Course Reflection

The journey that I’ve taken throughout this semester in Computers in Education, IT 645 has been amazing. I’ve taken a number of online courses but never have I taken one that was as organized and effectively planned as this course. The format of the course made taking this class online very easy. Everything needed to be successful in this course was readily available on the course site. IT 645 offered the opportunity to explore the proper usage of technology within education. As a result I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge as it pertains to the use of technology in education.

Blog

I really enjoyed this portion of this course. The various functions offered to create the blog, such as layout, font and inserting links were very useful in making it look professional. Due to my past experiences using www.blogger.com creating the blog for this course was very easy. Even though I’d previously used blogger there were many functions that I had not had the opportunity to fully utilize. This course offered several opportunities to use each and every component available in blogger. For example in my past creations of blogs I was never required to link anything to the blog. As a result of taking this course now I have a lot of experience with linking documents within the blog.

The chapter reflections provided insight into specific topics and issues that were presented in the textbook. Reading and commenting on the blogs of our peers provided another point of view on the material in the textbook. I would use blogging in my classroom in as a bell ringer, in which students would be required to comment daily on a current event.

Threaded Discussion & Listserv

The threaded discussions offered a great form of unified communication. I loved the way we were able to view the thoughts of other students. There were times when I may have had a question about a topic that another student had already asked. I found this to be very useful form of clarification. The listserv was fairly easy to create. But I didn’t find it as useful as some of the other online tools.

Podcast & Video Clip

The podcast and video clips to me were a form a lecture that is often not offered in online courses. It provided visual and auditory learners with the visual and audio portion of a traditional class setting. Each of these tools provided the additional information and instruction needed in an online course. I feel that these items were essential to the completion of many of the assignments.

Hands on Projects

We were required to complete a number of hands on projects in this course. All of the projects challenged my creative abilities and introduced new tools. I learned how to create a variety of items that will be helpful in my classroom. By using these tools in my classroom I will be able to complete all required administrative tasks with ease. The prompt manner in which Dr. Wang responded to our projects with constructive criticism also aided in the successful completion of this course.

Week 13 : Chapter 11 & 12 , Question #1

1. What are the legal, social, and ethical issues arising in the Digital Age? Summarize each.

The Internet and the World Wide Web have grown rapidly from a research project into something that involves millions of people worldwide. Much of the Internet's usefulness comes from the fact that it is shared by users, service providers, and others, in the sense that each depends on the other and needs to support the other. Hopefully, that sort of sharing and respect will continue. Your behavior, your expectations for others, and your activities will make the difference.
"It is important to realize that the Web is what we make it. 'We' being the people who read, the people who teach children how to surf the Web, the people who put information up on the Web. Particularly the people who make links.... The Web doesn't force anything down your throat. If you are worried that your children are going to read low-quality information, teach them. Teach them what to read. Teach them how to judge information." Tim Berners-Lee (Scientific American Dec 97)

Privacy and Civil Liberties
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was formed in 1990 to, among other things, bring issues dealing with civil liberties related to computing and telecommunications technology to the attention of the public at large, legislators, and court and law enforcement officials. As a nonprofit public interest organization, EFF maintains collections of files and documents.

Email Privacy
When you send a message by e-mail, the message is broken into packets and the packets are sent out over the Internet. The number of packets depends on the size of the message. Each message has the Internet address of the sender (your address) and the address of the recipient. Packets from a single message may take different routes to the destination, or may take different routes at different times. This works well for the Internet and for you since packets are generally sent through the best path depending on the traffic load on the Internet, the path doesn't depend on certain systems being in operation, and all you have to give is the address of the destination. The packets making up an e-mail message may pass through several different systems before reaching their destination. This means there may be some places between you and the destination where the packets could be intercepted and examined. One example of a law to ensure the privacy of e-mail is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) passed in 1986 by Congress.

Intellectual Property and Copy Right
The notion of ownership of something, whether it has a physical form, does still make sense as intellectual property. There are a number of laws and agreements throughout the world to protect intellectual property rights. The right to copy or duplicate materials can be granted only by the owners of the information. This is called the copyright. Many documents on the Internet contain a statement that asserts the document is copyrighted and gives permission for distributing the document in an electronic form, provided it isn't sold or made part of some commercial venture. Even items that don't contain these statements are protected by the copyright laws of the United States, the Universal Copyright Convention, or the Berne Union. Most of the copyright conventions or statutes include a provision so that individuals may make copies of portions of a document for short-term use. If information is obtainable on the Internet, and there is no charge to access the information, it often can be shared in an electronic form. That certainly doesn't mean you can copy images or documents and make them available on the Internet, or make copies and share them in a printed form with others. Quite naturally, many of the folks who create or work at providing material available on the Internet, expect to get credit and be paid for their work.

Ethical Issues
One of the most significant ethical issues is the freedom of speech and the Internet. The content on the Internet is not regulated and , as a result, does contain materials that are objectionable and inappropriate for children.

Week 12: Story & Listserv

Creating the listserv was a breeze but the video was very challenging for me. There were so many things that went wrong with this project. For one I just bought a laptop which has Window Live Movie Maker on it. It seemed to be easier to use than the regular Windows Movie Maker but I couldn’t figure out how to add the audio. So then I ended up having to start all over on my older computer. Once I started using the computer I was used to I had better luck. Check out my movie. My listserv is http://groups.google.com/group/hdrummonds.

Week 11: Chapters 9 & 10, Question # 3

3. What is distance education? What types of support are critical to the success of distance education? Why?

According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, distance education or distance learning is the delivery of instruction to students who are separated from their teacher by time and / or location. Distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason including the taking of examinations is considered to be hybrid or blended course of study. This emerging technology is becoming widely used in universities and institutions around the globe. With the recent trend of technological advance, distance learning is becoming more recognized for its potential in providing individualized attention and communication with students internationally.

Distance education provides major benefits to at least three main markets or categories, such as:

• Expanding access: Distance education can reach underserved populations of students who cannot attend a school that offers the educational services they desire, perhaps because they live to far away.

• Cost reduction: Distance education can turn production of content into a repeatable and durable learning tool that does not require as much infrastructure. As most material can be packaged in an easy to deliver “just-in-time” format, the expanding payroll of educational institutions become unnecessary.

• Emerging market opportunities: Distance education fuels the public’s need for lifelong learning in education by providing access to learners not in the traditional k – 12 age group.

• Adapting to new technology and environments: Educational institutions may adopt distance education as a means to adapt to the rapid changes in technology being used in education today.

The types of support technologies used in the delivery of distance education that are critical to its success are divided into two groups: synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous distance education is a mode of instruction in which all participants are “present” at the same time. Although typically not in the same place generally require a timetable to be organized. Web and video conferencing, and internet chat are examples of synchronous support technologies. Asynchronous distance education is a time shifted mode of instruction in which participants access course materials on their own schedule. Students and teachers are not required to be together at the same time. Message board forums, e-mail and recorded video are examples of asynchronous support technologies.

Week 10 : Website

I really enjoyed creating this website!!! It was much easier than I expected. The possibilites are endless. Creating internal and external links didn't take nearly as much hassle as Dreamweaver. The need to know html codes / language was also eliminated. Anyone can create a website using goolge sites. Click here to view my website.

Week 8: Webtools

This assignment was very interesting. While creating the various products I learned a lot of valuable information. The information that I obtained will definitely be used in my classroom. I had no idea that these tools existed. Using these tools makes creating interactive puzzles, online quizzes, rubrics for various projects and trackstars a piece of cake! Trackstar is amazing,which made it my favorite project from this assignment.This is a great resource for teachers and students to use. From looking at the example the assignment looked very hard. After viewing the tutorial and getting further into the assignment I found it be very easy. Though creating the puzzle and quiz were easy I had somewhat of a problem saving them in google docs. After several attempts I thought I'd found a solution, which involved exporting the bookmarks and saving them to my desktop. Once I saved them to my desktop I uploaded them to google docs as links. This still was correct. After viewing the tutorial Dr. Wang provided I finally got it right (I hope). Click on the links below and let me know what you think.

Webtools:
Rubric
Puzzle
Quiz, Answer Sheet
Trackstar

Week 7: Chapter 7 & 8, Question 2

2. What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous communication? Name and describe the Internet communication tools that fall into each category.

Asynchronous communication allows collaboration between two or more parties without all parties involved being present at the same time. Most communication between devices with computers and between computers and external devices fall into this category. Through asynchronous communication people are able to connect together at each person's own convenience and schedule. Though communication often becomes very impersonal, it provides the opportunity to properly analyze the message and think about a meaningful response. Asynchronous tools are useful in sustaining dialogue and other valuable information that can easily be accessed, day or night. One advantage of these tools is the ability to involve people from multiple time zones. They are also helpful in tracking the history of group interactions. Some examples of these tools and their uses are listed below:

Email Messages (most popular): One-to-one or one-to-many communication, acts as a virtual post office box

Discussion Boards: Dialogue that takes place over a period of time

Blogging: Sharing ideas and comments

According to Lever - Duffy and McDonald, “Synchronous communication is a method of communicating in which the participants interact at the same time or in real time." Real time refers to sensing and responding to external events nearly simultaneously with their occurrence. All parties involved must be present in order for communication to take place. Participants are able to receive an immediate response but lack time to think about their response. It allows collaboration in a same time different place mode. This creates a communication challenge for participants in different time zones or with conflicting schedules. In addition, they tend to be costly due to the extra equipment required (speakers, microphone, webcam, etc). Some examples of these tools and their uses are listed below:

Web conferencing: Sharing presentations and information

Instant messaging: Ad hoc quick communication

Chat: Information sharing of low-complexity issues (public or private)

Video conferencing: Live voice and video messages

Week 6 : Using Productivity Software

Due to my background using PowerPoint, Excel and Word completing this assignment was fairly easy. Of the three projects I found the PowerPoint to be the most time consuming. But overall I enjoyed brushing up on skills I haven’t used in nearly a year. I look forward to completing other projects as this class progresses.

Prior to taking this class my experience using Google Docs to create and share various documents was very minor. This assignment provided me with an opportunity to explore other aspects of Google Docs. It took me a while to figure out how to link these projects to my blog, but soon found I was overlooking a simple step. Hopefully I linked the assignments correctly.

Project Links:

PowerPoint Quiz

Flyer

Excel Grade Sheet

Week 5: Chapter 5 & 6, Question # 1

1. What is productivity software? How can it be adapted to benefit teaching and learning? What are the advantages and features of electronic spreadsheets? How do you see them as a benefit in an educational environment?

There are a variety of administrative educational tasks that teachers and educators are required to perform on a daily basis. Record keeping tasks such as attendance and grading can become extremely tedious and repetitive. It is necessary that these tasks are performed properly within a timely manner in order for an effective learning environment to exist. To avoid wasting valuable time, which could have possibly led to a teachable moment, teachers and educators should take advantage of the various forms of productivity software. Productivity software is a form of administrative software, which helps educators do their jobs effectively. According to Duffy and McDonald productivity software is “a typically generic business application software that educators can use and adapt for the administrative and professional tasks they may address.”

A variety of types of productivity software are available. There are four major types of productivity software, which include word processors, electronic spreadsheets, database management and presentation software. This software can generally be purchased individually or in application suites, which would include all four types of software. Teachers and educators can use productivity software to aid in administrative educational tasks. Due to the similarity of the software computer using educators won’t have a problem learning to use the software.

There are several ways in which each form of the software can be adapted to benefit teaching and learning. This software has created a revolution in the way classrooms are run. Since I graduated from high school everything has changed drastically. Teachers don’t have to spend unlimited amounts of time grading and correcting assignments. Researching an assignment has also become much easier for students. The following will cover examples of ways to effectively use each form of software to aid in administrative and professional task and application to teaching and learning task.

• Word Processing can be used by educators to prepare letters, memos, reports, flyers; rubrics lesson plans, newsletters, activity sheets, posters, study guides, and class notes. It can also help students prepare stories, essays, and group reports.
• Electronic Spreadsheets can be used by educators to prepare budgets, grade and attendance rosters and to compute grades. It provides students with a method for tracking and analyzing data and creating charts and supports student research such as tracking stock market data
• Data base management systems can be used by educators to organize and track student and professional data. It provides support for students’ tracking data, extract and report targeted summaries of content or resources to address student needs.
• Presentation software can be used to create presentations for workshops and meetings and to create classroom lecture support that features text, audio, and visual elements with special effects. It can also produce transparency masters and create students worksheets to accompany class lectures.

Week 4: Chapter 3 & 4, Question # 3

3. How do increasing computer power, decreasing size and wireless communications make technology enhanced classrooms more flexible? What is a virtual environment? What potential does it hold for education?

Computers have changed drastically in both size and methods of use. The decrease in their size from oversized desktops in 1976, to the development of the laptop in the early 1980’, to the rise of the latest improvement net books there has definitely been a revolution in today's society. Even though computers have decreased in size the capacity and speed that the system posse remains consistent with that of larger computers. The possibilities of enhancing an otherwise normal lesson with technology become limitless as computers continue to decrease in size. Laptops have a variety of advantages over desktops, which make a technology – enhanced classroom more flexible. These advantages range from size, weight, capacity, travel, and personal to connectivity.

Due to the mobility and reduced size of laptops these are the greatest advantages. Laptops can be taken virtually anywhere. All of the newer laptops also have Wi-Fi capabilities, which is also an advantage. Wi-Fi allows movement of computers with internet access. This allows the system to connect to the internet using a wireless network. “A wireless network is a network in which information is transmitted via infrared, radio wave, or microwave technology rather than wires (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” This allows teachers to take advantage of every teachable moment. The size of the laptop and its wireless capabilities allow technology stations to be moved around the classroom. Due to the lack of network cards the learning environment isn’t limited to the inside of the classroom. The mobility of laptops gives teachers the opportunity to mobilize the classroom. In the event that the teacher has to be out due to illness he / she could actually teach a lesson from home or provide information to students in remote locations. Teachers can actually plan a field trip that will include completion of a research assignment. While on a field trip as a research topics arise Wi-Fi provides the capabilities for internet connectivity and onsite instruction. Learning doesn’t have to be postponed. This will provide students with a memorable experience that is sure to induce learning.

“Virtual learning environments are fully rendered environments in which the users become emerged. It creates a digital environment in which you can interact (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” This software is used to support teaching and learning in educational settings. Though originally created for distant education, it has most recently evolved into face to face classroom activities. Using virtual reality implementations teachers can create virtual field trips. On these field trips students can visit places they would have never been able to visit. It also provides opportunities for students who may be out of the country or on a leave of absence due to illness the ability to continue their education. The software can also be used by students who have physical disabilities. It will allow them to experience moving freely while in the “virtual world without impediments (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” “Learning is breaking out of the narrow boxes that is was trapped in during the 20th century; teachers’ professionalism, reflection and ingenuity are leading learning to places that genuinely excite this new generation of connected young school students – and their teachers too. VLEs are helping to make sure that their learning is not confined to a particular building, or restricted to any location or moment. (Virtually There).”

Week 3: Chapter 2 , Question # 2

2. What is the difference between formative and summative feedback?

As an educator begins to design and plan a technology – enhanced lesson it is essential that instructional planning takes place. “Planning ensures that the best possible approach to learning (Lever-Duffy, McDonald)” will be selected. All aspects of the lesson should be thought out, step by step. Teachers must consider exactly what needs to take place in order for instruction to be effective. “The Design-Plan-Act (D-P-A) system addresses all needed planning steps.” In the design phase “teachers take a strategic look at instructional delivery (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” It is necessary to use “an Instructional Design Model in this phase so no step is missed (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).”

“The Dynamic Instructional Design (DID) model provides assistance in creating an instructional design. It emphasizes flexibility and responsiveness in the instructional design process (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” This model requires revisions and corrections throughout the process. As a problem arises there are measures taken to ensure correction and improvement. “Such a continuous improvement process is at the core of high quality instruction (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).”
Formative and summative feedbacks are two essential elements of this model. Each type of feedback takes place during various stages of the process and contributes equally to the design. Formative feedback occurs while the learning event or process is in progress. “The DID model includes a formative feedback loop during every step of the process so that feedback can be gathered and midcourse corrections can be made (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” This will allow for continuous improvement in the overall design of the lesson. “Formative feedback ensures a way to facilitate the continuous flow of information as a system is implemented so that corrections and adjustments can be made while the process unfolds (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” As a result educators are able to realize at an early stage exactly why the lesson isn’t as effective as originally planned. At this point corrections can be made to optimize the learning experience. From the feedback a determination as to what steps need to be taken to improve the lesson should be made.

It is important that you perform a final check of the instructional design plan. Summative feedback occurs at the conclusion of the learning event. This portion of the process also calls for revision and improvements. “Because formative feedback is continuous throughout all steps of the process, the summative feedback loop serves as a final check once all steps are completed (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” Summative feedback will provide information necessary to improve the design. Educators may want to review or reinforce the lesson once the changes are made to ensure the effectiveness of the new strategy.

Week 2: Chapter 1, Question # 1

1. My Understanding on educational technology and its relationship with teaching and the learning process.

“Educational technology is any technology that is used to support teaching and learning (Lever-Duffy, McDonald).” It includes any form of media or technology that enhances a lesson, such as computer centers used for research or a video on India. Students today are growing up with technology at their fingertips. Technology is a common factor in the lives of students. Teachers can’t go wrong with the use of technology. “Teaching, learning and technology work together. Once the teaching – learning process is defined, it is much simpler to see the role of technology plays in it (Lever-Duffy,McDonald).”

In America children are spending an unknown amount of time playing video games, text messaging, surfing the internet or watching television on a daily basis. Due to this teachers should focus on integrating technology in a way that will catch and maintain their attention. This may be very hard to do because many students lack the attention span necessary to get through a lecture that doesn’t require them to respond simultaneously or doesn’t contain a visual aspect. These students aren’t excited by the traditional methods of teaching, thus learning won’t take place. They would rather be watching television instead. So why not incorporate television into the lesson. Instruct the students to take notes on a video or present a portion of a popular movie that relates to the lesson at hand.

“Technology supports teaching, and it supports learning (27).By adding technology to a lesson a teacher can reach those students who may have been deemed unreachable. Lessons enhanced with technology that involve student interaction allow students to remain focused due to their ability to interact, as with video games and other electronic devices. While students remain on task there are less behavior problems, which can often be a major environmental factor for students. The reduction of behavior problems will aid in creating an environment that is conducive to learning and free of barriers.

Our lives have been changed drastically due to the rapid rate at which technology is being introduced. On a daily basis a new form of a more advanced version of a video game or computer software is made available for purchase. I feel that technology is going to become an even bigger part of our daily lives. Whether it be present in the work place or in our homes technology usage is crucial. As a result of technology’s rise it is imperative that we begin to introduce it into the learning process as early as possible. “However, educational technologies cannot be selected or implemented until the teaching and learning process they support has been planned and detailed by an educator (27). Educators who aren’t tech savvy should be trained on how to properly integrate technology into their lesson plans.

Introduction

My name is Hope Drummonds. I have a BS in Office Administration and am now seeking a MS in Instructional Technology. In May of 2009 I completed a nine month internship for Cisco 21st Century School Programs, Digital Opportunity Trust USA, which sparked my interest in IT. I've only taken one IT course but enjoyed it . I look forward to finishing this new chapter in my life and wish all of you the best.