Week 7 Technology

For this weeks class we had the chance to investigate different types of technology. We had the chance to use iPads, iPods, and the Smart Board and figure out how to best use them. I'm really glad we were given the chance to play around with the Smart Board because there is a very good chance that I will be using this type of technology in my future classroom. We had a really good time looking at all the different input charts available to use. Also, we figured out that the board is harder to use for left handed people to use. I think my favorite characteristic of the Smart Board was the 'script' button which improved your handwriting drastically.

We also worked with iPads and iPods to look at apps and to see how these apps could be used within a lesson. This is helping us complete or next assignment as well. My group decided to use an app that included the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We are going to create an assignment that has the students re-write part of the Bill of Rights into their own words that way they can better understand the language.

Some other apps that I found interesting included different math apps, map apps, and different apps that could quiz you on different subjects. However, these apps might come in handy when needing to assess students quickly by testing them, but would not be helpful in a lesson. I was hoping to find more apps that students could use during lessons as resources. Maybe I will find some if I keep looking and have to ability to browse through the market.

Week 6 iTunes

This week we did not start a new project, but we began discovering and looking at podcasts. We used iTunes to search for lessons, activities, and other teacher resources through podcasting. I liked being able to use a different type of technology to search for possible lessons to be used in my future classroom. Although I did not find exactly what I would want to use in the classroom, I came across a lot of good ideas that I could modify and use them in my own way.

At first we searched all of iTunes and found all the podcasts related to what we had searched. Then we moved into iTunes U, which pulls out collections of podcasts posted by institutions. It was possible to find short clips or even full lectures from professors from the actual school.

This is something I would like to continue to look at more in depth, and try to find useful lessons, activities, tips, and other resources that could be useful and pertain to my future classroom.

Week 5 Hoax or Real

This last week we each analyzed one website to see if it was a hoax or if it was real. Some of these websites were extremely bizarre, but they were still organized and set-up as a reliable website. For example, the website that I had be analyzing continuously referred back to studies conducted by "Doctors" and other "trustworthy" researchers, but in fact they were complete phonies. Their list of references included famous people that had nothing to do with the study the website was talking about, such as Dr. Seuss.

For us to determine if the website was a hoax or if it was real we completed different steps to validate the site. However, when trying to validate the information on the site there was little to no luck. For example, my website was a study on the reaction of cats to men with beards. My first thought was, this is a hoax, only crazy people would try and test this. However, while reading their information it began to look more credible because they were citing work of other researchers. Still unconvinced that this was a "real" webpage, I searched the names of the different researchers, but I only found links that took me to the same website I was already looking at. That is when I started to look at the references listed at the bottom and noticed the list of people was extremely unreliable. In the end I discovered my website as a Hoax.