Virtual Schooling

Virtual Schooling provides people with the opportunity to pursue or continue their education online. There are numerous universities that now offer online courses and numerous universities that are found entirely online. The benefits are that people mat not have to quit their jobs, relocate, or have to spend additional money for housing because they chose to use virtual schooling.

I believe that I can use virtual schooling to complete courses which may not require much interaction between the teacher, my classmates, and I. This would provide me with more time to focus on other courses which are more time consuming and require my physical presence. Furthermore, I would use online schooling if I had aspirations of gaining additional degrees within the field of education or other fields that I may be interested, but do require me to leave my stable lifestyle.

I found this website to be very beneficial because it provided a search engine to locate different accredited universities. It also had listings of the courses that were available online and which colleges had those particular courses. I think this website would be very useful to me, if I were searching for online courses to take.

Proffesional Web Presence

A Professional Web Presence can be done by creating a website that provides people with a professional background on who he or she is . Some people utilize Google Sites to create a website that people can access. The benefit of using a Professional Web Presence is that potential employers have an opportunity to gain more insight on who that person is and what qualities he or she has to offer.

I would utilize a web presence as an online resume which highlights my personal and educational qualities. I think it would be very useful when I begin to search for a job after receiving my Bachelor's and Master's Degree. I can also use Google Sites to create a site that my students can access to find supplemental material and class content.

The youtube video about Google sites provides me with a better understanding of how to navigate Google sites. It also provided me with more examples of how I could use Google Sites to publish information.

Open Source Software

Open source software is many times referred to as free software. This software is usually created by groups of people and they grant access to the public for free. For example, Firefox, Audacity and Linux are all various types of free open source software. Audacity provides a way to edit multiple tracks of audio and can import/export audio.

I would utilize open source software in the field of education so that I may take advantage of free software that I cannot purchase. In preparing presentations for my future students I know I will be utilizing many different software. Thus, with open source software I cant still use quality tools and applications without the expensive price.

Gimpshop is a type of free open source software that allows users to edit and manipulate images. It is very similar to Photoshop because has many of the same features that Photoshop provides. I would utilize Gimpshop primarily because I do not have Photoshop on my laptop nor would I like to pay the expensive price for it.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking provides a manner for people to organize different sites that they find of interest by bookmarking. The list of bookmarks can be further organized into categories so that identifying sites under a certain topic may be easier. Another benefit of social bookmarking is that other people are able to view the list of bookmarks. Hence, other people can utilize these bookmarks as well.

I would utilize social bookmarking as a tool to organize interesting educational websites. For example, I would have math, science, and English bookmarks. Not only would I be able to locate websites that have a similar topic easier but I would also be to utilize the bookmarks that my fellow teachers created.

I found the Delicious website to be a great example of social bookmarking. It has phenomenal features and I know that I would find use in it when working on group assignments. For example, I would use Delicious to have all the website references my group plans on utilizing so that we can quickly retrieve the information when needed.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a form cloud computing where a user can use applications as a service instead of being limited to s certain platform. This application allows people to share information with numerous people without having to send a tremendous amount of emails. People are able to either view, edit, or provide comments to Google documents which helps during the revision process.

I believe that shared documents and presentations provide a manner for teachers to inter-exchange ideas on documents from a central location. Hence, I would use it to gain insight from other teachers on projected lesson plans and projects. In addition, I would use shared documents to plan class field trips that would involve multiple classes or grade levels. This gives teachers, including myself, an opportunity to make corrections or add points that everyone would be able to see and revise.

The youtube video provided me more insight on how to navigate through Google Docs. There are numerous tools that GoogleDocs provides and from the video I was able to visualize how to effectively use those tools.

Concept Map

This concept map provides incite in how I will use various social tools within the field of education.

The Sound "BING"

I would utilize the sound "bing" within interactive presentations with my students. As a class we would determine what the answer to various questions would be and the sound "bing" would signify that we had the correct answer. This sound can also be utilized as a disciplinary sound. When I need to grab the students attention or warn that there is too much noise within the classroom the sound "bing" can come into effect.

"User’s Rights, Section 107" Youtube Video

The four factors discussed in the video that were used to determine when fair use applies to a situation are the nature of the use, the purpose of the use, the amount of the use, and the effect on potential markers. But the most important factor discussed is “transformativeness” which is the presence of added value or repurposed material. The main concept that I retained from the video was that copyrighted material can be utilized without the consent of the author or paying a license fee if the copy right holder’s cost is less that the profit of society.
This video does pertain to the field of education immensely because teachers use the work others numerous times, so having a good understanding fair use is very important. I would also like to provide my future students with an overview of what their user rights are so that they may reference work correctly. The video provides a great example of how I would want to present the information to them because it is through a enjoyable yet beneficial song.
So that I may have a thorough understanding of my user rights, I utilized this website to clarify the information presented on the video.From this website I was able to gain useful examples of what the courts consider fair use. Furthermore, the four factors discussed in the video were reiterated within this webpage as well.

"Podcasting in Plain English" Youtube Video

Podcasting creates a way for people to watch videos at anytime in comparison to regular broadcasting which occurs at a certain time. There were three reasons presented in the video as to why podcasting has become so popular. The first reason was that anyone could use podcasts because all that was needed was a connection to the web, a microphone or video camera, and a computer. Also, people were able to subscribe to websites that offer podcasts, so that new shows would automatically upload to their computer. The final reason is that podcasts can be transferred to various portable devices, so they can be watched anywhere.

Podcasting can be a beneficial tool in the field of education. Through the use of podcasts, teachers can add supplemental videos that students can access. Hence, students can continue the learning process beyond the realms of the classroom, which in return benefits both the students and the teachers. In addition, teachers can also record their lectures and place them on podcasts so that students may be able to reference the material discussed in class at any time.

The video below provided insight on how to create a podcast. Various tools such as Garageband and Moviemaker are discussed as programs in which videos can be made and later added to podcast. Through the use of this video the process of podcasting is made simple and can be beneficial if I decide to create on in the future.

Sampling and Copywriting

This video discussed how sampling portions of songs without the consent of the owner is considered copyright infringement. Many music artists have not only been sued for copy infringement but have also sued others for copyrighting issues. Adhering to the copyright laws is very important and can be costly if necessary precautions are not taken.

Designing Instructional Media

This presentation went over the guidelines of creating an instructional media presentation. The acronym C.R.A.P meaning contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity, were the four main points discussed in creating an effective presentation. Useful design principles in font size, inserting graphics, choosing templates, and transitions, were discussed in this presentation as well.

The content covered within the Designing Instructional Media presentation would overlap within the field of education because instructional media can be incorporated within a teacher’s lesson plan as a tool for teaching his or her students. Because this presentation discussed what should and should not present within instructional media, when I teach my future students I will use those principles to create an effective presentation. The following image shows an example of how the background was not taken into consideration when the powerpoint was created. The color variation within the background made it difficult to read the text.

Web Resources, Multimedia, Hypermedia

This presentation on multimedia and hypermedia provides information on what makes these types of media different. Multimedia is a program that consists of a combination of any two animations, videos, sounds and text. This form of media provides both flexibility and expansion of critical and creative thinking. Hypermedia was defined as a media program which is connected by links to other resources, and it can be used to motivate learning and writing skills. The limitations within multimedia and hypermedia are also mentioned, such as the large amount of memory the programs require.
Within the field of education, hypermedia and multimedia can be utilized frequently to enhance the teaching experience. Through visuals, sounds, and text, students can be exposed to different avenues to learning various concepts which may increase their retention level. The image I selected was an example of hyperlinks that on a website page. By clicking on the the highlighted terms the user would be linked to another page which would provide more information on the term highlighted.

Week 2: Educational Technology: History of the Internet

The purpose of this video “History of the Internet” was to provide a brief overview of how the internet began. The speaker mentioned that there were a group of men from BBN were the “founding fathers” of the internet and not Al Gore. These group of men were said to have created Interface Message Processor which was the first internet router created in 1969. Within the following years emailing became the main reason why people utilized the internet because it was great way to communicate. Within the video the importance of communication through technology is highlighted and a better understanding of the history of the internet is obtained.

This video clip does not specifically pertain to the field of education because it just provides background information on the Internet. However, when this video is utilized with the Web Technology Concepts Powerpoint Presentation it can be used to help my future students have a better understanding of the internet. The Web Technology Powerpoint goes over important words utilized on the web and the video provides supplemental material. Because the length of the video was short and the information covered within the video was not detailed I utilized a website to clarify the information the speaker presented. Questions such as “Did Al Gore invent the internet?” are answered from this Walt Howe’s Internet Learning Center webpage. Important events and noteworthy people are also mentioned in regards to the Internet.