Voice Thread

With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). 

One cool thing about this is that you can Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments also.Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites andexported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies.

I actually downloaded a Mobile App to my iPad for VoiceThread, now I can read and listen and create from my iPad! :)


Here I left a text comment on Richard Pierce's VoiceThread about Generations and Internet.


And here is a Voice Thread that I created for a future math class.  The benefits of using Voice Thread is that it allows students some creativity and keeps them interested.  How neat is it to be able to see and hear your comments and your fellow students comments on certain topics and problems.  They can learn from each other this way.  One barrier is that some students may be shy and may not want to leave a voice comment, but they can easily leave a text comment instead.  It may be difficult to grade an assigment like this, as there will be various forms of answers, but one way is making it participation points and adding it to a test or something.  It would be a good way to review things so that students can see other students ways of working out problems and such.  I think it is really neat and would like to incorporate it into my future classroom. 


ISTE NETS T standards:  This activity relates to the standards by understanding and developing resources created and effectively used in the classroom.  I used power point to create images to be used in a voice thread that could be used to view and check student achievement.  The standards imply that teachers much "demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations," which is clearly shown in this tool.  This is a new technology that students find interesting and captivating and I can prove my fluency and share knowledge with my students this way.

Pecha Kucha

PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images. I created a PechaKucha about Math, since I one day hope to teach math classes.






The way I went about making this was to find pictures and put them into Microsoft Powerpoint, once I had my 20 pictures in on 20 different slides I saved in a jpeg format.  I, then, downloaded  PhotoStory and imported the 20 picture slides that I saved and created a photo story customizing my motion and timing and adding voice.  So I set it to no motion and 20 seconds per slide, then put my voice recording over each slide and saved it into yet another format, .wmv, so that I could upload the video to YouTube.


I found this assignment to be fun, even though I dont like hearing my voice recorded and played back.  I enjoyed looking for pictures and putting narrative with them and hope that using fun pictures can keep the attention of students.  I would use this again in the future and I believe it is a fun way to learn about things for students.  Students like videos and pictures and any break from the common lecture, notes, homework routine.

ISTE NETS T #2 - Design & Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences & Assessments. (A) Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

Self-Grading Forms

We were asked to create a form that is self grading.  I also found a blog that gives you more directions in making a self- grading form:  Self-grading multiple-choice tests with Google Docs  I found this bloggers directions to be very helpful and easy to follow.
Here is my form: Math Quiz



Here is my spreadsheet: Math Quiz Spreadsheet/Grades


How neat is it that you can create a quiz that grades itself for you?  I thought that making a survey was cool.  I used Google Docs to create a Form that was self-grading.  I made it a 5 question math quiz similar to what questions one would find on the ACT. 

Just like when I made the survey, you are able to add themes to your self-grading quiz in order to make it more visibly appealing to those who are taking it.  Help text is also an option to make it easier for your participants to answer your questions. 

Once you have a form/quiz made, you can share it with the public or if you’d rather you could share it with your choice of people.  I chose to share mine with the public.  When I clicked Share on Google Docs I made it open to the public so that you didn’t have to be a Google Docs user or logged into your Google account to fill it out.  I shared it with my Google circle, emailed it to a few students in my class, and posted the link on Facebook in order to get a good number of responses.
Here’s the cool part.  Once a student submits their responses, you can write a formula in the spreadsheet that will grade their answers for you and even give you a percentage!  See my spreadsheet (above) for grading examples.

I went above and beyond on this due to all of the excited participants who were eager to learn. You have the option of changing the message people receive after completing the quiz. Well, I made a Google Docs Presentation containing the answer and the work to get the answers, so that people can see how they did. This will be useful when I use this with my 7th & 8th grade classes that I am observing with because after they take the quiz we can go over it together as a class with a Slideshow presentation.



ISTE NETS T - Standard 1 & 2- Standard 1. During this activity, students are expected to complete an assignment using digital tools, technology system and media (Google Forms). Students are expected to be active in their own learning and understanding of the content. Digital communication aides in the advancement of resources and support. Standard 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. This assignment was to design and develop an assessment digitally.

Google Forms

We were asked to make a Google form.   I decided to make mine about math, since that is what I got my undergrad in.  My form is about your math background.  I made it to learn more about people’s math background and past math experiences. 

Live Form - Math Background

Spreadsheet (Published as Webpage) - Math Background Results

Summary of Completed Responses - Math Background

Google forms is actually a pretty neat tool.  You can create online quizzes, surveys, or any type of questionnaire you want.  There are many different question types you can use that all send data straight into a useable spreadsheet.  With these answers you could even do statistical analysis testing to determine various outcomes.

You are also able to add themes to your survey/questionnaire in order to make it more visibly appealing to those who are taking it.  Help text is also an option to make it easier for your participants to answer your questions. 

Once you have a form made, you can share it with the public or if you’d rather you could share it with your choice of people.  I chose to chare mine with the public.  When I clicked Share on Google Docs I made it open to the public so that you didn’t have to be a Google Docs user or logged into your Google account to fill it out.  I shared it with my Google circle, emailed it to a few students in my class, and posted the link on Facebook in order to get a good number of people to take it. 

Forms and surveys like this could be used in professional life.  Being a teacher you could use this for qualitative and quantitative research data collecting.  There are various types of questions and all give you various outputs of data that can be manipulated and used.  You can view the form as embedded into another website or by clicking a hyperlink on a webpage or in an email.  There are various views including; the Live Form, the spreadsheet, and the summary of the results.  The form is basically a nice mask for the spreadsheet.  You could ask people to fill in their answers on a spreadsheet to use later or you could give them a visually appealing and better explained Google Form so that it is easier on them and you end up with the data organized into a spreadsheet for you.  Like I said earlier, there are many ways to share the survey.  You can publish it to public on Google, you can email it to whomever you please, you can embed it into a website, or even hyperlink it into a website.  The results can be viewed upon competition of the survey in a summary of the results or you can view them in spreadsheet format. 

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 1 & 2- Standard 1. During this activity, students are expected to complete an assignment using digital tools, technology system and media (Google Forms). Students are expected to be active in their own learning and understanding of the content. Digital communication aides in the advancement of resources and support. Standard 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. This assignment was to design and develop an assessment/survey digitally. 

APA Paper

Phew. Glad that one is over and handed in. The assignment was to write up a results section, in APA format, for various influences on quiz scores. 
We were given the data in excel and had to manipulate it in order to determine if any of the following things had a significant influence on quiz scores: personality (introvert or extrovert), sex (male or female), teaching status (teaching or non-teaching), age and millennial score.

            At first I struggled with setting up the second set of data,
            that was needed to complete the second table, but it was
            because I was comparing apples to oranges. Once I got
            that straightened out, the rest of the data manipulation
            and testing went fine.

Once the t-tests were complete and the p values were found for each section a paper could be formed. We were to write a "results" section of a paper containing the data that we manipulated earlier to demonstrate our abilities in spreadsheets, word processing, and APA formatting.

            The most trying part of this assigment was formatting. Two
            different websites were given to explain APA formatting.
            One for APA formatting and one for journal formatting.
            Having both websites as explanations was confusing as they
            had conflicting advice.  I posted a discussion question on
            Blackboard: "Do we single space (journal website) or double
            space (general apa guidelines) and do we change paper size 
            and such like journals?Also, page numbers top right (general 
            apa format) or bottom center (journal format)?  Pierce 
            emailed us: double and topright, which are both basic
            APA format and not journal format.  Once I got that part
            figured out I completed my paper and submitted.

The outcomes of this assigment were to understand APA formatting for numbers, tables, style, text, t-test findings, and references.  Also, to be able to develop, test, and interpret results of a hypothesis using bivvariate analysis in spreadsheet form and to develop a narrative paper in APA style to write up the results.  I believe that I accomplished all of these otucomes and have a better understanding of all of those things (that is before my paper has been graded).  If I had to compelte this assigment again, after learning what I learned about formatting and statistical tests I believe that I could cut the amount of hours that I put into this paper at least in half if not more. 

*** I did ok on the paper, not quite qhat I expected, but not bad.  There were a couple of things that I needed to work on a little harder.  I didnt have APA quite right for discussing the tables but upon reviewing more research papers I am learning a lot more.  I do feel comfortable with organizing and manipulating data in excel and I am pretty confident in my formatting of tables APA in a sense that if I had to do this all over again I would do it much better and probably much quicker. 

ISTE NETS T - Standard 3a,b,d: Model Digital - Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers: a)demonstrate fluency in technology systems and transfre of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.  Ive never used t tests before this class.  I have seen p values but didnt understand what they came from, so I could apply my knowledge from statistics classes to this assignment and I will be able to apply this assigment to future assigments. b)collaborate with peers using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.  Me and a couple of the other students in this class collaborated over email, im, and in person.  d) Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.  I had to use excel to complete these t-tests and analyze the data given.

Excel 2

Using the same data as the previous Excel blog, we were asked to look at a research question.

Used NCES site and looked at the state comparisons to assess where we are in terms of the national educational landscape. 

Research Question: What factor, if any, does gender play in 8th grade math performance?
Hypothesis: There is a difference between the male and female scores.
Hypothesis: There is no difference. (null hypothesis)

For this particular question we will be looking at the following information:

categorical independent variable is gender male/female.

continuous dependent variable is NAEP 2011 8th Grade state math averages.

We know the averages and standard deviations from our descriptive statistics. Now we need to know whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis.  We can use a  t-test & then Look at the 2 tail p value and make a decision.  The picture below is a Jing image of the t-test I carried out for the given data.
 

As you can see by the t-chart, which gives you an average as well as p values (which we needed), there isn’t a difference between male and female scores.  To break that down I highlighted the p values.  On the right side, NSD stands for no significant difference because our p value is greater than 0.05.  Either test gives the same result, even the two tail is greater than 0.05, so there is no significant difference and thus we must accept the null hypothesis.  There is no difference between the male or female scores. 

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 1 & 2- During this activity, students are expected to complete an assignment using digital tools (Jing), technology system (Excel) and media. Students are expected to be active in their own learning and understanding of the content. Digital communication aides in the advancement of resources and support. This activity is a great summative assessment due to the nature of the outcomes. The scatter plot offers some sort of data that should be relevant to the assignment.

Excel 1

Used NCES site and looked at the state comparisons to assess where we are in terms of the national educational landscape.

Sort the scores Ascending / Total Score.

Compute the descriptive statistics for the total score column.

West Virginia is fairly low when it comes to comparing National Center for Education Statistics National Assessment of Educational Progress 8^th grade math scale scores to other states.  There are merely 5 states below West Virginia, leaving the remaining 57 states included in this study above West Virginia.  By looking at the scatterplot above, you can see that West Virginia isn’t close to average; we are actually below it by quite a bit. 


 

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 1 & 2- During this activity, students are expected to complete an assignment using digital tools (Jing), technology system (Excel) and media. Students are expected to be active in their own learning and understanding of the content. Digital communication aides in the advancement of resources and support. This activity is a great summative assessment due to the nature of the outcomes. The scatter plot offers some sort of data that should be relevant to the assignment.

Jeopardy

For this assignment we were to create a Jeopardy game to use in our current or future classrooms.  (Hum Jeopardy theme song to yourself, in your head, as you read this.) I made a somewhat, universal one that would help review for tests like the ACT or in an Algebra or Algebra 2 class after going over a unit on solving equations. 

I got my material from the Pearson, Prentice Hall, Algebra book that was used at Morgantown High School (Morgantown West Virginia) last year for their Algebra classes. 

     The game comes from Chapter 2 – Solving Equations.  The sub categories are

1. Solving One-Step Equations,

2. Solving Two-Step Equations,

3. Solving Multi-Step Equations,

4. Solving Equations with Variables on Both Sides, and

5. Solving Word Problems by Setting up and Solving One- Step, Two-Step, Multi-Step,  

    and Variables on Both Sides Equations

Click to PLAY     --- or ---    Click to EDIT  

(I can go back to this website(with password) and edit later if I want to tweak)

My questions and answers aren’t quite in Jeopardy form where the answer is given and you have to give the question, because in math that would be a whole other game.  If I said x=5, what is the question, you could give me all kinds of questions that x=5 would be the solution to.  So, I switched it up. Problem to solve: solution & work given when clicked.  It is still played the same way, with teams, and various point levels.

I included the work written out with the answers.  Also, the categories go from 100 being easier problems of that sort to 500 being the harder problems of that sort.  The categories progressively get a little more difficult also.  I mixed in decimals, fractions, distribution, money, and commutative property.

I used html in the building of this Jeopardy game (take out *’s for the html codes to work),

·         to make certain text italicized <*em >text you want italicized here<*/em >,

·         underlined <*ins >text you want underlined here<*/ins >,

·         and even for <*b  />

line          <*b  />  

breaks,    <*b  />  (got to put those at the end of the line to break that way)

so that it looks neat & tidy.

I enjoyed this assignment.  We have been learning about “The Play Years” in EDUC 6302 – Human Growth & Development, and I believe that play is very important to incorporate into curriculum & what better way to get excited about math then playing a good ol’ game of Jeopardy!!

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
After making this review game based on mathematical practice, students are engaging in a teacher designed learning experience. This review could be based on summative or formative assessments. This type of assessment can be customized for the individual students through a creative digital tool.

Jing Video

I used "Jing" to capture a video of How to Set up a Second Blog Attached to an Already Existing Blogspot Blog Account.   I choose to do something fairly simple for anyone who already has a blogspot account, but it shows that I know how to use "Jing" to create a "Jing video."  I had to have two blogs – one for this class and one for observing as a FSU Teacher Candidate.  So, I figured why not teach others in case they, too, have to have two blogs.

With "Jing" video you can create a digital movie without a digital camera.  By clicking on the first prong of the sun you can determine what part of your screen you would like to capture and you can choose the video option instead of the picture option.  (The other two prongs on the sun are for your "Jing" history and “More”-which is where you can find out more about "Jing" and your settings. Once you have captured the video that you were trying to capture you can either save it to your computer or you can share it to screencast.com and it will become a URL.  It can also be found later in your "Jing" history where you can save or share it again later.  The address to your screen capture, if saved, on your computer where be where ever you saved it and whatever you titled it with a “.swf” (shockwave flash object) as its file type.

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 1.  Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.  By using the "Jing" video feature to teach students, colleges, and/or parents how to complete a task, we are using knowledge of a subject matter to enhance and use technology. We are offering support by implementing and step-by-step process that could be used in a real world setting.

Personality – Blog Post #2

I took the personality test  and it turns out that I must be an ENTJ just as I predicted myself to be, because this test gave me that result as well.

I was correct when guessing my personality type.  It seems as though I am slightly intuitive where I would have guessed that it would have been a bit stronger of a trait.  But, alas, ENTJ through and through.  The various descriptions said that, being an ENTJ, I am a leader and like to gain and share knowledge.  I am also a strong organizer and planner.  I could work on my introvertedness a touch in order to understand myself more and thus be more emotionally connected to others. 

I feel as though the description of an ENTJ is very closely related to what most would describe a teacher as. In a situation where I am working with a group of students, teachers, or principles, I should jump at the opportunity to communicate visions and goals of others to them.  I should also be the one to organize and coordinate when working in a group setting, as my natural instincts are ordering priorities, systematizing, generalizing, summarizing, and marshalling.

Different roles are important in different circumstances. Teams should be analyzed both in terms of what team skills are most needed, and also in relation to what team roles members can play.  The interaction between the different personalities of individuals can be a frequent source of friction, despite having well defined roles within a team. However, this can largely be avoided by understanding and valuing people’s differences. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a powerful aid to both team and personal development by providing a well-researched framework for understanding these differences.

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 2c.  Design & Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences & Assessments.  Customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.

Personality – Blog Post #1

I started this assignment by Reading this.  By deciding on my preference in each of the four categories I proclaim to be an ENTJ which means:

ENTJ – Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging Frank, decisive, assume leadership readily. Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems. Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Usually well informed, well read. Enjoy expanding their knowledge and passing it on to others. Forceful in presenting their ideas.

I am definitely an ENTJ.  I am very decisive and frank, however, I don’t tend to assume leadership among peers – rather among students I am teaching.  I do feel that I see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies quickly and find myself developing plans and organization to correct those problems.  I love helping people organize themselves and can’t stand an unorganized office, desk, room, etc.  I am 110% a long-term planner and goal setter.  With my past running experiences and my future teaching experiences, planning and goal setting were and are very necessary.   I consider myself to be well read and informed and I do enjoy sharing what I know with others.  I love learning, whether it be me or someone else learning from me – hence the desire to be a teacher.  The description of an ENTJ basically fits me perfectly.

The other website, Keirsey.com, labeled me as a Field Marshal:

Hardly more than two percent of the total population, Fieldmarshals are bound to lead others, and from an early age they can be observed taking command of groups. In some cases, they simply find themselves in charge of groups, and are mystified as to how this happened. But the reason is that they have a strong natural urge to give structure and direction wherever they are - to harness people in the field and to direct them to achieve distant goals. They resemble Supervisors in their tendency to establish plans for a task, enterprise, or organization, but Fieldmarshals search more for policy and goals than for regulations and procedures.

They cannot not build organizations, and cannot not push to implement their goals. When in charge of an organization, whether in the military, business, education, or government, Fieldmarshals more than any other type desire (and generally have the ability) to visualize where the organization is going, and they seem able to communicate that vision to others. Their organizational and coordinating skills tends to be highly developed, which means that they are likely to be good at systematizing, ordering priorities, generalizing, summarizing, marshaling evidence, and at demonstrating their ideas. Their ability to organize, however, may be more highly developed than their ability to analyze.

Again, I feel that this label is describing me to a T.  Thus, I deem myself an ENTJ - Field Marshal, wonder what taking a personality test would tell me?

ISTE NETS T – Standard: see Personality Blog Post #2.

Word Clouds

I used  Wordle to create my word clouds on the NETS-T standards evolution.

 How have NETS-T standards evolved from 2000 to 2008? Well, here are the word clouds:

 WORD CLOUD – NETS T 2000

WORD CLOUD – NETS T 2008

By visually examining the word clouds I made, I can summarize my take on the direction that the NETS-T have taken in their most recent refresh without even reading a word of either set of standards text.  It appears that in 2000 a lot of focus was put on technology where as in the 2008 cloud I see words that expand on technology, such as digital.  As technology is advancing the standards must also advance, so instead of being vague and simply saying technology, the standards must expand.  In 2008 the focus seems to be on learning, and some of the other main words are tools, resources, model, and professional.  Some of these words aren’t even in the 2000 cloud. 

ISTE NETS T - Standard 1a, 1c, 2c 3c, 3d, 5a, 5c, and 5d. Promoted and modeled creative and innovative thinking, learned about a technology that promotes student reflection, learned how to customize and personalize learning activities, communicated relevant information in a digital format, modeled information using digital-age media and formats, participated in a learning community, evaluated and reflected on current professional practice to make effective use of existing digital tools, as well as engage in professional growth.

Millennials

Millennials are the American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium.

Here is a millennial survey that I took to determine my millennial score.  According to the survey - my millennial score is 98.

Having such a high millennial score is good for my future students, as many of my students will most likely also have high millennial scores.  Computer, communication, and information technology are just getting more and more useful and valued.  Being able to teach my students how to use these things to their best ability will be helpful to their future.

Frand gives ten attributes of the “information-age mindset.” The first four relate to broad observations of change, three address how people do things, and the last three are subliminal needs conditioned by the cyber age.

1.    Computers Aren’t Technology - Technology, to the information-age generation, is everything that surrounds computers and is made possible by computers but only incidentally the computers themselves. Young people naturally gravitate to these kinds of interactive, input/output devices. They make the devices work without a manual, without the instruction set, as if the device is hardwired into their psyche.

·          Seeing as how I completed this entire assignment on my brand new IPAD2, that I just had to have as soon as I could afford it, I would say that computers aren't technology to me.  I have had a computer all of my life, as far back as I can remember.  I have always been a whiz at computers and the Internet - as if my mind was programmed to be able to do technological things.

2.    Internet Better Than TV - During 1998, for the first time since television was introduced fifty years ago, the number of hours young people spent watching TV decreased. This time was transferred to the computer, with its Internet connectivity. 

·         I do spend lots of time on the Internet.  I even watch TV shows and movies on the Internet instead of a TV most of the time.  When I do watch TV it is "TiVo" TV so that I can watch what I want when it is convenient.

3.    Reality No Longer Real - We have entered a period of such advanced data-manipulation capability that photography can no longer be trusted.

·          I understand that not all things you see and hear a real.  That's not to say I haven't fallen for an "unreal" email a time or two, it happens.  It is extremely easy for people to create fake identities and such with the various social networks or email.

4.    Doing Rather Than Knowing - Today we live in a world in which digital technologies have altered time and space so that events occur in real time, effects are immediate, and reaction times are cut short. In many disciplines, the half-life of information is measured in months and years.  From this perspective, what a person can do is more important than what degree they obtained.  The ability to deal with complex and often ambiguous information will be more important than simply knowing a lot of facts or having an accumulation of knowledge.

·          I feel as though I know a good bit of information.  I have a hi school diploma, a bachelor’s degree, and am working on a master’s degree, however, what is more important to my future is knowing how and where to find various knowledge.  I agree with the fact that It is more important to do than it is to know.

5.    Nintendo over Logic - The key to winning in Nintendo is constant, persistent trial-and-error to discover the hidden doors. The fastest way to winning is through losing, since each loss is a learning experience.  It’s no wonder manuals or instruction sets aren’t used by today’s students—they aren’t needed. When handed a digital gadget, these students turn it on, push the buttons, and try the knobs.  A balance is needed between didactic and discovery approaches. 

·         I believe that I have a bit of a balance between the two even though I typically lean more towards discovery and trial and error first.  I work with trial and error until it doesn't work, then I go to the manual or instructions.

6.    Multitasking Way of Life - Many young people today are accustomed to watching TV, talking on the phone, doing homework, eating, and interacting with their parents all at the same time. They don’t concentrate on one activity at a time. 

·         I am 125% guilty of multitasking to the extent that I am not paying enough attention to one activity in particular.  I can do homework, laundry, text, Skype, eat, and wash the dishes all at the same time, well maybe not, but I can definitely do many things at once and definitely do all the time.

7.    Typing Rather Than Handwriting - The hundreds of hours previous generations spent practicing penmanship were spent by my generation as well as those younger than me, at the keyboard. And maybe even more important, typed prose is always easy to read, even weeks after being typed; it can be checked for spelling errors, searched for key words, retrieved after filing, and easily manipulated for reuse. 

·         I love writing handwritten things, like lecture notes, homework, and personal letters and cards, but it seems, in this day in age that typing is the way to go.  With all of its benefits like spell check and being able to manipulate it for reuse.  I type pretty much everything now, especially since all of my education classes are online.

8.    Staying Connected - Advanced telecommunication connectivity is a natural part of living for information-age students. Beepers, cell phones, and PDAs are standard operating equipment. The idea of not being in touch anyplace, anytime—even in the middle of a classroom or a movie theater—is unthinkable. 

·          I am constantly attached to my cell phone and now my ipad2.  I text 24 hours a day and make cell phone calls as well as Skype & Face Time calls.  I am always connected and feel lost when I am not.

9.    Zero Tolerance for Delays - It is human nature to want the immediate gratification of our desires, not just physical but informational as well.  Having grown up with automatic teller machines, information-age students expect banking services 24/7.  Voice mail and e-mail are more efficient and less formal, which implies “I want a quick response.” On the other hand, they create time-expansion capabilities. We can store and retrieve messages until we’re ready to reply, which also implies “at your convenience.” 

·         I am definitely impatient when it comes to most things.  With emails, texting, and messaging systems like AIM and Skype, I have learned that if I want a quick response, which type of messaging I can use.  Delays just aggravate me.  If I have to wait for information I usually try my hardest to try to work around whatever I am waiting on and find another source for it. 

10.  Consumer/Creator Blurring - In today’s parlance, there is no distinction between the owner, the creator, and the user of information. 

·         We are asked to use others work to complete various assignments for college.  We, however, must cite where they came from so that we are not stealing someone's knowledge and works.  I understand the blur.  Both as a student and as a teacher, it is something we must watch out for so to ensure that plagiarism isn't occurring.

I am a Millennial of the information-age.  I believe it is important to be up-to-date when it comes to technology and information.  I think that seems to be what people are striving for, to be more tech savvy.  The lack of an information age mind set could spell doom for us.  If teachers continue to teach in the same way that they have always taught, there will be little value added from classroom and campus networks.  Until the nature of the educational relationships change in the classroom and at the institutional level, we will not realize the full value of the computer, communication, and information technology investments that we are making today. We need to think in terms of transforming the educational experience so that it is meaningful to the information-age learner.

I had my mom take the test to see how her scores vary.  Birthdate speaking, I am a "Millennial" and she is a "Baby Boomer."  Before quizzing though, I would rank her more as a "Generation X.". Once she took the quiz she got - a 47, which is exactly what I thought. 

Although she is age-wise grouped into “Baby Boomer” the quiz deemed her “Generation X.”  I think this is because she has two kids who are Millennial and is trying to keep up.

While I was quizzing my mother, a cow-worker of hers came in and we quizzed him to, for fun.  His name is Randy and he is 51. 

Age wise, he should be considered a “Baby-Boomer,” however, he scored a 5!  That puts him way down around “Silent.”  He never has had any desire to become tech savvy – he doesn’t even own a cell phone.  How interesting?!

ISTE Nets T Standard 3a, 3b, 3c. Demonstrated fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations, addressed the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies and providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources. and promoted and modeled digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.

DIIGO

Social bookmarking is a great tool to employ to share and create knowledge using the power of the internet.  We were asked to watch a short informative film  and read this brief article . 

The film recommended and described 3 steps.

Step 1: Tag & List.  You can highlight &annotate Pages on the web with ease.  You can highlight content on a page, add a comment, and bookmark the page for later.  You can view your bookmarks in a list also in the sidebar.

Step 2: Connect & Engage – bookmarks, tags, & annotations.  I can see my bookmarks, as well as what my friends are bookmarking and tagging.   You can join various groups.  Groups can collaborate their bookmarks or you can message or share bookmarks with friends not in groups.

Step 3: Get Personalized Content Recommendations – you can see recommended bookmarks and see bookmarks by people like you.

Web 2.0 associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community.  By increasing what was already possible in "Web 1.0", they provide the user with more user-interface, software and storage facilities, all through their browser.

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online.  Social bookmarking is advantageous compared to traditional storage and retrieval websites because social bookmarking can be useful as a way to access a consolidated set of bookmarks from various computers, organize large numbers of bookmarks, and share bookmarks with contacts. A social bookmarking system has several advantages over traditional automated resource location and classification software, such as search engine spiders. All tag-based classification of Internet resources is done by human beings, who understand the content of the resource, as opposed to software, which algorithmically attempts to determine the meaning of a resource. Also, people can find and bookmark web pages that have not yet been noticed or indexed by web spiders.  Additionally, a social bookmarking system can rank a resource based on how many times it has been bookmarked by users, which may be a more useful metric for end-users than systems that rank resources based on the number of external links pointing to it.

So, I registered for DIIGO .  I wasn’t sure how to do it as an educator, but I have an account.  I updated and messed around with my profile, to make myself more recognizable.  I found a place where I could put education as my industry.

 My DIIGO Library

Then, I installed the Diigolet for my web browser.   I added it at work on my laptop first, then added it to my home laptop once I got home.  At work I have Google Chrome so it was easy, just had to make the bookmarks bar visible and drag the little Diigolet button up there.  No installation or downloading or anything.  Turns out that Firefox, which I use on my personal laptop at home, works the same way was Google Chrome. 

This image shows my set-up instructions as well as that my Diigolet button is installed on my bookmarks toolbar.  Also, just to see what it does, I highlighted and sticky noted my instructions and privately bookmarked it to myself. Neat.

Next up was to build my library, so I started looking for news or scholarly links that could be used in math teaching or in educational technology research.  I added one private bookmark and one public bookmark.  I’ll keep a lookout for new links as the semester continues.  I looked at the professors Diigo for some examples and direction in how to acquire, archive, tag, and share resources.  My Diigo URL is http://www.diigo.com/user/kbland.  I added this URL to my Link List to the left of my blog also.

I also joined a group: Diigo In Education

This image shows my browser, Firefox, with my Diigolett button on my bookmarks toolbar as well as an Add-on of the Diigo Toolbar!  I also highlighted, in my library, what a bookmarked item looks like, as well as a post-it.

ISTE Nets T Standard 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership:  participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.