Information Problem Solving Skills

Problem solving is a skill that we must use almost everyday for the rest of our lives. Children and adults alike must learn skills to help solve problems early on, to ensure that they are able to cope as their lives go on. Using/teaching these skills in schools, early in a child's life, is a great idea. Knowing and understanding these skills fosters independence for students, which is something that I feel children these days are lacking. The Big 6 steps can help assist in teaching students how to effectively solve a problem or attack an assignment/project. This can also boost self-esteem as children will be be more independent and less needy of adults assistance. I think it is important for these skills to be taught in the younger grades so that they can carry it through the older grades as they go.One thing I found confusing was the Big 6 website. I found it difficult to navigate around it and find a simple definition of what the Big 6 entailed before looking at other guidelines and worksheets.

IConn

IConn allows its users to obtain an endless amount of information from various types of periodicals and databases. Due to the fact that this website is free and available to anyone, it ensures that it will be used and will be helpful. IConn can ensure digital equity in Connecticut because it is available to the entire state, not just school systems or a certain type of person. It is available on your home computer, which means that people will not have to use it at school or in a public library. That type of access is extremely beneficial. This program will allow users to get a lot of information on millions of topics.I found Kids InfoBits to be a great tool for children who are looking for information/articles on a specific topic. It is kid friendly to use and looks kid friendly, too! I feel that children will feel comfortable using it and will not feel overwhelmed by the way it appears. Student Edition seems to be more for the older grades, but has the same concept. I think that all of these databases are of great benefit to all users. I definitely think that I will use these databases in the future for myself, as well as for the students that I work with and will work with. It is a great way to use technology to obtain information in a somewhat fun manner.

Phew!

After 9 long classes, my final portfolio is finally done! I hope you all enjoy looking through all of my projects, my educational philosophy and some resources and sites that I recommend checking out. I've had a great time and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about all of the different programs that we have worked with. I can't wait to implement some of these programs in the classroom as well as share them with both other educators and students.

I hope you all have a great rest of the summer!

Non-Linear PowerPoint

Non-linear PowerPoints are a great tool for use in the classroom. These types of power points can be used as a different aid in teaching a specific lesson or as a fun game to assess content knowledge. I have seen these types of PowerPoints used in the classroom before as a Jeopardy type game. The children absolutely love to play, and enjoy the different pace of learning a lesson in this way. They also enjoy creating their own game when given a template to use to input the questions and answers. Students see this type of power point as more of a game than an assignment or lesson. I found making a non linear power point very fun and somewhat easy. It is great to be able to completely create your own power point with no real specific guide lines. The only part about making one that I found to be a little tricky is figuring out all of the different buttons/hyper links and what slide they needed to link to. It definitely takes some time to create an effective lesson and power point.

Digital Divide

I do feel as though there is somewhat of a "digital divide" when it comes to technology and education. This idea is evident in the article, "Closing the Gender Gap," where the author discusses differences among boys and girls and technology. This article touched upon how girls use technology differently than boys and don't always learn in the same way either. Girls are less interested in video games and computer games, and are more interested in the more creative thinking programs.It saddened me to read that many schools of low socioeconomic status have little to no technology in their schools. These are things that we, as educators with access to technology, definitely take for granted. Little things, such as access to a computer to create a word document, are tasks that not every educator in the world can do. Today, with technologies such a smart boards, computer labs, laptops, etc... it is almost difficult to imagine what teaching was like before these technologies were invented. I also believe that educators should be trained in the different technologies that are available to them and that can assist in student learning. If teachers are aware and trained in these programs, they can then teach their students how to use such programs in an educational way.

RomeFinal.wmv

I created a visual essay using Photo Story 3 for Windows. This program could not have been easier to use. All of the steps to create a photo story are right there in front of you. It was probably one of the easiest programs that I have used thus far in the course. After the pictures were uploaded into the photo story, all that was left to be done was to crop them (if we wanted to) and set up the effects that we wanted the pictures to have. This was similar to power point, where you add in slide transitions and custom animations. The only difference between this program was that it makes more of a movie than a slide presentation.

I really enjoyed the fact that we could create a photo story on any topic we wanted. It gave us the ability to use our own creativity. I chose to do my story on places to visit in Rome, Italy. I have never been to Italy, however, I would love to go there someday. I am Italian, and my ancestors all came to America from Italy, so I often hear about all of these fabulous places. I had a great time researching all of the different tourist attractions and what there is to do and see in Rome. Now when I do get to go, I will know exactly what I want to see!

Photo Story could be used in the classroom in a variety of ways. Students would really enjoy using this program to create their own photo stories on a topic they have researched or learned about. It is a fun, different way to present information. Usually children create powerpoints or posters to convey information, but I feel that this program would also be a great alternative. Since the program is so easy to use, I am sure that students would become familiar with it easily as well and feel confident creating a project.

Wiki Assignment

Web 2.0 allows users to not only search for information on the internet, but also share information with others. Some examples of Web 2.0 programs are social networking sites (such as facebook), video sharing sites (such as you tube), blogs and wikis. These programs facilitate interactive information sharing. Web 2.0 has given users the opportunity to create their own sites. Web 1.0 simply allowed users to look up a site and read its content. These pages were read only pages and did not allow for much interaction. The internet has now created endless possibilities for its users. Certain sites allow visitors to edit the content of the page to offer advice, opinions, etc...

Throughout this course, each of us has taken on a different example of a Web 2.0 program. We have researched these programs and formed a class Wiki in which we have explained our programs, what they offer and how they work. In addition to this, we explained how these programs can be used within the classroom setting. I chose a program called Rubistar, which is an online program used by educators to create rubrics for classroom use. Learn more about what Rubistar is all about.