I have not used any bookmarking sites before so this was totally new to me. I had heard of them before but I never felt that I would have a use for them. I have always used the favorites/bookmark option on my browser. For me that has been suficient enough for my needs. My only problem was when we had to wipe out the hard drive or get a new computer I would lose all of them and did not know how to get them back. Thanks to diigo and delicious I now have a way to save all my bookmarks that does not depend on my computer.
When I compared these two sites I did not see much of a difference. They both give you the option to tag, upload, friend and find popular sites. The one difference between the two that I liked was on diigo when I was looking at a certain tag to find websites there was an option to preview the website right there. I did not have to open another window and could even interact with the website to see if I liked it before I added it.
There was one problem with both of the sites. I tried to get the add on to my toolbar and after I downloaded it it told me it was not compatable with firefox 4. This was a major bummer because I wanted to see if there was an easier way to add favorites as I searched the internet. I also had a hard time putting my favorites from firefox on it. This was because the menu item that the directions told me to look for was not there. I had to search for a while and finally found it. I don't know if there is a way but they need to somehow have an easy way to add a new bookmark when I add it to my firefox bookmarks. Of course this may have been an option in the toolbar I could not have.
The only way that I would think that I might use these sites was to find new math websites. This would be because I know if they are popular then they must be good to use.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Virtual Worlds in education
I had already done some extensive investigating into Second Life before because of my online communications class. I find that it is a cool place to explore. It is very visually pleasing. It has some cool things to explore. I found a virtual hallucinations island. That was a weird place to explore. It is supposed to show you how it is to be schizophrenic. I have explored the virtual colosseum, aquariums and even a 3D Bloom's Taxonomy in the past. I think this is a great place to have meetings where you can put a face to a name. As a teacher you can post slides and videos for students to learn from. This is pretty much what I learned from the past explorations.
Since I was basically doing this assignment twice I thought I would go more in depth of how Second Life(SL) could be used in education. I started to do some research on the internet about virtual worlds in general. Really SL is the one that kept popping up. I looked more into what it had to offer then. I ran into an article that had a few top islands in SL. One that stood out to me was Really Engaging Accounting. I teach math so I thought I would look into how you could teach math using SL. This island was designed to make people into debits or credits. They were to actually go through the exercise of obtaining items and using formulas. As they obtained items they saw how it changed the formula automatically. I know I do not do the island justice but I would check it out.
Then I ran into the SLOODLE island. It is Moodle connected to SL. You can either comment while in SL or while you are in Moodle and the comments show up in both places. The Moodle website and SL are linked together. You can learn using the 3D virtual world of SL and the answers go to the online classroom of Moodle. It even had where you could take a quiz in SL and the grade goes directly to Moodle. Most of this is done using the Moodle toolbar that you must attach to yourself. This just shows how all the things we are learning about link together. If you would like to learn more about SLOODLE check out this article or just go to the SLOODLE island in SL and it will explain it all for you.
The last thing that I will add is the picture of me in Selmo Park. I found a cool place that I would like to hangout.
Since I was basically doing this assignment twice I thought I would go more in depth of how Second Life(SL) could be used in education. I started to do some research on the internet about virtual worlds in general. Really SL is the one that kept popping up. I looked more into what it had to offer then. I ran into an article that had a few top islands in SL. One that stood out to me was Really Engaging Accounting. I teach math so I thought I would look into how you could teach math using SL. This island was designed to make people into debits or credits. They were to actually go through the exercise of obtaining items and using formulas. As they obtained items they saw how it changed the formula automatically. I know I do not do the island justice but I would check it out.
Then I ran into the SLOODLE island. It is Moodle connected to SL. You can either comment while in SL or while you are in Moodle and the comments show up in both places. The Moodle website and SL are linked together. You can learn using the 3D virtual world of SL and the answers go to the online classroom of Moodle. It even had where you could take a quiz in SL and the grade goes directly to Moodle. Most of this is done using the Moodle toolbar that you must attach to yourself. This just shows how all the things we are learning about link together. If you would like to learn more about SLOODLE check out this article or just go to the SLOODLE island in SL and it will explain it all for you.
The last thing that I will add is the picture of me in Selmo Park. I found a cool place that I would like to hangout.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Netbook Vs. Tablet
As I type this blog on my tablet I know that I will be partial to working with a tablet. I have to or I feel stupid for getting one. I really feel it is more fun.
One thing that we would like for students is something that is an all-in-one and is portable. I think that a tablet is more portable than a net book. They both can be an all-in-one though. I listed pros and cons of a tablet and really ended up with more cons but I enjoy it more. Lets start with the pros. A table is more portable, is just as fast as a net book and has the cool touch screen. Who does not love a touch screen. A con on both is battery life. I don't think either would last a whole school day of use on one battery charge. One big con on my tablet is I cannot download any programs off the internet that I may need to use. The big one was a flash player when I first got this. That thankfully was fixed a couple of weeks later in an update. There is no Microsoft Office on a tablet. Of course I can always access Google Docs and that takes care of that problem. I can't save anything directly to my tablet, but again I can use Google Docs and the cloud to take care of that. The last thing is the touch keyboard. I thought that I would beable to two hand type with it but it was getting to be too much of a problem. So I gave in and got a bluetooth keyboard to type with. Life is so much better now with it.
I had so much fun trying out apps that I could use in a classroom. Being a math teacher the first thing I looked at was a graphing calculator. I have found the free ones for the Android system to be very hard to use and follow. I found a nice one on the ipad called GraphCalcPro that was very user friendly and I think could rival parts of the TI series of calculators. This calculator can be used for basic functions and graphing. It also had available a table of values from your graph. It color coded each graph with the table for easy following. Another app I found on the Android was formula lite. This was similar to the formula book I had to buy for my Calculus classes in college. It had formulas for math, physics and chemistry. So it could be used for a reference to find formulas. It also had different calculators in it. It had a basic, scientific and also one that would derive a function for you. Where was that in my calculus class. I don't think I would mention this to my calculus students though for fear of cheating. One last app that I found was called my pocket prof. It is a program that you can use to store all of your notes. I only played with it a little, but you can upload notes from word and excel. It did not give you an option to upload powerpoint presentations. You can organize them by class and chapter. It also has an option that you can create classes and quizzes and sell them. The only problem that I saw was that I needed to get on my pc to upload anything or on the internet site to add in notes. The only thing I could do through the mobile app was to view the notes. I think this could be a neat option to share my notes with my students. There would not be that mess of papers to go through to find something.
I personally try to use my tablet when I can in my online classes. I love that even if I have an appointment I can work on school work while I am waiting. I have done this a few times. It is great for postings, research and blogs. I still don't think that I am sold on all the educational benifits of it. I think right now it would be more for personal use. I don't think this will ever replace my desktop computer.
One thing that we would like for students is something that is an all-in-one and is portable. I think that a tablet is more portable than a net book. They both can be an all-in-one though. I listed pros and cons of a tablet and really ended up with more cons but I enjoy it more. Lets start with the pros. A table is more portable, is just as fast as a net book and has the cool touch screen. Who does not love a touch screen. A con on both is battery life. I don't think either would last a whole school day of use on one battery charge. One big con on my tablet is I cannot download any programs off the internet that I may need to use. The big one was a flash player when I first got this. That thankfully was fixed a couple of weeks later in an update. There is no Microsoft Office on a tablet. Of course I can always access Google Docs and that takes care of that problem. I can't save anything directly to my tablet, but again I can use Google Docs and the cloud to take care of that. The last thing is the touch keyboard. I thought that I would beable to two hand type with it but it was getting to be too much of a problem. So I gave in and got a bluetooth keyboard to type with. Life is so much better now with it.
I had so much fun trying out apps that I could use in a classroom. Being a math teacher the first thing I looked at was a graphing calculator. I have found the free ones for the Android system to be very hard to use and follow. I found a nice one on the ipad called GraphCalcPro that was very user friendly and I think could rival parts of the TI series of calculators. This calculator can be used for basic functions and graphing. It also had available a table of values from your graph. It color coded each graph with the table for easy following. Another app I found on the Android was formula lite. This was similar to the formula book I had to buy for my Calculus classes in college. It had formulas for math, physics and chemistry. So it could be used for a reference to find formulas. It also had different calculators in it. It had a basic, scientific and also one that would derive a function for you. Where was that in my calculus class. I don't think I would mention this to my calculus students though for fear of cheating. One last app that I found was called my pocket prof. It is a program that you can use to store all of your notes. I only played with it a little, but you can upload notes from word and excel. It did not give you an option to upload powerpoint presentations. You can organize them by class and chapter. It also has an option that you can create classes and quizzes and sell them. The only problem that I saw was that I needed to get on my pc to upload anything or on the internet site to add in notes. The only thing I could do through the mobile app was to view the notes. I think this could be a neat option to share my notes with my students. There would not be that mess of papers to go through to find something.
I personally try to use my tablet when I can in my online classes. I love that even if I have an appointment I can work on school work while I am waiting. I have done this a few times. It is great for postings, research and blogs. I still don't think that I am sold on all the educational benifits of it. I think right now it would be more for personal use. I don't think this will ever replace my desktop computer.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Blackboard vs. Moodle
Both Blackboard and Moodle were similar. They have options to make discussion boards, quizzes, folders, and a nice calendar to post weekly assignments.
I think that I liked blackboard better. This is probably because I am a little more familiar with the program. I felt that it was very user friendly. I could easily play around with things on my own and not have to watch a tutorial to figure out how to create something. I felt like I got a little lost on Moodle. I had to watch a couple of tutorials to get me started. I think that I only scratched the surface on what I can do with Moodle.
There were a couple of things that I did on both programs so I could compare them. The first one was making a quiz. In blackboard all I had to do was go under the assignment heading and click on create assessment. I was then given several options of types of problems that I would want to create. It was also possible to upload a picture or use a link to ask questions on. The program could also grade the assessment for you. You just had to enter in the correct answer. It was also possible to give partial credit I saw on some types of problems. On Moodle you go under the weekly outline use the drop down menu for add an activity and choose quiz. It also gave you several types of questions you could use and you can upload a picture or use a link to ask questions on. The one thing I liked better about Moodle was the picture would show up in the quiz and you did not have to click on the link and wait for it to show up like on BB. Moodle also had an option to make the quiz timed and if you wanted to give the student a chance to change their answers with or without penalty of points. I thought that was pretty cool for an option.
The other item I checked out was making a discussion board. Both of them were easy to make. Blackboard already has an option for discussion board and you just make a title and add in your question. Moodle adds it in on the weekly outline. You again add a title and question for people to answer. It just adds onto what you already have in the weekly outline.
One cool thing I saw in BB was how easy it was to add a youtube video. I was under assignments and clicked on build content and saw youtube video under mash ups. I tried it and it adds in the video right into BB and not as a link. One thing I liked better about Moodle was that it lets us upload a picure to attach to our profile. I could not get mine to upload but I really like that idea. I like putting a face with a name.
In conclusion I liked BB better in designing an online class because I like its organization and it seems more user friendly to me. This may be because I have gotten used to using it but at the moment that is my opinion.
I think that I liked blackboard better. This is probably because I am a little more familiar with the program. I felt that it was very user friendly. I could easily play around with things on my own and not have to watch a tutorial to figure out how to create something. I felt like I got a little lost on Moodle. I had to watch a couple of tutorials to get me started. I think that I only scratched the surface on what I can do with Moodle.
There were a couple of things that I did on both programs so I could compare them. The first one was making a quiz. In blackboard all I had to do was go under the assignment heading and click on create assessment. I was then given several options of types of problems that I would want to create. It was also possible to upload a picture or use a link to ask questions on. The program could also grade the assessment for you. You just had to enter in the correct answer. It was also possible to give partial credit I saw on some types of problems. On Moodle you go under the weekly outline use the drop down menu for add an activity and choose quiz. It also gave you several types of questions you could use and you can upload a picture or use a link to ask questions on. The one thing I liked better about Moodle was the picture would show up in the quiz and you did not have to click on the link and wait for it to show up like on BB. Moodle also had an option to make the quiz timed and if you wanted to give the student a chance to change their answers with or without penalty of points. I thought that was pretty cool for an option.
The other item I checked out was making a discussion board. Both of them were easy to make. Blackboard already has an option for discussion board and you just make a title and add in your question. Moodle adds it in on the weekly outline. You again add a title and question for people to answer. It just adds onto what you already have in the weekly outline.
One cool thing I saw in BB was how easy it was to add a youtube video. I was under assignments and clicked on build content and saw youtube video under mash ups. I tried it and it adds in the video right into BB and not as a link. One thing I liked better about Moodle was that it lets us upload a picure to attach to our profile. I could not get mine to upload but I really like that idea. I like putting a face with a name.
In conclusion I liked BB better in designing an online class because I like its organization and it seems more user friendly to me. This may be because I have gotten used to using it but at the moment that is my opinion.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Cam Studio Vs. Camtasia
For me the answer is hands down Camtasia. This program can do much more for your video and is easily uploadable. Cam Studio was not hard to actually make the video. My problem was that it gave my computer the green screen of death if I tried to use hot keys to stop taping so I would not get the program in my video. So I just ended up having that little window in my video so I would not crash my computer. Then the real problems began when I tried to turn it in. I even had my husband try to help me convert it to SWF but the conversion never looked or sounded quite right. So I ended up uploading it to youtube and it took around 6 hours for my computer to do that. I thought I was back in the dial up days. Ugh!
Camtasia was really easy to video my app. My only problem with the video was getting my app to work correctly. Then I had so much fun playing with the music and zooming in and out and adding in arrows. I think my video looks cool. My only problem is my computer is having issues uploading it to youtube. The small video uploaded fine but maybe this one is too large. I'll just blame it on youtube because I think that Camtasia is fun. I like personalizing my video myself.
Here is my Camtasia video I created on making a prezi presentation.
Camtasia was really easy to video my app. My only problem with the video was getting my app to work correctly. Then I had so much fun playing with the music and zooming in and out and adding in arrows. I think my video looks cool. My only problem is my computer is having issues uploading it to youtube. The small video uploaded fine but maybe this one is too large. I'll just blame it on youtube because I think that Camtasia is fun. I like personalizing my video myself.
Here is my Camtasia video I created on making a prezi presentation.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Tablets in Education
With the recent unveiling of the ipad 2 and releases of a few android tablets I thought this would be a good topic. This topic is also for me because my husband just got me the new motorola xoom. He said it should be great for my classes and also should have a good use in my classroom when I start teaching again. So I thought I could use my research in proving him right or wrong for my blog.
First, so far it has proven quite well for my classes. The internet speed is pretty fast. I am able to do research on the internet and type up comments in discussion boards. I am even trying it out to type up this blog. I am amazingly typing with two hands on a touch screen. I never thought that I could do that. My only problem for this class is I cannot download programs that I need to create my videos. I guess there is no getting away from the pc for that. I really love the portability. I was able to do some stuff in blackboard yesterday while my car was in the shop.
Now for uses in my own classroom. Most of the things I have seen on the internet are if everyone has a tablet. We could send and receive data from eachother and interact with it. All of their books could be digitized and there would be no more huge backpacks in the middle of the isle to trip over.
One negative thing,probably because I have not really tried to figure it out, is correcting my typing errors. I have to line up my finger perfectly where I want the cursor to add or delete letters. Another thing is saving things. I know there is an SD card slot but there is no office program to work with. Although this class has taught me several ways that I can get around that using web 2.0 tools.
In conclusion I am having fun using this tablet and look forward to using it to its full potential.
First, so far it has proven quite well for my classes. The internet speed is pretty fast. I am able to do research on the internet and type up comments in discussion boards. I am even trying it out to type up this blog. I am amazingly typing with two hands on a touch screen. I never thought that I could do that. My only problem for this class is I cannot download programs that I need to create my videos. I guess there is no getting away from the pc for that. I really love the portability. I was able to do some stuff in blackboard yesterday while my car was in the shop.
Now for uses in my own classroom. Most of the things I have seen on the internet are if everyone has a tablet. We could send and receive data from eachother and interact with it. All of their books could be digitized and there would be no more huge backpacks in the middle of the isle to trip over.
One negative thing,probably because I have not really tried to figure it out, is correcting my typing errors. I have to line up my finger perfectly where I want the cursor to add or delete letters. Another thing is saving things. I know there is an SD card slot but there is no office program to work with. Although this class has taught me several ways that I can get around that using web 2.0 tools.
In conclusion I am having fun using this tablet and look forward to using it to its full potential.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Discovering Prezi
For the assignment this week I thought that I would explore around Prezi.com. I knew that it was a different way to make a presentation but had no clue how to use it. I wanted to see how easily I could use it in my math class.
First I had to sign up for an account. I signed up for the educators package which let me upgrade to the second step of the program. I then watched the tutorial video on the site and found out it is so easy to make. You just click on the screen and type in what you want. You can then click on the words and a zebra circle shows up to make your words bigger or smaller and also to turn them. I played around with it for a while and discovered how to group things together and to make the path of my presentation. I could not figure out how to make it auto play, but I did not think that was a big deal. The program even had some backgrounds to use so it is not all boring white. You can also add in pictures and videos. I had no idea that you could add in videos. One other thing I could not figure out was how to do a voice over. I figured if I really wanted to do that I could use the Jing program that we used last week.
There were a couple of problems that I had with it. First I tried to add in a video from youtube and it would not let me copy and paste the url into the box. So I had to type in the address myself. The other thing was I had some problems getting out of the presentation when I pressed play. After looking for a long time I found the exit button. Boy did I feel silly.
As I was trying to come up with a history lesson using the program I found myself thinking of my own class and how to use it. The program is so easy to use I think that my high school students could make one. In fact as I read about Prezi I saw that one mom had her kindergartener making a presentation to help with show-and-tell. I thought in my math class I usually have students make a pamphlet explaining some concepts. I thought this would be another great option to my original project. Who doesn't love to play on the computers. I also found a nice rubric making site to help me with the grading. It was called rubistar. It has many options to choose from, while you are still making your own rubric. What it does is gives you options of categories to grade that might apply to your project. If you choose one of their options then the descriptions for the grades automatically show up. You can also add in your own grading options but you have to type in the descriptions for the grades yourself. I think this is another cool site that I might use in my own classroom.
All in all I think that both of these web sites are great places for you to check out for your own classroom. If you would like to see I attached the Prezi presentation that I made to introduce you to it.
First I had to sign up for an account. I signed up for the educators package which let me upgrade to the second step of the program. I then watched the tutorial video on the site and found out it is so easy to make. You just click on the screen and type in what you want. You can then click on the words and a zebra circle shows up to make your words bigger or smaller and also to turn them. I played around with it for a while and discovered how to group things together and to make the path of my presentation. I could not figure out how to make it auto play, but I did not think that was a big deal. The program even had some backgrounds to use so it is not all boring white. You can also add in pictures and videos. I had no idea that you could add in videos. One other thing I could not figure out was how to do a voice over. I figured if I really wanted to do that I could use the Jing program that we used last week.
There were a couple of problems that I had with it. First I tried to add in a video from youtube and it would not let me copy and paste the url into the box. So I had to type in the address myself. The other thing was I had some problems getting out of the presentation when I pressed play. After looking for a long time I found the exit button. Boy did I feel silly.
As I was trying to come up with a history lesson using the program I found myself thinking of my own class and how to use it. The program is so easy to use I think that my high school students could make one. In fact as I read about Prezi I saw that one mom had her kindergartener making a presentation to help with show-and-tell. I thought in my math class I usually have students make a pamphlet explaining some concepts. I thought this would be another great option to my original project. Who doesn't love to play on the computers. I also found a nice rubric making site to help me with the grading. It was called rubistar. It has many options to choose from, while you are still making your own rubric. What it does is gives you options of categories to grade that might apply to your project. If you choose one of their options then the descriptions for the grades automatically show up. You can also add in your own grading options but you have to type in the descriptions for the grades yourself. I think this is another cool site that I might use in my own classroom.
All in all I think that both of these web sites are great places for you to check out for your own classroom. If you would like to see I attached the Prezi presentation that I made to introduce you to it.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Teacher Tube
I found Jing very easy to use. It was easy to download and self explanitory. I just hooked up the mic and off I went. The web 2.0 tool that I chose to talk about was teacher tube. Here is my video on it.
Three other web 2.0 tools that looked cool are math tv. This is a site that is basically an online book. The cool part is all the videos that come with it. Without buying the book you have access to teachers explaining how to do different math problems. You can choose what teacher explains the problem and even some of them are in Spanish. Another one was prezi. It is a different way to make a slide presentation. It looks like the video we saw on facebook that we had to read words that were emphasized on a larger picture. One last web 2.0 tool that looked cool is Grockit Test Prep. This web site is a social network. This network is for studying. There are instructors online to help. You also have options to get tutoring, study in a group or study alone. There are quizzes that you can take and earn points. They advertise their SAT courses. This is not a free site. I signed up for 3 free days but if you want the full features you have to pay.
Three other web 2.0 tools that looked cool are math tv. This is a site that is basically an online book. The cool part is all the videos that come with it. Without buying the book you have access to teachers explaining how to do different math problems. You can choose what teacher explains the problem and even some of them are in Spanish. Another one was prezi. It is a different way to make a slide presentation. It looks like the video we saw on facebook that we had to read words that were emphasized on a larger picture. One last web 2.0 tool that looked cool is Grockit Test Prep. This web site is a social network. This network is for studying. There are instructors online to help. You also have options to get tutoring, study in a group or study alone. There are quizzes that you can take and earn points. They advertise their SAT courses. This is not a free site. I signed up for 3 free days but if you want the full features you have to pay.
Cloud Computing
I have heard this term on commercials and thrown around and really was not sure what it was. I watched several youtube videos and think I have an idea. We have now been used to uploading and making material on the internet. We now do not even have to save it to our computer. We trust that when we log back into the site our information will still be there. Where does it go? I really don't know but I think that it goes into this metaphorical cloud. That is what cloud computing is. All of the computers and SMART phones are now a network and our information is saved somewhere out there. The best explanation that I heard was that cloud computing does not include any hardware or software from our computer. It is like when we go to google docs. We do not have to download any program or have to access it from the same computer. Any computer has access to it and your document is always there. This means no more worrying if your computer dies and all your programs and saved information is gone. It will always be there.
Do I think that cloud computing is the same as web 2.0? I think that they intertwine but are not the same think. Web 2.0 refers to the interactivity. I can make something on the internet or post something and it can be changed by someone else or commented on. Cloud computing is referring to the network of information that is out there and accessible from any computer.
Here is a video I found that I thought was really good.
Do I think that cloud computing is the same as web 2.0? I think that they intertwine but are not the same think. Web 2.0 refers to the interactivity. I can make something on the internet or post something and it can be changed by someone else or commented on. Cloud computing is referring to the network of information that is out there and accessible from any computer.
Here is a video I found that I thought was really good.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Photo Story vs Animoto
First I would like to say that I really like Photo Story 3 much better than Animoto. I just like to make my video do what I want and look how I want. I did not feel that I had too many options on Animoto. I could not put any text over photos. I could not change how long a picture was up. The main thing that bothered me is I could not type very much in when I chose text and could not do voice overs. This is very important when you are trying to teach a math lesson. The one thing that I liked about this program was that I finished this assignment in about 30 minutes when the other one took about 4 or 5 hours. I think Animoto would be good if someone just wanted to upload pictures and have music put to it. The program did a good job of creating the whole video on their own. I really just like putting the details in myself.
I really liked Photo Story 3. It took me a lot longer to finish this video than the one in Animoto. I really liked all the details that I could put into this video. I especially liked that I could talk over my slides and keep them up as long as I thought it needed. This was especially helpful when I need to leave time for the student to read the slide or work out a problem. The only problem I had with this program was I had to come up with the background to type over when Animoto had ones to choose from. I really think that this is minor when it comes to all the other things that I like.
I think this program would be fun to put videos together of my family but I can also see how I could use it to teach a lesson at school. I used it to teach a pre-calculus lesson. I wanted to try it with an upper level math class lesson to see if it was applicable even with harder concepts. If I had the time this would be great to put into my school website for students that are absent or did not quite catch the lesson of the day. This would also work great for students in ISS. They could log on and hear my voice teaching the lesson. The only problem is it took so long to make this. I know I would not be able to do this for all of my lessons, but wouldn't that be cool.
I have embedded my Photo Story video for your enjoyment.
I really liked Photo Story 3. It took me a lot longer to finish this video than the one in Animoto. I really liked all the details that I could put into this video. I especially liked that I could talk over my slides and keep them up as long as I thought it needed. This was especially helpful when I need to leave time for the student to read the slide or work out a problem. The only problem I had with this program was I had to come up with the background to type over when Animoto had ones to choose from. I really think that this is minor when it comes to all the other things that I like.
I think this program would be fun to put videos together of my family but I can also see how I could use it to teach a lesson at school. I used it to teach a pre-calculus lesson. I wanted to try it with an upper level math class lesson to see if it was applicable even with harder concepts. If I had the time this would be great to put into my school website for students that are absent or did not quite catch the lesson of the day. This would also work great for students in ISS. They could log on and hear my voice teaching the lesson. The only problem is it took so long to make this. I know I would not be able to do this for all of my lessons, but wouldn't that be cool.
I have embedded my Photo Story video for your enjoyment.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Pi day podcast
Here is the podcast I made. It is about how I like to celebrate pi day, if anyone is interested.
The music used in this podcast came from audionautix.com.
The music used in this podcast came from audionautix.com.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
My thoughts on copyright
I believe we are all teachers here and have been through the copyright professional developments. If you are anything like me you found it boring and stop paying attention after the first minute or two. I knew it was the wrong thing to do but there is so much to it. I also saw the fair use table in the copy room and never read it. I guess I am lucky that no one has ever checked on me.
Here is my understanding of copyright. There is a copyright on anything that is an original work, creative to a minimal degree and in a fixed or tangible form of expression. The copyright gives you the right to say how it is used. You can say how it is reproduced, distributed, make derivative works, public performance(tv and radio), and publicly display. If someone else decides to use your work they must have permission or pay royalties. The copyright lasts the life of the creator plus 7years.
There is no need to apply for a copyright anymore. As of 1978 any work created assumes these rights as soon as they reach tangible form. Before that year someone had to apply for a copyright. Also even if something does not say it is copyrighted you can assume that it is.
There is a difference between copyright, a patent and a trademark. They all do pretty much the same but apply to different things. A copyright applies to an original work of art or literature. A patent applies to something that is discovered or invented. A trademark is for words or a design that represents a company or product.
People are allowed to use these works of art if they follow the fair use policy. According to 10 Big Myths About Copyright, a copyright allows for commentary,parody, news reporting, research and education. Most teachers understand that if they just use a little portion of something then it is ok. There are 4 standards, according to Fair Use and Copyrights for Teachers, for determination of the fair use exemption. These are
1. Purpose of use: You can use small parts for specific educational use, especially if the copies are made spontaneously and used temporarily.
2. Nature of the work: Copying of paragraphs is ok but chapters are questionable.
3. Proportion/extent of the material used: Duplicating excerpts or segments that do not reflect the "essence" of the work.
4. The effect on marketability: It cannot create a reduction in sales.
I am not sure how I would approach this with students. The only thing that I found good for teaching was a video that I saw in my intro class last semester. It is a youtube video that explains copyright and fair use using small excerpts from Disney cartoons. The person explained they used Disney cartoons because that company has been known to sue for copyright quite often.
Here is my understanding of copyright. There is a copyright on anything that is an original work, creative to a minimal degree and in a fixed or tangible form of expression. The copyright gives you the right to say how it is used. You can say how it is reproduced, distributed, make derivative works, public performance(tv and radio), and publicly display. If someone else decides to use your work they must have permission or pay royalties. The copyright lasts the life of the creator plus 7years.
There is no need to apply for a copyright anymore. As of 1978 any work created assumes these rights as soon as they reach tangible form. Before that year someone had to apply for a copyright. Also even if something does not say it is copyrighted you can assume that it is.
There is a difference between copyright, a patent and a trademark. They all do pretty much the same but apply to different things. A copyright applies to an original work of art or literature. A patent applies to something that is discovered or invented. A trademark is for words or a design that represents a company or product.
People are allowed to use these works of art if they follow the fair use policy. According to 10 Big Myths About Copyright, a copyright allows for commentary,parody, news reporting, research and education. Most teachers understand that if they just use a little portion of something then it is ok. There are 4 standards, according to Fair Use and Copyrights for Teachers, for determination of the fair use exemption. These are
1. Purpose of use: You can use small parts for specific educational use, especially if the copies are made spontaneously and used temporarily.
2. Nature of the work: Copying of paragraphs is ok but chapters are questionable.
3. Proportion/extent of the material used: Duplicating excerpts or segments that do not reflect the "essence" of the work.
4. The effect on marketability: It cannot create a reduction in sales.
I am not sure how I would approach this with students. The only thing that I found good for teaching was a video that I saw in my intro class last semester. It is a youtube video that explains copyright and fair use using small excerpts from Disney cartoons. The person explained they used Disney cartoons because that company has been known to sue for copyright quite often.
Friday, January 28, 2011
My Opinion on RSS Readers
RSS Readers
By: Melissa Boyer
An RSS Reader or news aggregator, in my own words, is either an online or downloaded program that helps you keep up on your favorite websites. You can subscribe to a website and check this program everyday and it will let you know what is posted each day. These are most commonly used to follow blogs. Instead of going to each different website you just check your RSS Reader.
The technical definition of an RSS(Really Simple Syndication) reader according to ProgrammerWorld.net is a program that continuously checks websites for updated content. The reader uses XML (eXtensible Markup Language) code in the browser. The HUD website stated that the feed you receive contains headlines, summaries and links to full news stories or blogs. What you must do first is subscribe to an RSS reader. They can be either web-based, like google reader, or a small program that you can download, like Feed Demon. Once you have done that you just have to subscribe to the blog or website that you would like to follow. To subscribe you go to the website and copy the URL and paste it in the ‘Add New Channel’ area in the feeder. Some readers have an easier option that shows up in the address bar.
I really did not know what to expect when I used a reader. I read the comments on facebook and on the blogs to give me some ideas. They pretty much put me in the direction of what program to use. I wanted to use Google Reader because I have used other google items and already have an account. I decided to download Feed Demon because someone said that you can link it to your google reader to easily follow the same websites. I did not know what to expect from there.
Comparing the two I think that I like Google Reader better. I found it more user friendly. The set ups were just about the same but I like that when you click on the blog that Google Reader brings up a new window. I tried the same thing in Feed Demon and it opened up the blog in the same window and I think my computer had some trouble with that. I tried to use it to post on the class blogs and somehow my comment was not posted so I had to do it again.
One problem I felt that I had was trying to find good sites to follow. Since I am a math teacher I really wanted to follow some cool math blogs. I really did not find many out there. I used the search item in my google reader to do this. It came up with maybe 10 and most were only updated every month or two. I went out and googled “math blogs” and found more that way but for some reason I couldn’t subscribe to one. I don’t remember what the problem was. I tried to copy and paste the url and it did not do anything. Luckily I found three that looked like they were updated every week or two. I thought that I had found a fourth but it turned out not to be a real math blog.
I then had the idea to follow some educational technology blogs. It did not have a long list either. So I subscribed to two of them. The other sites that I subscribed to were news and entertainment sites.
One blog that I have found that I like is “Wild About Math Bloggers.” This site updates with some cool problems and news about people that like math. Yesterday there was a link to an article about a girl named Vi Hart. She has put up some videos on Youtube that talk about some patterns that you see in math that she explains using her doodles. The article said that her videos are popular with teenage girls.
I found two educational technology blogs that I have found interesting. One is by Bill Mackenty, who is an instructional designer at a school district in New York that has a 1:1 ratio of students to computers. He talked a lot about how to integrate technology into your classroom. The other site is “The Power of Educational Technology” written by Liz B. Davis who works at an all boys school in Boston, Massachusetts. She seems to blog more about technology in general and not just technology in the classroom.
The use I see of this in education is mainly for teachers. The math sites that I followed gave me some good ideas for problems to use in class. I think some education sites could give you good ideas to use in the classroom. I see this replacing the educational magazines that we subscribe to. We can catch up on the new educational news for free on our computer. This would be real easy to show any teacher or administrator to use.
One use I see for students is in English class to follow a current author. They could subscribe to an author they are currently reading and put some of that information in their book report. Another idea I had was that in any class if you have the students blog about a specific question they can use it like we are. They could subscribe to each classmates blog and comment on it through their RSS reader. Also in my math class I could have the students solve one problem a week from a math blogging site of their choice. Although since I have not seen too many I am not sure how good this idea is.
All in all I think that this is a helpful invention for someone who likes to read several website everyday. I personally am not a person who does this. I find the programs rather overwhelming. There is so much there to read. I think I need to figure out how to delete the blogs that I have read and that may help. It has given me a chance to look for some different sites that I have never seen before. I just think, for me, it is better to just follow a couple of sites rather than ten or more.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Open Source Applications
After some reading and watching youtube videos I think I have a basic understanding on Open Source Applications. Basically they are programs that you can download but are able to access the code. It kind of reminded of me of a wiki for programmers. The code can be changed by anyone that has access to it to improve the program. This is different than just free or proprietary applications. These applications you cannot access the code and change the program. What you buy is what you get.
According to the open source initiative there are a few licenses that an open source app can apply for. First the program must go through a public review process by an application and then it can be licensed. The most common licenses are the GNU or General Public License, BSD, MIT license, Mozilla public license and a few others.
While I was researching educational open source applications I found many cool free programs. I thought since I was a math teacher I might look more into what can be applied into my classroom. The first one I researched a little about last semester. It is called GeoGebra. If any of you are familiar with Geometer's Sketchpad it is very similar. It is known as dynamic math software. This means that you can make drawings or graphs and manipulate them to figure out properties of the shapes or graphs. It also shows the measurements of angles and length of sides so students can see how the measurements change as they change the figure. The second application that I saw that looked cool is called GraphCalc. It is a free graphing calculator. It seemed more user friendly than the others I looked at. It had nice menus and would explain what each button did. It has the capabilities to graph up to 6 equations at once using a different color for each. It can save the past expressions that you have typed in for future reference and even has several constants already programmed in. It sounds like it has many of the capabilities of a normal graphing calculator but it is free. I definitely plan on playing with this before I go back to teaching. Anything to save money for this technologically savvy teacher.
According to the open source initiative there are a few licenses that an open source app can apply for. First the program must go through a public review process by an application and then it can be licensed. The most common licenses are the GNU or General Public License, BSD, MIT license, Mozilla public license and a few others.
While I was researching educational open source applications I found many cool free programs. I thought since I was a math teacher I might look more into what can be applied into my classroom. The first one I researched a little about last semester. It is called GeoGebra. If any of you are familiar with Geometer's Sketchpad it is very similar. It is known as dynamic math software. This means that you can make drawings or graphs and manipulate them to figure out properties of the shapes or graphs. It also shows the measurements of angles and length of sides so students can see how the measurements change as they change the figure. The second application that I saw that looked cool is called GraphCalc. It is a free graphing calculator. It seemed more user friendly than the others I looked at. It had nice menus and would explain what each button did. It has the capabilities to graph up to 6 equations at once using a different color for each. It can save the past expressions that you have typed in for future reference and even has several constants already programmed in. It sounds like it has many of the capabilities of a normal graphing calculator but it is free. I definitely plan on playing with this before I go back to teaching. Anything to save money for this technologically savvy teacher.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Intro to Me
Hi! My name is Melissa Boyer. I have been a high school math teacher for 10 years and have been forced to take a year off. During this time off I decided to finally finish my Master's. I have very much enjoyed spending all this free time with my two beautiful boys; Ethan, who is 6, and Riley, who is 16 months. I have even been able to be a room mother, which I thought would never happen being a teacher. I have been married for 10 years to my high school sweetheart. Any free time I have I love to play Family Feud on Facebook. I tried Farmville for a while and got bored.
The last book I read for me was a while ago. I read the last Harry Potter book. I believe that was about 3 or 4 years ago. I loved the book so much I read it in 2 weeks. That is impressive for me. I really started reading it because of the movies. The action really drew me in and I could not put the book down. If anyone likes the movies and have not read the books I suggest reading the books. As always the books have so much more in them than the movies.
I really have not read that much for pleasure ever. I used to read Stephen King for fun. I pretty much stopped reading for fun when I started having kids. I now get to enjoy reading books about Thomas and Captain Underpants. I hope I can instill the joy of reading more in my kids than I feel.
The last book I read for me was a while ago. I read the last Harry Potter book. I believe that was about 3 or 4 years ago. I loved the book so much I read it in 2 weeks. That is impressive for me. I really started reading it because of the movies. The action really drew me in and I could not put the book down. If anyone likes the movies and have not read the books I suggest reading the books. As always the books have so much more in them than the movies.
I really have not read that much for pleasure ever. I used to read Stephen King for fun. I pretty much stopped reading for fun when I started having kids. I now get to enjoy reading books about Thomas and Captain Underpants. I hope I can instill the joy of reading more in my kids than I feel.
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