EDOL533-01 Week Two

I’d like to start this week’s blog off with a quote I found during my research:

"If someone brings a lot of new technology into your school district, and doesn't provide staff development, the only thing that will change is your electric bill." -David Thornburg

Similar to our class’s discussion of the Monty Python sketch “The machine that goes ping,” in which doctors are more concerned about having the latest/greatest/most expensive technology in their operating room than they are about their patient, educators and schools must remember that simply having the technology doesn't mean anything without using it effectively.  Teachers must be knowledgeable about the use of the technology they are given, and use it in a way that enhances the classroom experience, for the technology to truly be beneficial to the students. 

Although I am not yet teaching, I found this resource about using spreadsheets in the classroom very interesting: http://www.lttechno.com/links/spreadsheets.html.   In almost all math and science curriculum it is important that students understand how to read, create and interpret graphs and data sets.  Using a spreadsheet program like excel to streamline these lessons is a great idea!  I found it surprising in my research that so many teachers seem intimidated by excel and using spreadsheets in the classroom.  I understand first hand how frustrating excel can be when trying to build a higher order spreadsheet full of calculations and equations, but for simple data collection and graphing (which is what the curriculum is focusing on) excel spreadsheets can be made easily and quickly! 

I have used excel for many assignments as a student over the years.  I used it extensively in a college Ecology class.  We often had to create tables to calculate population data on animals, graph changes in animal growth, and several other projects.  These often included complicated equations which were much easier to understand and see the relationship between the data points once excel was used to compute the results. 

One of my favorite projects I ever used excel for was a high school chemistry/physics project related to my potato cannon hobby.  I needed to calculate the exact amount of propane to use in each cannon to get it to fire correctly.  You see (without going into too much detail), propane only ignites under 14% propane to air… and depending on your altitude and air pressure… and depending on the volume of the cannon’s chamber… and depending on the volume of your propane meter… you can calculate how much PSI to charge the propane meter with.  Using excel to compute all the necessary equations I was able to make a chart to compute exactly what I needed by changing any of the variables!  I still use this spreadsheet today with my potato cannons!  This project can be used in a chemistry or physics class to study the science behind how potato cannons work… and students love making things that go boom!

As an educator I plan on using excel and spreadsheets not only for administrative purposes (tracking grades and student progress) but also for student assignments.  I will be a high school science teacher, and I plan on having projects in which the students must collect data either through research or experimentation and compile it into a spreadsheet to produce charts and graphs of their data.

A good example of this kind of project is this one, http://mathforum.org/sum95/math_and/spreadsheets/examples/marsWeight.html in which students are asked to chart how their weight would change on the surface of the other planets.  By using excel to do the necessary calculations they are not only learning how gravity changes your weight but also how to use equations to calculate the results, and use excel to chart and graph those results! 

Technology explorations for week 2 (I split up exploration 6 into two separate reviews.  I think the two resources are different enough they warranted two reviews):

Tech exploration 4: concept mapping

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.
	Concept maps are typically used as a brainstorming device to help collate thoughts into an outline or visual diagram.  These devices help summarize and organize concepts in a way which aids in memory.  Typically concept maps start with one word, or phrase centered around a topic and then branch outwards into parts reflecting on that central topic.  For example, this concept map about concept maps (http://physics.gmu.edu/~hgeller/GWUelearn/img004.gif) explains how they are used to convey knowledge about a topic and how each part relates to each other.  There are several web based resources which aid in the construction of concept maps and some are very intuitive.  I was surprised to learn of these as my experience with concept maps were simple diagrams drawn on the blackboard/chalkboard!
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	These are great tools for review.  I would use concept mapping programs as a review tool with students to construct concept maps around topics discussed in class.  Using the main idea we have learned about and branching off of it the specific facts and details we covered in class.  Opposite of this idea is to use concept maps before discussing a topic to probe the students knowledge of the subject material and use the results to help differentiate instruction, covering the parts of the material the students lacked during construction of the concept map.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Several of these resources are nice for brainstorming and creating “pretty” concept maps that can be used for posters.  However, just as my previous experience with concept mapping shows, you do not need a complicated or expensive program to create a concept map.  Low-tech examples can be created by drawing them by hand on the marker board!  For this reason I don’t think I would recommend the programs which require signing up or paying for the product… I would highly recommend the use of concept maps in general though as a great way to organize logical thought and reinforce concepts taught in class.

Tech exploration 5: Animoto

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Animoto is a web based video editing program which allows users to create videos from still photos and short videos.  Animoto is “cloud-based” meaning that material is uploaded to their servers, compiled online, and then hosted on their servers.  Users can then download their video for off-line viewing, or link to the video for viewing online.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	This resource can be used to create promotional videos for projects, classrooms, sports teams, or clubs…  students can use this resource to create video presentations.  Teachers can record informative videos.  The possibilities are endless.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would not recommend this resource due to the limited functionality of the free service, and the cost associated with the increased functions.  Microsoft’s Windows movie maker live is a free downloadable program which can do everything animoto is able to do on the video editing end.  Once you create a video in WMM you can then choose a hosting service like youtube to upload your videos to.  These services and programs are free…

Tech Exploration 6: Google Drive

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.
	Google drive is a cloud based file hosting service.  Essentially, google drive turns any device with an internet connection into a mobile external hard drive backup.  You are able to upload files to this service, access them from anywhere, and share them with other google plus users who can then add to, edit, or collaborate on them. Free accounts for google drive come with 15gb of storage, however this storage amount is shared with google+ photos, Gmail, and google drive together.  Larger storage plans are available for a price.  Google chrome based apps work directly with google drive to do a multitude of unique things, a list can be found here: http://www.investintech.com/resources/blog/archives/3669-google-shared-storage.html
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	It is a good idea to back up files, especially important documents.  Using a service like google drive allows access to these documents from anywhere with an internet connection.  As a teacher, I can create documents like power point slide shows at home, upload them to google drive, and then open them in the classroom when I need them.  This eliminates that embarrassing moment when you lose your portable thumb drive and have to teach from memory without your slides! Creating and collaborating on projects can be streamlined with google drive as well.  Multiple users can be given access to files to collaborate on, sharing files with students can be achieved in this manner.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would definitely recommend using this resource as a way to organize, keep track of, and back up your files.  It eliminates the need to carry a “hard copy” of your files around on an external hard drive, disk drive, or laptop.  Some schools and businesses have policies against using external drives with network computers due to security/virus threats.  Using a cloud based resource like this one eliminates that! I would recommend a wifi enabled external hard drive with built in cloud abilities for larger file needs.  You can purchase a 4 terabyte external hard drive which can be connected wirelessly to an internet connection, and through any computer, tablet or smartphone have access to your own personal cloud.  This however, does not give you the networking capabilities to give other people or students access to your documents.  These however are expensive!

Tech Exploration 6 part2: Photo Peach (http://photopeach.com/education)

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.
	Photo peach is a cloud/web based video editing, slide show program which allows users to import photos from facebook, a computer, or picasa.  It offers video editing tools to compile photos into short slide shows, allowing the user to add text, audio/music, and even interactive quiz questions.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	This would be used to create quick slide shows of students or class pictures.  The ability to import an entire album from facebook or picasa is an interesting aspect.  I most like the ability to create interactive quiz videos using the pictures.  An example on the website is an art history class in which pictures of the artworks studied in class are shown with questions about them, which students then select answers in the video itself.  A youtube tutorial on how to do this can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83C77SQB3Eg  Unfortunately the video doesn’t keep score, but it would be a good way for students to review for tests.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Cons: Because most of the features for educators are found within the paid subscription, and the free service is limited I would not recommend this product.  Similar to my review of animoto, creating a slide show from an album of pictures on your computer can be quickly achieved with windows movie maker live (WMM).   Not having the resulting video on your personal computer for off-line use is unfortunate.  You are restricted to the video being hosted by photo peach’s servers. Pros:  The ability to import pictures from facebook or picasa would make it valuable to teachers who utilize those resources to host their photos.  The ability to embed the created videos in facebook or blogs immediately after creating the video is nice.  You can skip the uploading step necessary in WMM.