Chapter 3: Application Software Productivity Tools for Educators

Chapter 3 begins covering the different operating systems available for today's computing needs. Though many people are most familiar with Windows (being the most used operating system in the world), others include Mac OS, Mac OS X, UNIX, and Linux. Each of these brings their own unique aspects of how the computer goes about running application software. I have been working with Windows XP since it came out in 2001, and would like to someday soon upgrade to Vista to see everything it has to offer along with the changes it brings. Something I found interesting was the note taking software. I knew things such as Tablet PCs existed, however I did not know how prevalent they were in today's schools. I would have loved to have something such as that to take notes in during my K-12 experience! Hopefully by the time I become a teacher and the years thereafter, technology will have progressed enough to make note taking software like this mainstream among nearly all schools across America. One thing that chapter 3 talks about that I look forward to learning is the grade book software. Each of my teachers utilized some sort of grade book program and I was always amazed at how easy and organized it made each student's grades appear.

Since my last posting, I learned how to do a lot more with Word in terms of visual items. By working on the newsletter and just playing around with some of the things Word does, I found myself learning new and exciting things. As a teacher, I plan on doing some sort of newsletter during the school year and found this past assignment to be very useful. I especially liked the idea of placing a shape behind all the other items on the newsletter on top of a colored background to make a professional, clean looking newsletter. By just doing that small feature, my newsletter had that extra bit of "kick" that it needed.

This class has already taught me a lot more than I thought it would. I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable when it comes to computers, but that comes to show you just how much there is to know! I don't think it's possible for anyone to really know everything! There's just so much! After talking to my Dad (a computer programmer at a hospital back home in Jacksonville) about everything I've learned, I realized even more how much more there is out there. I've always loved learning interesting new things… I don’t think I have to worry about that not happening in this class!

Chapter 1: Integrating Educational Technology into the Curriculum

Overall, I feel that Chapter 1 was very informative in giving a general overview of computers today, what they were in the past, their versatility, and how and why they are used in the classroom and education in general today. The chapter starts out by reminding us of the everyday things in which we utilize technology and how technology is "establishing new learning environments by incorporating new strategies," i.e. going from single media to multimedia, etc. It later continues on with descriptions of what the computer is, what it does, and a general overview of "the computer" as we know it. I do feel, however, that as prevalent as computers and technology are in our daily lives that this part of the chapter was a little tedious. Though most people may not be able to work a computer flawlessly (myself included), I do feel that most people are able to properly identify a printer, keyboard, mouse, etc. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the book featured the iPhone as one of its examples. To me, this is an indicator that the book is "practicing what it preaches" by keeping up with the ever-changing times of technology. This chapter tells us that using technology in the classroom helps in terms of motivation, and actually contributes to a greater attention span of the students. With proper use, computers can support communications beyond classroom walls, which I believe is a great part of technology as a whole. The book also outlines a program titled the "National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers" (NETS-T). This sets standards for the fundamental concepts, knowledge, skills, etc. for applying technology in K-12. It also sets standards for administrators and students as well. I see this as a great way to keep teachers up to date on the constantly updated aspects of technology, so that they are able to pass their new knowledge onto their students. Another part of the chapter that caught my attention was the ARCS Motivational Model. According the model, "teachers should strive to create a deeper motivation in learners to learn new skills." I agree very much with this model as a current student myself. I know from personal experience that if I am not motivated to learn something, it's probably not going to happen.

Something I learned since my last posting was to create links to not only websites in my documents and presentations, but other documents on my computer as well. I think that this will be very useful in terms of showing a class a PowerPoint, and being able to bring up a past essay done by a previous student (while the student remains nameless) as an example for a current project. I also learned how to change the text wrapping on a picture or graphic to be able to move it wherever I needed it, instead of only moving it to the limited spaces it allowed me to move it before. It's the little things like this that I think will add up to make the biggest difference in what I learn overall in this class.

Although I've taken many computer classes before, it's like the old saying goes... if you don't use it, you lose it. I've found that to be especially true in terms of programs such as Publisher, PowerPoint, and Excel that I don't utilize as much as programs like Word. I think that this class will help me brush up on things I already know, and teach me many new things to use once I have my own class. In terms of my future career, I hope to teach in the middle school or high school private schools, preferably the Catholic schools... even despite the pay cuts. Throughout my K-12 experience, I attended Catholic schools and was able to incorporate my faith into my everyday schooling. Hopefully, when I become a teacher, I will be able to do the same for my students. :)

My First Blog...

Throughout my four years of high school, I continually took computer classes to be able to keep up with not only my classmates, but overall technology as well. I went from general word processing, to PowerPoint and Excel, to designing my own website. Although at first it was a little boring, I eventually started to become more and more interested in what the "world of computers" (as my Dad calls it...) actually had to offer.

Not to sound like a nerd, but I'm actually really excited about this class. Once I begin teaching, one of my main goals is to not be one of those teachers that kids hate going to class with. I want to be a teacher they can not only learn a subject from, but one with whom they can learn how to interact well with the outside world as well. With everything technology has to offer (such as blogging) what better way to start that teaching by utilizing tools such as the internet and programs like Power Point. With this class, I hope to learn fun ways to use technology to keep my future students interested. I hope to sharpen what I already know, and grasp any new knowledge thrown my way.

After taking the "Learning Styles" test, I found that I am fairly balanced between an active and a reflective learning (scoring a 3 toward the reflective side). I am a bit more of a sensing learner than intuitive (scoring a 5 toward the sensing side). I am much more of a visual learner than verbal (scoring a 9 toward the visual side). Finally, I found that I am fairly balanced between sequential and global learners (scoring a 1 toward the sequential side). After reading the descriptions of the types of learners, I found most of my results to be true. I do like to color code my notes so that everything of related topics is of the same color, map things out outlining key points and do not gain a particularly great understanding of concepts by doing group homework or studying (as a visual learner would not, according to the test). All in all, the test reaffirmed what type of learner I thought I was.