application reviews

Well the first application that caught my eye was zoho, presentation is everything. I found it easy to look at and locate and determine where i was going and what it contained right from the beginning versus some of the other applications that i had to scout around to see where i needed to go to get the necessary information. It just seemed like there was so much available maybe it was just how everything was lined up in columns and labeled and you could see what was there. After i started looking around it reminded me of some other programs that i might have used already. For instance the zoho writer looked alot like windows applications and what was available through windows. Although it offered everything windows has to offer, at least that is what it looked like, it seemed to offer more, like the zoho share tab where you can go in and look at different content and profiles, etc. There were also the chat and bloggers that windows doesn't offer in there programs, but again everything in there looked like windows but compiled all in one program where as with windows you have to buy the different products to get everything like you would have to buy windows office, or quickbooks, or other programs to create databases and invoices or browse the marketplace. I liked the meeting tab that would really be useful in having a central meeting with everyone involved through the internet, that made me say wow....

So i wanted to look at one of the photo editing options rather than another office suite. I glanced at all three of them and found fotoflexer the most appealing, again not knowing how good one is more than the other i look to the one that seems the most user friendly and go from there.
The first thing i noticed was how it is compatible with myspace and facebook and other social pages that most students would know about. I also liked how it had the different tabs to locate what you needed or wanted to do with your pictures, such as effects or retouching. I like the doodle tab it had so many options to play with. Being experienced with kodak share and an avid scarpbooker i really liked these photo editing programs better than the ones i am use to. The adding sticker feature was just like scrapbooking online......and the shape tab was the same idea that created enhancements to the pictures it was real tantalizing. I would definitely download this one.

R/D13

My favorite activity this semester was maintaining the blog itself. I think having to work with it through out the semester makes it easier to try and figure it out. Having to learn something new, doing it, getting it done, and leaving it behind tends to be more likely to forget about than if you continue to use something. I feel more comfortable with the blogger and seeing others pages and what mine could look like makes it seem more achievable. The blogger was intimidating at first until you dig in and get your hands dirty and move around a bit. So in turn the blogger was made to use all the activities and made it more interesting in using it because you could see all the capabilities that were possible with the page where as if we weren't required to do anything with the page it would seem like a useless tool.

The application of Artificial Intelligence seems really interesting and "neat". So in turn it is almost replacing the teacher? omgosh that is not good for us.......it states that its frameworks are viewed as highly interactive, computer-based instructional environments whose goal is to actively guide learners toward achieving expertise within a given content area, isn't that what a teacher is for? Its great that its ability to accurately diagnose learning errors by matching error patterns to predefined models of novice performance and to tailor subsequent instructional activities so that learner performance more closely matches that of the expert model. But i'm sure there will be people questioning what is a novice and what makes the expert model right. I like the idea only because it can give the extra assistance a student may need such as a tutor that may be hired during struggling points of a students learning.

R/D12

Well, you were right when you said this chapter was somewhat complex. I had to keep going back over and over to weed through the concepts and break down the meanings. Myself i need visuals to help grasp concepts that are new to me, games and thematic treatments are a good reinforcement to the visuals. And when i combine audio with the visual its even better so I think one method goes with the other hand in hand and its hard to distinguish individually between the others in choosing just two ways to improve instructional design work. As the book states "Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone" (p.63). In my previous experience the students i was interning with had a tutorial they used to enhance their math skills. The students would use this tutorial visually on the computer but also be listening with headphones to enhance their abilities in answering the needed information. I do encourage the use of audio and visual at the same time but would be cautious as not to use to much of either one. I noticed that on some of the answers and praising of the correct answers there were a lot of animation used and felt this was sometimes distracting to the students when trying to stay on course and maintain focus on the lessons. I also would try to incorporate simulations into my design methods, to incorporate motor skills and the freedom to interact as they please.

screen cast article potential uses

The first thing that came to mind was science and using it as a tutorial. I love science but when it came time to do the experiments in chemistry class it took me forever, i would have to read and re-read the directions to try and comprehend the different chemicals, tools, measurements and steps to do things in. A tutorial would be a good example of how to produce the end results for the specific experiment. I think this would be a good way for students to advance in science that struggle with reading materials and big bulky chemistry lab workbooks. I would give the students a hands on experiment to do after watching the tutorial (screencast) of the activity and what was expected at the end.

website/google page creator activity

http://sites.google.com/site/edt5410tlawson/

I would use this website as a facilitator to my class. I would like students and parents alike to be able to access my website and see the different things going on in our classroom. I would post weekly assignments, announcements, extra credit assignments, and homework that the students would be responsible for. I would post different dates that were coming up such as a monthly or weekly calender depending on how busy each month was. Depending on the grade I would post weekly activity schedule such as extra curricular activities, everything that a parent would want to know and could find out. I would want this to be used to answer any questions the parents might have in regards to their child or our class and use a phone call as a last result, only to save us all time. I would always make myself available though through phone, fax, and web links such as email through the website itself. I would also have a place for chats and comments. We had to make a similar activity in a previous technology class that used the dreamweaver program, which i found very user friendly.

R/D11

Well after reading this chapter i wasn't left wondering about my competencies i was left wondering if i would be capable of landing a job due to lack of competencies due to lack of certification and/or training. I feel that i can always do anything i put my mind to, but will i not be competent because of lack of definition in my job title or certifications. How can we know where were going if our past is so unclear, how can there be such a big discrepancy in defining technology professionals. I mean i don't by all means have enough education to call myself certified but how do i know what i'm working toward when the definitions keep getting changed and i will never feel confident in the title i may one day hold due to uncertainty. There is always room for improvement and that is why i am seeking additional certification and taking these technology classes, but after reading this chapter i'm worried that my additional certification won't mean anymore than what i already have. What will set me apart from an ordinary teacher without technology certifications? So i guess this question leads me into my own answer. I would need to improve and develop my performance-oriented skills. I always thought academically vs. performance oriented, i guess my performance as a teacher will still be geared toward academics but focusing more on my performance and how i bring my teaching skills across. What this means to me is that i would be more affective by the way i teach not what i teach. If a student doesn't learn or retain what is being taught it wont matter what is being taught. I don't know but I think the responsibilities of all three professions should be the same i don't know how they can define one as one way and another a different way. So as an instructional designer you must be honest and fair inall facets of one's work and as a training manager commit time and effort to the development of the profession, but not be honest and fair? Why would they state one requirement for one profession but not for the other i would hope that all three professionals would be honest and fair in all facets of one's work.

R/D10

There are a lot of similarities in all 3 context areas as in needing some type of change. All three areas seem to agree that instructional design is not perfect and needs to change whether it is in business, p-12 education, or higher education. All three seem to try and focus on management and facilitating smooth integration of timelines and teamwork. I know i have even experienced some of the change that has come about, from working individually to working in a group. This was hard for me because i am a very independent person and have trouble learning new ways. I admit i don't like to disagree so i usually go along with others ideas and try to give a working chance. I know working with a group will only enhance the procedure and work of the outcome. Trying to keep up with the ever changing literature and educational theories and practices can be so demanding in itself so having more than one head to put to use only helps keep everyone more up to date. I like some of the ideas that were stated in the Brenda Litchefield paragraph. The fact that she surveys new faculty at the beginning of the to plan her workshops accordingly. And she meets regularly with faculty individually to analyze what they know about teaching and what they need to know. How she sends out faculty "teaching tips" dealing with her experiences over the years. I think all these things would help in my place of business where we all have different shifts and its hard to always talk face to face. It feels like we are playing phone tag with messages and this hard when you have parents that have issues that need to be dealt with and you werent the person handling the intial concern. Having regularly schedule meetings to analyze things would help along with the faculty 'teaching tips' that could be used as fyi's in our case.

Map Activity for My Students

I would have the students design the perfect school. I would ask them to think about what they would want in their school and how they would construct it. They would then need to think about the location of there school depending on what the school consist of. The students will need to think about what location would best benefit their type of school will their school be based on athletics, academics, agriculture, extracurricular activities, etc. and where will the location best benefit their needs. The students will have to figure out ways their students will get to their school will it be an urban setting suburban setting will their students be bused into school will they all be in walking distance, etc. Is one way better than the other how will each decision make their school prosperous, by showing the better alternatives on their map.
View My new school in a larger map

R/D9

-The technology that i have experienced in this course so far has been a challenge but also doable. Iam glad i have had the opportunity to work with these technology-related tasks and having the experience will give me the confidence to use them or try to use them within my teaching strides. Some were frustrating but as long as you sit down and take your time and work through them they have all been achievable. I have gotten all the support i have needed there has never been a time that i needed something and didn't get a response for it. Well i will say i was a bit surprised that taking 5420 first had me a little be naive when it came to this course there were alot more tasks and work involved in these few shorts weeks than there was in the whole course it was more a read and relate and discuss about technology. Dont get me wrong we did have to do some hands on things in the class but this one is way more intense, i don't know if it was meant to be like that or not. I don't think you should change a thing it is a great introduction to a lot of different tools.

R/D8

-My last answer led me right into the beginning of this chapter. "The field of instructional design and technology is focused on improving learning and performance. Learning and performance typically occur within organizations (systems), including school districts, universities, businesses, government institutions, and others." This is exactly what i was trying to say when saying that using technology to the maximum capabilities to have work flow with ease between coworkers and administration. It just seems like someone is always talking about 'needs and future directions'. Is there an educator out there that doesn't realize that districtwide ecological systemic improvement is not only needed, but doable? And then to say that an important need is for policymakers on state and national levels to realize that there is the need for and nature of ecological systemic transformation of school districts, Do they not already know this? We can always talk about different ways of doing it but when are we going to do it? Finances and knowledge always seem to be the key factors either there isnt enough money or people dont know enough about it to do it. There is always some test that was done or some test that was done or some system that a school district tried out to see how it would work. There is always an article or some information on these things and the same results, some worked, some didnt', and we all know we need to do something about it but still continue in the same vicious cycle. Who or when is going to change it who or when is going to take the technology that we have and use it to turn around our districts.

R/D7

-Well once again this is touching on a subject that is very discouraging for a lot of people, technological advancement in the work place. As this chapter states "Employees who are kept from receiving training that will promote them to a different job may have a basis for litigation." But how many people really want to learn, i think most of the people are scared of change and walk away from the opportunity to learn or re-learn new methods of getting the same work done. This leads me to talk about the next paragraphs in the book labeled information technology. The office use to consist of a simple typewriter and paper. I worked in an office that had data processors that we had to type are legal descriptions on and were forced to switch a main network which compiled all our work into one system so that we could cross reference each others files. In the long run it made the office run so much smoother but the transition was so frustrating and a lot of us put up a fight. All of our work fits into the project management category also. Where we had an office manager that kept track of all our files and double checked our work we no longer needed her. The computer could keep track of all our files and double check our work so all the hard copies were to be filed in the basement. Of course the office manager through a fit, but in the long run we as a team could produce more work and better quality of work which in turn produced more revenue for the company and allowed us raises. So although instructional design/technology may see frustrating or mind boggling at first i do believe it will have its benefits if used in the best of ways or the best of intentions. Regardless if in an office setting, or a classroom or administration building it would help all involved to be intertwined to allow for the maximum flow of information and ease within the work place.

map

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R/D6

-This answer is where i left off in reflection 5 stating that some of our society might fall behind or slip through the cracks if they are not technologically advanced. As the book states in chapter 14 "as the knowledge and performance capabilities of populations improve so, too, do the economic successes of countries and their peoples" so if we dont improve will our success not improve either? I believe most of the six major categories of variables affecting are performance we are already incorporating into our lessons anyway. As a teacher i know i always look to what will stimulate my students into wanting to learn and than try to address what responses they will come up with which in turn affects the consequences or the outcome of the lessons and leads us to the next step. Do we continue or re-teach did the students get it or we need to re-analyze what we did. The individual knowledge, capacity, and motives would come into play at how we adapt or adjust our teaching and planning for future lessons. hpt/hpi is just a shorter easier way to say we are re-evaluating our lessons and students and seeing where we need to go next with our teaching.

R/D5

-you can see how far technology has already come and i dont think it is planning on slowing down just because we might be afraid of it or unsure about it. It certainly has made its way into not only the home, the workforce, but the school systems also. Beside the advancement on the computer itself from coming along way from a non-movable large floor model to a portable device that is smaller than some purses i have. The internet and world wide web will impact and affect all ages of learning. K-12 has been impacted by influencing when teachers introduce students to the computer. Children in pre-school are now learning how to use basic computer skills in order to take advantage of programs that are offered on the internet,whereas i wasn't introduce to a computer until middle school. High school students are able to perform much more in depth and detailed learning and research projects as to before doing all the leg work by hand took weeks to accomplish. Higher Education students such as ourselves are now able to advance in their education due to advancement through computers, internet, and the WWW, whereas before we would have to drive to campus to get the education we were seeking. There is not just one aspect of education and business that is not affected by a computer and/or the internet, etc. There are down falls to everything and such downfalls that one might say is that the students might not be able to go into a library and know how to pull information if it is not available on a computer, the physical work of 'work' is vanishing fast and those of us or are future students that haven't been exposed to it will fall short, or will they? On the other hand older adults entering the worforce might have more of a problem if they havent been exposed to the new technology and only know how to use the long hand approach to working, versus the technological side of things.

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static image - joshua getting ready to bat

R/D4

-Photo sharing would be a good way to incorporate explanations, definitions, information in an educational activity or unit just like a student would use slide shows in other programs they could use the photosharing website in some of the same ways. The concerns i would have with students using this would be the inappropriate pictures that may be produced or shown on some of the websites and knowing where to draw the line as a teacher or a student.

-I had to become familiar with the addie format for developing some other lesson plans i have had to create and in turn found that most of the time we were already doing this systematic approach to our lesson plans without even knowing it. The steps of any process seem to fall into design most of the time anyway.

R/D3

-Social bookmarking seems to be a really good device for keeping track of research. I know there has been times I thought for sure i would be able to remember a site and go back to it numerous times and in turn couldn't remember it or find it for the life of me. I would definitely see myself using social bookmarking and trying to incorporate it into my classroom lesson plans for my students. Social bookmarking could also lend a hand in partner work on school projects, homework, etc. for students trying accomplish the best scenario's for their work. Students would be able to work together and share ideas and compare research at home without leaving there desk. The article on social bookmarking did raise some good points that would have me concerned in letting the students use this. Not only the students but anyone in general could fall into anyone of the downfalls of the social bookmarking world. If we are amateurs at this and not find out the proper usage of the technology we could make it more work than what it is worth, that would be my only concern.

-The definitions of educational technology was first introduced to me in edt5420 and the definition in the chapter we had to read was very difficult, if you will, to follow i found myself reading the chapter over numerous times. For lack of better words the definition seems to be very 'technical' and formal with a lot of big words. I am glad that the book definition states that over the years more attention has been given to the noninstructinoal solutions to performance problems. And that the two sets of practices formed the core of the field. I think there is still work that needs to be done on the definition in order to guide us as teachers in the field.

R/D2

-Well I first was introduced to the blogger last semester when i got a week and a half into 5420 and had to withdraw due to financial aid problems. So After the initial setup i thought it was ok, but now that i'm having to figure out more and more it seems a little difficult, especially after seeing some of my classmates blogs that look so much more interesting or sophisticated than mine....they look like my 'myspace or facebook pages. I just can't seem to navigate around this blogger as easy as i did facebook or myspace....i'm still trying though...the others' pages have inspired me to keep improving mine. Oh and this RSS things has got me boggled...i mean if i had hours on end to sit down and study the websites and information on the rss i probably wouldnt be so frustrated...but i work 9-5 at the y all day with kids and have two of my own and recently have came into 2 step sons and now have one baby on the way so all i want to do is sleep lol....I am looking forward to figuring it out though i love technology even though i find it frustrating.

-well i think the blog is lower on the cone than the rss because the rss you really only have to look and read or keep up with so your less active in this case so the student would be further removed from doing aspect of the cone. The blog you have to post things, write, interact with and are more actively involved. Although they both involved some learning by doing they probably would be in the bottom three components of the cone.

-I could definitely relate to this article and the concept of falling asleep at the keyboard, although i never have really fell asleep but lord knows i have felt like it and if it was comfortable i probably would have. Just like i stated before regarding my blog site, i thought that this was a pretty boring concept, until i seen some of my classmates blogs. I am truly surprised at what some of you guys have accomplished with your blogs they look great just the article talks about 'eye candy' and i would definitely want to introduce this idea to my students. It would be a great way to keep the whole class involved outside of the classroom. I believe this would allow for more classroom time that was not allotted for before because of the research and work that would have to be done during class time and resource availability, with the blogger the students could use each other as resources as each would link their rss feeds to their blogs and use these as informational tools and ways to keep in touch like a real live class room. These blogs could be used like virtual classroom almost and than allow teachers to use real time or class time for other hands ons activities that could not be worked on through the computer aspect of things. I think the students would catch on pretty fast and be interested in what they could do with the blogs just like a 'myspace page' that is not educational, but entertainment based, whereas the blog would keep their attention but benefit the teacher and classrooms all around. The kids would forget they were even doing work, hopefully, like computer imagination.

R/D1 - week 1 reflection

When i first seen this article i knew it right away i had used it as a reference in Edt 5420 on one of my papers. Plus the example of the car salesman was so hard to forget...the question "What is the problem to which something is the answer?" The two articles i found go hand in hand for example in the Technos Quarterly it is stated that the only reason he would be against technology is "They divert the intelligence and energy of talented people from addressing the issues we need most to confront." So with that being said the Beyond Technology article stated "The Technology Integration movement generally focuses implicitly on how to use technology to support the way teaching is currently done in the schools. But perhaps there would be greater leverage if we invest in finding ways that technology can TRANSFORM the way we teach, ways that technology can allow us to teach that weren't feasible before." - I couldn't agree more...why use technology to do the same thing we are already doing without technology we should be using it to enhance, transform, change, add to what we already know how to do without the technology available to us...what purpose would it have if it didnt allow us to do these things? We need a transformation not just assistance in teaching and this is what the reason behind technology should be...i think.I also love the idea of a "Learning-focused educational system that offers customization rather than standardization." The first thing that came to mind when I looked at Table 2 in the Beyond Technology Article was that it sounded like IEP's, IEP's for every student! It sounds like a lot of work and as stated in the article "New information technologies that make it possible not just to support the ways in which we have traditionally taught, but to create an entirely new paradigm of education - the learning-focused paradigm-which can provide a quantum improvement in our ability to meet those new educational needs."