E-portfolio

I started graduate school at Mizzou in educational technology in the fall of 2006. After the fall 2009 session I will only require three more hours to complete the graduation requirements. It was interesting reading my first blog posts from 2006. I believe the educational tools I wrote about in 2006 were extremely beneficial to the education of my children. I'll continue to contribute posts this year and reflect upon the quality educational experience at Mizzou. You can view the beginning stages of my e-portfolio at http://bengal.missouri.edu/~rwb59b/islt_7378/index.html

Dr. Seuss Says...

"The more that you read,

The more things you will know.

The more that you learn,

The more places you'll go."

Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!, 1978

This is my final entry for my blog for this eight week course. My intent was to acquire knowledge from my fellow students recommendations, conduct further inquiry in topics of interest, and write about my observations. I'm a novice in the world of computers and educational technology and I hope this blog will be helpful to other novices as well. In the end, not only did I benefit but so did my children and other educators who I contacted with suggestions and ideas. This blog encouraged me to really explore several websites and media not just read or skim over them. In addition, I watched my daughter and son explore them as well. Their enthusiasm for learning and their imagination was inspiring.

I am convinced that educational technology has aided my daughter academically. She is an active reader and eager to learn. She recently read a story to her kindergarten class as if she was a childrens librarian. For that I am very thankful. My son enjoys educational technology more than his older sister. He has learned more from watching her than I could teach him alone.

I do place limits on the amount of time they can spend on the computer and this class has helped me choose activities with great educational value. It has not replaced family time or stories with me reclining in the Lazy Boy.

Educational technology does not come easy for me. I relate it to learning a second language in adulthood. I want my children to benefit and contribute to educational technology. My daughter already has an interest and ability in illustrating and writing stories. I hope that they both become a contributer to the free educational programs available available on the Internet.

I welcome any comments or suggestions.

Seussville Story Maker

Last night my daughter and I created a couple of online stories using the free Seussville Story Maker. Participants are able to create a story and add their name as the author. Participants add characters from Horton Hears a Who! to three separate scenes. A different setting can be chosen for each scene and participants choose from three background music selections. Text is added for each character to create a story. When finished a "pull of a handle" activates the story. In each scene pop ups display the text for each character. The author's name is displayed in the introduction.

I think it was a great site for my daughter and encouraged her to write more stories.

Podcasting Site

I read the podcasting site by Yahoo recommended by another student early this morning before work. This site contains information about podcasts as well as information about searching for podcasts, what the folks at Yahoo like, top 100 lists, and popular tags. The site recommends Audacity sound recording software to make your own podcast and the LAME MP3 encoder. Yahoo has a free web hosting service, Yahoo! Geocities. It also has directions to make your podcast available to others. Since I don't yet have webpage development skills I am not sure how it works. However, the Yahoo! Geocities Tutorial claims to have all the tools you need to build a dynamic site.

I have found podcasting to be really interesting and I enjoy listening to podcasts saved on my Creative MP3 player while traveling. I will try to make a podcast over the holidays.

I downloaded the podcasting search engine to my Yahoo Music Unlimited software and now can add additional podcasts to my audio only MP3 player with ease.

The brief description on Google states that Audacity is a free, open souce software for recording and editing sounds in Linux, Mac OS X, and other operating systems. LAME MP3 is an educational tool to be used fo learning about MP3 encoding. LAME aims to be the bais of a patentn free audio compression codec.

Funbrain

One of the best parts of writing this blog is the research. On Funbrain website, I played Math Baseball, Plural Girls, Proton Don, Grammar Gorillas, and Mathcar Racing.

Math Baseball - Each correct answer of an addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or even algebra problem results in a swing of the bat. Correct answers for more difficult questions result in more runs scored. Various degrees of difficulty

Plural Girls - A word such as "elf" is provided in singular form. Players choose the correct plural form of the word, in our example "elves." Advanced features require the player to spell the correct plural form of the word. Tough for politicians.

Proton Don - This game builds memorization knowledge of the symbols of the periodic table. Various degrees of difficulty.

Grammar Gorillas - Players are shown a sentence and asked to choose the noun, verb, adjective, etc. from the sentence. This game builds knowledge of parts of speech and word usage.

Mathcar Racing - I admit. I lost but I didn't understand the structure of the program. With in the highlighted columns or rows in a table, the player chooses the answer from math problems with the greatest value. A race ensues between the computer and the player on a racetrack.

This site also includes a teachers area to help in the choice of the appropriate game or activity. Good incentive for students that complete their work early.

AntiVirus and AntiSpam Software

The September 2006 edition of Consumer Reports rates antivirus, antispyware, and antispam software. Top antivirus software was BitDefender. Top antispyware - Webroot. Top antispam -Microsoft Outlook 2003 with Trend Micro add-on.

I received Webroot Spyware with my notebook computer so I decided to add their new antivirus program for $10 as well. I removed the old Norton software program since it seemed to interfere with Webroot's software. Note to self - my protection expires in mid-April.

I can't honestly say why people go out of their way to disrupt other people's computers. I always wondered if they were paid by the companies who market the "anti" software programs.

Starfall

Dustin recommended Starfall recently as an excellent site for beginnning readers. Unfortunately, my children enjoyed it so much that they no longer want to go to bed. Oh, the trials of a parent...not that my children ever want to go to bed.

We spent some time exploring the site tonight. The site seems to be organized into four sections:

ABC's
Introduction to letter sounds

Learn To Read
Zac the Rat and other tales
Early Beginning Reader

Its Fun To Read
About Me, Art Gallery, Magic & More

I'm Reading
Plays, Nonfiction, Comics & More
Beginning Reading to Advanced

The site helps the child to sound out the word. Activities involve their imagination and captivate their interest. I really like the "About Me" section. Children can choose words to help describe their pet, appearance, and even the rooms in their house.

Droodles Memory Page

I tried the Droodles and Memory Page at Exploratorium today with my daughter. Apparently droodles are a bunch of squiggly lines that resemble an idea once given a title such as "elephant stepping on a waffle." The intent of the site was to improve memorization of details. Initially, the participant is provided with four droodles, one in each square. The title for the droodle is abstract such as "Rispt" and the participant is asked to look at each droodle and its title. Upon clicking "Begin" the participant is given four blank squares, the same four titles in a different order, and an onscreen pencil and eraser. Participants are asked to draw the details of each droodle. By selecting a comparison icon, the participant can guage the effectiveness of his or her memory. The second set of droodles has a title that conjects and image such as "elephant stepping on a waffle." The idea is that associated a form with a meaningful title helps in the memorization process. Unfortunately, the site contains only eight droodles.

I'm not sure the site has any real meaningful educational value but it is an interesting idea that could improve the visualization of details in short term memory.

Brain Pop Jr. x 2

I explored another Brain Pop Jr. with my daughter today. We followed the path of health-bodies-bones. The short video was entertaining. My daughter spent over a half-hour on the site yesterday and explored several of the topics including plants, animals, and health. She really likes this site. We hope to explore other sites similar to Brain Pop Jr. today.

Brain Pop Jr

I explored another education site today Brain Pop Jr. I spent more time exploring this site than others in the past not just because my family was at Skate City but because the site was very intriguing. Specifically, I chose the reading-story elements-characters lesson for children in grades K-3. Following an entertaining movie with a little girl Annie and a non-speaking robot named Moby, children have the opportunity to explore games, activities, belly up (comic), pop a joke, word wall, draw about it, write about it, read about it, talk about it, and for those overachievers in the group there is a easy quiz and a hard quiz.

I haven't yet tried the activity with my daughter but I was really inspired. It was an excellent way to learn about characters in a story. The drawing program was simple but functional. The word wall had flashcards with a term on the front and a definition on the back. The site combined written words and voice. The story suggestions were quality choices.

Overall, I would give this site an "A." The ideas for grown ups were also very helpful. At this time the website is no cost. I'm not sure if it becomes a pay site in the future.