Course Reflection

The journey that I’ve taken throughout this semester in Telecommunications in Education, IT 648 has been amazing. I’ve taken a number of online courses but never have I taken one that was as organized and effectively planned as this course. I liked that we were emerged in using Mixit. I liked Mixit much better than Blackboard. The format of the course made taking this class online very easy. The extra resources that were offered were definitely a plus. Everything needed to be successful in this course was readily available on the course site. IT 648 offered the opportunity to explore the proper usage of telecommunications within education. As a result I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge as it pertains to the use of technology in education. This was done through weekly discussions and beine required to complete a number of hands on projects.
Blog
One of the main requirements of this class was to complete a blog. I really enjoyed this portion of this course. I'd created blogs before but was able to expand my knowledge of the various functions of the blog. The various functions offered to create the blog, such as layout, font and inserting links were very useful in making it look professional. Due to my past experiences using www.blogger.com creating the blog for this course was very easy. Even though I’d previously used blogger there were many functions that I had not had the opportunity to fully utilize. This course offered several opportunities to use each and every component available in blogger. For example in my past creations of blogs I was never required to embed anything into blog. As a result of taking this course now I have a lot of experience with linking and embedding documents within the blog.
The assignment reflections provided insight into specific issues associated with completing the assignments. Reading and commenting on the blogs of our peers provided another point of view on the assignments. I would use blogging in my classroom in as a bell ringer, in which students would be required to comment daily on a current event.
Discussion
The discussions offered a great form of unified communication. We were able to post our view on the given topic and also view those of others. I loved the way we were able to view the thoughts of other students. There were times when I may have had a question about a topic that another student had already asked. I found this to be very useful form of clarification.
Hands on Projects
We were required to complete a number of hands on projects in this course. All of the projects challenged my creative abilities and introduced new tools. I learned how to create a variety of items that will be helpful in my classroom. By using these tools in my classroom I will be able to complete all required tasks with ease. The prompt manner in which Dr. Yuen responded to our projects with constructive criticism also aided in the successful completion of this course.
In conclusion this completing this course has been a definite delight. The only improvement I would make to the course would be the inclusion of example assignments. This will make it easier for students to know what is expected of them.

Assignment 7: Eyejot

Before taking this course I had never heard of Eyejot. Upon initial review of the Eyejot assignment I was intimidated. For some reason the assignment title just scared me. It actually sounded like something from a horror film. Naturally I hesitated to start working on the assignment. I don’t know if I thought it would go away or what but I just kept reading the assignments notes and never actually got started. Finally I gained the courage to start the assignment and I hoped that it wouldn’t be as bad as I had originally anticipated.
Early into the assignment my fears subsided but only temporarily. I was shocked at how easy it was to complete the initial steps of the assignment. Creating the account and uploading my profile picture were very easy. I didn’t ask for a whole lot of personal information and it is free so that’s always a plus. Creating the actual video wasn’t bad either. The only problem that I encountered while creating the video was my apparent blinking disorder. I never knew I blinked so many times within a minute. After many attempts I finally gave up on trying stopping blinking and sent the video myself. Then I realized that I didn’t enter any notes, which was an easy fix. I simply went back to the video and went to the note section and add the note. Well that was all good and I felt so stupid for not completing the assignment earlier. Now I’m at the point where I need to EMBED the video to the forum. OMG!!! This was definitely the most challenging part of the assignment for me. I attempted to install the widget as shown in the video and still my video was missing. I reviewed it over and over again nearly two days and still couldn’t get it right!!! Then finally I tried to just paste the link from the icon below the video and it worked. I really could have pulled all of my hair out at this point. But it worked and my video can be viewed here or below this message.
As far as it uses in education I feel that it will definitely be a great tool to use. It’s easy for student to gain access and he / she can decided who they want the message to be sent to. Teachers can even create a class account and have students save their videos under codes names. The possibilities and uses for this tool are endless. I’m happy to have been introduced to it and plan to use it once I began to teach.

My video can also be accessed by copying and pasting the link below.

http://www.eyejot.com/mview?g=29CC556B4F6C80FFFF931294F8

Assignment 6: WebQuest

Prior to taking this course I had done research and completed presentations on the use of WebQuest in the one computer classroom. In the one computer classroom it can be used as a group or individual assignment. As an individual assignment with only one computer the assignment would definitely need to be long-term. During my research I found it to be a great low cost tool that can be used by both teachers and students. I was also able to locate several resources, such as QuestGarden, to aid in the creation of WebQuests. QuestGarden also offers many ready made WebQuests that is a definite plus for someone who is new to creating or using WebQuests.
Until now I had never had the pleasure of creating a WebQuest. Prior to actually starting on the assignment I had already done a lot of other career oriented assignments that I could incorporate into the WebQuest. Being that I already had an idea of the subject and activites that I wanted to incorporate into the WebQuest creating it was a little time consuming but fairly easy as a whole. Though it was fairly easy I still ran into a few problems. The main problem that I ran into was loading the editor on my mini notebook which was very aggravating and time consuming. It was literally taking 40 minutes or more to create one page. For some reason the editor just wouldn't load and after trying to do so for more than 24 hrs I went to the campus library. Once I figured out that completing the assignment on my laptop was impossible it was a breeze. I was able to complete it in about three hours once I got made it to the library. As usual google is great.I really enjoyed completeing this assignment and plan to use it in my classroom once I began to teach.

Click here to view my WebQuest.

Discussion 5: Internet Dangers

The Internet and the World Wide Web have grown rapidly from a research project into something that involves millions of people worldwide. It also has proven to be a successful meaningful tool to build community and promote interactive learning. Much of the Internet's usefulness comes from the fact that it is shared by users, service providers, and others, in the sense that each depends on the other and needs to support the other. Hopefully, that sort of sharing and respect will continue. Your behavior, your expectations for others, and your activities will make the difference.

"It is important to realize that the Web is what we make it. 'We' being the people who read, the people who teach children how to surf the Web, the people who put information up on the Web. Particularly the people who make links.... The Web doesn't force anything down your throat. If you are worried that your children are going to read low-quality information, teach them. Teach them what to read. Teach them how to judge information." Tim Berners-Lee (Scientific American Dec 97) Thus it's use in the teaching and learning environment requires professional judgement in determining whether the appropriateness of the resources and ensuring that the resource is used within the ethical and legal parameters of the profession. There are a number of concerns relating to Internet usage in schools. Some of these issues include acceptable use, ethical issues and filtering. The main way for teaches to protect students from these dangers is to be aware that they exisit and to take precautionary measures within their classrooms on a daily basis. The information below will give insight into these issues.

Acceptable Use Policies
With as many possibilities an the Internet may hold for technological advancement in education it can also be abused. This makes it important to cleary state and enforce the acceptable manner in which internet access shouls be used within the school setting. All educators's should be aware of their districts acceptable use policy, which gives instructions on how students should use the Internet. Last but not least the students should fully understand what constitues appropraite use. This can be done thru the use of a code of ethics for appropriate computer usage. The code of ethics should state the districts expectations and definitions of what is considered appropriate or acceptable use. Teachers's should also inform parents of this policy and the consequences for students violations. Students and parents should be review and sign the code of ethics with the teacher. A signed copy should also be retained by the teacher for future reference.

Ethical Issuses
One of the most significant ethical issues is the freedom of speech and the Internet. The content on the Internet is not regulated and , as a result, does contain materials that are objectionable and inappropriate for children. Therefore when the Internet is used in school settings it is the districts responsibility to limit access to such websites. Schools use filtering software that deny access to sites that display inappropriate materials.

Privacy
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was formed in 1990 to, among other things, bring issues dealing with civil liberties related to computing and telecommunications technology to the attention of the public at large, legislators, and court and law enforcement officials. As a nonprofit public interest organization, EFF maintains collections of files and documents.
Educators must be careful to guard the privacy of each and every child in his / her class. When displaying student work on a class website that childs personal information shouldn't be included. In the world we live in some individuals may use this information for inappropriate reasons. This issue has called many districts to become very strict about the content of class websites.

Discussion 4: Web-Quests

As with any new activity Web-Quest has strengths, weaknesses, concerns and issues associated with its use. One of the major strengths of using Web-Quest is that it offers a method for content specific technology integration in K – 12 settings. Web-Quests can be created to fit any lesson plan or subject. Teachers can also create the lessons on the level and ability specific to each of their classes. It also promotes critical thinking and problem solving for students of all ability levels. Another strength is its ability to increase student motivation levels. Students enjoying surfing the web and that’s exactly what this assignment involves. The use of Web-Quest also aids in the search process by narrowing down the search. This way the student is able to spend more time learning about the intended topic rather than searching for information, which can lead to a lot of wasted time during the class period.

There are also weaknesses associated with using Web-Quests. The most apparent of these weaknesses is the large amount of time that goes into the creation of an effective Web-Quest. Creating the Web-Quest not only involves research on the topic, but the set up in general is time consuming. The possibility of students getting of task and visiting sites that are not related to the intended topic also exists and can cause a problem. Another very unlikely weakness is the possibility of the student lacking computer skills, which is a very important component to being able to successfully complete the Web-Quest.

The use of Web-Quest also has concerns and issues. The main concern is the continued access to resources and copyright. Since Web-Quests can be long term or short term there is the possibility that there may be a problem with the chosen links before the assignment is complete. More often than not resources may change URLs, have access limitations imposed on them or simply disappear. This is one concern that teachers should definitely be prepared to face and be able deal with without delaying the assignments completion. When use web resources issues of authenticity also exist. The text on the site may not be true, valid or the best explanation of events. So it is very important for teachers to complete a through research process on the intended topic.

Being that I’m licensed to teach 7 -12 Business Education I would generally lean towards career oriented Web-Quests. I would most likely use Web-Quest as a short-term assignment. An example would be a Career Web – Quest, which will involve students searching the web for their next career move.

Assignment 5 : Googlesites

I've had the opportunity to create websites using a variety of programs. Those programs were very difficult to use and made me never want create a website. But I really enjoyed creating this website!!! Using Google sites really takes the hassle out of creating a professional looking site. Creating this site was much easier than I expected. Creating internal and external links didn't take nearly as much hassle as Dreamweaver. The need to know html codes / language was also eliminated, which was a big relief. This is one resource that would be very useful to teachers who have little or no technology experience. Anyone can create a website using Google sites. Students can even create websites as a project. The possibilities are endless. Click here to view my website or copy the link https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbaldwinsscienceresources/.

Discussion 3: Web - Based Instruction

In today's fast paced, technology driven society having Internet access has definitely made a difference in the way we live our lives. Everyone is always on the move , thus the need for the accessibility that the Internet offers. The use of the Internet has brought our society into the information age. There are several capabilities offered by the Internet that are having an apparent impact on education and the way in which we educate. In order for the impact of technology on the instructional environment to be drastic it must be properly implemented.

The uses of the web in teaching and learning are endless. Internet within the educational world has opened the door for activities that would be impossible to complete without the web. Access to the Internet provides students with instant access to the world's knowledge base. This makes web-based instruction possible.

Web-based instruction offers several advantages on all educational levels. The common advantage is its accessibility. The classroom is basically brought to the student. This form of instruction offers students the opportunity to work at their own pace. Instructors can also post all course information in one central location for students to access at their convenience. Students would not normally be able to attend class due to illness or work can now further their education and accomplish their goals from anywhere in the world. The removal of time and location restrictions has definitely made this task possible. Students are now able to connect to classrooms around the world to collaborate on projects and share ideas.

In designing a web- based course the way in which students and instructors communicate and interact should be carefully planned. It must have a form of communication that works for students and instructors. Communication and interactions between students and the instructor should clear and concise. Students should be able contact instructors through email anytime, anywhere and get a response. The use of a general topic forum is another way to make communication easier. This will promote communication and regular interaction.