Blog Post #4

§ A summary of what a PLN & PLE are:

Personal Learning Network is inside our Personal Learning Environment. With the power of the web and online collaboration, a PLN can really grow. Having a PLN is about making connections and building personal relationships with other people such as administrators, teachers, professors, and many more. You can get ideas from other people and you can learn from their ideas, questions, and reflections. PLE intends to create an engaging, conversational, and innovative meeting space where a group can share and collaborate ideas together.

§ A metaphor to explain a PLN & PLE

PLN & PLE is like a group of Family. We are not blood-related but we do share some common ideas, passions, and goals. We give advice to each other and sometimes rely on each other too. We learn from each other and reach out for help if we need some suggestions.

§ Examples of content in a PLN & PLE (try to name digital and non- 
digital examples)

PLN-Twitter, Skype, Nings, Facebook, Linkedln, Webinars, Weebly, Blogger, etc.

PLE-Moodle, Google, Edmodo, iGoogle, Youtube, Schools, etc.

§ Your feelings on the idea of a PLN/PLE and how it might be useful to 
teachers and students:

It is a great resource for not only teachers but for students to share their ideas and to collaborate with new people. We can voice our opinions and discuss about certain topics. We can expand our knowledge by reading other people’s post, discussions, questions, etc.  For teachers, you may learn about different opportunities for teachers such as webinars or professional developments. Students may learn to collaborate with their peers. Students can comment on each other’s posts to give feedback before the teacher actually grades their work.

Blog Post #3

Blog #3 (Week 4 Web 2.0, Mashups, and eLearning)

Part 1

·    ·     What are your feelings on using Web 2.0 applications in your classroom or in your own teaching?

-Well I have used some Web 2.0 applications in the classroom such as Youtube video clips, Engrade, and Renaissance Learning. Some of my 5^th graders that take Computer class now are using Achieve 3000. I still feel that this is not enough even though my students are only in 5^th grade. I want to challenge myself since I learned many different Web 2.0 applications from this class, I should be able to choose which one will be helpful to my group of students now.

·      Are there pitfalls to relying on Web 2.0 applications?

-Some pitfalls on relying on Web 2.0 applications are content quality can be low, there are many hackers that uses fake IDs, some can write negative comments, and too much information can make people confused.

·      Do you trust Web 2.0 applications?

-Not all of the Web 2.0 applications can be trusted. As mentioned above we really need to be careful using some applications on Web 2.0.

·      These apps tend to be free so should we look to these kinds of solutions before 
looking to purchase a product? For example, schools might spend about $80 to get Microsoft Office on each computer, but Google Docs is free.

-I think we should look at these kinds of solutions before purchasing a product. Nowadays we can find many apps that are Free of charge. If they are applicable the school doesn’t need to spend so much on getting Microsoft Office one each computer. Although the Free applications won’t have all the tools available as the commercial software, it does have the basic tools in which students can use.

Part 2

·      ·   Which “leap” towards a semantic web do you think is the most simple? Most difficult? 


-First of all there are 3 leaps that the article mentions. 1. Use intelligent tagging, 2. Group intelligently tagged information into ontologies, and 3. Use shared ontologies and databases. I think that the most simple would be Leap 3, which is to use shared ontologies and databases. This allows you to merge, borrow from, and cross-reference information. The most difficult would be Leap 1, which is to use intelligent tagging. If more people in the standards business agree on using this, then finding simple things like a phone number would be very simple.

·      ·   What causes of concern does this bring up for you? (Be more specific than“privacy”)

-As mentioned in the article privacy would be the number one concern and some people would be able to see your personal information such as phone number, e-mail address, and more. Other people may use your personal information in different websites.

·      ·   Something interesting I felt when reading the section on Education 3.0 and knowledge construction is what I’ve heard called the “library fallacy” that to earn your grade you must go to a library and do the research – do you think anything is lost here if all the information is aggregated for a student instead of compiling all the resources themselves?

-I think it is both important for students to have all the information aggregated and to compile all the resources themselves. If the information is collected into one whole piece, it would be too much information for the students to fully comprehend and use. In the other hand, if students themselves gather all the resources they would be able to filter and use some that are compatible to which they are researching about.

Part 3

·   Overview of the Web 2.0 Tool that I explored: Grammar Base

This application (GrammarBase.com) you will get a more comprehensive scan of your writing. They check your spelling to ensure the right words are used in your document. This helps prevent mistakes that other spelling checkers overlook. Therefore, you can get the very best final product with your writing. This application checks for spelling, grammar punctuation, style, and plagiarism. This application is totally free. Students may be able to check their writings before turning it in. Teachers may also use this as a tool to check for plagiarism too. Students may use the essay checker whenever they need to turn in assignments for their writing class. 

It is a very easy tool in which teachers and students can use. You can simply type in your sentence that needs correction or you can copy and paste your writing on the box provided. This is a very useful tool because it checks from simple grammar to spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation mistakes. It underlines for you in red the mistakes you made. It's really nice how they also have the suggestion check so that can give you another input on how they viewed your paper/writing. Teacher may teach the students how to use this application and students may use it at home or anywhere they have Internet connection. It is a totally free professional proofreading and editing service, which consists of certified editors and proofreaders. Twice different editors will review your paper. One editor will edit your papers first, then will send to the next editor to ensure that there are no structural or grammatical errors. This tool also has 24/7 friendly support representatives who will help you if you need help of any sort. 

Blog Post #2

Article: How Can We Embed Digital Literacy into the classroom? (Purposeful Technology)

I.               Summary of the article highlighting main ideas

• Technology is an advantage in the classroom because it motivate students, reaches students of various learning styles, and it allows students to create and design their own unique product.
• Teachers will try to promote higher order thinking skills in their students by incorporating digital-age literacies and technology into lessons and activities.
• Common Core State Standards (CCSS) encourages technology use in classrooms because students need to explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing.
• In all grade levels, a standard exists where students need to use technology (digital tools).

II.              3 Discussion Questions

1.     What are some advantages of using technology in the classroom?

2.     What are some types of digital-age literacies that we can apply in our lessons?

3.     How can I promote digital literacy, higher order thinking, and construction of meaning in my classroom?

III.            Personal Reflection

As I was reading this article, I was able to reflect on how I was teaching as to using technology in the classroom. First of all, teachers nowadays have to supervise for different clubs, activities, and attend PDs and meetings. I was able to think about how I create lessons and activities to promote digital literacy, higher order thinking, and construction of meaning in my classroom.  I would love to try using the SMARTboard (interactive whiteboard). I have tried using the Smartboard when I was student teaching at Garapan Elementary School. Students were able to play various interactive games on different topics. Students were motivated and engaged throughout the lesson. I also had students film there role-play/skit about a topic and they had to present it to the whole class. Students had fun at the same time they learned a lot. That is why I chose to take this course because it will help me use technology in the classroom more often. I now learned how to use screencast and I look forward to use it in my classroom. I am excited to learn more programs, softwares, and websites so that I will be able to use what I learned in my classroom. 

Blog Post #1

1. What is a blog?

A blog is a regularly updated website or web page. It can be run by an individual or small group which can be written in an informal or conversational style. An individual or small group can add new material to or regularly to update a blog. 

2. What is the purpose of a blog?

The main purpose of blogs are to share your ideas and knowledge with the world. Blogging is totally free, so you can express your ideas and thoughts, to connect with other people, and to stay active and knowledgeable .

3. How can you use this in your official capacity? (teacher)

As a teacher I can use blog to accommodate all learners (probably upper grade students) by using blogs as a classroom management tools such as posting class requirements, homework, handouts, and more. I can also use blog as a discussion board to collaborate with their peers. Students can also use the blogs to create a student portfolio to present, organize, and protect their work as digital portfolios. 

For example, I created my first blog when I was a student at NMC taking Education Technology class which was ED480. We had to do all our homework online and post it on our blog. We had to collaborate with other students by creating iMovie, and a video about using prezi. I also created a student portfolio when taking this class. We made a weebly to create an online student portfolio then we post it on our blog. 

4. What are the benefits and drawbacks of a blog?

Benefits of a blog: You can share your knowledge with other people , you can collaborate with people by getting positive feedbacks, and you can build yourself to become a better writer. 

Drawbacks of a blog: Most people are unable to write in a clear manner, it is easy to start but hard to maintain, it is time consuming, and most blogs are not updated time to time.

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47 I used this website to find out how to use blogs to integrate technology in the classroom.