Week 9 Blog: Midterm Reflection

I was pretty mad that I biffed it so hard on the file extension questions. I have a really good memory and I usually get questions like that no problem, but I didn't take the time to make sure that I remembered them correctly. I think it's OK though because I showed that I can use all the different software tools effectively. I was annoyed with myself because for the first minute or so of the first part of the midterm I couldn't figure out how to format my word document. Then I remembered that macs have the menu bar at the top of the screen detached from the document window, so that made me feel kind of dumb, but I'm just glad that I got it done without too much fuss.

Week 8 Blog

Creating Valuable Class Web Sites
By Elizabeth A. Baker

Baker discusses 3 different options for setting up a class website. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. The first option involves setting up a website on a free server, through something like Geocities, Tripod, or FreeWebs. The upside is that you can set up a website for free on some of these sites, but your site may have advertising bars which is often less than desirable. These sites are also much less robust than other website providers. The second option is to create a site on a preexisting website like Blogger.com or Livejournal.com. These templates are more robust and they have tools which allow students to submit material online and interact with the course work in online discussion boards. These sites also have a limited number of features for customization. Both the first and second options are advantageous if you can't afford to purchase server space or if your school does not provide space on its server. The third option is to purchase a software application like Dreamweaver or Frontpage to create your own custom website. These applications give you many more tools for customization, but they can cost a hefty chunk of change, and if your school doesn't provide server space then you will have to buy your own.

I think if I'm operating on the assumption that I'm going to be in the teach profession for a long time, I would go ahead and buy one of the more sophisticated software tools because the long term payoff is probably worth the investment. If I create my own site and I have my own paid for server space, then I don't have to worry about advertisements or limited space or other things that might cut into the site's effectiveness.

Week 7 Blog

World Wide Web article

For a long time, the more sophisticated functions of computer networks have been the domain of highly trained programmers and network administrators, but this article elaborates on different ways that lay people (specifically teachers) can benefit from the use of databases and web interfaces without having to learn complicated coding languages. Richard Repp paints a picture of how internet forums and online course materials, organized in a database, can enhance learning and teaching. When I was in high school I saw very little use of internet tools to facilitate learning outside the classroom. Very few teachers at my high school had websites or discussion forums that they used in the learning process. Almost 6 years later, it seems like everyone and their dog has a website, and in my experience as a substitute teacher and observing classes for other CSUSM courses I've seen first hand how teachers are incorporating web based learning materials into their lesson plans.

Database

Beth Holmes lists her 21st century skills that will replace the three "R's". She identifies the six "C's" for 21st century students. They are "compute, communicate, conclude, confirm, categorize, and classify." This is interesting to me because reading, writing, and arithmetic, at the most basic level, fall under the "Knowledge" category of Bloom's Taxonomy, while words like classify, conclude, and communicate fall in the higher levels of the Taxonomy, in the areas of application and evaluation. Holmes identifies the proper collection and sorting of information to be the foundation of this new learning paradigm. She says, "being able to manage information and data promises to be among the most challenging of those literacies [the six C's], because today's students will face enormous choices as they search through information resources." To this end, she feels that the creation and manipulation of databases should be an integral part of the classroom experience

Bells and Whistles

A database created strictly for the preservation of mass amounts of data is fine, but a database that can be utilized to draw new conclusions from given data is even better. Best of all is a database designed to facilitate and streamline that process to enhance learning and the creation of new knowledge. This article outlines the benefits of a database and showcases some of the exciting ways that information can be accumulated and sorted by a good database. Like the previous database article, this piece argues for the inclusion of databases in lesson plans in order to teach students how to effectively organize data and how to sort useful information.

Week Six Blog

Based on the reading materials, my understanding is that Bloom’s Taxonomy puts questions into different categories depending on the way the question engages the student with the material. Knowledge questions rely on straight recall of information, and according to the research cited by the readings, this type of question make up the bulk of most tests. Comprehension questions ask the student to interpret information and express deeper meanings. Application questions ask students to use information to solve problems and apply information to specific situations. Analytical questions require the extraction of meaning and the structuring of information. Synthesis questions ask the student to derive new meanings from given facts or older ideas. Synthesis questions combine knowledge from multiple sources. Finally, Evaluative questions compare ideas and evidence in order to choose between competing theories.

With any system of classification, it can be difficult to say for certain if the existing framework represents an adequate diagnostic tool. Since I only found out about Bloom’s Taxonomy today, I can’t say if it represents the best way of classifying test questions. However, it has been in use since 1956, and if the wealth of institutions that cite it are an indication, it must have some value. I can definitely see many of these categories being put to use in the coursework for this class. We learn about a new piece of software or about some teaching tool in class, and then we are asked to apply that knowledge at home in our hands-on assignments. We’ve also done a lot of synthesizing, taking old information, for example information about Microsoft Word or Excel, and applying it to our work as teachers. The fact that Knowledge questions make up the vast majority of test questions in education was not surprising to me, but it was very interesting because with the exception of TV quiz shows, there’s very little real-world use for the straight recall of information without any additional engagement with that material.