Tutorial 1: F Using Firewalls
I learned the basic difference between hardware firewalls and software firewalls and how if you have high speed Internet it is recommended that you have both types of FW's. Hardware FW's hide your computer from hackers of the Internet and do things behind the scenes. Software FW's are constantly asking for your approval to sites/downloads and tells you if someone is trying to access your computer. It surprises me that neither firewalls protect against user stupidity. You are still vulnerable if you download a virus willingly not knowing it was a virus.
Tutorial 2: B: Clean-up and Speed-up your PC
I learned how to use msconfigs to help speed up your boot-up speed. I never knew you could manually alter what programs you want to start and what programs you do not. I am sort of surprised that they don't lock the programs that are essential to security or other vital programs so that the user does not have to ability to un-check those boxes.
Tutorial 3: L: File back up options
I learned how to back up my files using windows back up program as well as Karen's replicator. I have never backed up files and will be doing so immediately and sharing this with others. I was surprise that the program that he recommends to use is not free.
Monday, January 31, 2011
GTD Post
I would have to say that I felt like after reading through the GTD process and watch the video's I felt that I had already mastered certain parts of the process in my everyday life. But then felt that I have completely neglected other parts of the process. Some of my strong suits were collected information and processing the information. At school I have a specific spot for student paper and late paper and the students know where these places are so that I don't lose them. My email inbox is kept very tidy when subfolders. I immediately read all emails and categorize them accordingly. I am good at completing tasks if they will take 2 minutes or less. At home I have sticky notes with to-do-lists that I work through in no particular order and that is where I fall a bit short. Organizing those lengthy assignments/responses/dates on a calender, etc. What I liked about the GTD process was that it forced me to prioritize my to-do-lists and get things done in order of importance. I have never been one good with dates and GTD has forced me to keep a somewhat regular calender and reference it multiple times. The first time through, was lengthy and if it does not become a faster process for me I will be unlikely to continue, but will give it a good try. After reviewing my lists it made me somewhat proud to have accomplished so much is a week. I had never really looked back at all the decisions and things that took place.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
RSS Reading
Here is a Screen dump of my RSS feeds
On the left side are all of my science followings
I picked three different NSTA (National Science Teacher Association) because I always read about new material in their magazines and want to see what their reader will tell me. One is earth science news, one is chemisty news, and the other is general science news.
I picked Science daily becuase it is updated everyday with some sort of science news and if it is relevent to my class, I would like to use it!
I chose to follow Greg Ladens blog because he always has very interesting blogs revolving around science mostly.
I subscribed to two health feeds, one a blog and the other a new feed. I teach health class and sex ed. Those are two areas that are under constant change and these two sites will hopefully keep me up on the leading edge of health.
On the left side are all of my science followings
I picked three different NSTA (National Science Teacher Association) because I always read about new material in their magazines and want to see what their reader will tell me. One is earth science news, one is chemisty news, and the other is general science news.
I picked Science daily becuase it is updated everyday with some sort of science news and if it is relevent to my class, I would like to use it!
I chose to follow Greg Ladens blog because he always has very interesting blogs revolving around science mostly.
I subscribed to two health feeds, one a blog and the other a new feed. I teach health class and sex ed. Those are two areas that are under constant change and these two sites will hopefully keep me up on the leading edge of health.
Peer review of MERLOT educational material (BrainPop)
After reviewing the material submitted by Diane Judd on BrainPOP Science: How the World Works, and accessing the BrainPop website, I do say that it does present useful engaging activities for an array of science concepts. The site contains an assortment of online experiments, animated movies, interactive quizzes, comic strips, activity pages, quizzes, and a personal question & answer forum and relate to a number of different science topics relevant to science curriculum around the nation.
The information given on the BrainPop website is separated by discipline and then subject matter within the discipline. The information is tied to core curriculum and is both difficult to learn as well as prerequisite information that students will need to know in order to build on that knowledge in advanced classes within the discipline. Take acids and bases for example. Learning about acids and bases is a part of my 7th grade core curriculum. After learning the basic differences between acids and bases, my students are expected to retain that information to later use when they take Chemistry in high school. BrainPop does a good job at explaining the differences between acids and bases in an animated video and continues to test the students knowledge with a series of quizzes and numerous activities and experiments. They also go further in depth and discuss acid rain and its affects on our planet.
The video provided would be used as explanation: to introduce what the characteristics of acids and bases are. The activities, experiments and quiz would allow the student to practice and apply that new knowledge.
After learning the material posed on BrainPop regarding acids and bases, the student should be about to distinguish between the properties of an acid and a base and explain how they are similar and how they are different. The student will also be able to list specific uses of acids and bases.
The material is geared towards a middle school student
The multimedia video can be effective and furthering the learning process if the teacher holds a discussion regarding the video after the video or in-between sections. The interactive sections of this website can be used effectively if the teacher uses the results from the quizzes and assignments and tailors the next lesson to address misconceptions and weaknesses. The learning goals are easily identifiable. The learner is investigating differences among acids and bases through multiple interfaces.
Ease of Use,
BrainPop website is very well organized by discipline, and then broken down by subject. The site is very user friendly and geared towards kids. The buttons are entertaining and colorful. The whole set up of to page is inviting and things are easy to find.
If in a specific subject interface, a person can easily navigate away to other parts of the same interface or change subjects all together. The site offers numerous quizzes for the user to take to assess how well they know the material. The user has the option to email the results, print results, or view results. Like I mentioned before, the software is very user friendly and most student can navigate through the site without trouble.
Video, quizzes, experiments, Q and A sections, and activities are all ways the material is presented and all of these ways are student friendly.
One potential downfall to BrainPop is that it is not free for the full version. The user must pay almost $100 annually for access. This may cause some educators to shy away for the site.
The information given on the BrainPop website is separated by discipline and then subject matter within the discipline. The information is tied to core curriculum and is both difficult to learn as well as prerequisite information that students will need to know in order to build on that knowledge in advanced classes within the discipline. Take acids and bases for example. Learning about acids and bases is a part of my 7th grade core curriculum. After learning the basic differences between acids and bases, my students are expected to retain that information to later use when they take Chemistry in high school. BrainPop does a good job at explaining the differences between acids and bases in an animated video and continues to test the students knowledge with a series of quizzes and numerous activities and experiments. They also go further in depth and discuss acid rain and its affects on our planet.
The video provided would be used as explanation: to introduce what the characteristics of acids and bases are. The activities, experiments and quiz would allow the student to practice and apply that new knowledge.
After learning the material posed on BrainPop regarding acids and bases, the student should be about to distinguish between the properties of an acid and a base and explain how they are similar and how they are different. The student will also be able to list specific uses of acids and bases.
The material is geared towards a middle school student
The multimedia video can be effective and furthering the learning process if the teacher holds a discussion regarding the video after the video or in-between sections. The interactive sections of this website can be used effectively if the teacher uses the results from the quizzes and assignments and tailors the next lesson to address misconceptions and weaknesses. The learning goals are easily identifiable. The learner is investigating differences among acids and bases through multiple interfaces.
Ease of Use,
BrainPop website is very well organized by discipline, and then broken down by subject. The site is very user friendly and geared towards kids. The buttons are entertaining and colorful. The whole set up of to page is inviting and things are easy to find.
If in a specific subject interface, a person can easily navigate away to other parts of the same interface or change subjects all together. The site offers numerous quizzes for the user to take to assess how well they know the material. The user has the option to email the results, print results, or view results. Like I mentioned before, the software is very user friendly and most student can navigate through the site without trouble.
Video, quizzes, experiments, Q and A sections, and activities are all ways the material is presented and all of these ways are student friendly.
One potential downfall to BrainPop is that it is not free for the full version. The user must pay almost $100 annually for access. This may cause some educators to shy away for the site.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Social Networking
Well, before this class, my knowledge about social networking stopped at MySpace and Facebook. Late in college I created a MySpace account and originally found it extrodinarily fun to see who I could find that I knew, talk with people I hadn't talked to since graduating high school, edit my profile page, embed scrolling picture slideshows of my weekendings, changing the song on my profile, you get the picture! But after the "newness" wore off, I found myself accessing my MySpace less and less until I eventually deleated my profile becuase I wasn't interested anymore. I swore that I would never surender to the Facebook junkies and create a Facebook account and I'm proud to say I...partially stuck to my guns...My wife and I share an account. WHICH I LOVE! She does all the work of updating our status, finding the "skinny" on people, and uploading new pictures and I get to reap some of those benifits without doing all that work! But that is one of the downfalls to social networking: it takes such a long time to keep your account up to date. Plus you can get sucked in to searching and clicking, that before you know it, 2 hours have gone by and you have seemingly done nothing besides catch up on peoples gossip.
Now...I have seen the benifits perfessionally to social networking when talking about MySpace and FaceBook. I can't tell you how many music groups I have looked up and listened to on MySpace before purchasing it. And Facebook, I have heard of numerous success stories becuase of their idea/company/product has spread through Facebook. But besides those businesses, I failed to see how it could benifit me...as a teacher.
After going through the social networking lab, I now see that there is benifit in social networking even for me as an educator. I'm still "wet behind the ears" so I don't have my bag of tricks all filled up yet and am constantly searching the "net" for something new, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel. If I don't find something, I am forced to create something myself. This is not entirely a bad thing, but I do see sites like MACUL, Classroom 2.0 Ning, and Educators PLN being useful in that context. Everything on these sites is educational. I can go to these sites and see best practices from real teachers by accessing their forums and blogs. I could connect with teachers around Michigan or around the world. Do I feel one of these sites will be my saving grace and have everything I need? No, I will still have to search. But this gives me an opportunity to ask other educators for ideas.
LinkedIn I can see being helpful if were looking for a job...but i'm not sure what else.
If I were to utilize these social networking sites daily, my students will probably benifit from these becuase I could be spending my time developing how I am going to make my lesson effective instead of worrying about creating it and getting it done.
Now...I have seen the benifits perfessionally to social networking when talking about MySpace and FaceBook. I can't tell you how many music groups I have looked up and listened to on MySpace before purchasing it. And Facebook, I have heard of numerous success stories becuase of their idea/company/product has spread through Facebook. But besides those businesses, I failed to see how it could benifit me...as a teacher.
After going through the social networking lab, I now see that there is benifit in social networking even for me as an educator. I'm still "wet behind the ears" so I don't have my bag of tricks all filled up yet and am constantly searching the "net" for something new, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel. If I don't find something, I am forced to create something myself. This is not entirely a bad thing, but I do see sites like MACUL, Classroom 2.0 Ning, and Educators PLN being useful in that context. Everything on these sites is educational. I can go to these sites and see best practices from real teachers by accessing their forums and blogs. I could connect with teachers around Michigan or around the world. Do I feel one of these sites will be my saving grace and have everything I need? No, I will still have to search. But this gives me an opportunity to ask other educators for ideas.
LinkedIn I can see being helpful if were looking for a job...but i'm not sure what else.
If I were to utilize these social networking sites daily, my students will probably benifit from these becuase I could be spending my time developing how I am going to make my lesson effective instead of worrying about creating it and getting it done.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Blogs vs. Traditional Web Pages
When you get right down to it, a blog is just a webpage...right?
When looking at a webpage, it usually does not change all that much. Blogs are fluid documents that sometimes change every few seconds. Blogs are in a sense, an online journal. Webpages are static and don't allow the reader to contribute to the information being provided. Plus, Blogs are usually linked to an RSS feed so followers can easily stay updated to the information provided by the blog and contribute if they wanted.
When looking at a webpage, it usually does not change all that much. Blogs are fluid documents that sometimes change every few seconds. Blogs are in a sense, an online journal. Webpages are static and don't allow the reader to contribute to the information being provided. Plus, Blogs are usually linked to an RSS feed so followers can easily stay updated to the information provided by the blog and contribute if they wanted.
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