Week 5

Using Evernote for teaching and learning

I had not heard too much about Evernote before, but now that I started to know a little more about it I think that this Web 2.0 tool can be a very useful element for us in the processes of teaching and learning. Based on the reading material and my little experience using Evernote I can say that this tool is very versatile, so its implementation in Education can only be limited by our own creativity.

I am a ESL student and when I made the audio notes for the assignment  I notice immediately that this option is perfect to improve everyone's  pronunciation and especially for those who are learning a second language. In fact I made an Evernote personal notebook, and in less than an hour I recorded more than 50 phrases with at least 50 words. I took my English text book and I started recording phrases. Some of them I re-recorded more than five times until I was satisfied with the sound and the tone of the words.

For students to achieve a comprehensive, well-rounded education, integrated teamwork on several fronts is very important. Evernote is one of  several Web 2.0 tools that we can use to establish a better communication between students, between students and teachers, and among parents and educators.  It is easy to share projects and write notes with  Evernote, so no matter if the student is shy or have some problems in socializing with others, here everybody can express opinions, establish points of views, so the more teamwork fundamentals exhibited, the more opportunity exists for students to learn the important  skills of compromise and collaboration.

 Educators need to be efficient, so they have to be or become more organized, and I think that this is the better way to succeed in Education. Evernote can be something like an assistant for teachers, because it is a cloud application that is designed to ‘remember everything for you’ and allows users to easily collect and find data on multiple devices, so no matter where the teacher is, home or school, they can access all of their information efficiently. Teachers receive a lot of pressure thru administrative, assessment and reporting demands, but it they use Evernote as an assistant they can store student assessment notes, lesson plans and administrative tasks within the app. At the end teachers can get more time to spend with students, and this time is what directly impacts on their learning.

Week 5 - A public Evernote notebook

Week 5: Blog post 3: A public Evernote notebook

I had not heard too much about Evernote before, but now that I started to know a little more about it I think that this Web 2.0 tool can be a very useful element for us in the processes of teaching and learning.

The notes I prepared are about are about children and adolescents that use video games. Using the following link you can access my first Evernote notebook:

https://www.evernote.com/pub/javamexi173/week5-blogpost3-apublicevernotenotebook

Week 4 - Reflection

How to teach Computational Thinking

I read an article written by Steven Wolfram posted in The ED Tech Round UP blog this month about How to teach Computational Thinking. The title attracted me a lot so I decide to know more about it. I have never heard about Computational Thinking before. My first thought  was it could be a new kind of trend or something like that, but not it comes from more than 30 years ago, and the concept is growing a lot now. Computational Thinking is known as "CT" and was created to solve problems formulating things with enough clarity, and in a systematic enough way, so one can tell a computer how to do it. In order to clarify more this concept the author makes a comparison between "Mathematical Thinking" (MT) versus "Computer Thinking" (CT).  MT is about formulating things so that one can handle them mathematically, when that is possible. Computational thinking is a much bigger and broader concept, because there are just a lot more things that can be handled computationally, and it could be anything. According to the author CT is going to be a defining feature of the future, so it is important to be teaching this to kids today, because CT is going to be needed everywhere, and if we do it very well CT is going to be a key to success in almost all future careers.

I made a little more research about CT and I found a lot of information related to. One thing I found is that CT is not only essential to the development of computer applications, but also it can be used to support problem solving across all disciplines, including the humanities, math, and science.

The key is that CT uses a 4 step process to solve almost any kind of problem of any subject. Step 1 is Decomposition, which break down data, processes, or problems into smaller, manageable parts. Step 2 is Pattern-Recognition, it  works observing patterns, trends, and regularities in data. Step 3 is Abstraction, it identifies the general principles that generate these patterns, and the Step 4 is the Algorithm Design or the answer to the problem, it develops the step by step instructions for solving this and similar problems.
http://www.edtechroundup.org/editorials--press/guest-post-how-to-teach-computational-thinking

E-Rate Requests for High-Speed Internet Connections Keep Growing

This article is about a 2016 analysis of the applicants to the federal E-rate program by Oklahoma-based consulting group Funds for Learning. The E-rate program was created in 1996, and has paid out over $30 billion to help schools and libraries cover the cost of telecommunications services. This article contains two figures that jumps out this year. One is the number of requests for subsidies to help pay for high-speed which have doubled the  last year's requests and the other is that about 90 percent of applicants to the program expect their bandwidth needs will increase over the next three years, with nearly one-fourth saying it will at least the double. This info shows us a clear trend of how important is to be connected today at the highest speed possible.

There have been different trends since 1996. For example, many districts have decreased the requests for support telephone and voice services. Two years ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)  overhauled the program, prioritizing support for broadband and Wi-Fi networks over older technologies. In 2015, the program saw a huge jump in demand for internal wireless connectivity, but today there was a huge focus on faster connections, while the demand for wireless network equipment (such as routers and switches) continue growing.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2016/09/e-rate_high-speed_connections.html?_ga=1.98669662.15378313.1455185032

Week 3 - Reflection

Week 3:  Using blogs for teaching and learning

Reading and writing texts online are basic skills that students need to know in these days. Teaching with blogs provides the opportunity to engage students in these activities. The students can publish their writing easily and share them with an authentic audience. Once a student posts an entry, others in the class can respond, providing supportive feedback, and offering additional suggestions.

Blogs can create the needed sense of community for the classroom.  Blogs provide students the opportunity to think critically about issues and construct understanding together.  This technological tool can help to change the traditional teacher-centered classroom into a student-driven environment. The students can combine their actual form of communication to discuss traditional topics like the US Civil War, making them more interested in learning. They may be more motivated to care about the quality of their writing as they will want to communicate their thoughts precisely to avoid misunderstanding.  In addition, the ability to respond and comment on each other’s posts may lead to more discussion than the traditional classroom manner because all can participate instead of just a few talking during the class period. As Richard Byrne says Blog discussions provides a forum for shy students to express themselves with written words instead of possibly staying out of a in-classroom.

Richard Byrne established the three goals for classroom blogs: distribution, discussion, and demonstration. He named both three as blogging framework.

About Distribution blogs I would like to implement a very efficient one at school. In my opinion the school's resources are very important in the child's education, but we need the parental involvement, because it is an essential element to complete the education cycle, and I if we have an excellent communication channel with parents we can motivate them  not only in their child's education issues but also in all the school activities and projects.

About Discussion blogs I would like to implement some that can motivate students, because I like History and Math, and I know that is hard to engage students in this kind of subjects. We need a plus of creativity to success on it. Could be some relaxed blogs without complicated terms like to be in a summer camp and learn interesting things at the same time.

Demonstration blogs is the key to close the circle. I would like to implement one that give us back the needed information not only to know about the part where we are getting good results but also to know the part where we need to put more attention in order to elevate the education quality.

Welcome to My Blog

Hello !!  My name is Jorge Villarreal and this Fall 2016 term I am going to use this Web 2.0 tool. Click here to see other Web 2.0 tools.


 I am a UTEP graduate student taking EDT 5372: Web Tools for the Constructivist Classrooms.

On this blog I am going to post class reflections and it would be a pleasure to receive comments from my classmates about these. Thank You !!!!