Week 8. Malicious Software in School

As discussed in my previous blog about online communication. E-Mail provides a safe and effective way to communicate. It always leaves proof that the e-mail was sent and always allows for you to communicate effectively more than a phone call when describing assignments. When you type instructions, more often than not, they are clearer on an E-Mail as opposed to a phone call. When you have e-mail, you can type certain instructions, be as thorough as you need to be, and not have to keep reciting instructions repeatedly and hope the person receiving them are getting them correct. With E-Mail, you send the directions once, and the person receiving the directions in the E-Mail can save the E-Mail for future reference. And a responding E-Mail back to the teacher from the student/parent will only keep the communication line open if more questions are needed. A big downfall to moving files electronically is the threat of a virus. Malicious software can absolutely destroy any computer. Things such as virus protection and using good judgment can save your computer from viruses. If you are expecting a file from someone you know, it should still be scanned before you open it.

At, Ludlow, we have MacAfee Virus Protection and have the option to use it before we open a file. Students in the state of Kentucky also have an e-mail account that is accessible from both home and school computers. The biggest fear is when students send themselves files from computers that are infected. It is mandatory now that all files downloaded from an e-mail must be scanned for the sole purpose preventing any malicious software/viruses being downloaded onto a computer. Is the MacAfee Protection the answer or a cure-all? Not at all, ultimately, judgment and reasoning are going to be the best way to prevent any viral downloads or malicious software on your computer is to use good judgment.    

Week 7 Microsoft Office is King in schools!!!

The main piece of software used by students would definitely have to be Microsoft Office due to the main three programs that are used, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. In my field of social studies, Microsoft word is the main software that is used. With the need for typing papers that review and reveal points of comprehension in an Arts subject, it is perfect for achieving the purpose of providing text.

                The other main piece of software that is used is Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint gives a teacher the opportunity to bring life to a lesson that could be very boring to a student who has to look at a page that is white with black ink and a few pictures. Although I am not a teacher right now, I save all the PowerPoint that are related to my content area knowing that they will provide me with some form of a resource no matter how big or small.

I did a presentation on the Bill of Rights. My certification is in grades 5-9 (Middle School Social Studies) and Civics is the class that I aspire to teach. I enjoy teaching the law and how it was formed and still used today. Many citizens that are in the United States today are not aware of their rights and many citizens have no idea just how important their role in our government is.  PowerPoint allows me to bring the lesson from white pages and black ink to a colorful presentation that also may include pictures and other additional resources.

Another reason these two pieces of software are helpful is due to the fact that I have horrible handwriting.  PowerPoint and Word give me the luxury as a teacher to be able to hand out legible information. Also at this age, Study guides and notes can be a helpful resource also as long as they are legible. Word is a program that makes everything legible and also provides both the student and the teacher an opportunity to review things such as grammar. When both the teacher and student can provide work/information that is clear.   

I can never use excel for an activity for a student. Excel is great for managing and organizing and also great for organizing columns and mathematical formulas.  That is an excellent tool. In fact, a similar program is on Infinite Campus, a software that is used for keeping track of students grades, attendence, etc, etc, and also is available for parents to see. It is a real simple program and very similar to excel. You type in the value, hit the command, and you have a grade. It is the same principle as excel. But to be used by students for means of social studies, I could never use it.

Week 6 Webquest/Gardenquest

Webquest URL http://questgarden.com/130/05/7/110808112812/index.htm

This week in my reading and practice, I have found some useful tools in the communication of webquest and questgarden to be very helpful. I found that as long as you can construct assignments on this website and make both searchable and attractive for students today. My first objective in creating this webquest was to not make it something that was already repeated in class. If a student reads repetitive material on a website, they will often not even finish what needs to be read. Students must have something to keep their interest and have an activity that will allow them to be active in leading discussion of the material and findings the next day. From what I have seen in education, there has been a constant evolution from black ink on white paper to movies and now to the internet. My questgarden gave a quick review of the material covered for what the assignment will require. After giving the assignment I immediately informed the students that there will be an in-class exercise about our own class becoming our own legislative house. This assignment immediately should get the students mentally preparing for what kind of bill they would present to the house if they were legislatures themselves. As they learned in a previous lesson, time in the house is precious and the speaker decides what bills are presented. After the in-class exercise, the students were then informed of a web assignment. The students were given the link to the Library of Congress and asked to see the action taken by the individual who represents their state in the legislature. Students can see if a bill was presented or see how their individual in the legislature voted on a particular bill. After the students seen this information, the students were to write a one page paper on how they felt about the importance of the bill presented or voted on. Did the students feel that they are being represented in the best way possible? Giving students an assignment that allows them to go outside of the textbook allows them to see how much more information is provided. Then internet is full of political ideology that can be resourceful. I would like to utilize tools like webquest and BlogSpot for means of communication with students. Many students can be reached easier via the internet, mostly because that is where most youth now socialize. When I built my webquest/questgarden website, I noticed the only difficulties I had been corrections to be updated and uploading images from my own computer. When addressing the corrections issue, you have to make sure it is prefect the first time it is finished.  When you make corrections and go to re-post the information, it may take a couple of hours and students, like myself, would like to get things finished on time and ready to go for the next class. The last difficulty that I ran into was uploading images as backgrounds. It was not like a PowerPoint, where you could upload the image, send it to the back, and be done with it. On this website, it wasn’t that simple. In conclusion, web access on the internet allows for many possibilities when providing an educational resource. As a teacher, I would utilize Webquest/Questgarden and also Facebook. The ability to utilize Facebook would allow attracting in the students socially and then posting things such as the URL for the Webquest/Gardenquest website on the page to draw them in.