INSTRUCTIONS - MICHELE

Blog #1, #2 & #3 are all from peer reviewed sources. I have copies of all of the articles and the websites are posted. Blogs #4, #5, & #6 are from informal sources.

Blog #6 - Online Degree Programs Take Off

Blog #6

Online Degree Programs Take Off
As More Schools Embrace Web-Based Courses, More Students Log On to Expand Their Education While They Work

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051501496_pf.html

By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 16, 2006; A06

SUMMARY

In our ever changing world people are becoming busier. The expenses needed to raise a family have increased. People are learning how to multi-task…even men. Part of this evolution is because of online learning. Distance learning allows people to earn degrees while completing all of life’s other challenges.

Angela Bostic is a perfect example of how a student has adapted to this new world. She has never come face to face with a professor or sat in a college desk. All of her classes have taken place online.

She is one of many students who had adopted this new lifestyle. Numbers say that student enrollment in online courses has jumped from 1.98 million to 2.35 million in one year.

Some criticisms of online learning involve bogus degrees. It is taxing to perform all the research needed to find out if a distance course is actually coming from an accredited institution. Most people just take their chances assuming that something like that would not happen to them.

The University of Phoenix is the winner in the distance education race so far. Heavy advertising has pushed this particular University to the top of the list. Their classes are supposedly no joke. If you want a degree they make you work for it!

The majority of distant students are between the ages of 24 and 50. Most have jobs and families. The supposed mentality of older students involves a “need” to further their education, not a want. Students like these act as if they are not in school because they are trying to please their parents or guardians. Professors claim that students with this idea about learning are wonderful to teach.

The idea of distance learning is slowly being accepted as “real”. It is very important to find out whether the school being attended online is accredited. One program awarded 229 degrees to various students. None of them could take the bar exam because the American Bar Association did not recognize their degrees. Easy come…easy go…

REVIEW

I have a friend who began taking classes out of the University of Phoenix. She saw a commercial and decided that distance learning would be a lot easier than actually going to classes. After the first two classes she dropped out. She said that she did not have the self discipline it took to do that much work on her own.

She has not yet fallen into that “I am doing this because I need to” category. So far, the majority of people I know who have gotten their masters degree are teachers. Most admit that they have acquired their degrees because they had to…not because they wanted to. I agree…

Distance learning supposedly puts self discipline to the test. I am not there yet.

Blog#5 - Diploma Mills

Blog #5 - Ivory Tower Rip Offs - How Online Degree Mills Work

Stacy Schreiber

http://www.elearners.com/resources/diploma-mills.asp

SUMMARY

Diploma mills are apparently a new industry in today’s world. Since the growth of the internet, money hoarders now have a nearly free way to advertise a bogus campus, classes and student population. Our system supposedly lacks regulation in the “university” area. The rules are not specified as to what defines an institution and what doesn’t so people who would probably make better lawyers than crooks, find the loop holes and pull them to their maximum.

There are two types of diploma mills. The first type involves the student attending low quality, disorganized online classes. The other type basically sells the student a degree with his or her name on it.

A diligent student named Margaret Chester found a degree that seemed too good to be true…because it was. She enrolled in a program at Columbia Pacific University. She created her curriculum, her pace and her own assignments. In the beginning she wrote numerous papers and received good grades from her mystery teachers. Eight thousand dollars later, she was up to the point in her degree where she had to write a dissertation. She sent proposals to her fictitious support staff and they were rejected many times. Margaret did a little bit of digging and found out that her school was operating without the appropriate state approval, she withdrew.

Columbia State University was “busted”. The alumni who had received bogus degrees were informed. Some included people who worked in the White House…isn’t that comforting. More than one million dollars per month was being stolen from the student population.

Of the many survival tactics these school use to proliferate, the most popular tactic is the use of religion. Separation of church and state allow the schools to remain unchallenged. Bogus schools claim religious affiliation that often put any questions to rest.

Students can protect themselves from this by conducting thorough research before enrolling in any programs that sound too good to be true. Schools should be accredited by the appropriate officials. Asking lots of questions is also another great way to sniff out any inconsistencies.

REVIEW

For the amount of work I have put into my undergraduate degree and my masters, I think I would have a coronary if someone told me that my degree was bogus. I am still old fashioned in the respect that I do not trust these so called online classes.

I want to see my teachers and know that they are real people. I want to see my classmates as well. Though socially, these aspects can be challenging at times (given that I am a complete introvert), it is still worth it to know that I am working with real people.

Finally, if something seems too good to be true it probably is. I have better faith in the human senses. People know when they are being conned. They just need to be more confident and trust their instincts.

As for those people who claimed to not know that their degree was fake, I don’t believe them. I am sure that at some point, these people were the slightest bit suspicious of what was really going on. Getting a phony degree was just the easy way out,

Blog #4

Blog #4 – How and Why I Chose Kaplan University

Stacy Schreiber

http://community.elearners.com/blogs/kaplan_management_degree/archive/2007/04/05/How-and-Why-I-Chose-Kaplan-University.aspx

Anonymous (This man’s picture is on the website but he failed to mention his name)

SUMMARY

Here is an eyewitness account of a student who went “back to school”. This 30 year old business man (who omitted his name) felt the need to continue his education in order to move forward in his job. Reluctant to go back and attend university classes after never having attended them before, he investigated some online options.

When he began this process, distance education was just starting to spread throughout the United States. Instead of attending classes at the University of Texas, this future student was afraid that committing to a university life would seriously affect his job as well as his marriage. There was no other option than to take a chance with the “new” distance education.

He had heard about diploma mills (so-called universities that cheat students out of their money to give them a bogus degree). Legitimacy was key here. After hearing comments and opinions from friends about how hard they worked for nothing, this man made no decisions quickly.

After sampling online classes in two accredited schools, his opinions were bleak. He described the classes as “fragmented” and “chaotic”. He withdrew from the classes without any credits to show for it.

In this particular situation, this man found that the Kaplan program suited him best. His degree program was planned. The online environment was structured and the classes were well paced. The curriculum was demanding, but orderly.

This student is just finishing his degree with a 3.6 GPA to show for it. The best part about his experience is that he claims to have enjoyed it.

REVIEW

This man claims that structure is the most important factor to any distance learning environment. He said that the first two programs he tried were nationally and regionally accredited, yet disorganized and chaotic. How could this be?

In my opinion, distance learning programs do not receive that kind of accreditation if they are not good. How could a nationally recognized online learning program be this way?

Either this man had to become accustomed to such a change from his previous life and used those programs as ice-breakers or the people who are responsible for giving the programs that kind of credit are not doing their jobs properly.

Blog #3 Online Education for Practicing Professionals

SUMMARY

Computer mediated communication or CMC, offers a new type of learning called distance learning for students. In On-line Education for Practicing Professionals: A Case Study, Heather Duncan takes a deep look into this type of education. CMC comes with a lot of stigmas to begin with. Duncan wanted to determine if these were true or not from her own research.

Distance learning involves a type of communication called asynchronous communication. This means that the students can participate at their leisure. Of course there are deadlines for various assignments and web based conversations, students can enter their data at 3:30 in the morning on a Tuesday if they wanted to.

This study was made up of 8 students’ participants and 1 teacher participant. It took place using a master’s level education course called “Curriculum for Rural, Northern and Aboriginal Schools”. The study was qualitative and included data from different sources. In addition to computerized instruction, data was also retrieved by means of “face to face” interviews.

This qualitative study focused on the types of interaction among the students and the teacher. In addition, the study included the participant’s perceptions of the overall experience.

Interactions between the participants were broken down into task-related instruction and relational posts. Their class was organized on WebCT and the researcher (the author of this article and originally a co-teacher of the course) acted as technical support.

In the beginning of the course, the students were not spending too much time on the relational portion of the class. They prioritized their assignments and though relational reports were a portion of their grades, they all felt that written assignments take precedence over “socializing”.

Positive factors for the study include but are not limited to course content relevance, personal safety, self reflection time and self expression. Students described the course content as “inviting, engaging and thought provoking” (Duncan, 2005). In Fran’s case (one of the student participants), she felt that she was more expressive in the class because she wasn’t face to face with other students. She says this class promoted “risk-taking” in people during her final interview.

Negative factors include withdrawal of students, access problems, lack of computer knowledge and difficulty meeting for group assignments. Two of the original students had to withdraw from the class because they lived in remote areas where they could not get access to the internet. For those students who had never taken an online class before, learning how to use their computers was a class on its own. Finally, getting together for group assignments online was particularly “cumbersome” because everyone has different schedules. Collaborative learning seems to take awake the asynchronous factor from this class.

Duncan concluded that overall, this was a positive experience for the students. They had more positive than negative comments. They came into the class with low expectations and left somewhat surprised.

REVIEW

Personal safety was mentioned as a positive factor of distance learning. In the physical sense, graduate students (who generally take their classes in the evening) were happier to stay in the safety of their own home. Duncan noted that university attacks usually take place at night and on women. The security of being able to go to school at home is “nice”.

Honestly, I was very unhappy to read this. I go to school at night three times a week and I like to have more faith in public safety. Though I have heard of women being raped in various parking lots, I don’t have the same qualms about it yet because it hasn’t happened to me (hopefully it never will). I always walk with another person.

I mention this because I think it’s wrong that an apparent solution to parking lot rapists is women being confined to their homes.

We can’t even go to school anymore because of these sick people? I feel like we are giving in…

Blog #2 Staying the Course

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Staying the Course: A Study in Online Student Satisfaction and Retention

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Michael Herbert, Ph.D.
Chair, Criminal Justice Department
Bemidji State University
1500 Birchmont Drive NE
Bemidji , MN 56601-2699

SUMMARY

Is it really true that being physically present in a classroom will help a student remember what is being taught more so than on online class? In Staying the Course: A Study in Online Student Satisfaction and Retention studies were conducted to find the answer to this question.

Previous studies have shown that college students have a 20% to 50% chance of not being able to retain the information they have learned throughout their semesters. Professors who teach online classes believe that this failed retention rate increases by 10% to 20% for online classes.

Since accountability has now officially become the responsibility of the institution providing the education, this failing retention rate has to drop. So far, students who take online classes have not reported having the most positive experiences. In this case, the colleges are responsible for fixing this problem.

First, getting students to stay enrolled in an online class seems to be challenging. One idea that explains this problem involves two factors. An older study suggested that organization and students satisfaction will ultimately lead to their commitment or withdrawal from an online class. Alternate influential factors mentioned by other models that affect commitment, withdrawal and general participation in online classes included general feelings toward the learning institute and the need for positive reinforcement.

The purpose of this study was to determine the variables significant for retention in online courses (Herbert, 2005). The study was conducted by using an online course survey. Surveys were sent to students who had enrolled for online classes. Surveys were sent to participants two times throughout the semester.

Three important variables that were being looked at were personal, institutional and circumstantial variables. The specifics of these variables were defined in this article (Herbert, 2005)

1. Personal variables . These include demographics that encompass age, gender, and martial status; as well as variables such as academic skills and abilities, motivation, commitment and locus of control (Rotter 1966, Parker 1999, Kember 1995).

2. Institutional variables . This category includes variables such as academic, bureaucratic and institutional social variables (Willis 1994, Alexander, McKenzie, and Geissinger 1998).

3. Circumstantial variables . These include socio-economic variables, academic interactions, social interactions and life situation.

Approximately 75% of the participants reported they had completed the online courses they had enrolled in. The remaining 25% reported that they had not completed the online courses. Some of the results indicated that responsiveness to the needs of the students, online instruction quality, timely responses, frequency of interaction, financial aid and student interaction were factors that affected those people who did not complete their online classes.

It is worth noting that although 25% of the participants did not complete their online classes, they still reported back to the researcher. This means that they want to be heard.

A t test showed that there was a significant difference between completers and non-completers. It also showed that the student expectations of the classes were significantly lower among the students whom had not completed the online classes.

The following conclusion can be made for this study. First, students with lower expectations will not perform as well in online classes as students with higher expectations. Second, universities need to take responsibility to improve the online classes.

REVIEW

In my opinion, distance learning is much more difficult than non-distance learning. It’s not the actual presence of being in a physical classroom that influences student grades. It’s the participation and the “give” and “take”. Though in theory the same idea is supposed to be accomplished through online learning, somehow it’s just not the same. On one hand, people might be shy about their real opinions on certain matters since they are actually typing their thoughts. Whatever a student says is “set in stone” so to speak. That’s a level of commitment I think most people don’t want to make. On the other hand, people may be more likely to express themselves to a degree that is borderline mean since they never actually have to see their classmates face to face. Its great to have a debate but the presence of visible mediator is a comfort for some students. So far…I am not a fan of distance education.

Blog #1 Spring 2007

Encouraging Online Participation

By: Lam Wing

SUMMARY

Have you ever felt like “ditching” class and staying home in your pajamas on a rainy day? The new wave of technology allows people to do this 100% of the time. Online discussion forums are just part of a distance learning education.

Encouraging Online Participation discusses methods to ensure that student posts are meaningful. To begin, Wing recommends that the students introduce themselves. This will help students avoid feeling isolated. He suggests that every student should post an introductory message at the start of the class to become acquainted.

Wing mentions a supposed advantage of online discussion forums. Speaking in front of others is a common fear. Many students prefer not to share their own opinions in a class full of people. Online discussion forums provide a comfortable environment for students. Teachers should avoid the “sage on stage” idea so that the new found voices won’t suddenly become quiet. Wing refers to it as being “the guide on the side”.

From the lazy student’s perspective, online discussions are easy. As long as he or she posts a message, who cares what’s in it? Wing calls this a low quality post. Features from a low quality post are posts that provide little new insight, show little evidence of critical analysis and repeat what has already been stated, have little relevance to the main line of discussion and are factually incorrect (Wing 2004).

In order to prevent low quality posts students must follow guidelines. Teachers must direct the students in a very specific manner. Students should also be reminded that online discussion participation counts for part of their grade.

When starting an online discussion forum, teachers should be able to answer the following questions: How often should students check the discussion forum? Which postings are voluntary and which ones are mandatory? What kind of assessment is being used to evaluate the meaning of the posts? Are students required to lead any discussions? Have you used any yes or no questions without asking why?

REVIEW

One particular aspect mentioned in this article got my attention. Online discussion forums are advantageous. Students who would not usually speak in a live classroom now have a voice. Are we giving those students a “crutch”? Many students already have an appreciation for stay-at-home-communication. Why make a phone call when we can send instant messages? Why buy music when we could get it for free from the internet? Today people don’t even need to go grocery shopping at the supermarket. Peapod.com is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Physically, sitting on our behinds all day is not good (though I really enjoy my pajamas). Mentally, this kind of lifestyle leads to antisocial behavior. Are we making a mistake by throwing school into the sedentary mix of at-home activities?

Testing

Testing...

Blog #5

The Secrets to Increasing Females in Technology.

Betty.shanahan@swe.org.

Technology Teacher; Oct2006, Vol. 66 Issue 2, p22-24, 3p

http://web.ebscohost.com.cwplib.proxy.liu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=18&sid=64b3c765-31f8-4534-97ce-558e0ba6d56e%40sessionmgr2

REVIEW

In our society, man is known for their technologically challenging jobs. Women are not. Are women at fault for the fact that they are “technologically” challenged in this society or is society to blame for this lack of gender in the field? In The Secrets to Increasing Females in Technology, it is believed that women are treated in a biased manner right from the start. Females are not to blame for this problem, rather societal influences that are currently taking place.

President Bush's announcement of the American Competitiveness Initiative brought forth the idea that the future holds many more technological positions. Schools have now begun engineering and technology classes. That is right where the gender bias begins.

According to Betty Shanahan, parents are one group of people to blame. Many parents will tell their young boys that talent and hard work are equivalent. Young girls are told that hard work is more important than any math skills they might need.

Later on in life, this is one factor that is believed to be the cause of women dropping out of engineering and technology undergraduate programs. Professors make jokes about one woman in a class full of men. This treatment can lead women to believe that they do not belong in a men’s environment. In addition, if girls and boys work in a group together, girls usually receive the tasks of typing up the report or taking notes. Girls seem to “hang back” a bit whereas boys jump up to do the job that will impress the teacher. Teachers can combat this gender role assignment by giving the assumed jobs to the opposite gender. These societal rules do not serve our future well but maybe they will change

COMMENTARY/OPINION

I definitely agree that our society is not helping the “digital divide” in terms of gender. I have had many experiences where jobs have been assigned to me that am somewhat administrative or secretarial. The challenging jobs seem to always go to guys. In addition, I was always told it was okay to fail math or receive low grades. One professor in college changed that for me. I had to take quantitative statistics for my undergraduate degree. My professor made the environment safe and secure. There was no such thing as a dumb question. I ended up with a B+ in a math class. It was then that I realized I had been faulted by society. My parents and my teachers always told me it was okay to fail. Would my life have been different if they hadn’t told me that? However, I still enjoy typing the reports and taking the notes. Neatness counts and I would never present a project that wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. I hate to say that content comes second for me, but it does.

Blog #4

A Splash of Color, a Dash of Learning

By David Baird

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/17708

REVIEW

Is color really better? According to David Baird from Lexmark Printing, color really seems to brighten things up in the world of education. Studies proved that students remember more of what they see when it is in color. Students also seem to pay attention longer when they are looking at something in color. This article goes on to discuss the pros of having color laser printers as opposed to conventional inkjet printers. Supposedly, laser printers will print more pages per minute than our usual inkjets. They require less maintenance in terms of how often their cartridges need to be replaced. The paper trays are larger and can generally hold 3 times as much paper. Laser printers have now become more cost efficient since technology prices have dropped so dramatically. Though laser printers still cost more than inkjet printers, the amount of maintenance required on a conventional inkjet will meet and surpass the cost of a laser printer.

COMMENTARY/OPINION
I definitely agree that schools should add some color to their curriculums. I remember always receiving black and white hand outs in school. I couldn’t possibly be more bored from looking at them. I always wanted to see what color the images on the paper were really supposed to be. In addition, I also memorize information better when I am looking at a color. If I ever used flash cards, I always remembered the answers from the bright yellow index cards. If humans have the ability to see color, than why not use the ability to its highest advantage? Costs really have dropped dramatically for many different types of technology. I have seen teachers ready to attack the one piece of machinery in the school that is causing problems. I, myself have wanted to kick my copy machine many times. Kicking it never helped the problem. If not for cost effectiveness, maintenance reduction, cheaper paper use and color printing, than schools should buy laser printers to keep the sanity of the teachers!

Mi Kids

ANNOTATED WEB REVIEWS

By: Stacy Schreiber

http://www.mikids.com/

1. What is the overall (or general) purpose of the website?
1. Kindergarten – Fifth Grade
1. The general purpose of this website is to help grade school teachers enhance their teaching through technology
2. Another purpose is to help grade school teachers provide their students with semi-concrete information. Showing young students pictures or playing sounds for them will really help them solidify their learning.
3. This site provides many links to other helpful sites.
2. What are the major strengths of the website?
1. Visual images

1. Visual images are very helpful to students who still need semi-concrete information as well as teachers who are looking to navigate through any site quickly.
1. Organization
1. This website only has a small amount of information on each page. This makes site navigation easy.
2. Each page can be easily reached by using the channels located at the top of the page. Each is labeled with a number indicating appropriate grade level.
2. Layout
1. All of the information on this website is laid out in a table form. This makes finding information very easy.
2. Most of the information is centered on the page. The white space is used appropriately.

3. How can teachers use the website for teaching/learning?
1. Teaching
1. Teachers can help their visual learners by using many of the pictures provided on this website
2. Teachers can also use information from many of the links provided on this page to enhance their teaching.
1. The links on this site are excellent resources for any grade school teacher.
4. How can students use the website for independent or group learning, if at all?
1. Students
1. There are a few pages on this website that students could be directed to use. Navigation should be done by the teacher or the students should go directly to the pages that are suitable for them.

5. What are some pitfalls, if any, of the site?
1. The site itself appears to be made very quickly. The home page is not very aesthetically pleasing, but for teachers who are looking to enhance their lessons “at the end of the day”, they shouldn’t care that much.
2. General neatness is a pitfall. Parts of this website are sloppy.
3. The navigation bar at the top could be designed better. It took me a while to find the numbers and realize that they are an indication of grade level. I only knew that after I clicked on them.
4. The background image is distracting.

Enchanted Learning

ANNOTATED WEB REVIEWS

By: Stacy Schreiber

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html

1. What is the overall (or general) purpose of the website?
1. The overall purpose of this website is to provide all different kinds of activities for grade school students.
2. What are the major strengths of the website?
1. Organization

1. The organization on this website is very concrete. Specifically, every piece of information is in a “box”. This helps teachers or students navigate easily.
2. How can teachers use the website for teaching/learning?
1. Teachers

1. This website is loaded with information on every possible grade school subject that an elementary school teacher might cover over the course of the year.
2. Worksheets, fill-ins, mazes, quizzes, questions, and any other kind of printable material are available on this website. Teachers will find student friendly printouts in any subject on this website.
3. Teachers may also bring up any student-friendly page on this website in class (using a projector) to enhance any lesson.
4. The graphics make navigation an easy task.

4. How can students use the website for independent or group learning, if at all?
1. Students
1. This website also has many pages for student viewing purposes.
1. The pictures make the website more visually appealing to students.
2. The text is written in a reader-friendly font that is very suitable for children.
2. Independent learning
1. Students can visit this website from a home computer and complete any of the sheets as a homework assignment
2. Group work can also be done during class (assuming students have access to computers).

5. What are some pitfalls, if any, of the site?
1. This website does not have any white space. The site is packed with information that is way too close together.
2. I found it difficult to use the navigation bar on the right side of the screen. Traditionally the navigation bar is on the left side or at the top of the screen.
3. The site was not very aesthetically pleasing.
4. Another navigation table is located all the way at the bottom of the screen. It should be at the top.

ANNOTATED WEB REVIEWS

By: Stacy Schreiber

http://www.biologycorner.com/

1. What is the overall (or general) purpose of the website?
1. The purpose of this website is to help Biology teachers enhance their lesson plans and classroom activities.
2. Biology web quest suggestions are available through links on the web quest page. Some examples are blood donations, biomes and disease outbreaks
3. Many images are available to make any Biology lesson more interesting to the students.
4. Teachers also have access to pre-made quizzes as well as a quiz-maker. This would allow the teacher to customize a quiz based on his or her exact teachings.
2. What are the major strengths of the website?
1. Strengths of this website include graphics, organization, text layout, and overall user-friendly look.

i. Specifically, the graphics on this page made me want to look further. The images are clear and sized perfectly for the particular place they are in.

ii. The general organization is appealing to the user. There is just the right amount of text on each page. Too much text would make any user (like me) turn to a different page quickly!

iii. The text layout is perfect. The size of the text is appropriate for the specific places it’s in. I don’t feel senile when I am reading through these pages.

iv. The smaller details such as the combination of colors, buttons and again graphics make this website user-friendly.

3. How can teachers use the website for teaching/learning?
1. Teachers can use this website in many of the previously mentioned ways. They can create quizzes (or make them particular), use the images in class and use the web quest ideas for student development.
4. How can students use the website for independent or group learning, if at all?
1. I would say that this website is for teachers only. It is designed for use by a teacher and not a student.
5. What are some pitfalls, if any, of the site?
1. I honestly do not have any complaints or improvements that I feel could be made about this website.

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/index.htm

6. What is the overall (or general) purpose of the website?
1. The overall purpose of the website is to education students about all of the different aspects of weather.
7. What are the major strengths of the website?
1. The graphics, organization and centering of the text + graphics are some strengths.
2. The content is written in comic sans. This font is appealing to young people (and maybe some older people too!) Its easy to read and a little more exciting than times new roman.
3. The content itself is appropriate for student readers. Though its not age specific, I would have to say that most students (4^th grade and above) would enjoy reading the information on this website. **My collaboration group and I actually chose this website for one of the links on our page.

i. Specifically, the graphics make the page exciting for students, but are not so numerous and overwhelming that they demand all of the attention.

ii. The organization of the pages is very geometric. This makes the interface user-friendly for students. They can expect a certain consistency when they change pages.

8. How can teachers use the website for teaching/learning?
1. Teachers could definitely use this website for class activities. This website is fantastic for individual student use, but even better for group projects.
2. This website could be used to find information for a web quest.
3. The most important factor of this website is that the students might actually “take something away” with them when they are done with it. The definitions and content are written in a student friendly way.
9. How can students use the website for independent or group learning, if at all?
1. (See previous)
10. What are some pitfalls, if any, of the site?
1. The only pitfall of this website is that it can’t be used in the upper grades. I think that high school students would become bored very quickly with a website like this. Its meant to be used from 4^th grade to 8^th grade

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/

11. What is the overall (or general) purpose of the website?
1. This website is a K-6 website for teachers only. The purpose of this website is to help elementary school teachers with all the aspects of running an elementary school classroom.
2. This site has subject specific information as well as classroom management skills and discipline plans.
12. What are the major strengths of the website?
1. The strengths of this website are the content and the layout.

i. Specifically, the content of this website includes information that I have not yet found on any other teacher websites. I find it very difficult to find information (that I can actually understand) about classroom management and discipline. This site has all of that information without the “fluff”.

ii. The layout of this website is organized and concise. The information is all focused around a central point and the home page basically fits on one screen. That is definitely strength.

iii. **This website is like the Wal-Mart or Target of websites for teachers. You can get everything you’re looking for in one place!

13. How can teachers use the website for teaching/learning?
1. Teachers can use this website for their planning, student development, classroom management and discipline tactics. There is a lot of “to the point” information.
14. How can students use the website for independent or group learning, if at all?
1. This website is not intended for student use.
15. What are some pitfalls, if any, of the site?
1. The font used in this website was a little too creative. That type of font would be better suited to an artistic website. As a teacher, I found it hard to read at certain times.

Blog #3

http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193200370

Integrating Visual Literacy

By: Susan McLester

REVIEW

Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco keeps their students “on top” in a technological fashion. All of the incoming freshman receive up-to-date palm pilots. Beaming zones allow the students to send and receive information to each other. Teachers can organize students via homework and testing schedules right from the start. No excuses for these students! McClester calls it a 21^st century organizational tool (since all of the students can download just about anything).

All aspects of the school involve technology in one way or another (unlike the imaginary scene depicted by the author in my previous blog). Film and photo have “jazzed” up the once boring school newspaper. The girls enjoy the chance to be creative. Spanish classes have also used camera technology. English becomes more fun for the students when they can download pictures they may have talked about in a once boring novel.

The new technology sure makes school more interesting for these girls!

COMMENTARY/OPINION
I liked this article much more than the one I read previously (blog #2). This kind of technology could only be possible in a private school for two reasons. The first reason has to do with the parents. They control the finances that go into the system. The second reason is more dependent on the lack of federal involvement.

NCLB is one example of a guideline that has stunted progress in our public school system. On one hand, it’s great that all of the students are getting help that they need. This act is meant to ensure survival of all young people for the future. On the contrary, the students that are on the fast track are losing their drive and excitement from the slower pace. Is that really fair?

In a private school, the administrators and the staff decide what is going to happen and when. I have worked in both types of environments. Honestly, I really appreciated the freedom I had when I worked for the private sector…I didn’t appreciate the salary.

Blog #2

http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193200296

A Day in the Life of Web 2.0

By: David Warlick

REVIEW
This article can best be reviewed by stating the title: A Day in the Life of Web 2.0. Basically, Warlick’s article gives the reader many different perspectives of technology in the classroom. He mentions the teachers and their collaborations through blogs, wiki’s and the Internet. Many opinions from the students were also shared. The students benefited not only from the prepared lessons given by the teacher, but from looking at each other’s work as well.

COMMENTARY/OPINION
This article paints a very picturesque scene within a school. All the students are happy. All of the teachers seem to know how to use differing technologies in their classrooms. Even the “veteran English teacher” down the hall knows what a wiki is. I can’t help but feel like this kind of setting is completely unrealistic for the current time.

To start, veteran teachers often reject the use of new technology because they are usually set in their ways. All students are not necessarily technologically inclined because some still do not have full time access to a computer.

This author may be envisioning a place like Perfect (Often talked about fictitiously on Walgreen’s commercials). I could just hear it now: “Where all of the students are in jubilant moods and all of the teachers have working computers in their classrooms…”

In addition, I noted that the last line of this article states that the author is a blogger, podcaster and programmer. He forgot to add naïve dreamer to the list…