Learning Style

For my own personal learning style I have discovered that the way I learn the best is through project based activities.  I believe that my learning is most effective through these means because according to the multiple intelligence quiz the way I learn best is socially by developing ideas with other people.  Thinking back to my experiences I would agree with this statement.


Another benefit and strength that I have through project based learning is the ability to explore and experience new things.  Through inquiry based learning I find myself not only the most engaged, but able to retain the most information.  This is also reflected in my teaching strategies as I try to incorporate many projects and opportunities for inquiry based learning as possible.  Of course project based learning is not appropriate for all topics.


The type of teaching strategy that is least effective for my learning style is lecture.  I find it the most effective when learning is interactive and through lecture learning is usually the least interactive.  It is difficult to learn unless you are actually performing the tasks.


It is impossible for a teacher to cater to all learning styles every single lesson.  Our focus as educators should instead be to give students an opportunity to experience many different ways to learn.  Our goal should be to create a community of learners in the classroom were students can receive support from their fellow learners.  In this way if a certain lesson isn't focused on a students particular strength they can still receive the support that they need to learn and to succeed.

Creative Commons

Below is an image of a lunar eclipse.  This image could be used to give students a visual to assist in learning  about and understand a lunar eclipse.  This creative commons image is sited below.

Photo Attribution

Original Image: "Lunar Eclipse 12-2010"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobaubuchon/5279492639/
By:  Bob AuBuchon

Release under an Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

The photo that I uploaded to flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/70987730@N08/6416006935/?edited=1

PC security and maintenance

Intrusion detection and prevention

I learned about the benefits and uses of intrusion detection and prevention software.  The tutorial described the differences between your basic virus scan and how it looks for unwanted programs by what they try to do.  They compared it to trying to find a thief by looking at his characteristics rather than his fingerprints.  What this software does is detects changes as they happen making you more secure.  The difficulty with intrusion software is it does take some user knowledge and activity.  Unlike a normal virus scan where you just start the scan and it takes care of the rest, with intrusion software you have to know what you are looking at.  What surprised me about this information was the difference it illustrated between virus scans and intrusion software.  I feel I am now more secure with this new software.

You can download it for free at www.winpatrol.com

Helpful Web Site Resources

This was a short tutorial but very informative.  It gave some great websites that give you resources to help your computer.  PC pit stop is a one stop shop for PC security and maintance.  It has everything from virus scanning to speed optimizing.  And it’s free!  http://www.pcpitstop.com/

The other resource the tutorial gizmos richard’s tech support alert.  It includes windows guides so you can perform common tech support tasks yourself.  If you need to know anything about internet security you can almost always find it there.  www.techsupportalert.com

Firewalls

There are actually two different kinds of firewalls:  hardware firewalls and software firewalls.  Hardware firewalls can be found in things like wireless routers that help protect your computer from the outside world.  Software firewalls are installed on your computer. 

It is important to know what firewalls do.  Software firewalls act as a second line of defense behind your hardware firewall.  They tell you when a program is trying to access the internet, they tell you when something is trying to get out to the internet, they tell you when something is trying to get into your computer and warn you of dangerous internet activity.

It is also important to know what they can't do.  For example hardware firewalls do not:  Block viruses from being installed, block spam email, or block you from spreading viruses to the outside world.

Something that I learned about firewalls were about the two different types and why it is important to have both kinds.  They work together helping to block and protect you from things that the other one may have missed.  They are your best line of defense against unwanted access to your computer

Wiki Lab

In wikipedia I created a page for the elementary school that I completed my internship at.  There was no page yet created so I added some basic information about the school, the students, the spanish immersion program they have and their involvement with Michigan State.  Below is a screen shot of the new wikipedia page.

As another part of wikis, I also created my own wiki using wikispace.  In this wiki I simulated a class assignment that could be completed using a wiki.  It is a photo hunt where they look for different states of matter.  Students would be able to upload pictures of different states of matter they see in the world around them every day.  I also included detailed instructions to explain how to upload their images to the wiki.

http://ericsclassroomwiki.wikispaces.com/

Getting Things Done (GTD)

I honestly wish I had, had something like this at the very beginning of college.  I started this by using a paper and pencil and will eventually move to using my iPad so it is more mobile and easier to keep track of.  When first starting out this process actually took a little getting used to.  It was nice figure out how to be more organized.  I've actually tried to be come organized similar to this but it was more of a brain dump on a piece of paper.  I would create one of those massive lists of everything I have to do.  As I wrote more and more I would get more and more overwhelmed with it all and have no idea where to start or what to attack first.  This is where I think the GTD process will really help me.  It isn't just the brain dump that I was doing but it gives you a way to organize it.  I will continue to use this process.  I think it will be very effective in helping me keep organized which is very important especially with these online classes.

Social networks: Professional, personal and in the classroom

Social networks are a great way to stay connected and find connections.  There is a very common phrase, it isn't what you know it's who you know (of course knowing a thing or two does always help).  Social networks have made it much easier to know the right people get the information you need, expert you are looking for or job you've always wanted.  It allows for communication among colleagues to be much quicker and easier.  Instead of hunting for and trying to find the right person that you think knows the answer to your question you can use social networking to put that question out there and let everyone have a chance at answering it.  The answer may come to you quicker and from a source that you didn't expect.

Social networking in a personal aspect is also very beneficial.  I know that I personally use social networks like Facebook to keep in touch with my cousin who lives in Italy.   Even though I am thousands of miles away we are still able to communicate and see what the other one is doing.  We actually met this summer for the first time thanks in large part to social networks.

Using social networks in the classroom can help students in their studies.  One way is what I mentioned before.  Being able to ask a question that anyone can answer and give input and feedback on.  Another way that students could use social networking is to give each other feedback.  I know there have been times I can think back to sitting in a class and having a really good idea for someone when they mention a project idea.  However it either wasn't an opportunity then to share it or I didn't get a chance to share what my thoughts.  Through social networking students could share their feedback and ideas to help each other.  This could potentially inspire other students to use ideas in their projects as well.  It makes a much closer and well connected learning environment for everyone.

Sample Google Calendar

This is a sample Google calendar of upcoming events in a classroom embedded into a blog post

RSS feed lab

Comment added to a blog:  I commented on the blog and told the author that I enjoyed their technology tip.  They mentioned teaching channel, a good place to go to get educational videos.  I also recommended in my comment that she, and the other readers of the blog, check out www.teachertube.com for more educational videos.

I really enjoy using and RSS feed and actually did so before I did this lab.  I enjoy the having everything in one place and not having to search around to 10 different web sites to see if anything has changed.  It is a much needed time saver in this fast paced world.  Across the three days that I observed the RSS feed, I found several different articles covering many different aspects of education.  One day I read mostly about the politics of education (which I don't really enjoy but is something I need to stay informed about regardless).  The other days were more enjoyable reading about teaching tips in the classroom and technology resources.

From tracking these different feeds I have learned about technology tips of things to use in the classroom such as teaching channel.  I have learned (and become a littler nervous reading) about Obama unveiling new student loan rules because so many recently graduated students are defaulting on their loans.  I also read a few articles about cyber-bullying.

Using the RSS feed content can help keep me up-to-date on several issues related to and involving education.  Being a teacher it also good to stay current on the things that will effect your career.  I could also see myself using this in the classroom.  If every student in the class had a blog that they worked with it would be very time consuming going to each one to see what every student wrote.  Using an RSS feed brings all the blogs to me so I can see when students update them.

The difference between traditional web pages and blogs

There are several difference between traditional web pages and blogs.  Almost everyone who surfs the web is used to traditional web pages.  They can be compared to stores what you would shop in.  People go in, they take a look around at what is there then leave.  The experience can be good, bad, or indifferent and there's always the chance (if the web page allows) for the consumer to buy something.  Blogs however are inherently different.  A blog is more like a newspaper stand.  It is in the same place every day but every time you go there you may find something different.  It is constantly changing with things being added to it and new ideas emerging. However one key feature that most blogs have that newspaper stands don't are the ability for people to make comments on blogs.  People can get in there and share their own ideas and comments on a given topic.  It's like reading that news paper you bought and then sending a letter to editor for everyone else to read with your views and opinions.  With the wonders of the internet, unlike with printed paper, this exchange happens instantaneously.