Strategies for research

The strategies that I use for research are basic internet researches. In the history department at U of L, most of my professors stress Jstor. Jstor is an on-line search engine that has resources from various academic journals, books, and magazines. I also try to use other search engines like ebsco search. This is an engine where I can get all kinds of things from all kinds of content area, much like Jstor. Those are usually done after I decide what I am going to write on.

Chapters 1 & 2 reactions

Chapter 1

In reading the opening chapter of the text book, I realized just how much the Internet, or Read/write web as the author calls it, can offer students and teachers a like. Up to now, I knew of a very few ways to research for sources and other resources a student and teacher needs. But after reading chapter 1, I realized that there are various ways for a person to connect to the Internet in an educational frame of reference. I knew very little about web blogs and wikis, but I had no idea about RSS's, Aggregators, Social Bookmaking's, and the other tools, or sources "that share content in new collaborative ways,"that the Internet has that we in the education Field can access.

Whenever accessing information from the Internet I get a little leery of the information that I am receiving, or going to receive. Always aware of the dangers and pitfalls that the Internet can offer because I hear about the horror stories of people getting false information. The part in this chapter about keeping students safe was interesting to me because as a teacher I want to be aware at all times of the dangers that are out there on the Internet. That way, I can portray the information to my students so they won't get caught up as well. Knowing these dangers can help the teacher with the use of the Internet within their teachings. In that same section, he goes on to talk about the dangers of having a blog. A blog can be a very useful learning tool where a child can read something, then write his/her own reaction and opinion. This can be useful in the classroom because it gives the students a chance to interact with one another on a level that would be a lot harder without blogs. But what happens if someone outside of the class comments on the blog. And they fill the blogs with a bunch of false knowledge. This is the exact situation that I was leery about. The author says that in his experience most of the outside comments have been positive ones, and he says that if you communicate theses types of issues to your kids, then you will be fine, and the education of the students will be increased.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 goes in depth with weblog. A weblog is an easily created, easily updated website that allows an author to publish instantly to the Internet. This gives the teacher a real usable tool within the classroom that can help the development of opinions and thoughts of the students that they teach.

When I was in High School, we never used the Internet for any daily classroom functions. Even though the Internet has evolved 100 percent since I was in High School, I never looked at the Internet as a source for a class portal or an on-line filing cabinet. The author goes into details about setting up a class portal to help give and receive information from your students. I think this is a tremendous idea. This gives the teacher the opportunity to post all of the class guidelines and assignments on the net. This also helps the students because they know exactly where to locate things if they need to. This also helps in regards to parents. I am a person who wants to keep my future parents involved with their children as much as possible. I believe that creating an environment that involves both students and parents only increases the child's outlook on education and the possibility for higher education. Parents can access the class portal to see just what and how the student is doing. They can see just what assignments are due and overall help the student with their educational process. Another thing a weblog offers in schools that can truly help out the process of education is the weblog acts as an on-line filing cabinet. This helps the students a lot. The students will never misplace work and all of it will be completely organized. Most teenagers are not the best when it comes to being organized or on time; neither are most adults. But this provides the children a chance to locate their work when they need it.

A weblog within the class can help out the students and teachers simultaneously. It also gives the forum to open their minds to others opinions and points of view. And that is one of the points of education.

BK Autobiography

Growing up, I never was known as a person who should be called a computer "wizard." In fact, I did not even get a computer until my senior year in High School. I was always skeptical about computers. Today, even though I'm on the computer a lot, I still see them as this piece of technology that is way over my head. I can do basic things on the computer, but ask me to do any thing that is even remotely difficult and it becomes like a foreign language to me. I would like to be able to use the computer for more than just e-mail and browsing the Internet. But I have realized that I'm behind the eight ball when it comes to my peers and their knowledge with computers and other technology as well.

In school, I'd never had to worry about the use of much technology. In elementary school, we had a computer lab; which I used to sneak into in the mornings and play Organ Trail. That game was awesome. But besides once a week, I never really had to use them that much. And even then it was for nothing big. Athough, in High School I took a Computer Aided Design course. We used the computers a lot in that class. That helped when it came to computer designs, but nothing else. When I finally got to college, I felt so dated when it came to technology and computer use. Everyone was using these fancy terms, I felt like I was born in the Fifties, and I was Twenty-two.

As I go through the MAT program and various field placements that I have done, I've come to realize just how important technology is in the classroom these days. I did a three month substitute job in an Elementary School last year. In that school, the students went to the computer lab three times a week, and not just to play games like I did when I was their age. They did some pretty hands on stuff. They learned about various resources they could use off the Internet for classroom related functions and activities. Also, some classrooms even had computers within the room. This helped the students a lot. One day I was observing a teacher that was doing a Science lesson. One of her students asked her a question that was related to the topic, but not entirely. In stead of not answering the question and stunting the child's curiosity, she told him to look it up on the Internet using the resource sites they learned about the day before. The child was able to answer his own question, and present his findings to the class.

I believe computers should play an important role in the classroom. Children are growing up in a time and age where they have at least one computer in the home; some homes have more than one. It is imperative for the children to understand that the Internet has a lot of things on it that can be helpful to their education. It is the job of the parent and teachers to provide them with that information and show them how to access it. All kids, from all ages can benefit from the computer in the classroom. In Elementary School, they could have fun activities that helps the child's stimulation and learning techniques improve all the while they think its just a fun game. In Middle School, the teacher can start to teach the children how to use the computer for research purposes, if they had a paper to do. If they were being taught Math and had to learn about finances, the teacher could set them up to learn about spreadsheets and useful things in that field. In High School, the students could improve on their computers skills. Also, the teachers should start to point out the pitfalls of the Internet. I think it is important to introduce the negative aspects of the Internet as it's relation to education.

Technology is everywhere. The computer age is in full swing. I believe that education should embrace these qualities of our society. Most jobs now and day require some sort of technology background. If the student starts early in school, they will be that much more prepared when it comes to starting their careers.

Reflection at the End of the Class

This class has really opened up my eyes as far the use of technology within the classroom. Before I was fairly apprehensive with using any type of technology that was not power point. But after this ten week course, I have found several avenues of technology that i can use to teach my class. I will still be a little apprehensive though.

In this course, I have picked some pointers on blogs and wikis. Coming into the class I knew what wiki's and blogs were but I did not how to use them. Now I can confidently say that I can use them in my future teachings. I also I'm super excited to use the digital storytelling in my class. I really feel that this is an assignment that will really get the students attention; and let them be creative and have fun. All in all this course has helped me with my confidence and knowledge of technology use within the classroom. I will try and implement as much technology as possible in the future.