Course Reflection

I began IT 465 with great anxiety. I was unsure if I would be able to complete the assignments because I was not very proficient using a computer or working on the Internet. I never thought I would learn as much useful information as I have during this class; I thought this class would just give an overview of techniques used in using technology in a classroom but nothing useful. However I was pleasantly surprised when I began to work on the assignments. I learned about various Internet sites which could assist in preparing lessons. The Inspiration program helped me learn to make and use concept maps to break down information. I enjoyed working with the Inspiration software to create the concept map. I will use the information I gained about concept mapping to break down chapters in the subject area I plan to teach. I fee this will help me be a more efficient teacher. I also learned to use several of the applications offered by Google. I learned to make a simple website with the website creation part of Google. I learned Windows Explorer does not work real well with several of the applications on Google when I started working with the website application. I was lucky enough to have Safari on my computer so I tried using it. I found the Google applications worked much better with the Safari browser. The Google Group and Google Docs applications will be useful helping students learn cooperation and collaboration skill to complete tasks in school and later in life. I used Google Docs to go back and URLs to several of my assignment reflections to complete the requirements. I found the course to be very easy to navigate. The rubrics clearly stated what was required for each assignment, the schedule was easy to follow-so I knew when everything was due, the tutorials were a huge help in working with the various software programs and Google applications. The power points and podcasts were useful in understanding the chapters in the text book, which I found to be very lay-person friendly. Most technology books I have ever looked at were hard to understand so I was very impressed with the ease of understanding. I used the Wimba live classroom once and found it a convenient way to talk to the instructor. I was able to ask questions and she was able to show me ways to work on an assignment on Google website while we were talking. I used the class email to communicate with the instructor and other classmates about assignments, ask questions, and receive answers. I found communication to be very easy and fairly fast. I am glad I took this course because I used the skills and information learned in this class with other courses.

Google documents

I was a little unsure how to proceed with the google document assignment. I was having trouble understanding the assignment directions; I was just having a brain block I guess. I even looked (I called myself looking at the google doc site) and could not understand it. I went back after emailing Dr. Wang and could understand what I needed to accomplish. I worked with Traci Sullivan on completing this assignment. I feel we worked well together and accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. I can see where google docs allows people to work together when they are miles away as Traci and I are.

I have went back and used google docs to update some other assignments and found it very useful. As a teacher I would use this application to help students learn to work cooperatively with others and learn to collaborate to complete assignments. The building of these skills will help students in many ways later in life and not just in school.


Here is the URL to our google document: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATGk-X3hEbzYZGduM2pkNTZfMnBnOTNiaGhm&hl=en

WEB SITE

I completed the Web Site assignment, finally. I had trouble with Windows Explorer and creating the website. I could not edit the website pages I created. I kept trying and was getting very frustrated, nothing would save and the site kept freezing up. I finally went to Safari web browser to see if that helped. It did! I was finally able to edit the pages and save the edits! Boy, was I happy. I think this would be a great resource if all the students had access to computers at home so they could access the information from the class all the time and anywhere they could use a computer. Over all between the user friendly site at google and the tutorial I found this to be fairly easy once I swapped web browsers, that is. =) Here is the URL for my website: http://sites.google.com/site/sixthgradescienceprcms/

TURNITIN

I completed the turnitin assignment. I was impressed with how user friendly the site was, but I guess I should not be if educators are going to ask students to use the site it should be easy to use. I feel there is a great deal of gender bias in the technology world but I never thought about it the way the articles stated the problem. I never had any game systems growing up, computer, or anything high-tech, so I really feel behind the curve but not because I'm a female but because I am from an older generation. Back to the assignment-- I felt comfortable using the site, and had no problems to speak of completing the assignment.

Below is the URL if anyone would like to view the before and after product of the assignment and the tunitin report:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Afv_KAsrnhiuZGRjcGtuOHdfM3g5aGI0NWM4&hl=en

Web Tools

I finished the Web Tool assignment with a little of frustration. The rubistar site was not a problem, neither was the trackstar. However the bigbus testmaker was about aggravating. I followed the directions Dr. Wang gave us and the directions at the site and I could not get the quiz to save by those directions. I had to copy and paste to word to save my quiz. I thought the problem was the tool bar on my computer, however I tried to use a computer at work and still could not get it to work following the directions. I liked the rubistar and the testmaker (even if I could not get it to work) and can see where these two sites could be useful. The trackstar--not so sure about. I would have to work with it a little more to make a decision on it. Overall I feel pretty good about learning to navigate the different sites we had to use. Hope the rest the of assignments go as well! =) Here is my track # if anyone would like to view it:
393529
Interesting Science Sites


Here is my rubric:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=1802783



I could not get my quiz to save correctly, therfore I do not have an example of my quiz to post. That still frustrates me. Oh well, maybe next time. :-)
Although I could not get the quiz to save correctly with the bigbustestmaker I used google docs to save a copy and post a URL.

Here is the URL:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Afv_KAsrnhiuZGRjcGtuOHdfMmo1Y3ZubWd2&hl=en

GMAIL GROUP

Group Three gmail group has been created. Not really difficult, I just followed the directions on the tutorial. Thank goodnes for tutorials. For this assignment I worked with Traci Sullivan, Ainsley Vice and Stephanie Warren and we all accomplished what was required for the assignment. I learned how to work with people even if you do not meet with them face to face. This was a great learning experience for me.

I believe this would be a useful tool for a classroom assignmet. It would begin to teach the students how to work with people to complete a task even if they are not in the same class. Working as a cooperating group would also build students ability to cooperate with other people and learn from other people's view of the same assignment.

Here is the URL for my google group:
http://groups.google.com/group/group-threediscussion

Movie

Well, I made my movie, not Oscar worthy, but not to bad I don't think. I'll let the viewers decide. I dreaded trying to make the movie, but when I got into it I enjoyed it. The hardest part was narrating it. I kept messing up and have to repeat myself. I could not get the music to not be so loud, could not figure that out. So the music is a little loud for my liking. Here it is hope you enjoy viewing it.