Summer Class

2005-06-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to some of my tech research. I was interested in mac hardware that could be cool and useful for the classroom setting. I've always thought that video conferencing would be the wave of the future so I decided to do some preliminary research on it. Macintosh offers a pretty nice camera called the iSight. This camera allows video conferencing between colleagues, friends, and family. I think it would be awesome if students from around the world could video chat live about school related issues as well as culture, and personal things. As a science teacher I could have my students connect with another classroom in China for example, the students could compare different plant life and animals in real time over the web. Students could show off their favorite plants over the computer screen. Technology is so cool. This technology allows alternative methods to learning besides basic text books, lectures, and power points. It also give the students a lesson in world culture, and allows people to meet and become friends thousands of miles away. The iSight costs $149.00, and requires iChat AV software, Mac OSX v.10.2.5 or later, a 600 MHz G3 processor or higher, and a broadband internet connection. The camera captures 30 frames per second in 24-bit color. It would be great to see funding increased in public ed., maybe then we will see technologies such as the iSight in many classrooms.

2005-06-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

It was a good weekend. Friday evening was absolutely beautiful, nights like that really make me appreciate living on the north shore. I still haven't done any extra research on my technology topic, I'm hoping to get to that either monday or tuesday of this week. Don't have a whole lot to say tonight. Until next time!

2005-06-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's late, I got off work at 10pm, wrote my analysis and now I'm writing this blog. My analysis is incoherent jibberish, F it. I'm obviously not the happiest camper right now. No, I have not done any research on my technology thingy, that means I will be continuing this blog into next week, anybody else with me? Workers unite!!

2005-06-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

Day 3

Today we talked about our power point presentations, we also spent time making a rubrique for them. I chose to do my presentation on "birds" in general. As a biology teacher there are hundreds of different topics I would like to talk about, I thought "birds" would be cool. If this post is sounding incoherent it's probably because I'm delirious from working on the project. Honestly it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, I found some cool video clips but was unable to integrate them in the pp presentation, anyways it's midnight and I finally got it done. Hopefully it turns out alright, I'm kind of worried it will be to short and I'll cruise through the information. What can you do!

As far as the research for the technology ideas, I am just as far as I was yesterday. I have some ideas but haven't done any research yet. Until next time, later!

2005-06-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Class went well today. We discussed blogs (what they are, purpose/function, how to use them). We had a short show & tell about different types of technology and we also had some time to work on our virtual tours. I had a chance to compare my groups virtual tour of the UMD library to other tours located on the web. For instance, I took a tour of some of the interesting tourist attractions in China. I visited the Yellow Mountains and took a virtual trip to the beautiful hot springs located around the area. I also strolled around Beijing experiencing some of the culture, virtually ofcourse. After a rewarding trip to China I decided to visit the Pentagon in Washington D.C. After the virtual tour guide pretended to show me exactly what goes on in the Pentagon I decided to take a quick trip to the ocean. Belize sounded good so I hit up Central America for a quick virtual sun tan.

Obviously the virtual tours I took could never compare to the real thing, however they do have a function. It's a great way to gather information about planning a trip or to teach students about certain areas or things. It's cool how students can research places around the world without leaving the classroom.

This is one aspect of technology that I'm interested in and will definitely have my students take advantage of. I'm also interested in the interactive technology teachers use now days. The teacher will have questions and all the students in the classroom will have remote controls to answer the questions posted in front of the class. I have some experience in this and I was not really impressed, but I have a feeling newer and better devices similar to this method will be appearing in the market. As a biology teacher I will be very interested in using high quality pictures in power point lectures. I also think it would be really cool to introduce students to web cameras, this would enable them to talk face to face with other students around the world. Sharing views about science and biology with students from other cultures would be a great educational tool.

2005-06-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Educ 5413
1st Day of Class

The first day of class was interesting. For a power point project my group members and I went to the University of Minnesota-Duluth library to take pictures of the architecture and the many functions of the library. This is our first assignment and is meant to educate a specific audience about something. We chose to teach prospective UMD students about the library. The pictures turned out good and I think the project is coming together nicely.
We also learned about the many different uses of technology in the classroom. This discussion is the beginning of a bigger matrix of ideas about technology and teaching.