Reflection

This semester in IT 365 we did many different things that were new to me. First, we created a blogfolio at blogger.com. We, as a class, were introduced to gmail and many different things that google offered. Although I have had a gmail email address for quite sometime, I had no idea I could create documents, presentations, and sites using the link. All these things I learned through my IT 365 class. After we created a blogfolio, we began finishing assignments to upload to our blog. Our first assignment was a concept map. I used Ispiration to complete my concept map. This assignment was fairly easy once I learned where everything was on the site. The only problems I ran into with this assignment was changing the format in order to upload the concept map to my blog. We also used different websites to create rubrics, tests, quizzes, puzzles and more that we can use in our future classrooms. These were fun to create because I could make them my own. Google groups was probably the easiest assignment for me. This is where I learned about many helpful things that google offered to people with a gmail accound. The hardest thing for me this semester was creating the teacher website. I do not know why this was so difficult for me. I eventually figured it out. I think if I could get better at using the site I would use that in my future classroom. My favorite assignment of this semester was my movie. I really enjoyed creating this because I was comfortable with the assignment. I had already familiarized myself with making movies. For my movie for this assignment I attached music by Carrie Underwood because my movie was about a concert I had attended in Wisconsin. The concert was Carrie Underwood and Hunter Hayes. We also spent a week in Wisconsin visiting close friends. This assignment was a personal assignment for me and I sent copies of my movie to friends that were in the video. I learned many things this semester that I will use in my future classroom. I struggles with some things just because I was not familiar with them. I also gained patience through doing some of these assignments! I think my strong points came when I was able to be creative with the assignments and was familiar with what I was doing. I plan on integrating technology in my future classroom by creating websites to keep my parents involved. I also plan on taking pictures throughout the year and making a movie for each of my students at the end of the year.

Movie

The movie assignment for IT 365 was very simple. It was very easy for me to organize my movie. The problems arose when I had to upload my movie to my blog. The size of my movie was very large and it took a very long time to move it to a form that was compatable. I enjoyed making this movie because it was a personal assignment. I created my movie based on a trip I made to Wisconsin. I made copies of my movie and sent it to our friends in Wisconsin. I will probably also use this in my future classroom. I think it would be very sweet to take pictures of my class throughout the year and give each student a cd at the end of the class. I think these students would appreciate this later in life.

Turn It In

What is the definition of gender bias (as related to the use of computers)? As related to the use of computers gender bias is when male OR female is more favored over the other when dealing with technology. Is there evidence that a technology gender gap and gender bias exist? There is valid evidence that there is a huge technology gender gap. Studies show that females prefer more sensitive games and websites where men prefer more violent and exciting games and sites. Why are girls in their adolescent years losing interest in computers? Girls in their adolescent years are losing interest in computers because their attention span is diverted from technology. When girls begin to mature they begin to focus on different things. For example, they begin to focus on their appearance and male figures. This draws a dramatic portion of their attention away from computers. What are the differences and similaritites between how males and females perceive and use technology? There are many differences and similarities between how males and females each perceive and use technology. Both sexs appreciate the efficiency of technology. They also both acknowledge that it is an at hand accomodation. They both agree that it makes things easier and takes less time, for example online buying and bill paying. Technology is also valued by both men and women because of the information that is available to them. Male and females also differ in their perception of technology. Women are less intense users than men and that men spend more time on computers than women do. Women prove to communicate more via internet and use email for often. Men use the interent more for bill paying and auctions whereas women use it more for shopping and online banking. What role do parents, educators, and manufacturers have in encouraging (and discouraging) technology use among females? Parents, educators, and manufacturers play a very big role in encouraging and discouraging technology use among females. Studies showed that teachers need to focus more on females use of technology in the classrooms. Teachers may give more online assignments to entrigue females attention. Parents can also help in encouraging technology. Maybe by giving computer time as a priviledge females will feel more prone to use technology. SOURCES: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4/hartmann.html http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LOCAL/westcentral/07/06/tgm.women.tech/index.html http://www.edutopia.org/computer-science-technology-gender-gap http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2009/nic-interim-report/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4555370.stm ___________________________________________________________________________________ What is the definition of gender bias (as related to the use of computers)? As related to the use of computers gender bias is when male OR female uses technology more. Is there evidence that a technology gender gap and gender bias exist? There is valid evidence that there is a huge technology gender gap. Studies show that females prefer more sensitive games and websites where men prefer more violent and exciting games and sites. Why are girls in their adolescent years losing interest in computers? Girls in their adolescent years are losing interest in computers because their attention span is often highly diverted from technology. When girls begin to mature they begin to focus on different things. For example, they begin to focus on their appearance and male figures. This draws a dramatic portion of their attention away from computers. What are the differences and similaritites between how males and females perceive and use technology? Both males and females acknowledge that technology is an at-hand accomodation. Both agree that technology makes things easier and takes less time, for example purchasing things online and bill paying. Technology is also valued by both men and women because of the information that is available to them. Male and females also differ in their perception of technology. Women are less intense users than men and that men spend more time on computers than women do. Women prove to communicate more via internet and use email for often. Men use the interent more for bill paying and auctions whereas women use it more for shopping and online banking. What role do parents, educators, and manufacturers have in encouraging (and discouraging) technology use among females? Studies showed that teachers need to focus more on females use of technology in the classrooms. Teachers may give more online assignments to entrigue females attention. Parents can also help in encouraging technology. Maybe by giving computer time as a priviledge females will feel more prone to use technology.

Concept map

I used the application "Inspiration" to do my concept map. I did not have any problems while I was doing it in class. The site was easy to use and the concept map flowed together perfectly. I ran into problems when I had to upload the concept map onto my blogger. I had to change the format of my concept map, which did not work. After many, many unsuccessful trials trying to upload my map, I was unsuccessful. Eventually, I had to go back to the site and redo my concept map. After creating my concept map again, I then had to save it as a different format and upload it to my blog as an image.

GOOGLE GROUPS

The google group project was pretty simple. The only problem I encountered with this assignment was when I tried adding people to my group. I mistakenly typed one of our members' email address wrong. After she contacted me I was able to correct the problem and add all members of my group. Honestly, I will probably never use this in a classroom setting because I plan on teaching lower elementary school children. I do not feel like children in the grade levels I want to teach have enough technological education to use this. I also used google to create my presentation on the plantet. Since I do not have Microsoft Word on my computer it was a great application for me. If I do not purchase Microsoft Word as a teacher I will definitley use this application to create powerpoints for my classroom. Solar System (1) When Sally was seven years old all her friends had a puppy. Sally wanted to be just like her friends so she begged her mom for a puppy too! Her mother told her that puppies were a lot of responsibility and she did not think Sally was ready to have a puppy of her own. The child continued to beg so her mother said that Sally would have to prove that she could properly care for a puppy of her own. Sally’s mother decided that the first steps in doing this would be for Sally to work for the money she needed to buy her puppy. Sally quickly agreed and said she would do anything her mother asked. It was not long until Sally asked for permission to begin working towards her goal. Her mother granted her the permission she asked for and Sally’s mission to buy her puppy began! (Lindsey Lee) Sally knew she would have to work hard to earn enough money for her puppy, so she began to do all kinds of chores around the house. She washed the dishes, cleaned her room, and even took out the trash. Every day she completed all of her chores, and her mother would give her money for doing so. Sally saved every single dollar she earned and put it her piggy bank. After a couple of weeks of doing her chores and saving her money, Sally decided to count it and see how much she had saved. Sure enough, all of her hard work paid off and she finally had enough money to buy her new puppy! (Karianne McKee) The next morning Sally and her mother started their search for a new puppy. First, Sally’s mom decided to pick up a newspaper and look in the pet section. There were plenty of puppies for sale, and some were even free. One of the ad’s she found said “ Free Puppies Need a Good Home.” Sally’s mom called the owner to check and see if there were any puppies still available. The owner told her that she had one puppy left, so Sally and her mother went to the owners house to see the puppy. When they got there and the owner brought the puppy out, there was a cute little pink bow in her hair. Sally was very excited, and told her mom this was the cutest puppy she has ever seen. Sally’s mom quickly agreed. (Elizabeth Murray) Sally was so excited to have her new puppy that she took her everywhere. Sally named her new best friend Sassy because of the pink bow in her hair made her look like she was going to need a lot of attention. Since Sally did not have to pay for Sassy, she used the money she earned to buy Sassy’s dog food, her doggie treats and toys and a doggie bed so Sassy could sleep in t Sally’s room at night. Sally spent so much time with Sassy that she trained Sassy to sit, stay, lay down, shake hands, roll over and even speak on command. Sally’s friends were so impressed that they too wanted a dog of their own to teach tricks. As Sally grew older, Sassy did too. Sally is now 18 and Sassy is now 11 and even though they are both older, Sally and Sassy are still best friends. (Dawn Lindley)

WEB SITE

This website will be a great resource to me as a teacher. It will be a great way for parents to get to know me since their students will be spending so much time with me. Parents can also check this site for teacher information, contact information, assignments, due dates, ect. I believe I will use this in my future classroom to educate parents as well. I think the parents will appreciate it as well. I did have a lot of trouble setting up my website. It was hard for me to find out how to move things around on my site. Adding a picture and personal information was easy. Changing the tabs on the sidebar gave me a little trouble but I figured it out finally! Ms. Lee's Website

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

The assistive technbology assignment was very informative! Before this assignment I did not know how to do any of the things specified in the instructions. The instructions given by the teacher did make the assignment a little more difficult because my computer was different than whatever computer that was used when the directions were made. I had to find different ways to make the changes on my compouter. I used google to find extra help with this assignment. Assistive Tech Lindsey Lee