Adela

I think that in order to grade students on content and creativity, you have to give them the expectations ahead of time.  Just as the book states, you have to know where your students stand now.  How much do they already know about the content.  The best way to grade on content and creativity is to use a rubric.  In order for the students to be graded on content and creativity fairly, students should be given the expectations up front.  Students will not have any surprises and they will have a template to follow to know what is expected.  Everyone will be given the same criteria and expectations.  Everyone will be graded the same on content, but creativity will have to be based on the individual student.  You will have to look at all the projects to grade on creativity, and know the students.  How much effort, originality, and detail was put into the project.  The only way to do this is to know your students.  This is where you have to evaluate whether or not the student thought outside of the box.  Did they go above and beyond and used their own observations and speculations.  Did they just settle for the research or elaborate based on the visualizations? 

Multimedia is better than PowerPoint because it adds a little spice to classroom instruction.  PowerPoint presentations are great, but you can do so much more with multimedia resources.  When most people here PowerPoint presentation, they think of a slide show of basic text that they have to sit through and stay focused.  Using multimedia resources means the presentation can be exciting, interactive and interesting.  It can be diversified and made to adapt to any viewer.  Yes, PowerPoint can be cheaper, easier to update, and less time consuming.  Presentations using multimedia is more enthusiastic and like animated story telling.  You can use different software to create multimedia presentations to include PowerPoint.  It enhances the presentation so much.  The audience has a tendency to stay more focused and involved.  Mutlimedia resources allow the presenter to incorporate different scenes and different dynamics.  It liven things up a little and makes it a whole lot more interesting and a little less boring. 

I used the URL http://bestwebquests.com/ and went under the Business and Economics content area link for Middle Schools.  There was one webquest entitled Franchise.  I used the 6 elements webquest guide to critique this site.  

Website Name:  Franchise

http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/memorial/franchise/index.htm

URL:  http://bestwebquests.com/
Introduction

This project does encourage the students to use a higher order of thinking.  Not only do they have to do research, but they have to analyze and organize that research to make a decision and present it in a presentation to persuade others to follow their lead.  The layout is not eye catching.  There are very few graphics and no variation in layout.  I feel that the background interferes with the readability.  There are more than five links and they are throughout the webquest.  They are discussed in more detail in the resources section.  The introduction draws the reader and effectively prepares the students by foreshadowing what the project is about.

Task

This is a project incorporating a real world skill.  It is motivating, interesting, exciting, and aesthetic.  The task is related to standards and states what students must do to complete the project to standard.  The task require the students to analyze information, take a position, and present their information in such an appealing way that persuades others to jump on board with them.

Process

The steps are great and are very detailed.  The students are given different roles in the project.  There is an up to date link that helps to students with time management, group work, and collecting data.  The instructions are easy to follow.  The links to the information explaining franchises and business plans are not up to date.  It is good that the sample student business plan links do work so that the students can use the examples for models.  The outline does not work; therefore, they will have to create their own template. 

Resources

Again, the links for learning about franchises, the outline for a business plan, and the information on specific franchises do not work.  When you click on the links there is an error message or the website is not found.  They all appear to be relevant links and necessary for the project, but they are not accurate.  They may no longer be up to date.  

Evaluation Tool

The students will give a presentation to their classmates in an attempt to persuade them to choose their franchise.  There is a rubric given to make the students aware of the expectations of the teacher.  It provides guidance of what is needed to complete the project to standard.

Conclusion

The students are required to reflect back on what they have worked on.  The teacher gets feedback on the process to see how the students feel about it.  Again, they have to think about their feelings and express them here whether verbally or in writing.

WebQuest rubric:

I had never given my students and Internet Scavenger Hunt before, so that is what my Internet activity assignment is for this unit.  I am always giving them research projects, but I wanted to do something different this time.  I gave them a list of search engines to help them on the scavenger hunt.  The core curriculum areas of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies are integrated in the project.  In the project the students will use and evaluate a variety of search engines and use the Internet for research.  They have to use the search engines to find answers to some questions.  They have to fill in a chart that I created in Microsoft Word giving the answer to the question, the URL address where they found the answer, and the search engine used.  I will do this after I have taught them how to properly research on the Internet.  I have never used Boolean characters before, but now I know to incorporate them in my classroom discussion to help students narrow their search.  I tried this after reading Chapter Three, and it was amazing how much the results were narrowed in the search.  I could not believe it!  I know from experience how frustrating it can be to be researching something on the Internet and getting millions of results.  Who has time to look through all of the results they give.  Just skimming through can be time consuming.  I tested the scavenger hunt on my own two boys, and they thought the competition was great.  Scavenger hunts are so much fun. 

It is very important for presentations to be interactive with technology standards today.  You have to think about the reason for making the presentation:  to convey some valuable information.  You want to get this information across the most effective way possible.  Just as Chapter Six states, a “bad graphic design can destroy all of the hard work involved.”  In other words, it is not enough to just put out a lot of information, but you have to format that information in a way that is most effective on the viewers.  Just as the chapter states, “students learn better from words and pictures than words alone,” and they “learn better from animation and narration.”  An interactive presentation involves the students; thereby setting up an excellent opportunity for learning.  By creating a presentation with interaction, the students are able to see relationships among facts.  This helps them to remember facts better and understand the information more deeply.  Interactive presentations usually accomodate all types of learning styles because of the various formats used to present the information.  The more they interact with the same information, the more they are capable of learning.  They have more opportunities to memorize the information that they are organizing. 

I knew this class would be beneficial for me.  As I said before, my background is accounting so the computer skills that I have beyond the basics is what was self taught.  I have had classes in Word and Excel, but PowerPoint and Access I learned on my own.  I never thought of steps involved in creating a PowerPoint.  I have always just sat down and created the slides.  Now I can teach my students the correct way of creating a presentation, starting with the outline, concept map, storyboard, and then the screens and presentation.  An assignment that uses presentation software can be based on any topic.  It just involves putting the material into a visual format.  This can include importing graphics, animation, audio, video, cards, or screens.  When you do a paper, you were taught to create an outline first to organize your thoughts.  Think of presentations in the same way, but you are taking it a little bit further.  We have always been told that people learn better from visuals.  An assignment using presentation software is just a visual collection of information that the student has learned from his or her own research.  The student is gathering and organizing the information and working on presenting the information using different formats.  What better way to learn information than to interact with it in different formats.  The outline gave them a chance to write about the subject, the concept map gave them an opportunity to find pictures on it, and the storyboard gives them and opportunity to put a little animation to it.  The final presentation gives them the opportunity to review what they have learned and sum everything up.  In my class we would work on our first project together as beginning learners.  Being a middle school teacher for Richmond Public Schools, majority of my students need to work on creating outlines and most of them have never heard of and idea map.  I would do this assignment with my eighth grade students.  We will also do the storyboards together.  Each section will be a learning objective for my class.  First we will do the process together on learning about computers, the parts and how the computer works.  Then I can give the students a project to complete on their own with my guidance.  They will create a presentation with all the contexts using their birth date and the Internet.  They are to research to find out other people who share their birthday, world events that have taken place on that date, television shows and toys that were popular the year they were born.  They will use the information to create a presentation to include the outline, concept map, and storyboard, using graphics, animation, and videos. 

There were so many points in Chapter One that really hit home for me.  Being a career switcher, I have asked myself on several occasions “what I must know to teach with computers effectively?”  I teach computers at the middle school level, but I have an accounting background.  I was surprised when they wanted me to teach a computer class, but I guess they feel that business is business.  Yes, I have knowledge of computer software, but after teaching my first year I realized that I needed more.  That is why I chose this program.  Chapter One discusses the six foundational areas of competence recommended for teachers, and I had to stop and assess myself.  As far as technology operations and concepts, I am fairly advanced on the functions on each menu and can work through the Help resources to solve problems.  From trial and error, I have acquired the basic hardware troubleshooting knowledge.  That is one of my problems, everyone thinks I am an expert, but I learned from trial and error.  My first year also taught me that using technology effectively in the classroom does require more than basic computer skills.  This program has helped me to improve my learning environment with effective lessons; lessons that are challenging to my students and enable them to interact with me and expose them to new information.  Last year I actually sat down and created a curricullum guide for one of my classes, and I plan to use it this year as my instruction model.  I like the inductive-thinking model in the chapter, and I will keep those strategies in mind.  I never thought of the level of assessment of my students.  The Bloom’s Taxonomy is a great tool to use to assess my students.  Of course I will expect different levels for my different grades.  For example, I would expect my eighth grade students to be at a higher level than the sixth and seventh graders.  I am on top of the productivity and professional practice.  I created a web site for my class last year that I will link to the school web site.  Being the technology teacher, I do the data for the school in reference to scores.  I run the reports and pretty much handle the online testing process during the year.  These online courses I am taking have definitely helped me to become more effective in my classroom.  Being a computer teacher, all my students have access to a computer in the classroom.  Everyone has the same opportunities to learn.  We have rules and guidelines in regards to the Internet usage.  Yes, one or two students have broken the rules before, but there were consequences.  I look forward to being the best computer teacher I can be for my students, and I hope this class helps.

This article is so true!  I have said in previous classes that I am so jealous of surrounding school districts when it comes to technology resources.  I work for Richmond Public Schools, and yes I only just completed my my third year, but it appears that we are so much further behind the surrounding counties.  Am I wrong?  Yes, we get new computers every three years or so, yes we have LCD projectors, scanners, and other equipment.  But we have a lot of constraints put on everything in regards to security.  We just got Windows XP, we do not have access to Blackboard or Moodle.  Can you tell that I am frustrated?  We are expected to keep the students up to date with technology when we ourselves are behind.  All of our teachers do not have access to a computer at school.  This is a prime example of the 2006 Market Data Retrieval survey in the article.  I am currently working with our new principal to get new computers set up for teachers.  Every teacher should have a working computer in their classroom.  We do have four portable labs for teachers to use, but they do not like setting them up.  I am not available 24/7 to set up equipment.  I teach them how to do it, but they seem to forget after awhile.  Last year my students set up the portable labs in their core classes.  Look at Henrico issuing laptops to all students.    This year a lot of teachers are using online tools for students in core areas.  We only have a couple of teachers with their own web page.  I will be honest; I am just setting mine up this year.  It was never set up by the last teacher.  We do have the technology available,   but we get a lot of excuses.  But what can I expect?  Richmond’s technology plan does not exactly emphasize these advance technology resources; we are concentrating more on hardware and infrastructure.  Yeah, they plan to do something four years from now, but nothing specific.  For example, I tried an online course this year.  I think this would be great for classroom instruction.  According to our technology plan, online learning is not of great importance right now, but they are always emphasizing the integration of technology in the classroom.  Hello, what better way to integrate technology in the classroom than online courses?  Our plan definitely needs to be updated in lieu of the National Technology Plan.  As I have stated before, we are behind in many ways.  If we had blackboard that would be great!  Video conferencing would be another great technology resource in the classroom.  They can use video conferencing to work with other classrooms across the city, state, country or world.  This will help our students improve their learning and develop new skills by experiencing other means of instruction and meeting other people.  This is a way to accommodate all learning styles and share ideas.  Teachers could learn from other teachers and students can learn from other students.  Not only would it be a great learning experience, but it would be a great way to meet other cultures.  Teachers could share the work load sort of speak.  They always say that two minds are better than one.  Integrating videoconferencing in the classrooms would be just like have a partner teaching the class.  One teacher may be able to explain a particular topic better.  Being a business teacher, I would love to have video conferencing in my classroom.  I would be able to video conference with businesses in our community, and maybe set up mock interviews with companies through video conferencing.  I do not think that there is enough emphasis on this aspect of educating the students.  I feel that by being in this program makes me an innovator in my school and by completing the course ant the project requirements is my way of getting started.  When this is done, I plan to incorporate my course learnings in  my classroom instruction one way or another.  I have spoken with the principal and she agreed to let me link to our school website and add some things.  I encourage teachers to use textbook online resources.  Even though the plan does not emphasize online learning right now, we are charging into the future with technology at Elkhardt Middle School.  As you can see, reading this article just made me blabber on and on.

Computers are my content area, so I have an unlimited number of technology tools that I can use.  I have been teaching for three years now, and my students have accessed the World Wide Web (WWW), used search engines, participated in online courses, read and posted messages to the Moodle site, prepared and presented multimedia reports, and took quizzes via e-mail. The students, many of whom were nontraditional, quickly became quite interested in communicating with other classmates and students at other schools.  One thing that I would like to do is tape class sessions so they could be viewed by absentees or students with disabilities who might be unable to attend class sessions in person.  My eighth grade students set up email accounts at the beginning of the school year, and we used e-mail to send assignments, thereby allowing students with special needs, less aggressive individuals, and nontraditional students to take part fully in class discussions on an equal footing.  Some students emailed their assignments from home, using a private service provider such as AOL, Comcast, or Verizon.  Online quizzes that were emailed were returned directly to me for grading.  I was then able to give students immediate feedback on quiz grades and responses to assignments. I was available during class to answer any questions, but after the students became familiar with email, many would communicate with me that way too.  Last year the students did a telecollaborative project with another Middle School, and they really enjoyed it.  The online courses helped my more advanced students, because they could go as fast as they want without affecting the class.  The less advance students on the other hand worked with confidence because they did not feel like they were slowing anyone down.  I was able to give negative and positive feedback on an individual basis as well as a group basis.