The End has come!

Well, I have to say I have enjoyed ECI 719. It was challenging for me at the beginning because I wasn't sure about how to design effective, appropriate, and accessible websites, but after reviewing the important concepts presented in the lessons, I was able to. I will now be able to take what I learned in this class and apply it to my future classroom. I know I will take what I have learned about the different topics of copyright and fair use, accessibility, and photo and video sharing, and use this knowledge in my future classroom. It will be important to use credible, up to date sources when presenting information in the classroom. I will also have to take into account the accessibility of websites that I use in the classroom. The tools of photo sharing applications and information about video sharing will also be useful when sharing various images and videos with my future students. Ultimately, I will be able to use what I have learned in this class to create effective websites in the future, and I will consider the topics discussed when presenting material in my future classroom. Participating in this course was a very meaningful and worthwhile experience!

Final Project

This week I focused on finishing up my final website. I finished creating the last lesson about bones and included a video and discussion thread. Additionally, I added a final assessment quiz to assess student's learning. I first gave them an opportunity to review the concepts presented using Quizlet flashcards. Then, they are presented with a quiz to see how much they have learned from the learning module. I have enjoyed creating this website. It has given me a lot of insight about what items can be incorporated in a website, how to embed information, and how to present it effectively.

PLC 3

I have to say that I have had a pretty positive experience in my professional learning community (Classroom 2.0). I have had continued responses to my discussion posts, read many other ideas and commented on perspectives, and been provided with new resources to incorporate in the classroom. I am excited to report that the discussion that I started about Web 2.0 tools and multimedia has gotten five comments! The other people in this social network have given me ideas of tools to incorporate in various subjects and even sample lessons. I also started a new discussion about Voki to see where that would lead and a few individuals commented on this post as well. They provided me with ways to use Voki with ESL students, language arts, autobiographies, and more. I have also enjoyed providing my perspectives on different issues to other individuals in this professional learning community. Everyone seems very open to hearing others' points of view and ideas. I am glad that I had the opportunity this week to join this professional learning community where I learned so much. I could see this being beneficial way for all teachers to be connected at a particular school. It would give them a chance to collaborate with their colleagues and share their ideas.

PLC 2

Yay! Someone responded to the new discussion that I posted. I posted a discussion that asked for people to provide me with ideas of web 2.0 tools that could be incorporated in the classroom. I also asked for sample lessons. I was able to get some great responses involving ideas of how to use Blogspot and Glogster. I have also enjoyed continuing to comment on my "peers'" posts. They always have something nice to say back and talk of how they enjoy hearing my perspective. I still feel that this aspect is the most beneficial to professional learning communities. I truly like hearing others' perspectives about various topics. Whether it be school uniforms or digital storytelling. I also wish I would be able to attend some of the webinar's that they offer, but I always have to work! Maybe sometime soon I will be able to make it. I think it would be really interesting to hear the guest speakers that they feature in the webinar's. So again, I have to say I am totally enjoying this experience and I am glad that I can now say that I am part of a professional learning community!

Professional Learning Community

I joined the professional learning community, "Classroom 2.0." So far, I have enjoyed participating in this community of educators and other teaching professionals. I like being able to hear different perspectives on various topics presented. Also, I like being able to respond to the forums posted and present my ideas. I liked viewing teacher's ideas about classroom management, problem-based learning, etc. I did not like the fact that no one responded to my forum that I posted about distance education. It has only been two days, so we will see if anyone responds! I think I am going to post another discussion thread today about Web 2.0 tools. Maybe someone will respond this time! This professional learning community also has a neat feature where you can chat with anyone who is online at the same time as you. This is really convenient if you have a pressing question that you want to see if anyone can answer. This PLC also provides webinars that anyone can participate in if they are a part of the PLC! I am enjoying this professional learning community experience and I can't wait to learn more about it this week!

Interactive Elements & Future Web Design

This week I was given the opportunity to look at various blogs and websites, and pick out features that I think would work well in the website that I am creating. I found several features that stuck out to me, but I decided that the ones that I would try to incorporate were a discussion thread and Quizlet flashcards. I was able to successfully integrate both of these features into my final website. I was going to have students blog after each lesson, but I think it will be just as useful for them to participate in a discussion thread. Also, I think the flashcards will be beneficial for reviewing the topics and concepts studied throughout each lesson. The flashcards will be helpful for students to review before the quiz.

As far as the future of web design, I really think that the possibilities are endless. I hate trying to predict the future, because it's so hard with all of the fast and approaching technologies of today. I do think that the future will have a lot more global collaboration in classrooms through Skype, Facebook, SMART boards, etc. I think handheld devices and laptops will be utilized in classrooms, and distance education will continue to increase. Virtual schools may be all that is offered in the future, and 3-D will be prevalent. Holograms will also be used to learn about other cultures by sending them across the world! Well who knows what the future has in store for us all!?!? Not me, but I am willing to take it all in, buckle up, and enjoy the ride!

Work Week!

This week, instead of learning new concepts, we had a work week where we were supposed to focus on working on our final website. I focused on working on lesson 2 of my website which is about muscles. It was hard to find a good video that I could add to my webpage that explained muscles in an elementary level, but I finally found one on Youtube. I was also able to use some good resources online to find a plethora of information about muscles. In this lesson on muscles, I provided instructions for students to feel their own calf muscle. I think this will help them better grasp the concept and actually feel a muscle at work. At the end of each lesson, I am going to have students create blogs to reflect on what they learned in the lesson. Additionally, I am going to have students comment on each other's blogs so they can share insight, feedback, and other ideas. I think students will enjoy blogging and looking at their peers' blogs, and also it will be a great way for students to reflect and review.