Lesson 8

Wow, I can hardly believe this is our last class and post! As a student with a non-teaching background the information we’ve gathered has been valuable to me in preparation as a future teacher.  I think evaluating internet and computer safety is a great way to wrap up this class session.  While it’s great to utilize all the many tools we’ve gathered, we need to make sure we as teachers provide the utmost safety to our students. 

On a personal level we’ve all heard of stories of identity information being taken which can be quite damaging to a person.  Although this is of a different level than a school computer we much try to insure security on our personal computers as well.  This would also include if children have access to the computer and insuring that monitoring is in place.  There are times that sites may appear that aren’t at all intentional.  I have to share a personal experience of such a situation.  When I was a graduate student in the community nutrition program at EKU, one of our classes visited the computer lab to do some subject searches.  We each were at a different computer.  When we were asked by our instructor to do a search for breastfeeding, we were all in shock at the images and sites that were displayed in our search.  This instantly proved that something this innocent in an educational setting with educational intent could be taken in such a disturbing way.  On personal computer we can insure there is a program to detect viruses and periodic scans.  Although most of these programs require a fee or subscription, it is quite worth it to protect all the information we store on our computer.  There are also a variety of monitoring tools or blocking programs for children.  It’s also a great idea just to monitor your child on a computer by checking what they are viewing. 

Although I’m not a teacher at this time, I’ve been a student and I’ve seen some of the security measures in place.  If a university computer was used at the previous institution I attended, you were required to login with a secure password.  You were also encouraged to logoff your computer as well when done.  I’ve also experienced similar protection at workplace environments with computer use.  I was in the habit at a previous job to lock my computer when I left even briefly to protect myself and confidential client information.  That workplace had an IT department that monitored and provided support for the computer systems.

Some of the etiquette that we’ve discussed with internet use with students will be emphasized once I become a teacher.  I believe with proper support from the teacher and monitoring we can keep our students safe on a school’s computer system.  

I was a little nervous about the blog in the beginning, but it’s been a nice outlet for what we’ve learned each week.   I’ve also enjoyed reading some of the other’s as well.  Fall session her I come!

Lesson 7

I’m not in a teaching position yet, so I’ve been collecting all these technology ideas throughout this term to use in the future.  I can’t believe how many types of online tools are available out there, many I was not aware of.  Last week in my 537 course we talked about Edmodo.  Our professor is a principal and their school offers this system.  This is an idea I would like to participate in if the school I’m a part of offers it.  I really like the informational video on Edmodo’s site.  There’s no narrator, just someone actually using the site.  It gives a great visual of what you can do.  I like the site for teachers, students, and parents.  As a parent of an elementary school student, communication is vital.  The school website is a resource I visit often for assignment and announcement posts.  Edmodo allows teachers to post assignments, announcements, videos, and much more.  Student can posts assignments and a calendar is available to keep up with tasks.  Students can also receive badges for completing various tasks/assignments. 

I found the article “Video Games : Can They be Educational” interesting.  The various ways to incorporate gaming in education was helpful.  I must admit The Sims option sounded good in the reading portion of our assignment, but after reading more in this article it was a bit disturbing as a parent.  The fact that family members could die from various reasons resulted in them appearing as ghosts on the game.  I like the idea of learning to achieve planning and responsibility skills, but the death portion I could do without.  Especially considering it’s not a real life portrayal. 

The Dana Foundation was very enlightening in terms of the connection between the arts and brain development.  I think these are ideas that should be shared with schools and districts to prove the need for the arts in relation to cognitive development.  One article mentioned a specific school offering an after school arts program.  What a great creativity outlet for students.  I like this as opposed to a traditional day care/homework completion after school program. 

The webcast I chose titled “Staying Sharp: What to expect from the again brain” gave great information for all of us on how we need to stay active in several ways.  Staying sharp includes not only being mentally active, but also physically active.  Physical activity changes chemicals in our brain to repair and protect it.  Although many of us know that stress isn’t always easy to manage, the video focused on that some stress can be good to keep us motivated, but that too much can be harmful.  Social engagement was also another way to stay sharp.  Lastly tips for improving memory I’d like to share are the following:

·         Pay attention

·         Avoid multitasking

·         Write things down

·         Establish a routine

·         Relax (one of my favorites!)

Lesson 6

Build Your Plate Webquest:
http://questgarden.com/147/20/0/120805205144/

Being new to the education field and this being my first term at UC, Webquests were new to me.  I'm sure I've run across them in Internet viewing and searches.  I enjoyed learning more about them this week and how they can be used in a classroom.  I also like how we can share Webquests with other educators to utilize in our class. 
When building our webquest for our assignment, I chose a nutrition topic since I've been working in this area for the past several years.  In my daughter's school they have a picture of the My Pyramid guide which is great to see for the kids.  That's actually been revised to My Plate.  I based my webquest on this method.  I provided websites for the students to see the plate and what is involved in each section.  I'm a big believer that kids can have an impact in their homes on what they learn.  I included a statement on taking the plate they developed home so they could show their family what a healthy plate of food looks like.  They could even share the websites with family, if a computer was available, and go into more depth on the topic.  An additional website was provided for students to search at home on The Plate method.  This site also provided information on the former My Pyramid method. 
Challenges that I encountered included some of the basics.  First, this was a great experience being my first webquest developed.  Trying to brainstorm on a topic is an initial challenge.  Since I’ve worked in the area of nutrition I went with a topic in that area.  I’ll be certified in math in the future and would be more comfortable developing in that area once I’m teaching.  Once I decided on a topic, I had to find websites.  The first site from the USDA was one I was already familiar with having worked in a health department and being a dietitian, you become familiar on many of the government agency websites.  I was able to find some other kid specific nutrition sites regarding the My Plate method.  The evaluation section posed some difficulty since rubrics are also new to me.  I found it helpful to review some other webquests and how they set up their evaluation sections in terms of category wording.  Based on the webquest process, I set up the evaluation section on each task the students were to perform. 
Of course this is only the beginning with webquests.  It was very helpful going through the development process this time to learn the areas which I think will also get ideas flowing on future topics.