ECOMP 7010: A Collaboratively Created Sampling

Directions: By definition, Emerging Technologies are becoming available all the time, with promising educational possibilities for the classroom and useful tools for your own productivity. Together, we will put together a collection of very brief reports on a variety of gadgets, one for each of you. Sources of information will be websites, blogs, videos, and other resources. This assignment will focus on gadgets and devices, rather than website resources.

-----------------------------

"1 TB External Hard Drives"

1. Name of Device: WD “My Passport” Portable Hard Drive (1TB)
2. Primary Source: CNET.com (click for video review)

 

3. Retail Price: 

• Buydig.com: $149.00
• Beach Camera: $119.00
• Buy.com: $106.99
• Newegg.com: $109.99
• Amazon.com: $108.99

4. Description:
Western Digital (WD) has made a name for themselves making external hard drives that are portable, durable, and reliable. The ‘My Passport’ series is designed to be highly portable and provide fast data transfer speeds. Because the My Passport is “bus powered,” meaning it has a single cable for both data and power, it is an attractive choice for laptop owners who need something that doesn’t have extra cables to fumble around with.

5. Classroom Possibilities:
As we continue to innovate and integrate new technologies into the classroom, so too do our students continue to create more and more digital content that we must then collect. Some may argue against a portable hard drive in favor of a USB flash drive because they are small, cheap, and have average storage capacities. The downside of a USB flash drive is they are small (easy to loose), cheap (can break easily), and have average storage capacities (can’t handle a whole classroom of users). A My Passport drive was salvation for me when I assigned my students a project whose final product would be either a podcast or iMovie. These types of media love to eat up storage space, and when I multiplied that by 18-24 students in each of my eight academic blocks it was clear a USB flash drive just wasn’t going to cut it.

Another use to keep in mind is that of for teacher’s personal use in backing up critical files, projects, and other data. The common rule-of-thumb in the digital world today is to have three copies of all of your critical data: i.) on your local computer, ii.) on an external storage device, and iii.) in a virtual storage device (i.e. cloud-computing). As teachers create more media-rich and tech-heavy lessons and activities, they need storage to keep up with the size and complexity of these projects. Finally, both of the major manufacturers of computer operating systems, Apple and Microsoft, have provided built-in backup software into their OS’s that will automatically configure your external hard drive for automatic backups, with plans to provide procedures to destinations in the cloud soon.

6. Screenshot:

7. Additional Resources:

http://www.g-technology.com/
G-Technology provides storage solutions for Windows, Mac, and portable devices via USB 3.0, thunderbolt, and WiFi.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358135,00.asp
From PC Magazine, this article walks you through different drive types, connector and cable options, and how much attention you should pay to drive speed.

http://desktop-external-hard-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/
Top-Ten Reviews provides a side-by-side comparison of 10 of the most popular hard drives currently on the market based on categories such as price, performance, security, ease of use, and design.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CategoryIntelligenceArticle.aspx?articleId=200
This article from Newegg provides a guide for buying the right hard drive for your needs.

http://peripherals.about.com/od/removablestorage/bb/BYBExternalHardDrive.htm
This article from About.com covers hard drive types, size, security, and speed with major emphasis put on why it's important to backup your important data on a regular basis.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/backup-and-restore
This page contains an introductory video tutorial on how to take advantage of the automatic backup features found in Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system. (0:53)

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#timemachinebasics
This page contains a video tutorial guide on how to use the application Time Machine which comes pre-installed on all of Apple’s desktop and laptop computers. (2:47)

ECOMP 6106: Curriculum Unit Website

What is the purpose for creating a teaching website?

Your website should be designed to provide you and others (i.e. parents and/or students, other teachers, administrators, and colleagues with whom you collaborate) with access to information and documents that are part of the unit you will be designing during this course. Websites provide easy access to materials, hyperlinks, online resources, and assessment documents. Your website should become a compendium of information and resources for your curriculum unit. Plan your website to make use of the power of the Internet to assist with the storage, retrieval, and communication of information and documents.

Teaching Website: Internet Safety
Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Unit Goals
• Unit Questions
• Assessment Plan
• Unit Resources
• Instructional Procedures
• Introduction
• Cyberbullying
• Digital Footprint
• Internet Credibility
• Phishing
• Viruses
• Conclusion
• Technology Integration
• Differentiated Instruction
• Communication

ECOMP 6106: 21st Century Skills

Assignment: Are you a 21st Century Teacher? Respond to following questions.


In what ways do you consider yourself a 21st century teacher?
I consider myself a 21st century teacher in my openness to new and different ways to teach and learn material. I am aware of the traditional tools and skills used to teach content but also keep a look out for new tools and see how they can be integrated with traditions. I believe that a synthesis of traditional and 21st century tools can create a rich and beneficial learning experience for both student and teacher.

Are you collaborative? If so, provide some description of how you collaborate and with whom.
As the technology coordinator for my building, it is central to my job to be a collaborative teacher AND learner. I ask questions of teachers about what they are teaching and how, so that I can present them with new resources that they could integrate into their lessons in order to enhance the student experience. A key part of this process is finding teachers who are willing to collaborate and take risks. It is these teachers for whom I will “go to bat for” freely and give 110%. After all, are we not asking students to be risk takers as they learn about new things and try different ways to express their knowledge and comprehension?
As a life-long learner, I freely admit to my students that I don’t everything and get excited when a student teaches me something new.  I love it when I can place a student into the role of teacher because I think teaching someone something is a great way to cement comprehension, plus it can provide a huge boost to a students’ self-esteem and self worth.

How do you use technology in your classroom and in your professional teaching practice?
In my classroom, which is a computer lab, technology is driving force as the goals of my course is to provide students with the skills to use computers effectively and safely with creativity.

How do you use technology to assess students?
I am constantly experimenting with different technology tools to assess my students. I’ve used rubrics, online quizzes, and oral presentations. I’d like to look into having students create digital ePortfolios. I’ve also helped other teachers implement technology-based assessments using social networking vehicles, such as WallWisher in language arts and an Edmodo classroom in social studies.

Do you use technology to communicate with parents and the community? What technologies do you use and how do you use them?
Technology for the purpose of communicating with parents and the community is become a critical issue in my school. All teachers are accessible via email from the school website, and administrators are pushing more and more for each teacher to have (and maintain) a website. We communicate grades and assessments via a digital grade book, PowerSchool, and provide a portal for both students and parents to use to view this information at any time. This year my school is using a Twitter feed and a Google Calendar widget to communicate important news and events to the community. And next on my To-Do list is to setup an Apple TV to a display in the main lobby of the school building so that we can stream images of field trips and events while also providing visual documentation of all of the wonderful projects and products students are creating in their classes.

ECOMP 5004: Technology-Rich Lesson Plan

Learning Goals/Outcomes

Students will learn how to transform a writing piece into a digital publication to be viewed on a portable iOS device (a.k.a. iPad). Students will learn how to use a template to format their writing piece so that the finished eBook will contain chapter names, topic headings, and a table of contents. Students will introduce media in the form of audio and/or video into the eBook by way of an “about-the-author” section.

-----------------------------

Lesson Plan

----------------------------------

ePub Booklet Exemplars

More PowerPoint presentations from Nick Shuman

ECOMP 6102: Reasoning Paper - Final

Access product via Google Docs: click here

ECOMP 6102: Final Design: a Performance Assessment Task

Part 1 - Performance Task Description
Part 2 - Description of Assessment Design
Part 3 - Create and Evaluate a Rubric
Part 4 - Self Assessment


Access product via Google Docs: click here

ECOMP 6102: Design a Performance Assessment Task

Part One - Performance Task Description:
1. Identify the grade level and subject area for which you will be creating an assessment.

Grade level: 6
Subject Area: Technology

2. Write out the Learning Targets (Standard, objective, goal) that will be assessed.

A. ISTE NETS (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-for-students-2007-profiles.aspx#6-8):
3. Gather data, examine patterns, and apply information for decision making using digital tools and resources. (1,4)

B. District Technology Skills Set
Collect information and display the data in graphical form.

3. Identify the type of performance you will be expecting of your students as the final Performance Assessment for these standards.

a. What performances or products are you expecting from students? 

Students will create a graph/chart based on data collected from the experiments they conducted previously as part of their science fair project. They will use the computer and the application Pages to construct the graph/chart. The final product will include:

• A title that states the dependent and independent variables.
• A legend/key that will tell the audience what the colored parts of your graph represent.
• A label for both your x-axis and your y-axis.
• The unit of measurement used to measure the data results.
• The final product must fit on a single page with decisions about font, color, and type of graph that will make the product easy to read and understand by the audience.

b. Consider the knowledge students will have to have to do this performance. List the elements of knowledge this performance task will require.

Students will need to know the following:

• Graph/chart terminology
• A basic understanding of how to use and navigate the application software
• How to enter data into the Chart Data Editor
• How to use the Chart Inspector to apply enhancements such as axis labels, number of measurement steps, and a legend.

c. Provide some information about how will you teach the skills students need to do this performance task.

Prior to the start of this assignment, students will engage in a series of practice exercises where they will practice creating and modifying graphs in order to become familiar with the application tools, comfortable with the vocabulary, and an understanding of what finished product should look like. Students will first create a graph from scratch, using data provided by the teacher, to practice entering data into the Chart Data Editor and then how to apply the list of required components to the graph. Second, students will be given an incomplete graph that has experiment data but is missing key components and must fill in the missing pieces to complete the graph. The experiment data for these exercises will be taken from actual experiments conducted by students from previous science fair projects.

d. Are there conditions that students need to adhere to?

Students may work individually or with a partner on the practice exercises. Students are encouraged to “peer edit” each other’s work to check for understanding and comprehension of how the data is displayed in their graphs.


Part 2 - Description of Assessment Design
1. Describe the assessment procedures you will use:

a. How will you help students understand what it means to create a "good" product or performance?

At the beginning of the lesson the teacher will review with students the checklist of components that need to be present on any graph/chart they construct. For the graph “built from scratch” activity, the checklist will be used to evaluate the quality of the product using several student volunteers. For the “incomplete graph” activity, students will use the checklist to identify the missing components via class discussion. At the end, several student volunteers will submit their chart for evaluation by the class using the checklist.

b. How will you monitor students as they work on this performance assessment to be sure that the work they are doing is turning out "good"? 

The chart/graph checklist will be displayed on the screen at the front of the class for students to refer to throughout the period. Students will also be required to download a copy of the checklist to be saved to their folder or portable device for reference later in other classes or other projects.

c. What kind of a scoring document will you use to determine students' final grades on this task?

The chart/graph component checklist will be used and referred to throughout the activity as the criteria for determining the students’ progress. A rubric based on the checklist will be used to evaluate students for their final grade.

ECOMP 6102: Writing Essay Questions

1. Use your Test Blueprint to write three (3) Essay Questions that engage students in reasoning.

2. Identify the type(s) of reasoning your students will be required to use to answer each of these questions. Identify all the different types of reasoning students will have to use to answer each of the questions you wrote.

3. Place your Essay Questions in the word document.

---------------------------

Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-14)
5. Evaluate digital resources to determine the credibility of the author and publisher and the timeliness and accuracy of the content. (3)

Content	Knowledge & Understanding	Deductive Reasoning	Evaluative Reasoning	Total
Credibility	10	15	15	40
Timeliness	10	20	20	50
Accuracy	15	20	20	55
Total	35	55	55	145_

---------------------------

Essay Question #1 (classification, deductive reasoning):
In class we talked about what a domain is and what it can tell you about whether a website, and the information it contains, can be trusted. Using the set of domain names provided, organize them into a list from least to most trustworthy. Explain your rationale for the ordering of your list.

Essay Question #2: (analysis, evaluation)
During the course of this activity, we looked at four websites and tried to determine if the information they provided could be trusted. Evaluate the content of the Tree Octopus website and determine if you would recommend this website be added to the school library as a resource for students. In your argument, think about our discussions about timeliness of information and if the content provided appears realistic.

Essay Question #3: (evaluation, knowledge & understanding)
After describing your latest school assignment to your family, your older sibling comes to you and with a sneaky sort of smile, recommends this website that will answer any questions that your teacher may ask of you. Before you base your entire project on this website, describe what you would look for to determine if the website is trustworthy or not. Discuss what items would make you more likely to trust the website and what items would make you begin to doubt its credibility.

 

ECOMP 6102: Create Selected Response Questions

Please write ONE test item for each cell in your Table of Specifications (9 q's total) and Identify the learning Target for each question.

---------------------------

Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-14)
5. Evaluate digital resources to determine the credibility of the author and publisher and the timeliness and accuracy of the content. (3)

Content	Knowledge & Understanding	Deductive Reasoning	Evaluative Reasoning	Total
Credibility	10	15	15	40
Timeliness	10	20	20	50
Accuracy	15	20	20	55
Total	35	55	55	145_

---------------------------

1. Does the author provide his/her name and email address? (LT: identify the source of the information for citation purposes)

Yes

No

2. Does the website show the date when it was last updated? (LT: determine if information is being checked and modified on a regular basis)

Yes

No

3. Do the links going to other sites lead you to where they said they would? (LT: determine if information is being supported by other sources)

Yes

No

4. A website ending in the domain .net is always credible. (LT: know the difference between different types of website domains)

True

False

5. Are you more likely to think that a website is credible if it is updated every: (LT: websites that are updated on a regular basis are more likely to have relevant information)

A. year

B. month
C. week

6. Websites that contain several “dead links” should be considered questionable. (LT: the persistence of dead links point to a site that is not being updated regularly)

True

False

7. Which site could you trust to give you credible resources for researching project topics? (LT: verify the credibility of a site by checking its claims against another source you know to be trustworthy)

A. Follet Destiny

B. Google

C. Wikipedia 

8. A website is more credible if the date it was last updated is changes between pages. (LT: sites that time stamp when each “page” was updated give us a better idea of what content is being updated)

True

False

9. If a photo looks like it might have been changed you should: (LT: images and pictures that have been modified or “photoshop’d” should be considered suspicious)

A. trust the photo

B. ignore the photo
C. check some of the other photos

The Last Word - Rewriting the Attack on Teachers…

It seemed fitting that, as my cohort and I continue to move forward in our latest Masters course on assessment, that this video clip debuts. My thanks to Denise for finding and sharing this video with our cohort group and giving us some "food for thought" on teaching, teachers, and how we assess our students.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy