Dreamweaver

This week in class we learned how to use Dreamweaver to make websites. The Dreamweaver program was relatively easy to use for me only because I have used the program for another class. If this had been my first time using Dreamweaver I think it would have been much harder. I don't think I would use Dreamweaver in the future to make a personal or school website because of how expensive the program is. If I were to make a website I would use a layout from the internet to make it easier and more aesthetically pleasing. One thing I didn't really like about Dreamweaver is that in order to make the website look really nice and aesthetically pleasing you would have to have had background knowledge of how to use the program. Without such knowledge I feel like the things you can with a website do are somewhat limited. Overall I do not foresee myself using the Dreamweaver program again but it was interesting to explore how to use it.

iPad and Smartboard

Last week in class we explored how students could use iPad technology to do an assignment for the class. We designed a lesson where the students had to use a presentation app to create a slideshow presentation about one of the continents of the world. This is a very useful app for the classroom because it is very similar to Microsoft PowerPoint but is easier to use because it is on the iPad and you can take the iPad with you wherever you go, unlike a big bulky computer. I think this could be useful in a classroom but only if iPads were available for all the students. Seeing as it is very unlikely that a school that I will work in will have the resources and money to allow each student in my classroom to have an iPad, I don't feel like this is very real world applicable.

We also explored how to use SmartBoards and all of the different ways we could use them during class. I thought it was really cool how a student could use the SmartBoard pens to write on the board, then there is the option to right click on the writing and it can be automatically changed into a typewritten word. This seems like it would be very useful if students have bad handwriting and it is hard for other students to discern what is on the board. I also liked the different games and test/quiz templates that were available in the SmartBoard program. It would be a great way to review the day before a test to have a jeopardy type game for the students to play. I think SmartBoards are very useful but once again budget plays a huge role in their classroom application. Because they are very expensive it is not always the case that each classroom will have access to SmartBoards.

Podcasts

This class we learned about podcasts and how we could use them in our classrooms to aide in the teaching process. I really enjoyed looking around at all the podcasts that were science based. I found a great group called EcoGeeks that had a lot of podcasts over different topics in science. The video that I watched of theirs in class was over the water cycle and I could definitely see myself using this video in a high school science class. I feel like the kids would be inspired by watching videos of other people learning and teaching science. We also looked at iTunes U during class. Out of the different videos I watched in class I was not especially excited about using them. After hearing what other students in the class found, I think if I just spent more time looking and narrowing my search I could find some good information and good videos that would be helpful for teaching. 

Learning how to make my own podcast was also an awesome experience. I never knew it was so easy and took so little experience with the program. I also didn't know you could add pictures to audio podcasts so that was a fun thing to do! I hope my original podcast turns out great!

Clickers and Websites

Today we learned about how to use a clicker system and how to determine whether a website is legitimate or not. I felt that learning how to set up and use the clicker system was something that I will definitely take away and use in my classroom. Even in my mentor teachers classroom, they use a clicker system to take tests and do certain class activities so I know I will be able to use them in the future. These clicker systems are a fast way to see feedback of how the students are doing on a particular topic as the results are instant. As a teacher this eliminates a lot of the time it takes to grade tests and can let the students know sooner how they did in case they need to retake a test or if they are ready to move onto the next topic. Clickers would also be a fun way for students to review in class for a test. I could make up a jeopardy-like game where students compete for points as they answer questions correctly. 


The second activity that we did today was to determine if a website was real or a hoax. We were given a very thorough list of questions to ask and things to check on before we could decide if a website was to be trusted or not.  This is a very useful thing to know not only for using in the classroom but in everyday life as well. There are many websites out there that are scams or hoaxes and it is important for anyone to be able to tell when a website is trying to take advantage of you. This would also be a smart skill for students to have because if they have to do any sort of research project or paper it will be important that they know whether the sources they are using are legitimate or not.

Google Mapping

Google Earth is one of the most fascinating internet tools that anyone can use! I love the fact that you can type in any city in the world and you can fly there and look around on the street level and get to know that city.  In class we had fun exploring Spain, France, the US and many more countries.  I also really enjoyed the activity that we did of making a tour that showed 5 related and educational places in Oregon.  I ended up making a tour of different Wildlife Refuges in Oregon.  This was fun to look at because there were quite a few different refuges that I had to idea even existed. I have used Google Earth many times but before that class I had no idea you could use it to make a tour. This would be a really fun thing to use in a geography or history lesson. One thing that could be really fun is if I were doing a History of Science lesson on Marie Curie I could make a tour on Google of different places from her childhood. This would be a fun and easy way to get the students engaged and excited about learning. Another way to incorporate this in my classroom would be to have students create their own tours related to important cities or places in scientific discovery.  This would also be a fun thing to use for personal reasons such as showing different places that I have traveled to or showing cities around the US and world in which I have family members living. Overall I thought it was a really fun and easy program to use and I can definitely see how I could use it in the classroom.

Videos

We made and edited a 30 second commercial using iMovie! It was definitely a fun experience but I also learned a lot. I had never used iMovie before so I thought it was going to really difficult and I was not looking forward to it at all. After using the program and making our video, however, my thoughts have completely changed. iMovie was a very easy program to use and it is definitely something that I could see myself using in the future whether for my own purposes or in my classroom. The only difficult part I found in the editing of our video was saving it in the correct way so that we could come back and continue editing where we had left off. Obviously this wouldn't be an issue if I were making a video on my own personal computer because then I could save in on my desktop or in a folder and not be afraid to lose my work. Overall I thought this was a fun and interesting assignment.


One way I would be able to incorporate making movies into a lesson is if I had students work in pairs and each pair would do their own science experiment.  The students could make a video of the processes of the experiment and then show the video to the class and further explain how their experiment worked. It would give students an opportunity to be creative and integrate technology into the class. 

Image Collage

This was a very interesting assignment to do and I enjoyed learning about how to use PhotoShop.  This is a good program to know how to use because it can be very useful in everyday life as well as in the classroom. Because I learned how to use PhotoShop in class I was able to make a collage for one of my friends. This collage was more of a prank as my friend actually left his computer at my house overnight. I ended up taking pictures on his photobooth of myself and two of my other friends and added other pictures I found on the internet in PhotoShop and made the collage the desktop picture. He was surprised when he opened his computer the next day and found the wonderful collage.

I would like to use my knowledge and skills about PhotoShop in the classroom to make interesting posters or visuals related to each lesson. This will make visuals interesting for the students as the posters would be completely original and attention grasping. I can also see myself using this in everyday life because I love to take pictures and being able to edit them and make them look professional would be fun.

I found the PhotoShop program to be somewhat confusing to use. There were far too many options to use in editing pictures and I found myself only using a few of the options because I didn't know how to use any others. 

I also found flickr frustrating because I was not able to log into it and upload my picture. So because I could not upload my picture in flickr I will upload it here:

In this picture the background was from a calendar picture that I scanned onto the computer. The golden retriever is from a picture that I took and saved from my Facebook page. The lion cub is from a picture that I got from the internet.