Finished Website

Once I followed the tutorial Dr. Wang created. The site sort of created itself. It helps that I have created MANY sites in the past. I began by creating the basics that would be on each page and then saved that as all of the pages. (I had not read this part of the rubric yet :) ) I then, went on to begin creating my heading for each page like the rubric suggested. Once I had the headings, the content was easy because I used the information that I use in my ICT II classes during the regular school year. It was not a hard assignment but I am glad it is over.

There are so many discussion we have to respond to that I am trying to get all of the projects done so I can focus on the discussions. I still have two other classes to focus on too so getting this out of the way was the best choice for me. I will hopefully begin my report this weekend. I would love it if I finished all of this course but the discussions this week so I can focus on the research for my REF 601 class. I also need to focus on my IT Plan for IT 709.

Website

I have begun my website. At first look at NVU, I HATED it!!!!! I prefer Dreamweaver because it has a lot more capabilities.

I then used the tutorial that Dr. Wang provided and it was a lot easier. I feel as though the tutorial created the site for me. There was not a lot of creativity involved. However, when I taught Dreamweaver this year, I did the same thing to my students. They were told the basics of every page and then they were expected to design and create the content, the banners, and the logos.

I have created the basic part of all four pages. I have completed the home page and I lack the content of the other three pages.

Forwarding Voice message

I created the message and then clicked on it to see that the forward option popped up. I tried sending to my google group but it did not go through. I then sent it to my hotmail account where I received it immediately. I then tried to forward to my google group and again, it would not let me. I think this would be great to use to forward messages to students' personal email accounts or even to parents but not good for sending to google groups.

Group Project summary

Well we completed all three group projects before the first one was even due. All we lack is some final touches to make them sound a little better. My group was WONDERFUL. We even had a problem the first night and could not get the gmail chat to allow us to invite more than one person to a single chat. We got it figured out the second week (Go Group :)) We all learned new technology while completing these assignments and learned some things that we would and some things that we would NOT use in our own classes.

We all agreed that Google is NOT user friendly enough to use with our students. It has been good for us though because of the group discussions we can send through the email application.

We all loved the live classroom. Getting to see each other was a neat feature. There are parts of the live classroom that would be too hard for a junior high school class to use. The web cams would get over whelming because all the students would want to play :0) But I would use it to where they could see me if I am absent one day and have time to log on while they are with the sub.

I did not find a synchronous or asynchronous software that I would use in my classroom. I use blackboard already and it has all of these available for me in one location and my students would not have to go to another location and create more usernames and passwords.

Group Projects

My group worked WONDERFULLY together. I LOVED how non of us procrastinated. We all decided a time to log on and we worked through all the projects. We worked for over two hours that night but we got a LOT accomplished. I am so glad I got into the group I did. We also decided to meet next Tuesday to finalize everything. This is so impressive because we will be finalizing projects one through three and project one is not even due yet. This will allow all of us to focus on other assignments and other classes for a little while.

We discussed a lot about the benefits and disadvantages of each of the programs that we were using. I would hate to have to go back and read the entire transcript to figure out what was sad. Each of us decided to take notes on the parts of our discussions that involved our project. Each person volunteered to create the summary of one of the projects. Two of us are working on the last summary. We might each take one of the sections and then work together on the conclusion of the two tied together.

Gmail Chat and Creating a Group

It was REALLY simple to create a group. All I had to know where my group members' gmail email accounts and then I followed the instructions on the screen. I do not believe it took me more than five minutes tops.

As for creating the Gmail Chat, I saw on the left navigation bar a chat tool. I clicked it and then chose my group out of the list.

I can see using this if a teacher has to be absent from Class one day. This would be a great way to talk with the students quickly and make sure they understand the assignment that you left with the sub. They can also ask any questions they might have. As for the Video chat. I hate it. My computer does not have fast internet and everything is blurry and jumpy. I do not EVER plan to use this in my classroom. I could see if everyone had ideal computers though because then you could see the teacher or student's facial expression when they are talking and know when they are being sarcastic or serious. You can also tell when someone is frustrated or angry.

Self Intro

Sorry I did not know this had to be our first blog until after I had submitted my first one.

I am a Junior High School Math and Computer teacher. I also help coach Volleyball (all three teams at our school) and I do photography on the side. I am a full time Grad Student and hope to graduate in December.

I created this blog as a reflection/ journal of my experience in IT 648 during the Summer of 2009. This blog will include reflection on each topic/project that we cover and a final blog on a reflection of the class as a whole. I am really glad we do not have to turn all of this into a Flash document like we did last term. I am not a fan of FLASH :) sorry Dr. Wang.

creating Gmail and Blog

I had to do this for Dr. Wang's class last term so I do not really remember how hard or easy it was. I do not enjoy blogging much. I am not big on people being able to read my reflections. I tend to not put what I really feel in these because I do not want everyone to know.

I am suppose to make my students blog in my classroom also but for the same reason I do not like it, I do not make it mandatory. They know that at the end of the term, they will have to write a reflection and most of my students use their blog to write it as they go but they tend to say what they think I want to hear. I know that it is not their true feelings because I watch them in class and can see that they do not like what we are doing. However, their blogs do not reflect this.