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.

Video Sharing and Screencasting!

This week our task was to think about the implications of mobile learning and to create a screen cast on a Web 2.0 tool. I watched some very interesting videos about mobile learning. One discussed the future of education, and how it will be the "iSchool." Students would use their iPhone or iTouch to communicate with their teachers. There are so many applications out there for learning that I had no clue about. They have applications for learning about the different US Presidents, viewing globes, exploring space, checking out the periodic table, or even word processing applications. Students would utilize these applications to learn useful information and communicate and collaborate with their peers through other apps. It seems like a whole other innovative way of learning, but it is probably where are future is headed. As far as video sharing, there are many things that teachers need to take into consideration when using videos in the classroom. They need to ultimately obtain permission from the original creator and make sure that they are using the video for educational purposes. Teachers should also make sure that the videos that they provide to students are accessible to all individuals. Videos must be able to work on various browsers, and should even include captions when necessary.

I decided to create my screencast on Voki which is a free service that allows you to create avatars with different backgrounds and physical features. There are many interactive ideas for using Voki in the classroom. Voki can be used for students to introduce themselves to the class, read poems, explain math concepts, create characters from a book, or even practice saying English words to become fluent. There are endless opportunities of ways to use Voki in the classroom. I could definitely see how screencasting could also be a helpful tool to use in the classroom, especially in distance education. The teacher can model a process and students can then follow exact steps presented.

Photo Sharing!!

This weeks focus was to learn more about photo sharing sites, their features, and to think about how you could incorporate them in your final website. I learned a lot from browsing through each of the websites for the photo sharing applications. I looked at the information for Flickr, Photobucket, Google Images, and Picasa. I chose to create an account for Flickr. I really like the option that it provides for embedding a slide show of pictures into a website. I ended up integrating this into my website that I am creating. I am creating a website that teaches third graders about the human body, and for lesson 1, they will learn about the three main types of joints in the body. So, I embedded a Flickr slide show of pictures into my joints lesson. I found three pictures of the three different types of joints, and then described each one and created a slide show of pictures. I think that students will benefit from being able to visually see each joint. I may even try to find some videos to incorporate in the slide show so students can see how the joints actually work in the human body, and so students can see how each joint moves differently at different body parts.

Concept Map & First draft of Website

I found this week's activities somewhat difficult because I had never created a concept map for designing a website before. I found this process difficult at first, because I had to decide on a topic. I chose to create a website that might have useful information for me and my future students. I decided to create a website about the human body and the different parts of it. I designed it for third graders. I organized it into different lessons that the students would be going through on their own as well as a review and quiz after the lessons.

The tool I chose to use to aid me in developing a website was Weebly. I have been very impressed with Weebly so far. It has been easy to use because all you have to do is drag and drop different items such as text, images, or videos, on to the site and they appear on the page. Also, Weebly provided several tutorials that were useful when first learning to create a website.

I think this new experience of developing a website will be challenging and exciting at the same time. I am excited to begin planning my lessons and deciding what multimedia I should incorporate in the lessons. I am glad I am getting the chance to develop my own website, and I hope to be able to use what I learn while doing this in the future.

De-constructing a Website

This week in ECI 719, I had the task of de-constructing a website. At first, I was a little overwhelmed with this task, but once I began mapping out the site, I was able to get the hang of de-constructing it. By using the site map provided on the ISTE website, I was able to successfully create a concept map of the de-construction. Also, I found it helpful to begin with the top of the page and move to the bottom of the page while looking for all of the links.

From the readings, I learned a lot of valuable information to consider when creating my own website. Bob Hunt provided steps to take when designing websites. He urged the importance of knowing what your visitor's are looking for and understanding the purpose of the website. Also, he discussed the importance of organizing a site map and arranging visual elements so they work together. Phil Brisk also offered suggestions of things to think about when designing a website. His three main suggestions were: remember how the brain works, remember how eyes move, and remember you're here to communicate, not decorate. All of these suggestions seem to focus on the importance of making sure that the site is organized so that it is easy to read, simple, to the point, and providing relevant information.

Accessibility is Key.

This week allowed me to use what I read about accessibility and put it in to practice by evaluating a school's website. I found that to determine if a website is accessible, it is important to make sure the website is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust (Web Design in a Nutshell). Also, I used the checklist provided in the readings by W3C to help me determine if the website I analyzed was accessible.

The website that I evaluated was able to be opened on several different browsers, and handheld devices. It also was able to be magnified and still easily read. Also, the pictures were good quality when magnified. The website also did a very good job of grouping related links together, and providing links to go to the top of the page. The "Home" button was also accessible from every page of the website, and it was the first link on the website.

The main problems that I encountered as far as accessibility of the school's website were the school not providing titles for their pictures, using different color texts and not making them available without color, and providing crowded/long text in some places. All of these issues seem to be pretty simple to fix. I plan on using what I learned about the importance of accessibility in the readings this week and apply them to any website I create in the future.

The Benefits of Collaboration & Rubrics

Through this week's lesson, I learned a lot about the importance of collaboration. I think that working on creating a rubric with a group helped show me how many great ideas can be brought together as one. It also conveyed that putting your thoughts together can create stronger points and ideas. By working with a group this week to create an evaluation rubric, and working with the class to finalize it, we were able to come up with a very good evaluation tool that will be able to be used in the future.

It is important that we have a way of effectively evaluating websites so that we are able to use them in our future classroom. Websites used in the classroom must be appropriate for the students being taught. Also, providing students with this rubric and having them evaluate websites would be a good tool for teaching them how to distinguish what makes a good website. Students would then be able to apply what was evaluated by the tool, and look at these criterion in the future when browsing for good websites.

Evaluating Educational Websites

This week I learned a lot about how to evaluate different websites and what features make a good website. The book, Web Design in a Nutshell suggested the importance of being able to open websites on different browsers and screen sizes. Other articles, such as the Ten Good Deeds in Web Design provide many other ideas of ways to evaluate websites. This article mentioned the importance of having a search bar, having the Logo take you to the homepage, having subheadings and simple paragraphs, and link titles. Jakob Nielson, also wrote an article that gave ways to evaluate websites such as splitting up long information in to different pages, using bulleted lists, and subheadings. Another article stressed that content was more important than graphics.

From all of this criteria presented in the readings, I was able to evaluate 5 educational websites. Most all of the websites met the criteria which was impressive, however they were all designed slightly differently. I never thought about how much planning goes in to making a website, but through the assignment this week, I learned much about the little things that go into making a website accessible, aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, organized, and uniform. I am looking forward to working with my group to create a rubric of our own to use to evaluate websites in the future.

Learning about the Internet and the HTML language

Learning about the history of the Internet this week gave me a chance to see how it all began. I know this may sound stupid, but I had never even heard of ARPANET before doing this assignment. Also, I was able to learn about a lot of the people who set up the foundation of the Internet. I enjoyed creating the timeline on Dipity which I had never done before. This is a great resource that can also be utilized in the classroom. Timelines could be created especially for social studies. I like how you can add pictures, links, videos, and information to each block on the timeline.

I also enjoyed learning the language of html this week. I had never used it besides copy and pasting stuff to put on my Myspace page, but I wasn't the one who wrote those html codes... It was interesting to learn the process behind creating a website using html codes. I think this will be useful if I ever want to create a website to use in my future classroom. Also, I liked the activity of having to alter and correct the website provided. It was good practice for me to go through and see what corrections needed to be made to the website provided. It helped me to understand this html language even better since I had to apply what I learned!

To copy, or not to copy? That is the question.

This weeks information on copyright and fair use really helped me to understand what I should and should not do as a teacher. Before reading about this, I kind of just assumed that as long as you give the person credit, then it is okay to use their work. However, I have found that a lot things are copyrighted and not legal for you to use. Also, I was able to learn a lot about the different conditions of creative commons such as attribution, no derivative works, non-commercial, and share alike. I found the videos and links provided for this week very helpful. They aided me in understanding the issues of copyright and creative commons.

I think that it is important that everyone is informed about information regarding copyright laws. Personally, it helped me to see things that I have done wrong in the past, and now, for the future I know what I can/cannot copy and when I need to give credit to someone. I think that it is also important that we inform our students about the different laws, so they will be able to distinguish what items they can/cannot use when creating projects, doing homework, writing papers, etc.

Flickr is a great source to find items that you are allowed to reuse. I feel like Flickr makes it easy to use creative commons works, and it even gives you the option of refining your searches to only creative commons items. They make it so easy for you. I found that I will probably use Flickr when using video, audio, or images in my future classroom because I know I am allowed to use the resources provided under the creative commons search. What a relief!

ECI 719- And the fun begins...

I am so excited about taking ECI 719 this semester. I have already been introduced to so many new technologies and it is only week one! I have been able to work with WordPress, Ning, Twitter, and more. I have enjoyed viewing other people's VoiceThread's, and I am excited to see more as people in my group begin to post them. VoiceThread is such a neat program where you can upload pictures and/or videos as well as audio to go along with them. Additionally, you can type comments to other individuals and leave audio comments. It is a great tool that can be utilized in the classroom especially. Students could share projects, do introductions, teach concepts to the class, and more! What a great first week. I look forward to the weeks to come in this class!!