Journal Number Nine

“Adventures in Electronic Constructivism”
Maureen Brown Yoder

Maureen Brown Yoder discusses how good lessons can be changed slightly to have an even greater learning opportunity for students. My modifying lessons, teachers can make content more relatable and meaningful to students. This lesson modification, from the constructivist approach, can be used in any subject matter and allows students to take greater responsibility for their own learning by actually doing research rather than having the information spoon-fed to them by their teacher. The examples of lessons used in this article make students really dive into the topic or person they are learning about, so as to form a more personal relationship with the material. Students must ask themselves, and answer, more critical thinking questions than other activities might require. Some of the assignments presented require students to take on the characteristics of an important figure in history in order to participate in a discussion as that person while others allow students to see and address how issues of the past are ever-present in today’s society.


1. What is my opinion of the constructivist approach to teaching?
I believe that this approach to learning is extremely valuable in the classroom. I want my students to be able to think critically about information they are given and break it down into knowledge they can personally use. I believe that this form of teaching also allows students to become better problem solvers in today’s world.

2. How can I effectively apply some of the strategies presented in my own classroom?
One way I can effectively apply some of these strategies in my classroom is to allow my students to collaborate with fellow students in our class, and even with students in other classes. When students are working critically and collaboratively they learn two important skills: problem-solving skills and the ability to work with others in a group. In order for me to really utilize constructivism in the classroom I must train my students to look at all situations from a different point of view—this way it becomes natural and students will be able to use it in many aspects of their own lives, not just academically.

Journal Number Eight

An Evaluation of Google’s Education Portal

Google has announced a new education portal for teachers called Google for Educators. This new portal provides eleven programs that will help bring more information and technology into the classroom. The website also provides information about each of the tools and lesson plans that might help incorporate these technologies. Educators can share their opinions of the products and how they use them with their own students.

Google Earth is a program that can be used to view different places all around the world, using satellite images. You can view the whole Earth, specific countries, buildings, roads, and even plant and animal life. The user can even find out specific information about specific areas, such as population, and with specific tools you can make your own graphs. This would be an amazing tool for a geography class.

Google Book Search is a program that allows teachers and students to search the full-text of books to find information. This allows access to information that may no longer be available because it’s out print, or may not be available in your area. This tool can tell you where to find the actual book in your area and allows students to search thousands of books that can help their research projects.

Google Calendar is a tool that allows students, parents, teachers, and administrators to have a community calendar that is available online. Teachers can make a calendar for each of his/her classes and any changes he/she makes are visible to those who subscribe to it. This is a great place to post information regarding school holidays, fieldtrips, and assignments. This way if a student is absent, they can still get the assignments they missed!

Picasa allows students and teachers to “find, edit, and share pictures on your PCs.” Once installed, the program automatically organizes all the pictures in your computer into albums. You can always create new albums and students can access the pictures to use in various class projects. Web albums can also be created to allow access to the pictures from home.

Journal Number Seven

“WebQuest in Wonderland”
Paul Aldridge

Paul Aldridge addresses the multimillion-dollar technology program that has been implemented in his school, Pine Crest School. This program requires all students to own a laptop and bring it to school daily. For this campaign to be successful all of the staff needed to be technologically prepared so they could teach their own students who would be looking to them for guidance. All of the faculty, some more reluctantly than others, began taking courses to become proficient in technology and they all became knowledgeable in the area. The school held daily faculty meetings that allowed all staff to be in contact with each other continually for support—this also allowed for collaboration across multiple subjects. What eventually came about at this school were WebQuests that were to be created and completed by students each year. These WebQuests are web based activities created on a topic chosen by the students themselves and approved by their teacher. The WebQuests are continually added to an academic electronic portfolio that isn’t completed until graduation.

1. What are some projects similar to WebQuests that I can do with my students?
A great program that would allow my students to projects similar to the WebQuests addressed in this article is the Filamentality website by AT&T. This site allows students and teachers to create an interactive website on a topic that can be accessed by anyone from a computer. With Filamentality, students would create a list of sites related to the topic they are covering that would teach the person using their site about the subject.

2. Is a technology program, like the one implemented at Pine Crest, practical?
I believe a technology program could, and should, be implemented at every school; however, the program doesn’t need to be on as grand a scale as that of Pine Crest School. A technology program is limited by the amount of resources available to any given school or district. Schools in areas with lower socio-economic status will be more limited in their resources than those schools in more affluent areas. This being said, all students need to have the opportunity to become technologically proficient to survive in our society.

Journal Number Six

“Wikipedia: Ban It or Boost It?”
Doug Johnson

The website http://wikipedia.org in an online encyclopedia; however, this encyclopedia can be revised by anyone at anytime. To most people this fact would make one question the validity of this resource. In this article, Doug Johnson points out several experts who have evaluated entries on their areas of expertise and found the information presented to be highly accurate, with very minor, if any, discrepancies. This article seems to show that Wikipedia is an extremely useful source because it has more information, and articles, than the Encyclopedia Britannica on many more topics. The topics that are found in Wikipedia, rather than the Encyclopedia Britannica, are of topics one might not always think about, things like “the Boston Molasses disaster, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada . . .” or even “a definition of Philadelphia cheesesteak.” In addition to the wide array of topics covered, Wikipedia is updated more regularly than printed resources and, because of this, can cover more current issues and technologies. Pages that do contain controversial material are noted as such and offer opinions on both sides of the issue so the reader can understand the controversy.

1. Will I allow my students to use Wikipedia as a reputable source for information?
I will allow my students to use Wikipedia as a reputable source only after they’ve learned how to evaluate the validity of websites and compare the information with that found elsewhere on the same topic. If my students are able to evaluate the information on their own it will be an extremely valuable tool for them because our world is becoming more technology-centered and a lot of information can be found online. I’ll allow my students to use Wikipedia as long as it is not their only source for information.

2. What do I think of Wikipedia?
I personally believe that Wikipedia is a valuable source as long as it is used with scrutiny. If I’m doing research on a more recent issue, I may not be able to find a lot of information elsewhere. As a student, I turn to my peers for more information and a better understanding on many concepts; the same is true with Wikipedia, it’s like turning to a peer that is wiser on a given topic than you are.

Journal Number Four

“Is PowerPoint Crippling Our Students?”
Kathy Johnson and Vicki Sharp

Kathy Johnson makes the argument that PowerPoint is crippling our students because it isn’t requiring anything back from the students in return for the knowledge the presentation gives. Johnson states that PowerPoint doesn’t provide for interactive and engaging learning. This is the type of learning that is needed which really helps students to engage in and understand the material that is being taught in the classroom. Vicki Sharp, on the other hand, feels that PowerPoint is an amazing educational tool that should be implemented in the classroom to engage students in learning. She believes that the PowerPoint actually motivates students to learn, through its colors, pictures, film clips, and sound clips, rather than discouraging students to learn the material. When students create PowerPoint presentations, they become more engaged in the material because they are able to use their creative side and actually do the research themselves rather than have the information spoon-fed to them in an unexciting manner.

1. What are the benefits of using PowerPoint?
When students create a PowerPoint presentation they are required to seek out information by themselves and, thus, are taking more responsibility for their own learning. Even if this information isn’t presented to the class, only turned into the teacher, it will still benefit the creator because they learn to use the software and learn as they research the given topic. PowerPoint gives teachers educators another alternative to using “the chalkboard and overhead projector” and allow teachers to incorporate different media clips that they may have had difficulty including before the availability of this product.

2. What are the problems of using PowerPoint?
Some problems that may be associated with PowerPoint are that although presentations have the ability to be engaging, not all presentations are and may be worse than other forms of teaching. Because PowerPoint presentations are so structured, if there is a teachable moment it may not always present itself because many presentations don’t allow for student interaction with the teacher or fellow students. This factor doesn’t allow for the full retention or comprehension of material that might otherwise be present.

Journal Number Three

“Using an Electronic Portfolio in an Instructional Technology Program”
Michael Uttendorfer

Michael Uttendorfer’s article gave an insight to the behind the scenes work that may take place in all schools using e-portfolio type programs such as TaskStream. The article successfully shows the various resources and features that TaskStream provides for students and professors who use the program. If I were a college professor I would love to have a way of collaborating with others professors of the same course to brainstorm new assessments and classroom activities, without actually having to meet face-to-face. As a student who is currently using TaskStream, I appreciate the ease of using the e-portfolio as a place where I can store my various assignments for a class. I know that this program will be especially helpful to me as I go out and pursue a teaching career because it will be accessible to future employers with ease. Rather than putting together a portfolio of individual assignments, which can be rather bulky and overwhelming, I can submit my TaskStream which is well organized and easy to access. TaskStream would be extremely valuable program to various educational programs as a way for professors to assess their students’ abilities in a given field; this portfolio would also be a great tool for future employers to assess the abilities of a potential employee.


1. What is SIGCT?
SIGCT is the Special Interest Group for Computing Teachers. SIGCT strives to help its members knowledge of teaching computing in a Pre-K-12 setting. This group involves all aspects of teaching computing including: using basic-level software and computing, using spreadsheets, websites, and other various programs, computer programming, the history of computing, etc. There are several activities available through this group to provide information and ideas to all members of SIGCT.

2. What is SIGILT?
SIGILT is the Special Interest Group for Innovative Learning Technologies. This program allows “educators, researchers, educational reform leaders and learning technology innovators” to discuss proven learning technologies that may be useful in the classroom. SIGILT has conferences where they strive to share this information with other educators.

Journal Number Two

“Failure is NOT an Option”
Dave L. Edyburn

It is a well known fact that the achievement gap is continually widening in today’s society; this is a reason why the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has been implemented in our schools today. According to Edyburn, when students have difficulty learning a specific subject “students learn that they don’t like the subject matter and internalize the failure . . .” this sense of failure may even be passed on to their future children. The fact that their own parent doesn’t, or didn’t, like or do well in a specific subject in school can have a detrimental effect on the child’s own learning because there is a negative mentality there. However, there are technological resources available that can narrow this achievement gap for some students. For example, if a student has problems with math, the student can go to http://www.webmath.com/ and receive the additional help he or she needs in math. It has been shown that such programs such as this can help a student gain understanding and success in their area of difficulty. Although this success has been shown there are many who are skeptical of using these types of programs for their struggling students because they don’t feel its “fair” to students who are able to understand and do the work on their own. This being said, it is important for educators to look at the technological tools and resources that are available to them and their students in order to help their students achieve higher goals and narrow the widening achievement gap.

1. How do I feel about using these types of technological resources in my own classroom?
I feel that a student learning and understanding a subject of concept is much more important than how the student finally grasps the concept. If a student has a learning difficulty that can be improved by using an online source, that learning resource should be available to them. I don’t see why a student should be forced to fail when there are learning resources available that may benefit them and increase their success in school.

2. How can I make these programs more readily available to my students who may be struggling?
For some students this will be an easy task. Students who have the internet at home can be given the web address so that they may access it at home; those students who don’t have the internet at home may access these educational sites at the public library where the internet is available to the public free of charge. I understand that there are some students who may find it difficult, for whatever the reason may be, to gain access to the library and that other ways of accessing the material may me necessary. To combat this, as a teacher I would offer the option of staying one or two days after school so that they may access the internet in the classroom; everyone attends the school and because the students are already there this would allow for equal access to the internet and the supports it can provide.

Journal Number One

“My Space or Yours?”
Joanne Barrett

In today’s society there are so many things, and people, we need to protect our families and students from. One such item we must protect our students from can be accessed from various locations and may not seem dangerous at all. This surprising new threat is known as social networking. Although social networking may be used for positive reasons like: connecting with old or new friends, classmates, collaborating on homework, or even to connect with future employers; this can be a dangerous tool when used by someone who isn’t well informed of the dangers this system may present. As educators it is our responsibility to help our students learn safe internet habits as well as proper netiquette. It is also our responsibility to be well informed in technological matters so that we may better present truthful relevant information to our students. This information should properly inform students and help each of them to make wise choices when interacting with others online.

1. How can I, as a future educator, inform my students of the dangers social networking sites present to them?
One way I believe would be effective in teaching my students about the dangers of social networking would be to create my own web page on one of the social networking sites most popular with my students; however, this profile would look nothing like me and who I actually am. I would create a profile of someone students would perceive as being someone their own age; someone they might actually connect with. After presenting this activity I would inform students that all of the information presented to them about this person was false and that I, in actuality, was the creator of this profile. I believe this activity would show students that we all need to be careful when interacting with others online because they may not really be who they say they are. Unfortunately, they could be someone with bad intentions.

2. How can I teach my students to use these sites safely?
I hope to teach my students of the types of information that should/should not be placed on the internet and give them logical reasons why. Students need to understand that it isn’t only going to be their friends looking at their profile because anyone can gain access to these sites if they have a membership account. Students should know that if someone has their personal information (i.e. phone number, school name, city of residence, last name, e-mail, screen name, etc.) they can use that information for improper reasons and how it can be a danger to their safety.

Intro Letter

My name is Stephanie Lowell. I am 21 years-old, have been married for two years, and am five-and-a-half months pregnant with a baby boy. I’ve lived in Fallbrook for the past two years with my husband, but I lived in Valley Center for about seven years before that. I attended Valley Center High School and then attended Palomar College where I received my AA in Liberal Arts. This is my third semester at CSUSM and I’m currently in the ICP program.

I am technologically capable, but definitely not very advanced. I’m able to do just the basics and maybe a little bit more. I’m a PC person. I use technology on a daily basis; I use the computer mainly to check e-mail, do my banking and homework, and also to shop. However, I don’t have to have access to my computer daily.

The portion of the COE Mission Statement that speaks most to me is the first line. It states, “The mission of the College of Education community is to collaboratively transform public education by preparing thoughtful educators and advancing professional practices.” I believe this just shows that we have to support one another in our goal to become educators if we want to make changes in the field. I hadn’t read the mission statement before this class and it didn’t influence my decision to apply to this school.