Week Eight

Online communication tools are essential for keeping up with people effectively and efficiently. Students and parents will forget to return phone calls or loose papers, but they will usually respond quickly when they receive an email or social network message. However, it is very important that we stay proactive in our online security.

In order to prevent malicious software teachers need to understand know the areas of concern for susceptibility. There are many types of computer viruses, Trojan horses, and computer worms. Just as in many areas of life, you are only as secure as your weakest link. Computer viruses are software programs that are designed to spread from one computer to another and interfere with your operations. Viruses can attack your data, email and even your hard disk. They are often spread through email attachments. It is very important that we intentionally check our email for suspicious attachments. Viruses can also spread through downloads on the internet, so checking your sources before downloading is also a good idea.

A Trojan horse looks like a legitimate download or software, yet it is very tricky. Trojan horses cause lots of annoying results. A Trojan horse will change things like your desktop picture or get more serious and delete files. They could also possibly compromise your personal information. Luckily, Trojan horses do not reproduce themselves.

            A computer worm is a sub-class of a virus.  They spread from computer to computer but must have human action in order to travel.  A worm can replicate itself into hundreds of copies.  It can be especially dangerous if it copies itself to everyone in your email address book.  A recent worm, called the Blaster Worm, was designed to enter your system and allow malicious users to control your computer from a remote location

          I believe the most important tool to use when dealing with internet security is your common sense.  If you see an email or download from someone you don’t know or a company you’ve never heard of, do some research first before opening it.  You should always be cautious when you’re online.  

Week Seven

          This week in EDOL 533 I read about educational software.  There are many different types of educational software and they can be used for all age levels and curriculum areas.  One software I would like to highlight is Success Maker.  You can go to the Success Maker website by clicking here. 

          My school district uses Success Maker for Math practice.  There is also software available for Reading comprehension.  When students login to the software they have a beginning adaptive test to identify their strengths and weaknesses.  The objective of this software is to determine each student’s grade level and track their progress.  The individualized learning that Success Maker offers allows students to learn at their own pace.  The Math problems are interactive and fun for the students.  The software uses different learning style modes to accommodate all learners.  The software engages students and they want to succeed.  One of the best tools for teachers is that Success Maker collects data for each student.  This helps to identify students’’ abilities and to track their progress.  Having this information available to teachers can help them plan their lessons. 

          I have used this software while substitute teaching.  I took the kindergarten class to the computer lab and they each found their own computer to use.  The students must sign in to the software using their individual user name and password.  Since I didn’t know each child’s name I had to use my class roster to help them spell their last names.  This took about half the class time for me to get around to the majority of the students.  I’m sure that as the school year progressed the kindergarteners would get better at spelling their name and using the computer.  I would like if the software could allow a teacher computer to log the whole class in by assigning computers to students.  That would speed up the process immensely.

          The next time I use Success Maker I will be giving my students a note card with their username and password on it.  This will help make login quicker and easier.  Older students may not need this or only need it the first few times.  Younger students could use this for several weeks to help them learn their login. 

          I will definitely be using Success Maker in my classroom to help reinforce Math concepts to my elementary school students.  The software is engaging and fun for students while at the same time being a great progress tracking software for teachers. 

Week Six

This week my Educational Technology class focused on WebQuests.  I had never heard of a WebQuest before this week.  I consider myself tech-savvy and my husband is a very tech-savvy teacher so I usually hear about what they're doing in his classroom.  I asked him if he knew about these and he said yes, but I don't think he uses them or I'd have heard about them before.  It was quite an adventure and I stayed up way too late one night to finish it and get it over with!  I believe this tool would be great for older students however I’m not sure how I like it for use with elementary school students.  It seems like younger students would need lots of help with using the technology and that I could teach the unit simpler without the WebQuest.  I may have a different attitude about it once I am in the classroom and can actually see it in process.

            I created a WebQuest for counting money.  I included a webpage that was very informative as a review, two worksheets to be completed and graded, and two games.  One game was online and the other was a memory game to be played with a partner.  Because I am not in the classroom I didn’t have lots of resources at my disposal so I looked online to find helpful worksheets and games.  I would like to add videos that would be effective for students.  My first WebQuest can be linked to below:

Counting Money

          I think my greatest challenge in creating a WebQuest was just learning a new website and tool.  I had to learn what pages to use and how to use them.  I was not happy with my layout or color scheme.  It was difficult to figure out which design to use and I had a hard time relating it to my subject.  I also had a hard time with the colors available.  I’d have like an easier way to choose a complimentary color scheme. 
          One challenge I had was to find good material to use for my process.  I ended up creating a worksheet myself using Microsoft Word.  I Googled for images of coins and then used DocStoc to upload it.  If I had resources of math textbooks for worksheets or if I could create pdf’s that would have made the WebQuest much easier.  For veteran teachers that have the unit resources they continually use it would be much simpler to compile all their information and create a WebQuest.  I hope to use WebQuests more in the future as I have my own classroom. 

Week Five

Online communication tools are a part of my everyday life.  I check my email, Facebook, Twitter and blogs almost daily.    After reviewing many different communication tools this week in class I have been very encouraged to put these into action when I have my own classroom.  I believe that these tools can make mine and my students’ lives easier.  By using online communication I hope to connect myself with students and I hope to give students a place to connect with each other. 

I was substitute teaching in my husband’s elementary school when a first grader told another student, “She’s on Facebook.”  I never expected that from a first grader!  The student’s older sister is a fifth grader in my husband’s class and she has her own Facebook account.  This is a perfect example of how young students are using online communication.  We as teachers need to use it with them and set guidelines for appropriate online behavior.  Later that night I received a friend request from the fifth grader.  I declined her request because my husband and I have decided not to include any of his students on our personal accounts.  Once the students are in middle or high school he will add them with caution as to whether there is any personal relationship with their family or if we know them through soccer or church. 

I would like to teach my future classroom how to use blogs to communicate online.  I believe that the good thing about blogging is that it allows students to write their complete thoughts and use sentence and paragraph structure.  With many online tools today there isn’t much thought to proofreading or grammar.  I would like to instill those traits into my student’s online publishing.  It is important for students to learn that once they hit send that comment is published and cannot be taken back. 

Many students are using computers at home without supervision.  As a teacher I believe that I have an obligation to teach my students appropriate online behavior in regards to the online tools we use in the classroom.  Hopefully these ideas will filter into their personal computer time as well. 

I will give my students topics for blogging very similar to the tasks in this class.  I believe that this gives them a jumping point to explore other ideas and to create their own posts on other subjects.  Having students read others’ blogs will also help foster communication and collaboration within my classroom.  Students can learn a lot from each other and they may be more willing to pay attention reading a blog rather than listening to it spoken in a classroom. 

I believe that the online communication tools available to us are changing the way education is taught.  I am excited for the many possibilities available to enlighten and teach my students about the online world.