Evaluating Internet Resources

I was substitute teaching at an area middle school. One of my classes had a library media staff member give a presentation on research. She typed in google search octopus tree frog. A website http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus, it looked like a reliable website at first glance. I was suprised I had never heard of such a thing. I started questioning in my head, this can not be real. At the bottom of the page it says "this site is not associated with any school or educational organization,other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society." She typed in Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society. It popped up as http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/ku, which clearly is the same http://zapztopi.net/. That was when the discussion started about how do you know if a website if reliable.

Now that I have been using websites and online resources for use in the classroom there are several things that I need to look for to ensure it is reliable.

As a future teacher it is important to check web resources that you will be using to teach your students. We must ensure that the information we are presenting is accurate, reliable, and credible. I use Kathy Schrock's five W's to evaluate a web site before utilizing in the classroom. The 5 W ’s to simply evaluate a Web site:

W h o wrote the pages and are they an expert in the field?

1. What does the author say is the purpose of the site?
2. When was the site created, updated, last worked on?
3. Where does the information come from?
4. Why is the information useful for my purpose?

This helps me ensure the websites that I chose are reliable and credible. While doing research for our webquests. The 5 W's was a great tool to reference.

Digital Nation Growing Up on Online

Wow, this was an excellent program to see how technology affects children and parents alike. I was taken back by the dinner scene with the disconnect of the family immersed in technology. I remember my mom calling me in from outside when it was dinner time. We had Atari, Nintendo, and a commodore 64 but there were certain times we played them, like on rainy days.

I believe that technology is a positive invention, however not when it consumes people. I never realized the seriousness of this gaming in Korea and many other countries. I never knew how people could be in a meeting or in class, texting, on different website, and try to learn at the same time. Even though I went to elementary school in an open concept and could deal well with distractions, I can't multitask like the above and still learn. I was glad to see that MIT students were also not great multi-taskers.

I was also taken back by the soldiers who flew the drons from Las Vegas. It must be so difficult for them to engage in war everyday and at the end of the day return home like nothing happened.

One big problem I see is texting. For example my friend has a 15 year old daughter who was on her phone texting literally every 2-3 minutes while she was at my house for two days. Not only did I find it rude, she was in a house with 6 other kids but did not talk to them. This 15 year old would rather text friends then hang out with friends. I just don't comprehend.



I do have a new opinion on second life since watching this segment. When you first introduced it, I thought well this is just dumb why would anyone want to waste time on this website. Then I saw the benefits that it has for employees who work for IBM and I see the real value. It is not just a voice on the phone, now you can create a person to look like you so the voice matches a face.



I feel technology is positive in the educational classroom as students need to be taught how to use them. However, it needs to be monitored that they stay on task and do not wander to other websites. As a parent it is up to us to set limits on the usage of the computer, and other technology gadgets to help our children become consumed into a virtual world.

EDU 533 wants and needs for remainder of year

I have enjoyed this class thoroughly. I have learned things I never even thought were possible. There are a few things I would like to have discussed in class.

1. Is there a specific search engine to use when looking for websites to use in class?
2. Is there a specific website that teachers utilize frequently for lesson plan ideas that involve the web?
3. Would like to learn about the e-portfolio?
4. Is there a website for teachers to subscribe to that gives demos on the latest technology in the classroom?

Thank you for introducing this future teacher into the world of technology, that far exceeded my expectations.

Free Choice

First and foremost when I entered college in 1994 I knew nothing about the internet. In 1995 I was introduced to Netscape, and was amazed at all it could do. I never would have imagined what the web could do in 2009/2010. I was nervous and excited to take this course "learning through technology" after looking at the syllabus. Blogging, voicethreads, Twitter ~ sccarryy. Now with the help of our fearless teacher I feel much more confident with these applications.





Our professor has shown us many different tools that we can use as teachers to continue our learning and enhancing our skills by using http://www.k12conferenceonline.com/, and http://www.edtech.com/. There are many tools that we have been shown to utilize in the classroom. I know that I will be incorporating http://www.wordle.com/, http://www.mathplayground.com/, http://www.ixl.com/, http://www.blogger.com/ and http://www.quizlets.com/ into my lesson plans and assisgnments. I will also utilize various websites to enhance collaboration between my students and students in a different country.



As this course continues new doors into Web 2.0 are opening for me. It is exciting as a future teacher for resources and for doing lessons with my future students. The World is Open!!!!

Educational Learning Tools

There are so many educational learning tools on the web that are extremely valuable. I decided to look for a learning tool for our lesson plan assignment. I will be doing lesson plans for Kindergarten math. I found www.ixl.com/math, unfortunately it not free. It costs a parent/student $9.99 a month or $79.00 for a yearly plan. For teachers, classroom licenses start at just $199 for 30 students. Access is unlimited for a calendar year from home and school. School-wide and district-wide site licenses are also available. Now that I got the price out out of the way.

What an awesome learning tool for Pre-Kindergarten through Sixth grade math. They offer offer 103 skills for kindergarten alone. They align the skills with the state standards, provide award charts, provide progress tracking.

There are different features to parents and teachers that can be viewed on this website.

The benefits for teachers is that IXL has hundreds of question types so your students can gain a true understanding of the concepts you are teaching. The students get to practice the concepts you are teaching in school, while "playing on the computer." It is a great tool for teachers as well to monitor student's comprehension levels. IXL has hundreds of question types so your students can gain a true understanding of the concepts you are teaching. The IXL programs tracks students progress on each of the concepts in many different ways, this allow teachers to know what students are learning so they can tweek lesson plans if needed.

This website has 103 skills for kindergarten students just for math.
http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/kindergarten/

If you want to try out some questions for free the site allows you to do 10 practice questions.

I also like www.quizlets.com, the website allow students to learn from flashcards, they can view, learn, test or play games. It is addictive and FREE!!!!

Can teachers provide equal access to the digital world to all students?

I want to be optimistic that all teachers can provide equal access to the digital world to all students. Today it will be difficult to say that, however in a few years time it will be more realistic. In reading the article "Examining Teachers' Beliefs About the Role of Technology in the Elementary Classroom," by Ertmer, Addison, Lane, Ross, and Woods, it discussed the barriers to change both extrinsic and intrinsic. Teachers will continue to have extrinsic barriers, such as not enough computers in the classroom, or computer lab, and not enough time to plan instruction. However, the intrinsic barrier is the beliefs about teaching, computers, and unwillingness to change. This is the area the school districts need to focus on. Teachers have various levels of experience and comfort level with computers that may help or hind equal access in a digital world. Teachers need to get training, degrees of training will vary, on how to incorporate digital learning into their lesson plans. Many school districts will not be able to afford a computer for every student, but as teachers the need to utilize the extrinsic resources available to them no matter how limited is important. Many teachers use the computer as a reward system, to allow students to use the computer. So can teachers provide equal access to the digital world for every student? The answer is yes. Teachers can provide equal access to the digital world within the walls of the school. They can incorporate technology into the lesson plans, schedule computer lab time once a month, and they can schedule time for the students to utilize the computer in the class room. However, they can not provide equal access outside of the classroom because of extrinsic barriers in students home environment (i.e. no Internet, no computer, no access to the town library).

I went to the K12 Online Conference.com and watched a session on Parental Engagement in the 21st Century- Leveraging Web 2.0 Tool to Engage Parents in Non-Traditional Ways by Lorna Costantini & Matt Montagne, under the track Kicking it Up a Notch from the 2008 conference.

I have been substitute teaching and two things jumped out at me. One middle school students have computer access to the school's network, and that the teachers send emails to parents that I felt needed to be discussed on the phone or in person. Well, wake up Danielle, welcome to the world of Web 2.0 as it pertains to education and engagement of parents in non-traditional ways.

This session discussed how most parents live in a web 1.0 world, and their children are in a Web 2.0. They discussed that parents are often invited to the school to discuss internet safety and predators, which has also contributed to the lack of knowledge or fear of the internet. What are the acceptable use policy of the internet, well if parents don't know how to use it or what their children are doing then how can they know what is acceptable.

I am taking this class and in two classes have learned about blogging, tweets, voicethread, ning, and other applications/programs in our textbook like epals, ilearn, Livemocha, etc. The class has opened my eyes to a whole new world of learning on the internet Web 2.0.

Parents need to be taught internet safety but first they need to be taught how to do it. Matt stated that a school had invited parents to be part of a sustained study where the focus was on teaching parents how to blog, how to do Facebook. One school used Ning as a non-traditional form of communication between the teachers and parents. Teachers stated that parents tahat are not involved in the traditional way, are giving great ideas on ways to improve things ~ like need a pedestrian blinking light at the cross walks.

The Web 2.0 is here and the resources need to be given to teachers and parents on how to navigate, how to learn, and how to support their childrens online learning. Students are collaborating with other students in other countries using the internet, parents need to learn and understand the benefits and how safe it is versus what terrible things are out there on the Web.