Publish your webquest

Everybody was concerned at last night's class about losing their webquest because their limited enrollment time is about to expire, but you don't have to lose it.  Just sign on to questgarden using your temporary ID and then proceed like you are going to edit your webquest.

At the very bottom of the editing menu is a section called "Tools".  If you click on the link for "Publish" under tools, your webquest will become part of the questgarden domain and always remain available to you and your students.  There are a couple of boxes that you need to check that give permission for them to make it available to the public.  Check those and hit the "Publish" button and your webquest will be saved.  Good luck!

Blogging then and now

Im digging the blogging thing.  While i am learning that blogging can be used as an unbelievable resource for learning and sharing about different educational topics, so far it looks like most of us in the class are only using it to be vocal about assignments and projects in class.  This has to be great feed back to Doc Luongo as she goes through our blogs and sees what students like and dislike.  

I did like edublogger world.  if you think about how powerful of a connection you are able to make as a teacher--that you can chat and get feedback from teachers all around the world--what an incredible resource.  This has to improve education overall, and has to improve your ability to reach your students.  

One thing I dont like about blogging is the fact that we have to blog about certain topics.  I guess it does force us to blog, but i am much more into the blogs that i type when i have something that i am angry about and want to rant on.  It allows me to be more entertaining and free to express myself, than to be forced to formulate an opinion and fumble through it.

Chapter 3 and 4? what am I 11?

Okay that was a little on the ridiculous side!  I read the chapters for this week and actually i can say that i skimmed through them as the information included was at about a 3rd grade level for computer knowledge and understanding.  These chapters were way out of place in a grad school text book.  Do they really need to explain what a mouse and keyboard do when using a computer? Please!  and then it gets a little more advanced in chapter 4 as they tell you what a scanner does. Im here to learn!  ucchhh! 

Kidspiration a little basic

I reviewed all the videos and info for this week on kidspiration and i guess my main question is...what level is this directed to?  I'm sure this would be good for a third grade class sitting on the floor in front of Ms Stubbs and moving proper and normal nouns around on a projected screen, but what can we do for the older kids?  Are there other kidspiration type software packages that a 10th grader would like to play with and learn from?  It seems that even as advanced as this software may be in getting away from the old style school classroom, by using computers and technology, it still seems like it is lacking from an entertainment standpoint.  And that is what we are really trying to do right?  Entertain them while we teach.  It cant just be chalk and slate anymore, but i think these are going the way of the VCR.  they were good until dvd came along, and then obsolete when blue ray stepped in.  I would like to see a fast moving product with a techno/rap music background--something that kids will listen to and pay attention to--Entertain them!

webquests driving me crazy

Is it just me?  I am totally frustrated about the webquest topics.  I go to the examples and say oh that is terrific.  That looks like a nice, fun project for the kids to do, then I go to another and say wow that's very creative.  Then I sit and stare at the computer hoping that something hits me that will be as creative as the examples provided.  I am not teaching right now, and I think that if i were teaching, i might be able to come up with something in my current lesson plans that would be applicable.  I know Doc said we could use one of the ones from the examples, but I'm not sure what that means without being plagiaristic.  

I do like the idea of the webquest.  It seems like something that the kids would really get into and offers a different avenue for teaching and learning.  It is also something that can be used at all levels of education and would hold a students interest-way more than reading out of a book and answering questions.  

My quest for the perfect quest continues!

Internet Safety

This is a very important topic to me since i have three daughters, and its a toss up whether they spend more time in the bathroom or on the computer. I watched the two videos in the syllabus for internet safety.  The first was geared toward middle and high school ages while the second was more basic and elementary.  My gut feeling watching both of these videos is that I dont think they go far enough as far as demonstrating the final end game of internet predators.  the one for the older kids does state in one slide that kids can get raped, kidnapped, and murdered, but it is only one flash slide.  that is the most important thing and they should have hammered it home more.  Im not sure i like the medium in which it was presented either.  the idea of just flashing slides up to music from Rocky 2 was not engaging to me and it is doubtful that it would hold the attention of today's teenagers.  

the video for younger children simply was not threatening enough.  There was a nice calm soothing voice telling children to beware, but I would rather have seen it way more threatening.  If a stranger came to your door, would you let him in?  If a stranger called and said to meet him some place, would you go?  those parallels needed to be drawn to better illustrate the danger and finality of a decision made on the net.

It is hard to police and one thing that is not discussed at all in the videos in parent responsibility: Know what your kid is doing on the internet, know who they are talking to, and know what sites they visit.  There are imbedded programs you can by that monitors IM conversations and while some might say its spying, others will say it is just good parenting.

Jukes article was a bore!

okay here's what you do.  when you hit the Jukes article fast forward to page 8 and start reading then.  Jukes could use a better editor, or maybe even an editor period, to cut down his 22 page article to maybe 3 summary pages.  He didn't have to go through all his exhausting information to tell us that the way we grew up was different than the way kids have it today. 

He could have simply started out by stating that instead of talking about how previous generations used the etch-a-sketch for technology.  Was he going for humor?  Because i wasn't laughing at all.  i was actually getting angry and wanted to punch him for being so verbose and unfunny and wasting my afternoon.  Can you come up with a few more cliche' hack references?  what is this open mike night at the Internet Cafe?  Awful!

One of the biggest revelations in his article is that kids retain less (5%) from a lecture and more (90%) from actually doing and demonstrating what they've learned after they learn something.  Really?  Again can you point out anything a little more obvious to even the casual observer?  And if you make it to page 19, you will receive insight like "we have to make learning more fun" and "use more pictures instead of text" Ucccch!  How did this even get published?  and keep the hack coming by closing with a quote from Einstein! 

i give it .5 out of 10 for essential reading!