Week 15- Using Games for teaching and learning

  In class we learned how games are used in classrooms today in society in order for students to learn and how these games have shifted over the years.  An example of a game we learned about was called Take Back Illinois and it was a game for learning about Politics.  In the game you had to learn how to pass bills and move up in the political world.  It is a great educational game to learn about the topic of politics.
  My major is Special Education and I believe that games are a great way to learn material.  It is a fun way to get the students interacted in the material.  Children love to have fun and whats better than having them play a game in order to learn stuff, I feel like this is a great technique to use in the education world.  Here is a website to a game called Wheel of Fortune, http://www.gamehouse.com/wheel-of-fortune which teaches you about marketing.

Week 13- Creating a Professional Web Presence

  This week in class we learned about Professional web presence and what distance education is.  Distance education is also know as distance learning and is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom.
  Distance education relates to my major which is Special Education because if I am teaching a class and a student gets sick through distance education the student can still do the work I am teaching even though they can not physically come to the classroom.  I believe that distance education is a really realistic approach because many students get sick through out the school year and this is a great solution for them not to miss work.  This website,http://www.indiaeducation.net/DistanceEducation/, is really interesting because it shows how they do distance education in India!! It is interesting to see how education is like in different countries.

Week 12- Social Tools & Cloud Computing

  This week in class we learned about some of Google's tools like Google Docs as well as social bookmarking tools like Delicious.  These are examples of cloud computing which refers to the provision of computational resources on demand via a computer network.
  Cloud computing tools such as Google Docs and Delicious relate to my major which is special education because many of the classes I am taking right now I use these tools.  Delicious is used to mark your favorite websites on the internet and that is helpful if you are working on a paper and forgot the website, you can just tag it on your computer.  This website,http://www.google.com/google-d-s/whatsnew.html, tells us what is new in google docs and the new features that get added to it each and every single day!

Week 11- Open Source Software

  This week in class we learned about Open Source Software.  An example of Open Source Software is Open Office.org and is an open source version of Microsoft Office and has comparable programs and is free.  It has comparable programs to PowerPoint, excel, word processor, graphics tool, and database tool.  Another example of Open Source Software is Sourceforge which is a great resource for finding open software that is free.
  Open Source Software relates to my major which is Special Education because software is expensive and since open source software is free it is great for students to use to learn about different softwares there is out  there.  This website, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software , is on wikipedia about what exactly Open Source Software is and how it is changing technology in society today.

Week 9- The Sound of Podcasting

  This week in class we learned about how Podcasts are used for many things such as teaching, communicating, and learning.  Sound files can make a visual presentation more interesting and fun to watch!  We learned how to use tools such as Garage Band to create sound files!  I made a cool mix of songs using Garage Band and I plan on making many more mixes with this tool in the future!

  Sound files can be used in my major, which is Special Education, in order to teach children in a fun way! I believe that when children learn while having fun it is the best way to get the material across.  Children seem to interact more when there learning from music or playing a game!

  Here is a website,http://www.atomiclearning.com/garageband, that shows different features and tools within Garage band that you can use in order to make your songs and sounds more fun and interesting! I look forward to watching the tutorials on this website to learn more about Garage Band.

Week 2- Educational Technology

  This week in class we learned about different components of a Mac Computer.  I learned how to take a screen shot, add different shortcuts to the desktop of my computer, and also learn about the different icons and keys that are on the Mac Computer.  I found these lessons very helpful because i just purchased a Mac Computer last year and am still getting familiar with how it works.
  This lesson relates to my major which is Special Education because technology is always changing especially in the field of education.  I feel that it is really important for teachers to learn how to use new technology to be on top of the changes.
  Here is a website from wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh , explaining the history of the company Macintosh.  I thought that it was very interesting reading about how much computers changed from when they were first invented.  They were huge desktops at first and now they are as small as something that we can fit into our pockets!

Extra Blog Post #3

My Song!

Above is a song I created using the application Garage Band! By using the website GameFront.com I was able to upload my song so that anyone who wants to listen to it can download it for free. I hope you like it!

Week 8- Digital Storytelling

  We did not have class this week but the topic again was Digital Storytelling.  Since we didn't have class I researched a little bit more about what exactly is Digital Storytelling.  A definition of Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling.  Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative, and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights.
  For my Digital Storytelling Project I did a Powerpoint presentation showing pictures from Christmas 2009.  These pictures tell a story of how I went out to a restaurant with my whole family on Christmas Eve and how I spent Christmas morning at my house opening presents with my sister, mom, and dad.
  I also researched how Digital Storytelling is important in the field of Education since I am a Special Education major.  I learned that there are seven elements of Digital Storytelling.  The first is point of view, what is the perspective of the author?  The second is a dramatic question, a question that will be answered by the end of the story.  Emotional Content is the third and is serious issues that speak to us in a personal and powerful way.  The fourth is the gift of your voice which is a way to personalize the story to help the audience understand the context.  The fifth is the power of the soundtrack which is music or other sounds that support the storyline.  The sixth is the economy and is using just enough content to tell the story without overloading the viewer with too much info.  The seventh and last one is pacing and is related to economy but specifically deals with how slowly or quickly the story progresses.  These are seven elements teacher can use in order to teach there students how to use digital storytelling properly.  This is a website to show how to integrate digital storytelling into the classroom, http://its.ksbe.edu/dst/.

Week 7- Visual Literacy

  This week in class we began learning about Digital Storytelling.  We learned about different computer programs like iMovie and Animoto.  You can use other programs to create a digital story including programs like PowerPoint.
  This Digital Storytelling can be used in my major which is Special Education.  It can because it can show a story about someones life or a story about a team using images.  Like I said in my last post, images are sometimes the best way to tell a story or the best way to teach something to children.
  This website, http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/, shows ways that digital storytelling is used for educational purposes.  The topics that are used in Digital Storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical event, and from exploring life in one's own community. topics that are used in Digital Storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life in one's own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between.

Media and Information Literacy

  This week in class we learned about visual literacy.  Visual Literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image.  It is based on the idea of pictures and we can interpret the meaning of visual literacy in a process of reading.
  My major is Special Education and visual literacy can go along with my major very well.  It will be able to help kids learn material in a process other than reading words.  I think that learning things visually is sometimes a better way to learn than any other process.
  This is a website from wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_literacy ,explaining the definition of visual literacy and the ways it helps children learn.

Webspiration/ Special Education

http://www.mywebspiration.com/go/787258

This is a link to My Webspiration concept map I did based on my major which is Special Education.  The five tools that I showed that I would use in my major was Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Youtube, and Google.  I than described an example of how I would use each tool when I become a Special Education Teacher.

Concept Map

     This week in class we learned how to do a concept map.  Different websites you can use to create concept maps are Inspiration, Webspiration, Bubbl, or Gliffy.  Concept Maps are great to get information organized in a manner to see everything laid out on one page.
     I am studying Special Education and concept maps will definitly be a great tool to use in the classroom when I am teaching.  It will be a good tool to have students use in order to become involved in the classroom and the material that they are learning.  Concept maps are also a great way to become more familiar with the internet and become more comfortable with it as well. 
     This website on wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map , shows what a concept map is, how to read them, and different ways to use them as well.  This website also shows the history of concept maps and how they started out very simple and how they have become very complex over time.

Copyright Law and Fair Use

  Last week in class, which was week four, we learned about the Copyright Law and Fair Use. The Copyright Law is a form of protection provided to the authors of original work which includes literacy, dramatic, musical, artistic, and other intellectual works. Fair Use is the certain limitations to the Copyright law which determines whether or not a particular use is fair. There is four areas of Fair Use, the first is the purpose and character of the use. The next is the nature of the copyrighted work. The third is the amount of the portion used in relation to the the copyrighted work as a whole. Lastly is the effect of the use upon the potential market for the copyrighted work.
  My major is Special Education and the copyright law and fair use law relate to my field of study. Since I am going to be a teacher my students are going to have to know what the copyright law is and the fair use law when writing papers and citing resources for papers as well.
  This link, http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm,shows the definition of copyright law and fair use in easy terms. This would be a good website to teach students what these laws are and how to use them.

Copyright Law

The Copyright Law is a set of rights that granted to the author or the creator of an original piece of work.  The copyright law doesn't protect ideas it just protects the author's expression of their ideas.  The British Statute of Anne was the first act to protect the rights of authors.  The purpose of copyright is to return value to creators so they can feel a sense of accomplishment and to provide access to content for the public.  The link embedded is a youtube video explaining what the Copyright Law is.

Mac Computers

This past week in class we learned about Mac Computers.  We learned how the work by viewing tutorials and overviews.  Some of the new things I learned about the Mac Computers was how to use the doc and how to make new folders in order to store different documents.  I thought it was really cool how I learned how to take a screen shot because I never knew how to take one before and I am required to take them in many of my classes.

I am majoring in Special Education and learning about Mac Computers is really going to help me for my major.  In the field of education, new technology is being brought into classrooms everyday.  I believe that this class is going to help me so much with my major because computers are a huge part of our generation and in order for me to teach people later on in life I am going to need to learn a lot about computers and technology.  Therefore, this lesson on how to use Mac Computers and the different programs there are on a Mac is going to help me become a better teacher and be able to teach students more interactiviely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh Here is a link to a wikipedia site which tells you about the history of Mac computers and how they came to be.  I thought it was really interesting because it is crazy how different the first Mac computer looked compared to the newest Mac computer that there is.