Final Post

This class has taught me many things that I think will be useful to me in the future. It was so nice to see and learn about things that I can use to teach and in my daily life as well.

It was so nice to learn how to create a blog and insert hyperlinks and pictures to that blog. This was my first time to create a blog and I thought that it was very interesting and can be very useful if I use it as a teaching tool. I learned so many things from the research that we had to do for our blogs. I thoroughly enjoyed the video of Randy Pausch's last lecture and the "Did You Know" video that we had to write about. I also learned so much about the ALEX and ACCESS programs that I didn't know. It may sound sad, but I had never used iTunes or the iStore before I had to in this class. I always just expected my husband to take care of things like this for me. I also found many websites that I will use and I really liked the site by Alice Christie.

I created a podcast for the first time. I did not enjoy this project very much because it makes me nervous to know that what I say at that moment will be saved and put on the Internet for everyone to hear. However, I think that this can be useful and was interesting to learn about. I realize that I may use this tool one day to share information and I am glad that I learned how to do this.

I had previously learned how to do a spreadsheet in Excel, but I did learn how to do new things with it and it was nice to review and refresh the things I had learned before. I learned how to use more of the tools that it offers and learned how to make graphs with the information that I include in the spreadsheet. My husband uses Excel to do our household budget, so it will be interesting to help use this tool at home.

I learned how to use Google Docs Slide show and many other things about iGoogle. I created a slide show presentation in Google docs and with the Microsoft Office version. I have created a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation before, but I also learned about other features that this offers. I liked using the Microsoft Office PowerPoint better than the one on Google Docs, but definitely can see how it is easier to share documents and PowerPoint presentations using Google Docs. The slide show presentation was a little more difficult because it was slower and would "freeze" up easily.

I have made many Word documents, but it was nice to learn another way to use it in the classroom. We created documents by combining information from different websites into one document. I think that this will be a great way to share information from the Internet with our classes. We also learned how to insert pictures, hyperlinks, and make it look neat and organized. I think that I knew how to do all of this, but seeing it all used together to make a single document will help me when trying to do this for my class.

As I mentioned in my blog previously, I have taken this class before when I was in Undergraduate school several years ago. They allowed me to take this again to renew my teaching certificate and I now see why. So many things have changed because of our fast changing world and the Internet. I thought that I would only learn a few new things, but I learned SO much more! Only a few things were the same as when I took the course before and even they have changed some. I enjoyed taking this class and learned many things that I will use. I can not think think of anything that I would have liked to learn or think should have been covered because it contained so much more than I expected. I was very challenged by the material and this course definitely exceeded my expectations!

The Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

The Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village are both videos that you may watch in iTunes U. These were found in the Edutopia section. These titles were created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation and they are part of a What Works in Public Education series. Edutopia was created to show and share learning environments that promote innovation and interactive learning. They have shared this in a magazine, a website, and videos.

The Edible Schoolyard is a video about Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley, CA. The Edible Schoolyard was created to help improve school lunch programs in 1994 and now it has become a great learning tool for the students at this school. They use this outdoor classroom to teach students math, social studies, and science while getting the students to work together and communicate. This has been a great program to teach students where our food comes from and many other things that may help them in the future. They use the garden and kitchen lab for teaching life lessons and tasting the things they grow. In my opinion this is a very successful experiment that would be great for any school to have.

A Night in the Global Village is a video about Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. This foundation has five acres and offers a hands-on campus to educate the world about poverty, hunger, and possible solutions. The program allows individuals to visit for a two-hour tour or up to a week long camp that they created to allow them to see and experience how people live in poverty. They have created homes that imitate those in Thailand, Guatemala, Zambia, Appalachia (urban slums), and refugees. The video shows Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning attending for one night and how they handle not having food, water, fire, or even being able to communicate with any language skills. They draw numbers to determine where they will spend their night at the Village and what materials they will start with. It shows a little about how the students struggle and the problems they may face if they were in this situation. I think it was created to show young people in a very fortunate world how things are for many other people around the world. I think this program is very powerful and probably enlightens many young minds about the people that need help.

I think that these podcasts are a great way to help teachers learn about how to promote innovation. Hopefully, these videos will inspire teachers. It made me think about how other teachers and schools use hands on activities in their schools and about how important this is for students. I think that it a great way to show teachers that things like The Edible Schoolyard are possible. It may mean more time and effort, but they are worth it.

I also think that the video about A Night in the Global Village is a great way to share an experience with students in a classroom that may not be able to visit the actual ranch or place like this. It is wonderful that you can share these things through a podcast and allow your students to see what takes place. It may not be as powerful as if they had the experience themselves, but it can be very inspiring to see what students their age are doing. I think that this video in particular is very informational and would be a great addition to a classroom lesson.

These were great examples of how powerful and useful podcasts can be in K-12 classroom. They have many great podcasts available for free in iTunes U. People put so much time and effort into these programs and videos and it is a great tool for teachers and students.

iTunes University

I was very impressed by how much information you can find at iTunes University. I thought you would probably be able to find some podcasts from University classrooms online, but this was much more than I expected. I was also surprised that so many well-known schools participate. Many schools had great lectures and short speeches that were very easy to access.

When I visited the iTunes U, I found out that iTunes has the largest collection of free educational media for anyone to use. They have over 100,000 audio and video files available. A few of the colleges that participate are Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Oxford, Texas A&M, and many more. I thought that it was great that they have it set up where schools can choose if they want to share information with only students, everyone, or only certain files that require usernames and passwords.

I looked at Carnegie Mellon's available podcasts and videos and they have so much available. They have videos of Randy Pausch's lectures, information for prospective students, information about the different departments, and they even have videos of the presidential campaign visits. I think that it is great to have so many videos and podcasts available for people that are attending the college or just interested in certain things about the college. I believe that all colleges should participate in this great program that is available.

Another impressive part of iTunes U was that they also have audios and videos for K-12 schools. I looked at several of the videos from the WBGH teachers' domain and believe that I could use this in an elementary classroom. I think that students will enjoy watching most of the ones that I watched were very short, but informational. I think that I would be able to use these for the classroom as a group or for individuals. The group of files from Edutopia are more for teachers. It gives information and examples of things that teachers may want to do in their classrooms.

iPods in Instruction

I read in an article about how Duke University is using ipods in the classroom for instruction now. It said that the number of courses has doubled and the number of students using ipods has quadrupled in the second year of trying to use this technology in the classrooms. During Duke's Digital Initiative (DDI) in 2004 the university gave out free ipods to all new students and then changed it the next year to give only the students that enrolled in these courses that required them. The university claims that there were only a few minor problems in the beginning, but everyone has adapted very well and they have been a great success.

I think that this is very interesting that schools and universities are beginning to use this kind of technology in the classroom and think that this can be very helpful. I found a great website that has lesson plans and other helpful information about ipods in the classroom. It is http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipod/lessons/. It includes lessons for History, Math, Science, Languages, and more. It also includes a few movies. I looked at one lesson plan that was for Early Elementary age that practice letter sounds and a lesson plan for singing math facts to learn them. This was very interesting and helped me see that this type of technology may also be used for the elementary age students.

Dr. Christie's site

I think that Dr. Christie's website would be very helpful for teachers. I think that the section that I would use the most would be the "Searching the Web" part. You have two choices withing this section and they are Search Engines and Subject Directories or Online Researching Resources. They can both be very useful but I think that I would probably get most use of the Search Engines and Subject Directories in the classroom.

The Search Engine and Subject Directories section is a list of websites and tools that students and teachers can use. There are several choices within this section. It includes things such as search engines and websites for kids and teachers, details on how to safely and effectively use search engines, and a PowerPoint presentation on how to search the web effectively. Many people would benefit from this section of her site.

The other section in "Searching the Web" is Online Researching Resources. It includes Databases, Encyclopedias, Almanacs, Web Cam Directories, Virtual Field Trips, Simulations, and more. There is so much helpful information in this section of the site that could be used by teachers. The Web Cam was very neat and I know students would love to watch a live view of pandas or virtual simulations of dissections and earthquakes. This and many other things in this section would be very helpful in the classroom.

I really enjoyed learning about this site and will definitely save it to use when I begin teaching again. I saw many things that I can use now and in the future. I think that the site is very easy to use and is helpful. I am not sure that I will be able to use it with lower elementary students, but I personally also enjoyed the photography section. She has beautiful pictures on this and I would love to look at more of them and share them with the children.

NPR

It was very interesting to read and listen about how Wikipedia has been changed by people and companies. I think Wikipedia is a great resource, but I do not think that is a reliable resource. If anyone can add or change the information, it could be very inaccurate. I think that it is great that Virgil Griffith created a Wikipedia scanner that shows who is making changing to the site. Hopefully, this will affect what is being done on the website. I think that it is great to be able to add and change, but not if it is to cover up things or change opinions.

Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture"

I really enjoyed watching the Last Lecture from Randy Pausch. He was a 47 year old Professor at Carnegie Mellon that had pancreatic cancer and this was the last lecture he gave before he died. It was a long video, but it was very interesting and enjoyable to watch. He has an amazing positive attitude throughout the video and he amazed me. I loved the way he encouraged people to live life to the fullest and always have fun.

I believed this video would be about him and something related to his expected death, but it was a lecture about his childhood dreams, how to enable the dreams of others, and how you can use these things in your life. It began with pictures and stories about his childhood dreams. It was very interesting to see what his dreams were and how most of them were achieved as an adult. He was a great teacher and used great techniques in his career. He got separate departments working together and helped create a great program at his school. He got the students to work together and help one another. He also took a group of students to Disneyland every Summer. I think it was great how he got students to think in a different way and they did many hands on projects.

I think it is great to hear that you should have dreams of your own and encourage others to have dreams of their own. I like the way that he said that a brick wall is the way to do away with the ones that really did not want the dream badly enough. You have to keep trying after the hard trials and challenges. I enjoyed seeing his career path after college and how his childhood dreams played part in that. He very clearly showed examples of how he enabled the dreams of others and how he used those things in his life. He was a great professor that had a great impact on many students.

I enjoyed this video/lecture very much. He seemed to be a great man and a great teacher. At the end of the video he reveals that he did this lecture for his children. This lecture was very inspiring and motivational. It made me think about my choices, my childhood dreams, and how I influence others around me and I'm sure it affects many people the same way. It is amazing that this man could give such a great presentation and be so positive and uplifting under these circumstances.