Voice Threads

VoiceThread
With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. All with no software to install.
A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.
Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies.
I think voice threads would be a good thing to emplement into the classroom. I like how it allows people to leave a message five different ways. I would not use it in the classroom untill i got more comfortable using it.

week 8/ power point

We are doing a power point presentation in ETEC. I am partners with Alex. We are doing our power point over Using Technology in the Classroom. It is going good we are pretty much finished. We mentioned how laptops and other technology can be beneficial in the classroom. Having a partner made the project go quicker, prob because Alex is good at using the computer.

ch7 technology post

I think it is important for instructors and educational facilities to try and keep up with technology. Using recent technology to teach students help them adapt. Most students have access to computers have a cell phone and listen to their ipod. At any point in the day they can get online on facebook or myspace and see what their buddies are up to or just send them a text message. Everything is instant we are not used to having to wait for anything. An online chat in the classroom could be benificial because students are so comfortable chatting that way.
I still think face to face conversations are better but asynchronous or text based conversations could be better when the student isnt comfortable speaking in public though it is good to get over that fear and you need to eventually. Video games can enhance your learning if you play a educational game. playing wii could also help develop hand eye co-ordination. I wouldnt let my kid play video games every single day and would prob put a time limit on it when they are young so that they dont become hermits who sit in the house all day playing video games. I think when my kids are young i would let them play games on the computer that are fun but also incorporate learning. My family didnt have a computer untill i was in sixth grade but the next generation of people wil be around computers from birth and absolutly have to know how to operate them.

Personality Differences

I think that a persons personality has alot to do with the way they learn. Their personality determines how they process and learn things and which learning styles keep them interested longer. Some students will enjoy reading while others would have to be forced to do it. Your personality can determine if you like lectures or activity learning.
I think that as a teacher if you knew your students personalities you could adapt to their learning styles by using different teaching methods. At the begining of the school year you could have all your students to a personality test so that you could get a glimps of who they are.

spreadsheet post

I really like using excel to create a gradebook. I thin it is really useful because you can use functions to take the grades and automatically calculate them. Once you learn how to use excell it is alot faster doing grades than using a calculator. I would say 99% of teachers do grades this way now instead of a gradebook and calculator, but that is just my guess. Not just in the teaching field but anything that has to do with calculating numbers i think excell speeds it up. I would use it to do grades in my classroom and also teach my students to use it.
Spreadsheets have 3 primary functions-Storing , calculating and presenting data. With these three options you can do a number of things. Spreadsheets are good for making graphs where people can visualize data or by using numbers so an accountant could keep track of money.

Week 3 Discussion

The insperation video was really good. Insperation looked like a good learning tool. To describe it, it was a program to help people with writting. It allowed yo to use charts and flow graphs and notes to prepare for writting. I think that it would help if you had writters block you could just gt on insperation and start goofing around just throwing ideas out thee and using pictures and then it might bring stuff to your mind to write about.

When writting a good paper you need multiple drafts and feedback in order to reach full potential. And as a teacher you will be on a time scale where you will not have time for each student to write rough drafts and read and instruct each one. Peer to peer revision is one way to make up for being just one teacher with many students and not much time. Students can read and give feed back on paper. In technology there is a program called SWoRD that is online where students can turn in writting. The good things about this program are that it requires students to turn in multiple drafts booth of which are read and reviewed. Other people are reading and giving a written feedback of what they think. Also this process is monitered so that the teacher can set a schedule for paper to be returned.

Why are blogs important

When we first started doing blogs in this class i was not that into it. The main reason is im not much of a computer guy. But, after starting one i can see how they are a good way to post news about subjects you enjoy or something that you want other people to know. I hear about blogs all the time on tv or on the compute but i had never started my own. I hear about twitter all the time too and still dont fully know what it is though i think its kinda like a blog. I think they could be usful in a classroom environment because kind of how we are doing it gets the whole class to participate and interact. Plus going into almost any work field these days you need to be up to date on computer stuff.
In ch 6 of our book it defends blogs in the teaching field. It references a teacher who used a blog to allow students to get on and explor topics that didnt fit into the class schedule. This allowed students who need extra time to learn and also helped students who might have a fear of public speaking have a chance to inter act.