I really liked the activities that we completed this week. The Google Alerts and Noodle Page provided me with a lot of personal and professional opportunities. I know my students have been using Noodle Tools for a while and I never quite figured out why, but now that I know the vast areas that the website covers I can see why.
The best part of the week I thought was reading the article about Wikipedia. I think that this conversation will be one that will continue for years to come. I believe the website does a good job providing oversight over the topics, so users should believe the information that is on there. I like to take the process one step farther and look at other websites for information. If the two or three websites align on the research, all will be legit, reputable sources.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Internet Learning Resources Week 1
Internet Resources is going to be a great class to have under my belt. I believe there are a variety of powerful resources that will be able to help my classroom including collaborative activities and a activities for students to complete.
One of the main points that I want to receive more information about is limiting access for our students. When I am in class, there are numerous students that are using the internet for things other than the intended purpose. Being able to monitor these websites and provide limited access to the students are very important to me. By limiting access to these game, movie, and music websites, I believe we can keep students more intrigued with learning instead of outside distractions that deter learning.
One of the main points that I want to receive more information about is limiting access for our students. When I am in class, there are numerous students that are using the internet for things other than the intended purpose. Being able to monitor these websites and provide limited access to the students are very important to me. By limiting access to these game, movie, and music websites, I believe we can keep students more intrigued with learning instead of outside distractions that deter learning.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Blog #4: Connecting to Me
So far a lot of the information that we have covered has been a very good refresher for me. I started college as a telecommunications major, so a lot of the information that we are viewing is not foreign knowledge to me. It is really nice to see how much some of the technologies have changed, even over the past six years. A lot of the stuff that we are working with now is much more user friendly than the programs that I worked on in the past.
The information and programs that were are covering are very helpful for my educational future. As a technology education instructor, there are many classes taught in the high school that are toned down versions of this class. A lot of the content that we are covering is giving me really cool ideas that I could research and possibly implement into a new course at our school. Our district has had the same traditional programs for years and I believe a Web 2.0 based offering would spark the student imagination and provide them with a sense of what they will be facing in the very near future.
The information and programs that were are covering are very helpful for my educational future. As a technology education instructor, there are many classes taught in the high school that are toned down versions of this class. A lot of the content that we are covering is giving me really cool ideas that I could research and possibly implement into a new course at our school. Our district has had the same traditional programs for years and I believe a Web 2.0 based offering would spark the student imagination and provide them with a sense of what they will be facing in the very near future.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
What would I lose?
Currently I am in the process of transferring all of my files onto an external hard drive. I pretty much my whole life story on my computers, yes computers, I have four of them. Now common sense would have me using one and storing all information in one location, but I am of the new generation and like doing things the hard way. Knock on wood, I don't have any files really backed up on my network drives at school. If the whole system was to go out, I would lose a lot of my information. Fortunately, two of my three classes I teach are directly off Blackboard so all of the information (files and presentations) are stored on the Internet. I have been delaying for a long time to get an external hard drive, but I finally have one sitting on my desk. Now I just need to get going on transferring all the data.
My life would go south very fast if I was to lose this information. I am not really scared about my personal life, because I don't store a lot of documents from my personal life on the computer. As for my professional life, hours upon hours would be spent on rehatching a lot of the curriculum that I have already put a lot of leg work into as well as numerous hours trying to rehatch proposals and grants that I have been in the process of writing. I think storage of informaiton is something that has not been preached to us enough because nobody thinks the inevitable will happen. Hopefully, if that inevitable happens to me, it will hold off until the summer so I can have everything backed up.
Even backing up on an external hard drive is not enough. When I was in High School, I burnt through two external hard drives. While technologies have improved greatly since then, there is still the possibility of the hard drives frying. I think individuals also need to back up burned DVD's with all the information on their desktop, possibly even a couple times.
My life would go south very fast if I was to lose this information. I am not really scared about my personal life, because I don't store a lot of documents from my personal life on the computer. As for my professional life, hours upon hours would be spent on rehatching a lot of the curriculum that I have already put a lot of leg work into as well as numerous hours trying to rehatch proposals and grants that I have been in the process of writing. I think storage of informaiton is something that has not been preached to us enough because nobody thinks the inevitable will happen. Hopefully, if that inevitable happens to me, it will hold off until the summer so I can have everything backed up.
Even backing up on an external hard drive is not enough. When I was in High School, I burnt through two external hard drives. While technologies have improved greatly since then, there is still the possibility of the hard drives frying. I think individuals also need to back up burned DVD's with all the information on their desktop, possibly even a couple times.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Future of Macintosh and Windows
Well first off I am not very good at predicting the future and I don't think that many of us are. How many of us saw the world going from the "Zac Morris" cellphone, to the touchscreen IPhone's and Blackberry's. I think the incredible gains that we have made over the past 10-20 years will go down as some of the most important in technological history.
With that said, my vague predicting abilities see companies like Apple and Windows beginning to change their course of directions. For years, these companies have been dominators in the industry and provided us with everything we need in simple packeted programs and packages. These days, the trend is starting to change because I believe that our world is demanding the technology industry to keep finding more innovations. Take Microsoft Office for instance; Google and other online programs have created word processing, excel format, and presentation programs that individuals can use for free. As costs continue to be more and more of an issue for districts and companies, I believe that organizations will have to switch over to these free based software programs. I don't see Microsoft being able to market their software programs to individuals when people can go out and use somewhat the same program on the Internet.
I also see Google becoming even more of a dominate force in all technology. I have heard rumblings of a program that Google is working on that is suppose to be the end all of be all for technology programs. I have not really done any research into this new program, but I have heard in technology magazines that it is going to change the way that everyone will do personal computing.
Well I thought that the MotorRazr phone was the greatest thing that could be created until Apple came out with the revolutionizing IPhone. I will make a bold prediction that in the very near future, individuals will not be owning computers, they will be using their IPhone's and Blackberry's to run our world. Scary INDEED.
With that said, my vague predicting abilities see companies like Apple and Windows beginning to change their course of directions. For years, these companies have been dominators in the industry and provided us with everything we need in simple packeted programs and packages. These days, the trend is starting to change because I believe that our world is demanding the technology industry to keep finding more innovations. Take Microsoft Office for instance; Google and other online programs have created word processing, excel format, and presentation programs that individuals can use for free. As costs continue to be more and more of an issue for districts and companies, I believe that organizations will have to switch over to these free based software programs. I don't see Microsoft being able to market their software programs to individuals when people can go out and use somewhat the same program on the Internet.
I also see Google becoming even more of a dominate force in all technology. I have heard rumblings of a program that Google is working on that is suppose to be the end all of be all for technology programs. I have not really done any research into this new program, but I have heard in technology magazines that it is going to change the way that everyone will do personal computing.
Well I thought that the MotorRazr phone was the greatest thing that could be created until Apple came out with the revolutionizing IPhone. I will make a bold prediction that in the very near future, individuals will not be owning computers, they will be using their IPhone's and Blackberry's to run our world. Scary INDEED.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Computer History for Nick Havlik
Well I do not honestly remember the exact beginning to my computer usage. I no that the first major technological device was an Atari, followed by Nintendo. I still own both systems and remember playing Super Techmo Bowl and Zelda after school everyday. Super Techmo Bowl is still the best game ever available in my opinion.
My first remembrance of computer usage was around my fifth grade year. We used an old school Apple, I don't know the specific model, to play games. I am guessing that the computer was an Apple 2E. The first game that I ever played on the computer was Oregon Trail and followed it up with a variety of other games I barely remember. I remember the computer being the greatest thing in the world and everyone felt privileged when they were able to use it.
As far as my computer usage, how it has evolved, I can say that I am very computer savy these days. As a technology education instructor, I need to know how computers work. When I started college, I was a telecommunications major that focused on the inner workings of computers. I progressed into this field from my high school days in which I was in charge of repairing computers for our Technology Education instructor.
I have been fortunate to see the evolution of the computer system and I have been touched all along the way. I remember the Oregon Trail as a print in my mind and I know the evolution of online learning will be another one of those markers that I will remember forever. While the computer started off as a gaming system that had minimal use, these days I stay connected with friends around the world and create solid modeled parts utilizing advance CAD techniques.
My first remembrance of computer usage was around my fifth grade year. We used an old school Apple, I don't know the specific model, to play games. I am guessing that the computer was an Apple 2E. The first game that I ever played on the computer was Oregon Trail and followed it up with a variety of other games I barely remember. I remember the computer being the greatest thing in the world and everyone felt privileged when they were able to use it.
As far as my computer usage, how it has evolved, I can say that I am very computer savy these days. As a technology education instructor, I need to know how computers work. When I started college, I was a telecommunications major that focused on the inner workings of computers. I progressed into this field from my high school days in which I was in charge of repairing computers for our Technology Education instructor.
I have been fortunate to see the evolution of the computer system and I have been touched all along the way. I remember the Oregon Trail as a print in my mind and I know the evolution of online learning will be another one of those markers that I will remember forever. While the computer started off as a gaming system that had minimal use, these days I stay connected with friends around the world and create solid modeled parts utilizing advance CAD techniques.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The end of Another, the Beginning of Something New!!!
This is the last blog for my Technology Tools class. I am going to take some time and ponder on the highlights of the course and what beneficial material that I received from it. The first thing that I want to describe is the online collaborations that we have had with our groups. Using Skype and online word processors, such as Google Docs, has been a great experience. The amount of knowledge I learned from the programs and the numerous teachable moments I encountered throughout the activities are endless. I truly believe that online collaboration is the way that our education system is moving and in five years when I reflect back upon the education system, I envision online collaboration being mainstreamed throughout all education.
The next thing that I really enjoyed with the program was the information from the text. That book was packed full with tons of information that has been useful now and will continue to be useful in the future. It will take some time, and I will probably have to reevaluate the text, to truly grasp the power of all the information in the book. I don't think a six week course does justice to the amount of material that can be found within the text. I hope to utilize numerous ideas out of the book, specifically examining the creativity and problem based learning portions of the text.
Another major thing that I found interesting within this class was the research we did into the presentation programs. So many of us are used to using PowerPoint to provide presentations. With programs such as Empressr, we as educators are able to create virtually the same documents, with the difference being Empressr is free and is held virtually on the Internet. I plan to implement Empressr into my classes because I think students need to be able to create online presentations to stay up to date with technologies that are available.
The last thing that I found interesting about the course was looking into software evaluation. As educators, we are going to face the decision, sometime in our career, on what types of software too choose. For many of us, being exposed to a software evaluation was uncovering another stone for us. I realized through the experience that there are a lot of different ideas and opinions that one must take into consideration when evaluating software. I also realized that the amount of work put in on the forefront will result in better experiences for the students.
So alas we are done with course two, onto three and beyond.
The next thing that I really enjoyed with the program was the information from the text. That book was packed full with tons of information that has been useful now and will continue to be useful in the future. It will take some time, and I will probably have to reevaluate the text, to truly grasp the power of all the information in the book. I don't think a six week course does justice to the amount of material that can be found within the text. I hope to utilize numerous ideas out of the book, specifically examining the creativity and problem based learning portions of the text.
Another major thing that I found interesting within this class was the research we did into the presentation programs. So many of us are used to using PowerPoint to provide presentations. With programs such as Empressr, we as educators are able to create virtually the same documents, with the difference being Empressr is free and is held virtually on the Internet. I plan to implement Empressr into my classes because I think students need to be able to create online presentations to stay up to date with technologies that are available.
The last thing that I found interesting about the course was looking into software evaluation. As educators, we are going to face the decision, sometime in our career, on what types of software too choose. For many of us, being exposed to a software evaluation was uncovering another stone for us. I realized through the experience that there are a lot of different ideas and opinions that one must take into consideration when evaluating software. I also realized that the amount of work put in on the forefront will result in better experiences for the students.
So alas we are done with course two, onto three and beyond.
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