Journal #4 "Computing in the Clouds" (NETS-T 2 )

Johnson, D. (2009/2010). Learning and leading.Computing in the Clouds, Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx

In this article, Cloud computing is described with its advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages include that a person can easily share their files with others and collaboratively work on files together using a cloud based applications such as wiki or google docs. Another advantage is that it can lower the costs of buying software and expensive net books.  A disadvantage could be that perhaps all these  free resources would become charged later. And another disadvantage could be that the files may be lost and even though it hasn't happen before it is a possibility.

Q1: What if a student does not have Internet connection?

A1: If a student does not have Internet connection, one solution would be to use google docs or Gmail offline with conjunction with google gears until they do get connection somewhere else. And to get connection somewhere else, it would be a good idea to go to the library's or schools computer lab where they can use the Internet for free.

Q2: How should we trust the cloud computing to not lose our most important documents?

A1: We can't trust it, so therefore a person is better off buying a flash drive or backup memory to store important files, so that in any case of losing documents they have a backup. Although it hasn't happen yet, it is still a possibility.

Journal #3 "Bring the World into Your Classroom" (NETS-T 2)

McDermon, L. (2010). Learning and leading. Bring the World into your classroom , Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx

Students learn to work collaboratively and present project information with video conferencing. There are two video conferencing programs discussed in this article. One of them is "Read around the planet" and the other is "Mega conferencing Jr". Read around the world is when two classrooms connect and share readings, such as written work or plays that the students have created. Students then get to present it using costumes, music, and scenery. Mega conferencing Jr is another program to present projects around the world and allows students to present during a time span of 7am to 7pm.

Q1: How would a teacher go about starting such programs?

A1: A Teacher may look and research other schools that have done the program, and contact those schools to get help on starting a program at their own school. Communicating through means of the phone is not the only way, rather twitter, email, and different social network virtual meeting places would be a good way to see if anyone else is doing the project, and by communicating over the web, you are getting not just your close by area, but the whole world.

Q2: What may be the drawbacks to having a program like this?

A1: Some of the drawbacks for a program like this, videoconferencing, would be the money and the funds to provide for the equipment. Some schools would not be able to participate in this even if they wanted to, because of their financial issues, but they should not ever stop trying to raise money for it, as it is a great program for students to learn to work together with others.

Test Survey- All About Me

Journal #2 "Join the Flock!" & "Enhance Your Twitter Experience" (NETS-T3)

Ferguson, H. (2010). Learning and leading with technology. Join the flock., Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx

McClintock Miller, S. (2010). Learning and leading with technology. Enhance your twitter experience, Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx


In these two articles it discusses PLN and how to use twitter as an educational tool. PLN is also know as personal learning network and it is basically a community of individuals around the world who are learning together, and twitter is a virtual meeting place to build your PLN. As the article suggests, in order to have a PLN a person must be committed. 

Q1:How can twitter help me as a future teacher?
A1:  Twitter can help you, by helping you connect to the people around the world who are teachers. Twitter serves as a virtual meeting place to meet other people who may share the same interests as you, such as education. One way to connect to other educators is by following people, that you know by their tweets that they are educators, or interested in educating. By following those educators, you are able to see their tweets, and links to helpful resources they may have seen, but you haven't. So then twitter is helpful because it exposes you to new ideas that other people with the same interests that you have.

Q2: How can twitter be used among students in a classroom? 

A2:  Students can use twitter to help them communicate with classmates and tweet links to class related sites and be able to help each other by sharing things they have learned or has helped them.  They could also share their questions they have, and communicate to each other about those questions. By providing a hash tag for the students to put in their tweets, the teacher would also be able to see what the questions the students have, and any problems they are encountering in their homework's', if they have any, that way the teacher is able to help the students more.

School 2.0 Reflection Tool

I chose the NETS-T Module: Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments. I chose this standard because one of the resources caught my eye and also I chose it because I wanted to learn something new about providing digital age learning experiences for students.

            The article/resource I read was the “Too cool for school? No Way!” article and learned some interesting things. I learned that TPACK means technological pedagogical and content knowledge.  It basically means learning to teach content of a classroom with technology that was not designed for a classroom; therefore re-purposing the technology is needed to be done. Some things that the article described as being re-purposed was things such as micro blogging, specialized search engines, and DJ software. One of the most interesting things I found was the DJ software because the students were taught to use the software to make music to describe and explain concepts of ratios and fractions. The DJ software is relevant to what I want to teach, which is mathematics.  In this article students were able to bring math alive with music, and I found this to be a very interesting way of teaching and learning. One thing I also learned from this article was to always set guidelines and instructions for students with any technology tools because without any guidelines it may become ineffective. In all, I will use these interesting programs and technologies I learned to help me through my future teaching in mathematics.