Discovery Education

Discovery Education seems like an extremely helpful online resource for teachers looking for effective ways to integrate technology into their classroom curriculum, and I was really impressed to learn that such an extensive Web site is available for teachers and parents. It offers various types of digital educational tools, including subject and grade specific lessons that include videos, virtual labs and explorations, which can definitely help teachers make learning much more engaging and motivational for students of multiple learning styles.

After reviewing the site, I was really impressed with the features of Discovery Education Science, in which the programs provide a highly interactive learning environment that allows students to research and explore as real scientists. I can definitely see how these programs can be effective in engaging students while they are learning science, which can often be a difficult subject to grasp for many.

Discovery Education Assessment was another tool that can be extremely helpful to teachers in preparing their students for standardized tests, as it assesses student progress toward meeting state standards for reading/language arts, math, and science. This allows teachers to better focus their instruction in effort to improve student learning and help to increase their test scores.

I was also happy to see that Discovery Education offers several resources to assist in enhancing curriculum, as well as teachers' professional development, such as Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators, which offers a categorized list of the best sites for teaching and learning and the New Teacher Survival Central, which offers helpful tips and tools for new teachers. That's one section that I'm sure I'll be visiting often when I start my first teaching job next year.

WebQuest Presentations

I presented my WebQuest in my graduate class this past Wednesday night, along with the remaining other half of our class. I must say that everyone had either created or modified a really great WebQuest, and the presentations were all excellent.

After seeing so many different WebQuests targeted for all grade levels, I can definitely see the great benefit for students. WebQuests definitely make the lessons more fun and appealing and teach students how to use the internet for research and learning purposes. Though they may be time consuming to create, I definitely think they are worth implementing in the classroom. Depending on the content, they can likely be used year after year or modified slightly to accommodate each new class.

I was really happy to know that programs exist to help teachers create the most efficient WebQuest, and though I've never heard of a WebQuest before this class, I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to learn about how to implement them into my classroom curriculum. Here's a link to my WebQuest: http://questgarden.com/71/20/8/081011204114/
Enjoy!

QuestGarden

I recently used QuestGarden to create a WebQuest assignment for an 8th grade Language Arts class. I'll be presenting the finished product for my graduate class tomorrow night. The program was overall pretty simple to use. As I created the WebQuest using the system, it offered checkpoints and advice along the way, which were extremely helpful. I didn't register for the 2-year subscription but instead registered for the 30-day free trial. After 30 days, I will no longer be able to edit the WebQuest I created, but it will be available for one year.

Though the system is quite easy to use, I did find that it was extremely time consuming and sometimes very slow due to so many users, according to error messages I received. There was also a bug on the evaluation page, which created a huge blank space before my rubrics. I decided to insert a photo to cover the blank space, which in the end, actually looked very nice.

I would definitely use QuestGarden again to create another WebQuest, and I would recommend it to others. I would just keep in mind that it will be very time consuming, especially if your goal is to make it as efficient and aesthetically pleasing as possible for your students.

After I present my WebQuest in class tomorrow, I'll be sure to include a link to it.

MY Access!

After examining the MY Access! Web site, watching a video that demonstrated students', teachers' and administrators' use of the product, as well as reading the MY Access! Efficacy Report, it is quite clear that this web-based instructional writing tool is truly amazing. Since writing is such a vital aspect of education in all subject areas, I am definitely a supporter of implementing cross-curricular writing opportunities for students whenever possible. As research has shown, students' writing ability is immensely strengthened with repetition and immediate feedback, and the MY Access! product provides those key features. All of the MY Access! program's impressive features undoubtedly serve to motivate students to want to write and want to learn how to write successfully. Just as Douglas Reeves, founder of The Leadership and Learning Center, states, "kids respond to feedback from electronic games because it is immediate, accurate and incremental, " I can see how students would want to submit a revised version of their writing as quickly as possible when they receive a low score using MY Access!. I can also see how students using this program will start to view the process of writing and learning to write fun. The instant feedback and gratification provided by MY Access! is definitely a great motivational tool for students at all levels.

As a true believer in having a dictionary and thesaurus near me at all times when working on any type of writing assignment, I was really excited to learn that MY Access! contains these important features and encourages their use, while helping students work to strengthen their spelling and vocabulary and improve their writing scores and overall writing performance. Since writing is such an important part of all school subjects and all careers, the MY Access! instructional tool is a great way to teach children at an early age to love and appreciate writing. I can't wait to use this program in my classroom when I become a Language Arts teacher.

NETS & NJCCCS For Technological Literacy

I had never read the NETS or NJCCCS before taking this class, so it was definitely very refreshing to see that guidelines were created for teachers to follow when implementing technological literacy into their lessons. While the NETS provides a general overview of technology standards and performance indicators for teachers and students, which can be used as a reference, it seems that the NJCCCS provides a more detailed guideline to follow, as it specifies the progress indicators for each grade level.

As the NJCCCS states that by the end of Grade 4 all students will know how to access the Internet to solve real life problems, I think it's great that this important skill will be taught so early on. Since the study by DeKlerk and others found that students will form negative attitudes about technology if there is no formal technological experiences in early education, I agree that it is extremely important to introduce technology education in order to provide the most thorough and efficient education.

Since it is evident that advanced technological skills are needed in nearly every career, I think it's vital that teachers follow the guidelines set for specific grade levels by the NJCCCS and continue to sharpen the technological skills of their students to insure that they will succeed in a competitive workplace in this Digital Age and that of the future.

It's sometimes funny to think that most of my technological skills were learned by repetitive use in my jobs after college and not so much in school as students are taught today. The first time I used Google was actually while working as an intern for ABCNEWS.com in my senior year in college. And to think, it's now being used by fourth graders on a daily basis!

Internet Safety & 21st Century Learners

After watching three videos for class on the topics of internet safety and 21st Century digital learners, I think it's extremely important for parents and teachers to consistently educate their children and students on both the positive and negative aspects of using technology. As evident from the YouTube video, Internet Safety II, as well as numerous news stories and television specials, including Dateline NBC's 'To Catch a Predator' , there are many child predators lurking in the digital world. These predators take advantage of young, naive children online everyday. Here's a link to the 'To Catch a Predator' package online, which includes many interesting articles and videos related to children's internet safety. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/

I'm sure many parents believe that their children are smart enough to not reveal personal information, such as their name and address online, but the frightening reality is that many children are extremely comfortable communicating online and believe that whoever they are talking to online is just as innocent and real as they are. I think it is vital to show children age appropriate videos demonstrating how children can get themselves in trouble online with strangers on the other end. Though they may be frightened by the reality of some of the negative situations that occur through online chat rooms or social networking sites such as MySpace, I definitely think it will ultimately serve as a very beneficial education for them.

On a more positive note, after watching the video 'A Vision of K-12 Students Today', which focuses on the importance of engaging the 21st century learner through a digital education, I think it's extremely refreshing to know that students want to learn through technology.
Though many are already spending time listening to their iPods and playing video games on their computers, I think it's important for teachers to consistently guide their students through their learning of important lessons by using technology. Many children view the internet and other digital technology as a form of entertainment, and I think by implementing technology in their lessons, teachers can continue to engage their students, while they make learning fun and pleasurable.

Though I wasn't surprised by the video's statistics regarding the amount of time children spend using technology, including 3 1/2 hours per week gaming and 5 1/2 hours per week on the computer, I was shocked by the statistics on teachers' use of technology, including 76% of teachers who never used blogs, wikis or podcasts, 14 % of teachers who let their students create something with technology and 63% of teachers who never do. I think these are very frightening statistics and hopefully more teachers will soon catch on and realize how important technology is to the future of their students.

My First WebQuest...

As my first assignment and presentation for my Computers in Curriculum Design & Evaluation class will be due on either September 24 or October 15, depending on which date we are assigned, I have already begun the research that will assist me in creating my first WebQuest. Although I have never heard of a WebQuest before taking this class, I think it is an extremely interesting way to conduct a lesson while implementing technology in the classroom. I definitely think it's vital to encourage students to continue to use the internet while they research and learn, and a WebQuest seems like a great technique.

Though we are not required to create an actual WebQuest with live links for this project,
I think I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot anyway using QuestGarden, http://www.questgarden.com/. It seems like a fairly easy way to create it, and the 2-year subscription fee is only $20. Since, I will be a certified teacher ready to work in less than two years, I think it's a good idea to purchase the subscription now. That way, I can give it some real practice, and I'll be ready for the time that I may actually want to use a WebQuest for teaching a lesson in my first year of teaching.

As for now, I'd like the topic of my first WebQuest for this class to be Writing a Persuasive Essay, since I'm really hoping that my first teaching job will be for Middle School Language Arts. I'm really excited to be moving forward with this project and hopefully finishing sometime within the next week. I'll be sure to include a link to the finished product!