Creating and Designing a Blog (Online Lesson Plan)

Objectives	Goals
-Improve literacy by viewing a variety of well-written and designed blogs and to learn the benefits of blogs. -Learn about web design and development by constructing and editing their own blogs. -Develop their ability to infer details from text and use their imaginations by constructing a creative blog that draws heavily on the original text.	-Students will be able to create, design, and maintain a blog. -Students will demonstrate undertsanding of the text by including images, captions, volcabulary, and a set of topics for their chosen topic -Students then can help one another develop their blogs by acting as editors during the creation stage and reviewing and commenting on one another's blogs upon completion.

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How many times have you heard the word blog?  Blogs are infromative and centered around a broad topic.  As a result, many subtopics can be shared and discussed.  Blogs can be used for personal use, as a job, and for educational purposes. Click here more details on blogs.

 

Your assignment is to create and design a blog.  Scroll down to the bottom of this page to view my blog Computers in Education. T.S. Long's Tech Update.  You may also want to take a look at Cupcakes Takes the Cake,  Cooking with Amy, and Reuters Soccor Blog. These are just a few blogs you can view as a reference.  This will give you a feel for what a maintained/ongoing blogs looks like.  For additional assistance and "How To" instructions click here.

Your instructions are as follows:

• View the instructional video (located right) to get you started; 
• Go to blogger.com.  Begin by opening a new Google account or by using an existing Google account. 
• Choose your templates and colors;
• Choose1 of the following titles for your blog (Decorating, Party Planning, or Technology in the Classroom)-as you can see mines is Computers In Education;
• Focus your post (only 1 entry needed) on a subtopic (i.e. if the title of your blog is Party Planning, your blog entry can discuss appropriate steps or various themes for parties);
• Key 5 sentences related to your topic and upload a picture (add a caption);
• Assess yourself by viewing the blog for all of the requirements before submission;
• Upon completion publish and email your blog url to tslong@ncat.edu; and 
• Post a comment to this blog; this will be used as a reflection (you may comment on the video, or the overall experience of creating your own blog).

Blogs will be evaluated based on the abovementioned requirements (50 points wil be given for the acutal creation and design of the blog, 25 for the template, title placement, and your posting, and 25 for your comments. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at my office during business hours at 336-555-2549 or via email at tslong@ncat.edu.

QR CODES

Wow!!! I could have used this for the emerging technology presentation.  Have you ever heard of QR codes???  These codes (pictured left) can contain an enormous amount of information.  In fact, if you create your own code you can set it up for text messages, direct links to web pages, PayPal, YouTube links, social media links, email, and etc.

I attended a conference in Chicago this past February.  In order to view the agenda and to complete evaluations, we had to scan qr codes to retrieve the documents.  This is definitely the new wave of the future and an emerging technology.  How do you get the qr code scanner??  You can download it as an app on your Smartphone.  If you don’t have a smart phone consider catching up.

I am sure there is some way that educators can incorporate this into their classrooms.  Interested in trying it out?  Download the app and scan the qr code (pictured left) for an important message.  Comment and tell me what you think or what ways you would incorporate this into a lesson.  Happy scanning!!!

PowerPoint, Research, and Music

Hmmmmm.....PowerPoint, Research, and Hip Hop have three things in common.  I know you are probably thinking there is no way.  But actually there is.....

When I began teaching years ago, I was young and my students were in middle grades.  They loved hip hop music so much and I wanted to create a lesson where I could incorporate what they love into a great teaching moment and learning experience.  I typed, printed, and cut slips of hip hop, r & b, and even some of my rock and country favorite artists names and placed them all in a bag.

When my students entered the room, they all had to choose a slip/artist out of the bag.  Of course by this point they were wondering what they had to do.  So here were there instructions:

• Research the artist on the Internet (find facts regarding birthdates, high school, inspiration for music etc.),
• Incorporate that into a creative and timed PowerPoint Presentation, and
• Attached a sound byte of their music in the presentation.

Boy did my students have fun with that assignment!  The students even enjoyed presenting their presentations in class.  Not to mentioned, not all student got an artist that they liked but because they has to learn about the music artist, they were able to gain a new level of respect for that genre of music.

Another topic was I did was Notable African Americans-but not just your typical Martin Luther King Jr. pieces, I had students learning about Clarence "Big House" Gaines (from Winston-Salem) and a host of others who many don’t know about. 

The students wrote me notes and letters appreciating what they learned and what I exposed them to.  Hey...you can’t go wrong with PowerPoint, animation, music, and the Internet....with this type of lesson, students become self-directed learners at an early age. 

Try these ideas!  I’m sure you will be pleased.

Templates.....Templates.....and more Templates!!

Give your students options with creativity

As a teacher do you incorporate using templates in your lesson plans?  There are so many available via web (copyright friendly of course) for you to use.

No matter what your content area is there are templates for reports, resumes, spreadsheets, calendars, PowerPoint presentations, and a host of other categories.  So if you are thinking of increasing the creativity and level of work, not to mention the professionalism it will give your students, try incorporating templates into your lesson plans.  If you ask me, Microsoft Office has some of the best and efficient templates online.

What are you waiting for????  Try it!!

Mixable-Combining Social Media and Academics-An Emerging Technology

Have you heard about Mixable?   Introduced last year at Purdue University, it is an online web application that students can use to network, complete, assignments, and gain assistance on Facebook and Twitter.  In fact, it is somewhat similar to blackboard.  The major difference is that it is an app on Facebook, the courses never go away after the semester ends, and you can access it directly from your smart phone! 

                                        

There were a total of 150 who took part in the pilot program which was a success!  Since releasing the application, Professors have noticed that more students take part in asking questions versus the normal face-to-face traditional setting, where some students may have been too shy. 

So what about the opportunity for students to cheat on assignments?  Kyle Bowen, the Project Manager of Mixable, states that the concern of cheating will exist no matter the technology, but no student can log on to Mixable completely anonymously; a student id is attached to every user. There are several articles online that discuss this new emerging technology.  Information contained in this blog can be found at WLFI18.com.

Although, this has not broadened to K-12 and Higher Education institutions around the country, it is definitely something to look out for in the next couple of years.  I emailed Kyle Bowen to get his thoughts on Mixable extending to other learning institutions-at this time I have not received a response.

For more information regarding this emerging technology, please view my Graduate Student Presentation link in the discussion board.

E-Portfolios and You

As a teacher or even a practitioner in a different field of work, do you keep track of your achievements?  These achievements can be seminars or workshops you have conducted or attended, newspaper clippings in which you are included in the articles, your teaching license, current certifications, and etc.  In a nutshell a portfolio can illustrate your personal and professional growth.

I revisit my 3 ring-binder portfolio perhaps once a year, considering I have been out of teaching since 2006.  I have certificates, newspaper articles, performance appraisals, conferences I have attended, articles, my current teaching license, copy of certifications, and past transcripts in my portfolio.  Right now it is located in my office at home. But as technology has advanced so has portfolios.  In fact, a lot of people are using the web to create e-portfolios. 

Think about all the features you could use for an e-portfolio.  You could add videos of yourself teaching your students (an online observation if you will) and instead of making copies of all of your certificates and achievements you could scan and upload the documents to your personal e-portfolio website.  Not to mention, you don’t have to go through the hassle of finding where you put your portfolio last because you can just use your url time and time again.

Learning how to create a e-portfolio is also a great unit to introduce to students when covering web essentials. Take the survey to the right of the page and let me know your position on e-portfolios. 

 

What's RIGHT about Copyright?

Where we would be without copyright laws?  Well for starters anyone could take anyone's work without any problems.  Sounds like legal plagiarism to me. We have all seen the copyright symbol (pictured left) but I wonder how many people really abide by copyright laws.   

According to (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008) whether you copy pages from text, music from a CD, or multimedia clips from the Internet, you may be in violation of copyright laws. As the authors mentioned someone put their time, energy, and creative talent into the product that they have created and has the complete right to decide how it is to be used and to profit from his or her work.

I think about ethics when I think about copyright laws.  If it is not correct, then don't do it-don't violate it.  Please allow me to help.  Use the three guidelines below and consider these facts regarding copyright laws:

             1. If you are an educator, you are not granted special permission to buy one license of a
                 particular product, make copies, and distribute to your entire class or school;

             2. Do not place your students work online without permission; and

             3. All info on the Internet is copyrighted in some way, regardless if you see the copyright sign
                 or not-don't take it for granted.

Perhaps number one and number two are the most important points to remember.  As current or former teachers you should be aware of purchasing a certain licenses for educational purposes. in addition, you should  also be aware that the "how many" question is always asked.  Purchasing one license and supplying the software to more than one is unethical.  In Why Teachers Violate Copyright (2008), it is explained that a school district in Texas purchased a single copy of a high-stakes assessment workbook for each grade level, then sent the copies to the district print shop. The print shop duplicated a copy for each student in the district. The copyright owner found out, and sued the district, alleging $7 million in damages!!!!  Be careful not to put you or your school system in this situation. To be on the safe side, use fair use judgement before proceeding in situations like this.

Secondly, refer back to number 2 (one cannot reproduce, distribute, or electronically transmit the work of others without their permission).  This seems easy, makes a lot of sense actually.  As a teacher have you ever posted your students work online without their parents permission? If so, avoid doing it again.  Remember, you must gain the permission of the student and the parent or legal guardian before doing so.

Abiding by copyright isn't hard...just avoid doing the wrong things.

References

Garner, T.  (2008).  Why teachers violate copyright? National Council of Teachers of English.  Retrieved on March 9, 2011 from http://ncteinbox.blogspot.com/2008/03/why-i-have-violated-copyright.html. 

Lever-Duffy, J. and McDonald, J. (2008).  Teaching and learning with technology.  3rd edition.  New York:  Pearson 

Is Social Media Leaving YOU Behind?

We all know that technology is changing on a daily basis.  Did you know that social networks and blogs are the 4th most popular online activities?  Did you know that social media is the hottest internet search, surpassing all others.  Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and if face book was a country, it would be about the equal size of the United States? Don't believe it?  Check out this video by Flashpoint Communications.

Educators should jump on board and incorporate social media into their classrooms.  Blogs are a great start and just the beginning.  Incorporating technology into the classroom is a standard but incorporating some of the latest technologies surpasses the standard.  As a result, your students will not only learn, which is the ultimate goal, but love and respect the fact that even when they were learning, they were enjoying it!

What's the Hype about Skype?

Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing (see video on right).

Skype can also be used in classrooms to communicate with people in different places.  Students from the Gideon Elementary skyped with people from China as a part of a lesson that they were doing!  Wow!  Interested in seeing the video?  Click here.  Technology is amazing. 

Try incorporating Skype into one of your lessons. For a great learning experience, click  here for informal and formal ways you can incorporate Skype into the classroom. I'm sure your students will love it! To download Skype, click here.  



Open Source - Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century

Talk about embracing technology at school!  Open High School, the first secondary school to implement an Open Source curriculum, is the epitome of such. 

This approach may just be the transition that some schools (K-12) may go to.  We have learned and I have stated previously that technology is ever changing.  As a result, teachers have learned and currently implement new technological strategies into classrooms on a daily basis.  But, implementing online education across the board in post secondary education is interesting.

Perhaps advancing to this approach transfers the accountability level for students and parents. The setting goes from formal to somewhat informal and from teacher-centered to student-centered.  The teachers will actually serve as the Facilitators whereas the students must heavily rely on computer competence and doing their own work based off of instructions given via web (and not so much verbally, although some may be on site for assistance).

This setting also reminds me of a collegiate online degree or courses if you will.  In addition, this approach to education resembles Blackboard, the only difference is that they can physically see their instructor (unless they are elsewhere) and blackboard users cannot (unless they visit the instructor’s office).   

One of my concerns with this approach is the data collection process in which teachers search for information to bring to the classroom, sounds normal in a sense.  But, I wonder if the teachers compare this with Utah’s standard course of study and build upon goals and objectives when presenting/uploading lessons.  My last concern is, is it too much too soon? Are high school students ready for this? Maybe some are maybe some are not.  But if it works, then that is a sign of change to come.  After all, if we don’t challenge our students and continually present them with new advances and approaches to technology of the 21^st century, are we doing our jobs as educators?

Microsoft Office Suite-The Best in Productivity

2010 MS Office Suite



Microsoft Office Suite offers Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Publisher, and other software that are user friendly and can be incorporated into the classroom.  As always, Excel is great for teaching students how to do spreadsheets and create formulas.

Currently, I am using the 2007 version. But if you are really tech saavy and looking to introduce your students to the latest and greatest, the 2010 version is available in stores and online. 

Check out the video below to see the new and exciting features.  Intrested in a free trial and how you can incorporate the new 2010 Microsoft Office Suite into your daily lesson plans at school?  Click here.