| Project 8 |
Before taking this course, I did not
know anything about making my own website, and I was a little nervous. I definitely think that I have grown as a
result of this course because I learned a lot of technical skills that will be
very helpful to me in the future. I learned
how to create my own e-portfolio using Nvu and WS_FTP. In addition, I also learned how to use
Microsoft Word, Paint, Microsoft Photostory 3, Puzzle Maker, Microsoft
Publisher, and internet resources. I am
now pretty comfortable using all of these technical skills. I am very glad that I learned all of these
technical skills because they are very useful for me and my profession. I will now be able to create engaging and
appealing handouts, webpage’s, activity sheets, brochures, and much more for my
future students.
This course was very important to me
because I learned a lot of useful techniques which I will carry with me in the
future. The most important things that I
have learned from this course are how to create an e-portfolio and how to
create a webquest. As a future teacher,
these techniques are very important and helpful to me because I will be able to
provide my students with educational and safe websites to access. In addition, I will also be able to design a professional
e-portfolio which I can give to an interviewer when I apply for a job. Overall, being able to know how to design and
produce a website and a webquest is beneficial to me and my future students.
During the duration of this course I have
had some exciting experiences as well as a few frustrating experiences. To begin, I was really excited when my group
finished our webquest. We worked
together to produce a very appealing and educational website which correlated
with our science unit on endangered species.
In addition, it was always exciting for me to publish my pages and to
actually see them on the internet. Before
beginning this class I did not imagine actually having my own personal
webpage. I was also thrilled when I learned
how to use Microsoft Photostory 3. I enjoyed
taking my pictures and making them into a digital photo story. I never did this before, and ever since I learned
I have been creating digital stories at my house. Along with all the exciting times, I was
definitely frustrated sometimes. I was
very frustrated when creating the elementary school website. Although I truly enjoyed working with my group,
we ran into some problems. We each
created our own pages, but we wanted them to look exactly the same. It was very difficult and frustrating to try
to do this, so we just ended up deciding to make them look similar. Also, I was frustrated with Nvu from time to
time. Sometimes when I had too many
windows open it would not let me change the font size, or even delete
things. In general, I had more
excitement throughout this process than I did frustration.
All through this course we have used
both teamwork and individual work for the projects. We worked in groups for the elementary school
website design and the webquest project.
It was beneficial to work with groups because we were able to help each
other out. In addition, with the
webquest, we eliminated some stress because each of us created one page. Since we each created a page which
corresponded to our lessons we made in science, it was very helpful. Although it was helpful to work with groups, I
feel like I learned more by working individually because I was able to
challenge myself. Therefore, to me,
working in small groups was not powerful.
It was nice to be able to exchange ideas with others, but we did that
when we worked individually as well. The
only reason I do not particularly like group work is because you have to rely
on others to get done, in order for you to finish. However, as a future teacher, I will
definitely use groups in my future classroom because it is important for
students to learn how to communicate and work together. Since groups do not always work, one way to
avoid problems or stressful situations is to have deadlines. If there were deadlines for projects, then
students would have to have their work completed or they would individually get
points taken off. Another way to avoid
group problems would be to grade each students work and not the entire groups
work. Since some students work harder
and do more than others, it is important to give them the credit they
deserve. In the future, I could create
small groups of teams using a webquest for their learning projects by assigning
roles and holding each student individually accountable. I would give each student in the group a part
of the project to do and then grade each student on their part. On the whole, I believe that group work is
great but can sometimes be stressful; therefore I would hold each member of the
group responsible for their own work.
Overall, I have absolutely learned a
great deal about technology in this course and I am excited to be able to use
it in the future. Since I have learned
so much, I feel more comfortable integrating technology into my future
classroom. I think that it is very
important for technology to be integrated into classrooms because students are easily
engaged by technology. Some students
become bored or uninterested in reading books and completing activity sheets
all day, and I believe that if they use technology, they will be more willing
to do their work and ultimately better be able to understand what they are
doing. Since children are so technology
inclined, it is important that teachers are up to date with technology and know
how to use specific programs. The
traditional methods are transforming as we are becoming more technological and
it is important that teachers take this opportunity as a time for students to develop
higher level thinking skills. Computer programs
allow each student to learn at their own pace, while a traditional class room
lecture does not. In a typical class,
all of the students learn the information at once and then move to the next
topic, even if some of the children do not understand. I feel that teaching using technology will
allow all of the students to move at their own pace. Using technology in the classroom also allows
students to be better organized because they learn how to store
information. For example, in this
course, all of my information had to be stored under my EDU314 folder, and therefore
I learned how to organize my work. Therefore,
I believe that by integrating technology in the classroom allows students to
ultimately develop higher level thinking skills and I also feel that technology
facilitates their learning when it is integrated with other curriculums.