Chapter 6- Teaching with Educational Websites and Other Online Resources

Focus Question: What and where are different types of educational websites available to teachers on the Internet?

There are six major types of educational websites: lesson plan websites, student-to-expert communication websites, real-time and recorded data websites, archival and primary source websites, skills/ practice websites, and exploration and discovery websites.

These websites are all use for different major reasons. Lesson plan websites are the most widely used. At these types of websites teachers are able to find thousands of ideas for classroom lessons plans or download entire lesson plans that are already created with step to step procedures. Student –to-expert communication websites are websites for K-12 students and even adults may use them. At these websites and student can reach out to an expert by asking a question and the expert responds to the question.  Real-time and recorded data websites, are websites that present scientific phenomena information. This site gives K-12 students the opportunity to access and analyze information from their classrooms. Archival and primary source websites are sites that allow students to research information from primary sources. Some on the main primary sources material are from museums, libraries and other organizations. Skills/ practices websites offer subject-specific activities. Teachers use this site to incorporate small group activities while they do one on one work with their students. Sites that provided students online engagement during online explorations on topic of interest is a website that is known as exploration and discovery website. All these website shall be a very good sites for all your students.

Photo Credit to K.W Barrett from Flickr

 

 

Tech Tool: Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a great opportunity for teachers to use in order to gather information. There are several bookmarking websites out there for different use. Some of the many; Delicious, Backflip, Connotea, Goodreads and Diigo. Delicious is a website used to keep all your bookmarking’s in one place. You can view the page you bookmarked by using the special tag system they have. Backflip keeps track of the websites you visit. By using this bookmark you can track anything you students are doing on the web. Connotea is an online reference managing tool that creates and saves bibliographical information in correct citation formats. Goodreads is created to organize your favorite books online. It creates shelves of titles by topics while viewing the selection. This website is connected with amazon. Diigo is short for Digest of Internet Information Groups and Other Stuff, this site allows you to bookmark sites, highlight portions of the webpage and also add stick notes to all the webpages.

Summary & Conclusion

Chapter 6 is filled with information and necessities for teacher and students to utilize while using learning resources such as educational websites. Throughout this chapter they give you different bookmarking tools that you can use as a teacher. Some of the bookmarking tools they mention are Delicious, Backflip, Connotea, Goodreads and Diigo; all these are social bookmarking tools. These tools help teachers by helping them not just to locate information themselves, but join a community of computer-using educators who are interested in the same topic. Also they mention WebQuests which are educational web-based teaching methods in order to engage and innovate all students.

I really enjoy learning about all the types of bookmarking tools. Especially the social bookmarking tools while visiting all the variety of websites they included I notice that they each had their differences but at the same time they have several aspects in common. My favorite out all the ones I listed was Delicious, this website was introduce to me during my EME course. This site is very easy to use and all  you have to do is get the URL from the website you are trying to bookmarking and paste it and use keywords as tags word to be able to locate it.

Resources:
Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2011). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN:10 0-13-159611-X, ISBN:13 978-0-13-159611-5

 

Chapter 5- Researching and Evaluating Internet Information

Photo credit to The City Project from Flickr

Focus Question: What are search engines and how do they work?

A search engine is an easy and fast way for teachers and students to access information by locating pages that are linked together by databases. While doing online searching you have to know how to locate and analyze all information from the Internet. Teachers usually benefit from search engines that help narrow the topic or from what is more educational by using specialized search engines. All search engines have customize exploration using keywords, to located Web pages with information on the topic. There are resources available for both specialized and general searching. Every search engine allows you to restrict and expand the material you are researching. Teachers and students should uses search tools that focus more on educational information.




Tech Tool: Photo and Audio Resources on the Web

Teachers uses photo and audio resources for valuable reasons. One of the many reasons is to teach creatively and help to not always lecture about the topic but have visuals. Most students learn visually nowadays, and they enjoy having a visual imagine or a video to really understand the concept of what is being taught. In my opinion all teachers should take this into consideration to help their students stay engaged. Two sites that may help teachers enable audio and images are Flickr and LibriVox.

Flickr is a wonderful site to search anything thing using a keyword. You may even advance your search and make all the photos you are viewing to only have the creative common license. I really enjoy using this site and it is one of the only sites I receive my pictures and videos from.

LibriVox is a new website that I came across while reading Chapter 5. From the little time I spent navigating the site I noticed that you can use the website to read audiobooks. I think that’s a wonderful site to help children with catching up on an assignment if needed to.   

Summary & Conclusion

Chapter 5 begins with search engines and how they work. It also goes into further detail about how to teach your students how to evaluate which web pages that are bias and which ones are false advertisement. Also throughout the chapter it is explained how teachers can deal with problems that come across while dealing with plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking someone else’s work or idea and using them as your own. One way to avoid plagiarism is the way teachers assign the assignments or homework. You also can use a plagiarism checking device called Turnitin. Several of my teachers throughout high school and even my college professor use this site to check for plagiarism. May students nowadays think it is easier to copy and paste instead of putting things in their own words, not knowing that they have all these website to check for such things.

Chapter 4- Integrating Technology and Creating Change

Focus Question: What are "digital inequality" and the "participation gap"?

Digital inequality is the used to explain how students' lack of access how the use of technology is connected to their socioeconomics in today’s society.

Participation gap means that the low income families have not had the same advantage of the use of new technologies for learning compared to the upper class.

Henry Jenkins a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, advanced is knowledge into the idea of the participation gap and noticed the differences between the students that had technology access 24/7 compared to the ones that did not. He believes that without steady access several students fall behind compared to their online peers in skills. Also, that the students that come from a low income families have less of an opportunity to experiences navigating the
internet and having online conversations.

 

Photo credit to USAG-Humphreys on Flickr

 
I think that just by adding computers, iPad's, and other technologies that are useful for the students and teachers would be very useful for the less fortunate students. It would help them become skilled in the technology world and would not make them behind in skills.  

Tech Tool link: Edutopia

Edutopia is a wonderful website to use as a search engine for the teaching of K-12 schools. You can simply type in a keyword and find vast information on the topic, but it does have to do with education. It also futures a collections of technology integrated resources and it is very easy to navigate. Although it does have advertisement it is very few that you would not be distracted by it.

Summary & Conclusion


Technology integration and educational change is what is discussed in chapter 4. Technology can be integrated by teachers in classrooms simply by using computers, tablets and digital pens to get the students to interactive. Educational change potential for technology in schools are based upon the imagination and needs of the students and teachers. Technology strategies and integration are discussed to help teachers address the problem with digital divide, digital inequality and participation gap. Some on the strategies mentioned to help with participation gap were to provide all the students with technology useable for learning, also to use computers as a stations for students to do academic activities and to have students work in small group activities giving them the opportunity to work on academic assignments.

I really enjoyed reading this chapter, I learned that low income students have a greater possibility to lack the skills of technology compared to the wealthier ones. Also I strongly agree with the thought of all classrooms having small group activities, a computer station and a one on one area so that the teacher can work with each student individually in order to help the less fortunate with receiving their skills.  



Resources:
  Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010). Transforming learning with new technologies. Allyn & Bacon.

Prensky, M. (n.d.). Shaping Tech for the Classroom | Edutopia. Edutopia | K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work. Retrieved September 24, 2013, from http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt-shaping-tech-for-classroom
 

 

 
 

Journal 3- Common Core Standards

Common Core is an education program that was created to bring all the diverse states curriculum together to make them aligned. In 2010, 45 states agreed to use the common core standard. The standard is provided to make sure all students learn what is needed in order for them to graduate high school with the same level of preparation in order to enter college or the workforce. Each grade level from K-12 will be given benchmark tests to make sure they are learning the material need. The significant about this is, having the same standards is helpful toward all students in order for them get a good education. Teachers and parents are provided with a clear understanding of what their children are expected to know in order to help them.

In many states parents testified about their concerns with the new program and how all the schools around the states had to get on the same level in English and Mathematics. As the program progresses some parents testified the technology requirement for the testing as a concern. In my opinion I think the Common Core standard is was a great idea for the kids, keeping all the children on the same level of learning throughout the state betters the child’s education. As long as the teachers are still encouraging the students to learn and achieve goals beyond the benchmark.

Photo credit to G Talan from Flickr

Resources:
https://www.fldoe.org/schools/ccc.asp
http://www.corestandards.org/
http://www.cpalms.org/Standards/Common_Core_Standards.aspx
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/30/new-age-education-fuzzy-math-and-less-fiction/

Journal 2- K-12 Technology: Benefits and Drawbacks

Can Technology be both a sanctification and a jinx for K-12 students? That's a decision that varies, it has its pros and cons to balance it out. In this article I recently read, K-12 Technology: Benefits and Drawbacks discusses how education has advanced rapidly through the last few decades, how technology can either be better or be worse for the generation’s successfulness in the future and how technology has completely changed the way children look at life. I agree with this author’s point of view and I really believe that students have advanced just as fast as technology has. Most students know how to work computers, tablet and etc. and love looking up everything over the internet. They prefer advancing their knowledge through online resources rather than through books. The way children access things nowadays is complete different then children did in the past. It’s like children are programed to use technology to look things up. In this day in age instead of kids picking up a dictionary to look up a word, they pull out their iPod, iPad, phones and etc. and use Google search. I completely agree with the author when he said “kids arrive to Kindergarten with an advanced idea of instant gratification. They know that any game, program or form of communication is available at the touch of a button.” This totally amazes me, it’s shocking how different children are today than what they once were.

As an educators technology is needed in order to keep children interested on what is being taught in the classrooms. Kids today get bored and lose focus if they’re just learning out of a hard copy of a text book. Learning needs to be enjoyable but at the same time beneficial. Teachers can incorporate technology in so many ways such as, YouTube videos, photographs, test, assignments, learning tools and etc. throughout the day. But technology can also go wrong for a teacher; the power can go out or the electronic can break, in this case they will need a backup plan to continue on with the lesson. Technology is better for students that are visual learns, but what about the students that are read/write? That’s why teaching needs to incorporate more than just technology. They need to use the textbooks, use paper for some test and give writing assignments.

As a parent technology can be an excellent use as a learning tool for children. Most parents nowadays do not have the chance to help children with homework assignments, research papers and projects. But now they have computers and tablets to research and advance their knowledge on topics by just using a search engine. Technology can also be an issue for parents that cannot afford them. Not everyone is financially stable in order to provide computers, internet and tablets for their kids,  in this case they need their children to use books and encyclopedias to do research.   

Photo credit to Lucelia Ribeiro from Flickr



Resources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/k-12-technology-benefits_b_3820538.html

Journal 1- Schools that Practices Learning- Literacy

The blog I just recently read by David Warlick talked about schools that practice learning-literacy. In this blog I learned that teaching is a persuasive learning skill. Also that teachers learned better while teaching the material and so will students. Making sure your students interact as much as a teacher does with the material will engage the students as well as help them better understand the material. I agree with Mr. Warlick when he said that using technologies, demonstrating and asking for help from students will help the students learn and adapt. I find it very fascinating that the generations have changed in the learning aspects. Children nowadays are more into learning throw technology rather than through text books. Not only that but students now have a lot more material to learn then generations in the past. For example, history is made every single day something new occurs that is to remember several times a year. Warlick says that teachers teach from new learnings, as master learners, to be honest I never really looked at it that way, at the same time that teachers are teaching students, they are learning new things themselves. I am a part of the technology generation and I do agree that if teachers teach more with technology and explain as they are teaching the material, things will help us students be engaged and learn what is being thought. David Warlick rephrases a quote to say “teachers model learning, students learn to teach themselves and schools educate the community.” I for one complete agree with that quote, students nowadays on teaching themselves several new things mainly in my opinion how to operate internet web pages and so forth.  While the world is advancing with knowledge so are students.

Photo credit to Mike Sansone on Flickr

Resources: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?p=4326