Philosophy Video Relflection

Using Roxio video software, I created a video/slide show chronicling my journey to this point of my education: how I came to math and physics education, who influenced me, and other things. This fits NETS-T standard 2a (design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity) and can be used as an example to show my students what can be done in video form. I learned another method of creating a video on my computer (other than Camtasia like with my YouTube video) and hope to get better with editing, recording, and incorporating video clips to help keep the video interesting and engaging, while maintaining its informative nature.

Poster Reflection

For this poster, I made a satirical poster on pi and its "proposed change" in value from 3.14159... to exactly 3. I feel that this fits NETS-T standard 1a (promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness). The poster itself has many facts about pi as well as the new "change" that might be taking place to its exact value. It shows how information can be presented in a different way while still being memorable and effective. I hope to be able to use my poster making skills in Microsoft Word and even Gimp to make more informative posters than can be posted around my classroom to display some important information on the subject I will be teaching.

YouTube Reflection

In this YouTube video, I use pennies and the radii of circles to investigate pi. I made the video in 2010 for my Mathematical Modeling class. This submission meets NETS-T standard 3c (communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats). By making this video, I learned how to record and edit video using the Camtasia software. Uploading the video to YouTube makes my video available to the public and also easily available to use in the classroom as long as YouTube isn't blocked on the school's network. This is a helpful skill to have and hopefully I can create more informative videos to help break up the monotony of classroom lecturing.

Second Life Reflection

Second Life is an online community in which each member has an avatar and can communicate "face-to-face" with people from across the Earth. Using Second Life (SL) fits NETS-T Standard 5a (participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning). With the aid of SL, an expert in a given subject/content can "come" to your classroom and give a talk about the aspect that they are an expert in. Distance no longer is an issue when it comes to getting a guest speaker into a classroom. Expansive professional networking is now available with people that you might not have gotten the chance to communicate with in the first place. Expanding my personal network to include professionals in my content areas will be extremely beneficial as I can have them give a talk to my classroom about a subject that they might not get to learn too much about in the normal course of the class.

Prezi Reflection

For the fourth project I got to use Prezi presentation maker to create a presentation about converting between coordinate systems. This fits NETS-T standard 2c (customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources). Using Prezi was a welcome change from the tried and true linearity of Microsoft's PowerPoint program, offering different animations such as turns instead of simple slide transitions. Using Prezi can help hold the student's interest with all of the different things it can do during a presentation and it certainly has a lot of practical uses in a classroom.

Survey Reflection

Using GoogleDocs' survey maker I was able to make a survey asking people about various favorites (anything from favorite style of eggs to their preference of dogs, cats, or neither). This fits NETS-T standard 3d (model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning). By making this survey, I learned how to use available technology to ask many people the same questions and have the results readily available for analysis. Surveys are especially useful for gathering input and I can see myself using them as an evaluation tool of my teaching at the end of classes I teach.

Reflection 2

For my virtual field trip, I again made it in Google sites. This fits the NETS-T Standard 1b (engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources). After making this, I realized how nicely and easily one can create an interactive learning assignment outside of the typical group work by using a web site. It has an attachment that has space to fill in the blanks provided in the virtual field trip and all of the links send the reader to the next part of the quest. By creating more and more web sites with different purposes, I hope to find a more efficient way to present information without wasting space on the page or the time of the readers.

Reflection 1

I made a Google website in order to share my thoughts and philosophy on Internet use. This fits the NETS standard 4a (Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources). After creating this website, I really enjoy how easy it was to link everything together and keep the pages easy to follow and navigate. It also provides useful information on the guidelines/rules for copyrights and intellectual properties. From making this personal website I learned how to build a website (with help from Google) and to edit the format to fit what I want it to look like. As I progress, I hope to develop methods to build web pages and link them together in more efficient ways and build specific pages for each of the classes I end up teaching.