#20 How it went!

Allow me to asses this course by directly answering the questions posed.


What was most beneficial to you from the points of content and structure?

The most beneficial aspect of this course was the inter-Office assignments. Normally, my ventures into Microsoft Office programs are single-program in their natuer. For example, I rarely incorporate the tools and features of Excel into Word. But having completed this course, I know how to do relatively complicated tasks, such as merging a database wtih a Microsfot Word document.

How has the format of the course, online learning benefited or inhibited your learning? And how the problems can be remedied?

Online courses are more difficult than I had imagined. Obviously, the course depends on the student being self-motivated, but I had expected that. The part of this class that hindered my comprehension or improvement in these tech areas was a few things. First, I didn't like not knowing my classmates. We rarely interacted with eachother. heck, I couldn't tell you who all but four of my classmates are! And I don't think that's unique in my class. And it's certianly not a healthy aspect of a class. I wish these sSaturday classes were more interactive as far as student-to-student communication goes.

What suggestions do you have for the instructor and for future classes?

My suggestions are to make class more flexible in their group work. have a Think Pair Share activity or jigsaw or whatever you call it. It's not conducive to an academic environment to keep students from talking with eachother.

How much you have learned from this online course as compared to learning from f2f courses? For example, more, comparable amount, less, etc.

I've learned mroe in the sense of total knowledge gained (compared to a f2f class). However, the manner in which I'm learning - distance communication is rarely a godo thing for stduents and professors.

#19 Irving ISD will pay for WHAT??

http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/11/microsoft-runs-with-mark-cuban.html

As you know, my students are all afforded laptops by Irving ISD for a small insurance fee of $50. With this computer comes wi-fi provided by the city, and it's firewall'd as all-get-out, so trojans, viruses, and inappropriate websites have a hard time finding a way to the laptops. Pretty sweet deal. Except for what might happen in a year or two.

Google is our students preferred choice of research for pictures, articles, information, etc. Microsoft and Newscorp are considering de-indexing from Google in order to force consumers to pay for access. This move would be unprecedented. And it would mean more $$$$$$$$ for Irving ISD to shell out.

Can we afford it as a district? Will the city of Irving have to propose a bond that increases our school budget so that we can afford to buy memberships to pay-for-news sites? We'll see! And let's hope not. Heck, maybe our district sponsor Dr. Pepper can pay for it.

#18 The Purpose-Driven Classroom

The Vice-Principal scolds Mr. Jones for not using 2st Century technology in his lesson plans. She writes in all-caps on his PDAS report how he refuses to incorporate the expensive hardware in which the district has recently invested. "Doesn't understand the importance of modernizing his lessons in accordance with the purchases made specificaly for his subject," she types. Mr. Jones replies, "I've been teaching the same subject for 27 years and I don't need any dern laptops to help me. My way works, it's tried and true, and that's that. I ain't adjustin' for you and other VP."

So, who's right? The VP who jumps to conclusions or the grizzled science teacher, stuck to his old ways? Well, IMHO, both. And neither. At some point, they're going to have to meet halfway. And yes, this situation did happen almost exactly how I described it.

They both have the students in mind and that's what matters. Obviously, the VP needs to open her eyes and realize that lesson plan efficacy is not dependent on the use of the most modern tech. Bu tthe teacher needs to recognize the importnace of teaching his students with up-to-date tech, the kidn of tech that broadens the students' horizons, exposing them to new professions and mediums for learning. At the very least, the two people in question nee dto be more cordial in the workplace.

#17 Cellphones as Computers? What a country!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/022009dnmetschoolphones.3ef67c7.html

This picture is from the DMN. The captions reads "Trinity Meadows Intermediate School teacher Matt Cook guides Cole Schechter, 11, in the use of a cell phone as a part of class work. Caleb Collins. 11, works on a project on his cell phone."

This past February, Keller's Trinity Meadows School demonstrated their new policy that not only allows students to use their cellphones in school but actually encourages it!

To confiscate the cellphone or not to confiscate the cellphone. That is the question.

In my school, we teachers are expected to take up any cellphones during school hours. However, cell phone companies and Trinity Meadows faculty would say that cell phones are the new laptops. I'd agree with that statement except policing the sue of cellphones just isn't viable. With laptops, as you'll see in my #16 Post, monitoring is a major advantage over the use of cellphones in class. Also, only a small percentage of students can afford Personal Digital Assistants.

If I had to guess, I'd say that cell phones won't replace Laptops for all the functions that laptops provide. I think it's similar to the TV vs. Radio debate. Apparently, the prevailing thought in the 1960's and 1970's was that TV's would replace radios and the radio was a dead medium. This article makes the same argument for cell phones vs. laptops. Of course, radio is stronger now than ever, and I expect the same thign to happen with laptops. Let's face it, it's just impossile to read a document on a handheld device. Watching a movie on an iPhone vs. a 20-inch screen laptop? Forget about it, the laptops are here to stay.

Having said that, it's very intrigueing that this school is at the forefront of the next generation of technology in theh classroom. And I have no doubt that students are loving every minute of it.

#16 Security Breach!

I spoke with my school's tech administrators about the security systems in place at Nimitz High School (and yes, it was for this blog). I asked the following questions:

1) Are you able to view students laptops as if you had a virtual private network? That is, could you pull up any student's laptops on your laptop screen as if you were a remote user?

2) How do we prevent viruses from infecting our thousands of laptops?

3) Does our system of affording each student a laptop for a small insurance fee "work"? That is, is it worth the money and effort?

The answers may surprise you!

1) Yes, they can pull up any students laptop at a moment's notice. In fact, there are certain programs that cause red flags and the admins receive immediate notification about the student using the programs. These programs include file sharing software such as Kazaa and Napster. With file-sharing software, our students can (and often do) download media content that is copyrihted and therefore is illagal. Believe it or not, the admins demonstrated their ability right in front of me. I was in awe that their computer processors were so fast, to be honest.

2) We can't stop all viruses... we just hope to contain 'em. When a student's laptop is infected with a virus, it's just a matter of time before the students turns in the laptop... and if that takes too ong, the admins send an aide to pick up that student's laptop for re-imaging.

3) Our system does work, to an extent. For students who are incapable of takign care of the laptop or can't go a week without infecting it, the laptop idea simply can't work. However, the vast majority of our students handle the responsibility just fine, and it serves them well after high schoool to be fluent in various software packages such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.

Is it expensive? Of course, but it's an investment. That was the overlying theme of our conversation. And I for one am proud that IISD has made this investment in our youth.

#6 Database

Databases are the most complicated program in any software package like Microsoft Office. At least, it's complicated for me.

Databases offer a wide variety of options when it comes to storing, managing, sorting, and producing data. In fact, I'm currently working on merging a database file with a Word Document. The database program that everybody uses is called Microsoft Access. Here's a screen shot.




People often get the purpose of a spreadsheet confused with that of a spreadsheet, so I've created a table that explains when to use one and not the other!

#5 Spreadsheets

What's a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet?

A spreadsheet, of course. Spreadsheets display multiple cells that comprise a grid of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values.

Below is a picture of a popular spread sheet program called Microsoft Excel.



However, there is a free spreadsheet program called Open Office Calc. You'll see the layout is almost identical but trust me, a few of the ammenities from Excel are missing.



Both of these programs work great for calculating grade or financial information because they can produce rapid calculations to massive amounts of data in an instant. The formulas are so easy to insitute a cave man could do it!