily teaching strategies is important in today's society.

Blog 5 - Chapter 7 - Skipped By Permission

Internet and the World Wide Web

Chapter two talks about communication, networks, the internet, and the world wide web. Communication in technology terms describes the process which two or more computers or devices transfer data, instructions, and information. Networks are a collection of computers and other equipment organized to shard data, information, hardware, and software. The book goes into detail about three types of networks. The internet is a worldwide collection of networks that link together millions of businesses, governments, educational institutions, and individuals using modems, telephone lines, and other communications devices and media. The book tells us the internet comes from a networking project of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). When connected to the internet a domain name, or text version of a computer address, is needed. The last area the chapter talks about is, is the world wide web which consists of a worldwide collection of electronic documents that have built-in hyperlinks to other related documents. On the web there are many ways to search for information. Firstly search tools enable users to locate information found at Web sites all over the world. Search engines are a specific type of search tool that finds Web sites, Web pages, and Internet files that match one or more keywords that are entered. The internet also offers things like e-mail or electronic mail, FTP or file transfer protocol, newsgroups, message boards , and blogs, chatrooms, instant messaging, facebooks and podcasts.
Since my last post I have become better at searcher for things online. After the webhunt assignment I have really learned how to become specific in the words that I use to find what I need. I have used this to find journal articles that I need to write papers. This is very useful to me for my future career since I will be doing research and in doing research I will need to look up journal articles for background information and helpful tips on how I should go about doing my experiments.

Integration of Technology in the Classroom

While exploring the integration corner of our textbook I found some very interesting websites that would be very helpful to teaching in this new age. I am leaning toward teaching in science so under the science corner of the website, I found numerous sites that allow me to give to my students to take quizzes, convert units for chemistry, have an online dictionary for organic chemistry terms, which I would have liked to know of when I took it. There is also websites that show you how to name molecules and how to describe different birds that are seen in North America. Along with just science websites there are a multitude of other websites for different areas of teaching, including elementary education, post secondary education, also areas for administration and research.
Since the last posting I have learned of a new program called Jump which allows me in input data and statistically analyze it. I used this program to analyze some data I collected over the summer for my internship. I needed a way to statistically analyze it, other than using Microsoft Excel. This program allowed me to do this and after a few minutes of exploring I was able to understand it well enough to use it for my project.
While looking around the assistive technology page I found a link to WixCom Technologies Ltd. While exploring I saw a product called Readingpen which helps people with dyslexia read. As a person that knows someone with dyslexia this interested me very much. I know how difficult it is for him to read sometimes and it hurts me to see him struggle. Now reading about this product, I see some hope that it will be very helpful to him and take off an enormous weight that he feels when he tries to read.

Hardware and Education

Chapter 4 talks about all the different hardware available for educators. As educators these days, we must keep up with the changing society so our students won’t think we are old school as well as to keep our students engaged in our lessons. In the chapter I learned about ASCII which is the most commonly used coding scheme for representing data on computers. I also learned about the different components of the system unit, like the motherboard, the CPU, memory, ports and connectors, and so much more. All of which I have heard of before and just pretended like I knew about them, which I knew nothing at all. This chapter really helped clarify things and now when I hear these terms I can put in some of my input. Also in the chapter I found out there was more input and output devices then I would have ever imagined. I thought the only input device was the keyboard but come to find out there is so much more then I would have realized, and most of them I have used. For the output devices I knew a little bit more but was still shocked to find out how many devices there really was. This chapter also goes into a lot of detail about storage, and all the different devices you can use as storage. Reading through this section, I realized that I have used pretty much everyone, with one or two exceptions. As an educator, you much familiarize yourself with the different types of storage as you will be constantly using them to get your ideas back and forth from home to school and vice versa. Also some computers now-a-days don’t have floppy disk drives and if that is what you are using then you much know how to use a cd-rom drive instead.
Just last week I have started an experiment for one of my classes. This experiment is going to looking at sea urchins and if they have a preference for decorating with shells in three different areas. The three areas are a sandy bottom, out in the open, at the edge of the sea grass bed (there normal habitat), where they are susceptible to predators, and in the middle of the sea grass bed. As a scientist I would think that in the sandy bottom area they would decorate more since they are the most exposed and need to hid from predators. But to come to a conclusion I must do a couple of experiments first. Once I collect my data, I input it into Microsoft Excel and from there am able to do a regression line, find an R2 value and see if my data is significant. This is just a small example of how I will be using technology in my future.
Since my last posting I have learned a new program called Inspiration. This program is very interesting and neat to learn about. I never really have used organizational charts before, unless you count the F-CAT where you are trained to do it before you start your writing. I had always seen them done in the books and thought they looked very professional, never giving them more than a thought. Inspiration really opened my eyes to this new way to teaching/learning and once I got the hang of it and understood how it worked and what is should look it, then it was very easy and ideas just started pouring out of me. As an educator, especially one going into the science field, this method of teaching seems like it would be a good asset to my classroom. Things like the water cycle, or the scientific method would be very easy to demonstrate using these organizational charts.

Teachers and Technology

This week I have read Chapter 1 in the book and have learned a great deal of information. I never realized how teachers are forced to integrate technology into their day-to-day activities in order to keep up with the changing society. I knew how important technology has become in our lifetime but sometimes I just forget HOW important it is. For example in today's world, everything is automated like the checkout lines at stores, or the little computers located inside the cars. Along with all these technologies associated with life these days, along came the models and organizations that have come up with ways to help teachers conform to this new way of life. In chapter 1 I learned about the ARCS Motivational Model, and although it was developed over twenty years ago, it is still relevant today. This model gives four main areas that need to be address in society today to keep the students interested and wanting to learn. The four areas stress the importance of keeping the students interested and motivated in order to achieve maximum success in the classroom. It also stresses that the digital media used must be relevant and designed to make each student successful. If these areas are addressed in the classroom today, students will be properly taught about the digital media and able to get the most out of each lesson.

An organization this chapter talks about is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). This organization promotes the use of technology to support and improve learning and teaching. It is a very interesting organization and although the book didn't say to much about it, there is more information available online.

Going to school these days and using computers is almost second nature. Most students, me included, don't realize how much they impact our day-to-day lives. Just a couple of weeks ago I did not have Internet and it was then that I realized how important computers and all they have to offer have become in my personal and academic life. In school, computers have come to mean everything, from sending and receiving emails and memos, to showing students a slide show that accompanies your lecture. The book shows examples of different people within the school board and how they use computers in their normal day-to-day activity.

Since the last class I feel I have learned a lot about something on the computer. After class I came home and started working on my SAM assignment. I thought I new a lot about these programs and the more I did, the more I realized I didn't know. Although some of the objects in the program seem very elementary, I am glad that this is an assignment for me and I am able to broaden my horizon. Microsoft is a new program for me because all growing up I have been taught to use Corel WordPerfect and that is the program I know. Now everything for school much be turned in on Microsoft Word, so it has been an adjustment for me. I believe this is going to be very helpful and useful for me.

In the future I hope to become a Marine Biologist. In this field, one must be very familiar with technology. It ranges from using computer devices in the field to inputting data into Excel to computing statistical analysis on the data you have just inputted into the spreadsheet. I am still learning how to do all these different elements on the computer and am hoping this course will help to speed this process along.

Technology in my Life

Throughout my whole life, I have been lucky enough to have had a computer at my house. I have used the Microsoft package as well as the Corel software. I love making powerpoints, it is one of my favorite things to do for school and for my friends. Other than using a computer and the most basic functions, I am not very useful with computers. When something is wrong with my computer or it is running slow or won't turn on, don't call me because I won't know how to do anything.

In this class I hope to learn more about technology and become more competent with these programs. I want to become more excited about using these programs as I already am about Powerpoint. I hope to become more enlightened about this whole Blog idea because before this I have never been big on the whole idea. I have never had a journal now or when I was younger and not very good at writing what I am thinking, usually I just speak it. I hope by the end of this class I will be able to feel comfortable posting my thoughts and feelings online for everyone to read.

By doing the type of learning test today, I have found out that I am more of a hands on type of person. I am a very active and visual learn who would have see it and do it then just read about it. This is somewhat do for classes like this, but in my science class it is a bit troublesome since it is mostly read from the book and learn it, mostly without pictures. I am on the border line, although closer to sensing, for the next category. As I read the paragraph about sensing and intuitive learners, I believe that I should be closer to the sensing side, which is where the science side of me lives. As for this class, I am very hopeful that I will be very well as for the fact that it is mostly hands and intriguing.