Voki

0730 Assignment - Response to Standards

Oregon Educational Technology Standards

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Students utilize technology concepts and tools to learn.  Students:

1. Select, use, and troubleshoot tools efficiently.
2. Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.

One of the issues I have been noticing especially with older generations is a fear of using technology or keeping up with changes that are happening more quickly than ever.  I know individuals who are so afraid or uninterested in learning this technology that I see it really hinder their ability to stay in the working class of people. This one individual I know has been unsuccessful in getting a job because he does not understand that so much of job searches and applying for them require the use of computers.  He is slowly trying to get up to speed but I see the struggles that he goes through because of these deficiencies.  I feel it is important to instill a desire to stay current with changing technology and the ability to use them.   This will be much easier with younger generations since they are constantly bombarded with the use of technology on a daily basis but it is still important to instill in them this desire to continue this desire especially when they get older.

0730 Assignment - CH23-26 Tool

The tool I chose from this set of chapters was "Virtual Worlds" from Chapter 24.  There are situations in biology and chemistry where you want students to be able to manipulate things that are too small to see like molecules or DNA.  We have some model sets but unfortunately they have some limitations in having enough for every student and seeing possible animations in how they work or are utilized.  After doing some research I saw some amazing videos on the use of  Second Life" in education.  Educational groups have created worlds which are geared towards science education.  One example I saw is the ability to fly towards a gigantic DNA molecule and look at the individual DNA molecule.  I found this link on how you could incorporate "Second Life" education into one's science curriculum.

http://youtu.be/EfsSGBraUhc

0730 Assignent - CH20-22 Tool

The tool I chose was from chapter 20 "Quizzes, Tests, and Surveys"  I have seen a number of teacher websites that have incorporated online tests/quizzes as a grade or as practice for a test/quiz.  Feedback from students as well as educators have been generally positive from both parts.  I feel that it is a good tool because it also has the capabilities of grading your work and showing you how you did immediately after taking it.  This is something that I have been wanting to incorporate into my website for awhile.  After reading through the various websites that offer this technology, I decided to go with ProProfs.  It is free and I found that you have the ability to upload images or videos for a specific questions if you needed to.  Many other sites did not have this capability.  I was able to create a mock quiz on atomic structure and incorporate it into my google website.  Please see the link below.

https://sites.google.com/site/cchslee/student-of-the-month/unit-one---matter-and-measurements/unit-one-online-practice-quiz

0718 Assignment - Response to Standards

Oregon Educational Technology Standards

Research and Information Fluency

Students select and apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, validate, and use information.  Students:

1. Plan strategies to guide inquiry.
2. Locate, organize and use information ethically from a variety of sources and media.
3. Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
4. Analyze, evaluate, and summarize information or data and report results.

This standard has been one that has something I have been thinking about for awhile.  One of the issues or concerns I have been having is when I assign research papers or projects for my students.  It is a constant battle in getting students to realize and evaluate the information sources they are using in their research projects.  An example is the use of wikipedia.  I believe there is some information that can be useful for some research but the fact that anyone can go in and edit any wikipedia page is of concern.  I have been trying to steer students into more peer reviewed materials or sites designed for education and are know to be more reputable.  I appreciate this standard in that I feel it makes us as educators to stop and think about how we should guide students in practices that are appropriate when conducting research.

0718 Assignment - Videos CH15-19 Tools

I will be teaching honors biology this year and one of the units that I find students to have great interest in is genetic disorders.  I have never really thought of using video from youtube in a situation like this for students to look at but after some of the examples they gave I really saw an application in the lesson on genetic disorders.  I was looking on youtube and saw a number of video of single gene genetic disorders which I started compiling in a playlist.  In my lesson I would refer my students to this site to view the videos that are available and maybe create a lesson in which I put them in groups and research these disorders after viewing a specific video.  This is the playlist on youtube i created for three disorders


http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC8244E9ED9CCD027

0718 Assignment - WIKIS (CH8-10, 12-14)

Craig and I decided to work on applying the use of wikis for student work.  Instead of google docs we are using google presentation which is similar to microsoft powerpoint.  I think MS Powerpoint is a superior presentation software but one of the problems that students run into during group work is coordinating who is doing what, what is actually accomplished, and having to put together a powerpoint from separate powerpoint sections that each person contributed.  I see google presentation getting over a lot of these challenges.
The assignment Craig and I did was one i use in my chemistry class.  Students have to work in groups and research a specific element and create a presentation based on certain criteria.  When Craig and I were working on this together it was very easy to see the work he was doing while I was doing my own work.  This is an example of the work we produced on how it could be applied to my teaching practice.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14V6ur8QhAnAUZNzKrFP_wrY6cfPu-UAZYGW1-zdMSxg/edit