Wikis Lab

As I searched through the Wikipedia site I discovered that the school I work at does not have a wiki page.  I work at Maple Elementary School in Walled Lake Schools and since the district had a page already I decided to create a page for my school.  I wrote that it is an elementary school in Walled Lake Schools and that it is located in West Bloomfield, MI.  I also included a link to Maple's school website.  Here is a screen shot of the page:

I have worked with Wikispaces in a few of the classes I have taken, so I was familiar with how to create a new page.  In CEP 810 my group used a wiki page for our group project.  In my new wiki page that I created for CEP 811 I included a link to this page.  Here is a link:  https://kaintechnologypage.wikispaces.com/ 

UDL Guidelines

What is UDL?  It is a set of guidelines for curriculum that gives all students equal opportunities to learn.  It provides a guideline to create goals, lessons, materials, and assessments that work for everyone.  It can be adjusted for individual needs in a classroom.  This information came from the UDL Center.  


Here is a link to a website I created and then evaluated using the UDL framework: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=595664&newcontribution=1

Here are screen shots of my UDL checklist:

Evaluation of Learning Material in MERLOT

I found a great powerpoint on cyberbullying on the MERLOT website.  http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=574595  The content is high in quality.  It has valid, useful information to teach about cyberbullying.  This material can be used to explain what cyberbullying is and allows the learner to apply what they learn  in scenarios involving cyberbullying.  The learning objective of this powerpoint is to teach what cyberbullying is, how to prevent it, and what to do if it is happening.  The targeted learner is someone in school, has access and is able to use many different forms of technology.  This interactive powerpoint improves the teacher and students' ability to teach and learn the material.  This can be easily used in a classroom to teach students the dangers of cyberbullying, how to prevent it from happening, and what to do if it happens.  The software can be used in the classroom after an incident has happened or to inform students and hopefully prevent it from happening.  It is very easy to see what the teaching-learning goals are in this lesson and it would be very easy to use to create learning assignments from.

I found the software to be very easy to use.  The powerpoint has great links to more information and videos that are very easy to navigate back and forth from.  It is interactive and provides immediate feedback from questions asked in the presentation.  Students can easily use this, all they need to be able to do is click the mouse to move on to the next slide or answer a question.  It presents information in the form of a list when explaining about cyberbullying, which is very familiar to students and much more interesting and attractive then seeing pages and pages of text.  The whole presentation is presented using a dog as the speaker which adds another element of attraction.

I found this powerpoint presentation on cyberbullying very interesting and useful.  It is something I would not hesitate to use in my own classroom to teach about this concept, especially with how much technology our students have available to them.

Learning Styles

I have always been a hands-on learner.  If I am actually doing something it sticks with me longer.  I am able to learn things by listening, but I have learned that this is not as affective in the long run.  To sit through a lecture on a concept usually bores me, but if there is discussion involved I will become engaged and learn.  


I think teachers should focus on incorporating as many teaching strategies as possible in a lesson to engage all types of learners.  For instance, in a math lesson a teacher might start by teaching a concept using visuals.  Then, give a set of problems and manipulatives to students and have them work in pairs to figure them out on their own.  Then, as a class have a group discussion on what they found.  It is very important to engage as many types of learners as possible and to reinforce what you teach in many different ways. 

Personal Learning Reflection

I have learned so much through taking my CEP 810 class.  I have learned how to safely use technology in my teaching and in general.  There are so many technologies on the Internet that I can and will use in my teaching.  I think classrooms can benefit greatly from using Google Docs.  Students are able to work on group projects very easily and this site will allow them all to contribute.  I also think teachers can use it to share lessons and help each other make improvements to those plans and other things.  This is something I will continue to use after the course is through.  I also am very excited to explore the Creative Commons site more.  I think this is a great place to find and share creative works to use in the classroom.


I feel like I definitely reached my goal of learning new technologies to incorporate into my teaching.  I want to continue to explore these technologies and share what I have learned with others.  Since technology is always changing, I want to be able to take what I learn in this course, use it now, and be able to adjust it as new technologies develop. I have enjoyed exploring all the new technologies in this course and hope to one day soon be able to use them in a classroom of my own!

Creative Commons

I never realized how careful you had to be with copyrights.  I always knew they were important, but I did not realize just how careful you had to be with them. 

After learning about Creative Commons I will definitely be more cautious about what I use in the classroom.  This is a great site to legally use pictures, videos, and much more for free.  It is also a place you can share your work and chose who you allow to use it and for what purpose.  When I have a classroom of my own, I will use this site all the time to find things I could use to help with my teaching and also share things I have created with others.


Here is a photo that I found to help show what a terrestrial ecosystem looks like:

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: Morro Strand State Beach scene taken from the Back Dunes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/6225169798/

By: Mike Baird

Released under attribution

Here is a photo of Cancun, Mexico that I  allowed for reuse using Creative Commons:

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: Cancun, Mexico

https://picasaweb.google.com/100933277749494576268/CancunMexico#5664959069057507538

Internet Security

The tutorials I watched were Explaining Cookies, Email Attachment Tips, and Explaining What Firewalls do and don't do.  In Explaining Cookies I learned there is a type of cookie called a tracking cookie that tracks where you go on the Internet and reports this information to advertisers.  The advertisers then use this information to place advertisements on webpages.  I found it surprising that they can use these cookies to find detailed information about users lifestyles, spending habits, and more.  In Email Attachment Tips I learned that bad grammar is the first sign that something is a scam or virus.  Bottom line is to trust your instincts, if it seems suspicious it probably is.  In Explaining What Firewalls do and don't do I learned that you need both hardware and software firewalls.  Hardware firewalls do no block viruses from the Internet.  Software firewalls are the second line of defense against these.  They can do many things like warn you against dangerous Internet activity.  These are all things that I will share with others so that they are better informed about Internet security.