Last but not least...

            

            For my first semester ever at The University of Southern Mississippi, I am in the Introductory block in the education program. Within the program, I enrolled in IT 365. I was told that the class would be a breeze and that it was nothing to worry about because I would be going through a class full of things I already knew. Boy, were the people that told me that wrong. I really was clueless to the many things that could be done on a computer or with the Internet.

            In IT 365, I have learned a lot of things. I have learned all kinds of functions and features of computers and online technology. In the beginning of the semester, we learned about different parts of the computer and about hardware, software, input, output, and things of that nature. That part and all the basic functions of the computer was what I already knew. Everything else was new to me. We learned about Inspiration and how to use that to create different types of idea maps. We worked with several online resources such as, Story Bird, Rubistar, Track Star and Wordle. We were able to use all of those resources at no cost at all. Each of them offered very different things that could be beneficial to my future classroom. We also learned about how to use Movie Maker. That specific assignment was fairly easy and actually pretty fun. Another thing that we spent some time on was the Google Functions. This one was very complicated because I had to work with a group of five and on the day it was assigned two of the members were not in class. I had to personally get in touch with them and tell them what to do because they were clueless and our instructions on Blackboard were vague. To say the least, with the Google functions assignment I learned patience. Later into the semester, we each created a webpage for our future classroom. This assignment was challenging but very fun. I am happy to now know how to make my very own website. The last assignment we did was on assistive technology already on computers. I had no idea that all of the specific things we learned about it class were offered on a standard computer. All in all, I learned a wide variety of things in IT 365.

            I believe that my strongest point was making the website. It was easy to be created and imagine exactly what I might use in my own classroom. I feel like this was my strongest point because the assignment was challenging but enjoyable and a website is something I could actually use in my future. My weak point was on the Web Tools assignment. I chose this as my week point because it was my lowest grade. I was counted off for grammar. I am really not sure how I messed up so terribly but I will definitely try to improve that in the future. My specific learning goals would include to basically not wait until the last minute and apparently I need to pay more attention to directions.

            I feel like in today’s time it will be very easy incorporate many aspects of technology into the classroom. From computers and Internet use to iPads and smart phones, I feel like there are infinite ways to bring technology to the young students.

            

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is any kind of technology that can be modified for someone with any type of disability. It is important as a future teacher to know how to make use of any kind of assistive technology for future students. For this assignment, we have to create a Power Point with information about our findings in changing all of the assistive technology settings on our individual computers. I think this assignment itself is not that great, but I do feel like it is very important to know the things that we are exploring. My favorite option is the on screen keyboard. I think that is really neat and helpful for people who do not have full use of their hands. For my personal preference, I like having the option to change the contrast and brightness of the screen. If the screen is too bright, it will often give me a terrible headache. For someone with vision problems, there are a variety of things that could be done to the screen so that they can see it better. I think that as a future educator, it is my responsibility to make sure that, no matter if someone has a disability or not, all students are learning and receiving the information in a way that suits each and every student.

            Assistive technology allows all students to use computers and other types of technology. I believe that assistive technology falls under the NETS-T standard #2. With assistive technology, the teachers are able to customize and personalize activities to accommodate all students.

***CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY ASSIGNMENT***

Turn It In!

The assignment this week was dealing with plagiarism. In class, we learned or reviewed what plagiarism is and how badly one can be punished for plagiarizing. For our assignment, we were instructed to plagiarize for the first half and then try to reword and rewrite for our second half. The first part was obviously very easy. I’m guessing that is why so many people choose to plagiarize rather than write things in their own words. The second part would not have been hard answering the questions. The hard part was trying to state the answers in my very own words and getting less than 15% when submitting it to turn it in. I really didn’t mind doing this assignment. It was over all pretty easy. I learned a little more about turnitin.com, but I have used it several times before so there wasn’t much else for me to learn.

I think that if I taught high school or college, Turnitin.com would be especially helpful. I’m sure, for teachers, having 100 or more students write an essay or a research paper, it gets hard knowing who actually wrote their papers and who copied it. Turnitin will point out grammar mistakes or misspellings before the teacher even has to look at it. It also can tell if the information in a paper was stolen and if so, it can show exactly where it came from. Overall, turnitin is a very helpful tool that could be used in the classroom on a regular basis.  

Since this assignment was dealing with Turnitin, which deals with digital citizenship and responsibility, it falls under NETS-T Standard 4.

***CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY PLAGIARIZED PAPER***

***CLIKE HERE TO VIEW MY REVISED TURNITIN PAPER***

My Very Own Website

          

Creating your very own website sounds really cool, however actually doing it is not all that fun. For this assignment, we used Google’s Sites function to create a personal website for a hypothetical classroom. We are required to have a home page and 3 other pages with blurbs about your self, the projected class and course info, and links to other websites for extra activities. Each page requires a lot of elements and details. This assignment seemed like fun to begin with, but it is my least favorite one yet. I really don’t know what I am doing even with the class instruction. I am just really confused. I am having a hard time learning how to add buttons and different types of visually appealing banners. The part that has given me the most trouble is the calendar gadget. I found out how to add it, but I want to add things to specific days to make it look like a classroom schedule. I have tried all that I know to do and I can’t get it to work.

            I think that the website itself could be a great way to keep parents informed and updated on what is going on in the classroom. I think that older students will also find it resourceful. Teachers could post an assignment list or links to websites that students could easily access anywhere. As far as using the website for an assignment like we did as a class, it would be geared more towards high school students. This assignment is a little bit hard and would be challenging for younger students to complete.

            This assignment, as well as almost all of the previous ones, meets the NETS-T Standard # 1. This assignment allows students to be creative while navigating and using a new and unfamiliar computer program.


TO VIEW MY WEBSITE, CLICK HERE!!

Google Functions

 

         

For this particular assignment, we learned how to use and utilize several Google functions. We worked specifically with Google Drive and Google Groups. I really enjoyed learning about the functions of Google. I was really shocked at all of the free space available to anyone who has a Google email account (Gmail account). I really like knowing that I have 15 gigs of memory online that I can access from anywhere with an Internet connection. I like how on both Google Drive and Google Groups, you can share what you are working on or post discussion questions for a set group of people to see. I also think it is awesome that you have the option for people to view, comment or edit on anything you create in Google Drive. I also like how once you share something, you can see exactly when someone is editing, commenting or viewing whatever it is you are working on in Google Drive.

            I think that all of the functions could be used in a classroom for teachers or for students. I have had teachers who asked me to buy a jump drive specifically for one class. With Google, all you would have to do is create a Gmail account and you could save everything there. That would also be easier because people wouldn’t need to keep up with anything physically because you can access documents saved on Google anywhere with an Internet connection. I think this assignment meets the NETS-T standard perfectly. With Google functions, the teacher can communicate effectively to the students with technology.

***CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY PRESENTATION***

***INTERSTING WEEK IN THE LIFE OF A TEACHER***
This story was written by:
Rebecca Caraway
Maleah Anderson
Cheyanne Carter
Melissa Cherry
Allyne Cawthon

***CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR GROUP DISCUSSION ON DIAGRAMS, MAPS AND WEBS!***

MOVIE MAKER

      

    The movie assignment was a little challenging for me. I have a Mac and I could not download the Windows Movie Maker so I decided to just work with iPhoto. I was not too upset about having to use iMovie because I am really not familiar with either. However, I was very confused. I looked at a few tutorials and I think I have it figured out. I just wish I had been able to do mine in the same program as everyone else. I would have felt more comfortable with it. With that being said, although iMovie was confusing, it was fun to work with. The easiest part for me was adding the pictures. The hard part for me was trying to add a title page and credits. For some reason every time I did it, I could not get it to save. I eventually figured it out but it just took some time.

            I can see how this could be a fun and beneficial tool in the classroom. I do feel like it would be geared more toward high school students. I think it would be good for specifically a computer class. I think younger students would like the idea of making their own movie but I think it would be harder for them to do. I may be underestimating young students of the 21^st Century, but I just feel like this would be an assignment for high school students.

            I think this assignment meets the NETS-T Standard #1. This assignment truly inspires learning about a computer program and creativity. Students would be required to choose a topic just as I did and create their own movie with their own creative spin on it.

***Here is the video I created!***