Chapter 8 Reflection

Chapter 8 talks a lot about the idea of evaluating a website. This is essential for me as a future educator because we must assure sites are both appropriate and educationally sound for our students. There is no real way of knowing whether a site is appropriate until the teacher has analyzed the site himself/herself. While this may take extra time than a teacher would like to spend, it is a necessary preparation when dealing with students’ exposure to websites. So the question then is how do we know if a website is truly appropriate and effective?

The criterion the book lists is based on the structure/organization, text and graphic links, good visual design, and easy navigation. Of these criteria, I believe the most important of these aspects would have to be the effectiveness of the organization of the website. With dealing with younger students especially, it is essential that a website is organized in a format that is aesthetically pleasing. The organization of a website will thus naturally incorporate the other criterion required in an evaluation (good visual design, easy navigation). For example, a site that is organized effectively will likely have a quality visual design and will be easy to navigate through.

The chapter also discusses the creation of WebPages. The chapter presented pitfalls to avoid when creating a website such as “limiting personal information.” We must be especially careful if we are going to have our students participate in this Webpage building to not put too much pertinent, personal information. Such WebPages can often be found through search engines. One idea that could help to avoid this possibility could be to have students verify all their information with the teacher upon publishing the site to assure no dilemmas.

CRITERIA CHART FOR EVALUATING A WEBSITE:

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/webcrit.html

Chapter 7 Reflection

I think the internet can be a significantly useful and almost essential to using computers in the classroom with students. The amount of resources available on the internet is unimaginable, from using search engines for basic research or for the many teacher sources such as Webquests. However, with the internet come many pitfalls.

Some of the main issues concerning the use of the internet discussed in the book are inappropriate materials, privacy issues, viruses, and copyright issues. For starters, it is our job as educators to protect the safety of our students in our classroom. With this responsibility on our shoulders, we must be sure not expose our students to content that could somehow negatively affect them. This issue seems to be the biggest problem when discussing the use of search engines in the classroom. Many search engines can bring up inappropriate, unevaluated sites. Though many schools have some sort of filter to help limit the unprotected sites, there are ways for which students can still find access to undesired places. Similarly, if students are granted access to inappropriate sites, they put the computer and the network at risk of catching a computer virus or making their computer available to hacking. We as educators must also teach our students what is legal and appropriate when using others’ materials. It seems that this idea of copyrighting someone else’s work at all levels of education has become quite an issue. With the number of internet users growing today, it has become much more tempting for students to simply plagiarize a source they find on the internet. It is our job as educators to steer students away from this dilemma at an early age.

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Chapter 6 Reflection

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Hypermedia has become such an integral part of technology use in both the classroom and outside the classroom today. Of the many aspects of hypermedia, I think the authoring tool of “video production and editing systems” is the most interesting to use with students in the classroom. Teaching students to use video production or editing of media can be difficult depending on available resources. However, the program iMovie seems to come to mind that can be interactive for students. As a future language arts teacher, I think I can use this software as an alternative and interesting way for students than a traditional paper. For example, when teaching a unit on personal narratives, instead of having students simply write their personal narratives, I can have students create a script. Students would then pair into groups to help each other record their personal narratives using their script. As the chapter states, using such types of hypermedia creates motivation within students which will ultimately create a more effective learning experience.

To take the previously discussed assignment to a further level, I can pair students up to help each other conduct a storyboard that will serve as their framework for the movie. Storyboards are yet another part of hypermedia and can allow students to map out their movies event by event. This type of project will call on different learning styles such as those of visual and audio learners. It will also benefit students by encouraging collaboration and group work with their fellow classmates.

Chapter 5

I think the Materials Generators that the chapter discusses can be very beneficial for teachers. In my own experience, I have used an online rubric generator multiple times to create scoring rubrics for lesson plans in my own classes. These types of generators are great because they allow teachers to skip the organization and setup steps and time that they would otherwise have to spend much of their time creating. For example, with the online rubric generator (similar to those discussed in the chapter), the software provides the frame/columns of a rubric and allows the teacher to simply choose from a list of scoring criteria or to create their own. The site also provides many assignments that are common in a classroom. For example, I once created a lesson plan on “Persuasive Writing.” The generator happened to have this exact assignment and provided pre-established criteria for it.

Also in the chapter, the author discussed how Graphics software is helpful. I think this is interesting because it calls on how technology can be used for visual learners with different learning styles. Many of my future students will have varying abilities and with learn information in different formats. Graphic software provides collections of things like clip art, animation, sound, video. As a result, this software can be aesthetically pleasing for visual learners and audio learners. As part of my future language arts class, I can incorporate the use of these software tools within research papers or presentations that would otherwise be primarily text.

Rubric Generator Link:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Rubric Generator Tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htaMUOepNeM