Google Application

I choose Google because it is most popular and the most used free application. I evaluated Google Documents and Picassa. Google Docs and MS Word are very similar word processing applications. Docs do not have a variety of fonts. Yo have to download your document to Word or a PDF file in order to save. You can publish your document to Blogger. Then you can shave with others using their email address. Unfortunately, it is time consuming to do all of these steps when you can create your document using MS Word. Picassa is a great image software that you can edit pictures and videos and share them with your friends. Picassa is easy to navigate unlike the complex Adobe products. Teachers can use Picassa to upload pictures to a classroom website or do a photo story with their students. Google applications is free. This is a great advantage because many schools districts and non profits can not afford software license. Especially when the companies come out with new versions every 2-3 years.

Blogs in the Classroom

There are several ways that blogs can be used in the classroom. Students can create online journals, online yearbooks, and participate in online classroom discussions. One of the instructional strategies that will work is cooperative learning. Students can work in pairs and in groups. They will be able to interact with teaches, parents, and students. Constructivism can be use which allows the students to give opinions on topics and give feedback to classmates on their blogs. Behaviorism concentrates on exams, drill, and practice in the classroom. At the recreation center, the members use their blogs to discuss politics and have online debates.

Wikis

This was an experience. I check the Wikipedia website to find anything about New York City Parks department. There is some information about the agency. I changed some typing and spelling errors. Then I change the organization information because there were some recent changes at the executive level. Here is my screen shot:

I created a wiki for one of the Recreation Centers in the parks department. I wrote a brief history about the center. I will share the wiki with the staff. I will be adding more information.  I am happy to be experiencing new Web 2.0 technology. Here is the link.

https://hansboroughrecreationcenter.wikispaces.com

RSS Reader

After completing CEP 810, I learned more about technology. The class introduced me to rss readers. I set up my account using Netvibes. It was a little difficult at first but I was able to add feeds of important technology topics. This class introduce adding podcasts to your reader. Many of the podcasts at the Education Podcast Network had errors or you could not open the feeds. I picked the topic of Instructional Technology. I listen to a few podcasts from some of the Universities. What podcast topic did you choose to add on your RSS Reader?

Selecting a WebQuest

Before creating a computer based lesson, the teacher need to know the technology levels of  the students in the class. Many students are more computer literate than other children. The lesson must be clear and challenging for all levels of students. I visited several WebQuest sites. I was disappointed to see many of the websites were old and obsolete. I found this WebQuest: The history of computers: http://education.nmsu.edu/webquests/wq/computing_wq/computing.html The author gave good information about the history of computers but the links were no longer available online. The site was last updated in 1997. The font was easy to read.
I evaluated a webquest on designing a park.

http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~teisenberg2/mapquest/

I decided to look at this WebQuest because I work for Parks & Recreation. The directions was clear. The students were able to connect to the links and download the handouts to use for the task. This assignment is hands on and will keep the children busy. The author did not post grade level.