iMovie PSA NETS-T I,II, & III

I created an imovie about a brief 38 second clip of the uniqueness of CSUSM. I researched 3 facts and included it in my clip. My clip included music, many video clips, transitions, color effects, and modified speed among other things.

Untitled from huerta on Vimeo.

Internet Safety Google Site NETS-T III & IV

I along with a group of 5 other classmates collaborated on Google sites to create our cyber safety site. We included a home page and each one of us made a subsection. I created the subsection on identity safety. There I included the description of it, tips for students, tips for educators, resources, videos and images. This site was created as a resource for educators.

Classroom Newsletter NETS-T I & III

Using Microsoft word, I created a newsletter with information about my classroom to communicate with parent and students. I added a scanned hand drawn picture, bullets, drop caps, clip art and a border to make it more appealing.

Newsletter JH1

Wiki Page "Image Chef" NETS-T III & IV

I investigated and found a web 2.0 tool and created a wiki. I used the tool Image Chef and created an example of an assignment I would have my students create with the tool. In my wiki I described my tool and what it did and gave an example of how I would use it in my classroom. In addition I also wrote about something’s to consider when using the tool as well as some recommendations.

Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network NETS-T III,IV & V

I created my personal leaning network which is composed of Twitter, Delicious, and the digital discussion forum Classroom 2.0. On twitter, I contributed in an educational chat and followed members with similar interest in education. On, Delicious I book marked websites and also added educators to my network. Finally in the digital discussion forum I became a member and read an article about bullying in schools. My PLN allows me to search, share, and exchange ideas with other educators.

My personal learning network is composed of Twitter, Delicious, and the Digital Discussion Forum Classroom 2.0. This network will help me as a future educator by keeping me informed about current events in education. It will also help me because I can search, share, and exchange ideas with other educators that I can use in my classroom.

Through the use of twitter I can search and exchange ideas with other educators across the globe. My network is composed of current and future educators. The reason I choose them was because we have the same interest and in the future we can exchange ideas that are useful in the classroom. Through twitter I participated in the educational chat called #edchat. I found it very interesting and was amazed on how many people share their ideas and opinion. We discussed about the use of social networks such as face book in school and for learning. I enjoyed reading different responses because it made me think from other perspectives. I learned that many more educators agree on the use of social networks than not. It definitely went fast; new tweets were coming in all the time during that designated hour.

Through Delicious I am able to book mark important sites and share with others what I have found.  I also created network of individuals who had an interest in education. Through their book marks I could also discover a wealth of information that I can use as a future educator. I tagged a few educational bogglers, digital discussion forums and educational wikis because they had good information that would also provide me with new ideas and resources and expand my personal learning network.

I joined the Classroom 2.0 digital discussion forum. There I was looking around through the latest activity and seeing what other members had posted. I came across Lauren Brodlo who had added a discussion to the group “Bullies Beware” that she also created. The topic was Bullying and the affect on gay students. She mentioned that one of the reasons she started that page was because of the recent story in the news about Tyler Clementi, the student at Rutgers who had committed suicide after his roommate had posted a video of him with another male student. As I kept on reading I was finding it very interesting. She posted a link to an interesting article titled “can we stop the Gay Bullying Epidemic?  http://www.education.com/magazine/article/gay-bullying-epidemic/

This article provided tips to help parents teach anti bullying to their kids. I thought this article was interesting because as a future educator bullying is an issue that is prevalent at any age level and the sooner we take action to prevent it the better. I think its very unfortunate how sometimes lives are lost because of other people’s ignorance. Bullying clearly can be detrimental to student’s self esteem and life, so it is very important to finds ways to prevent it in school, communities, and societies around the world. Everyone deserves respect regardless of their beliefs, background, gender, etc. Taking small steps today can make a difference tomorrow.

Inspiration NETS-T I, II & III

Using the program Inspiration from the downloadable free trial of 30 days, I created a visual graphic organizer. This graphic organizer demonstrated the relationship of my work for my education class 422 and the NETS-T standards for teachers. Under each NET-T I included two artifacts and how they related to the standards.

Journal 4 NETS-T II & III

Journal 4 “Computing in the clouds”

Johnson, D. (2009 - 10, Dec/ Jan). Computing in the clouds. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(4), Retrieved from http://www.learningandleadingdigital.com/learning_leading/200912?pg=18&pm=2&fs=1#pg1

Computing in the clouds is a term that refers to productivity tools that allow users to create files such as presentations, documents, spreadsheets, editing etc. It is an effective alternative that can be used by students and staff instead of costly software programs both in school settings and at home. This idea is beneficial because it gives access to files from any computer without having to worry about saving those files in external hard drives.

What are some factors to consider?

Even though the benefits are many, there are also many factors to consider. One should consider accessibility to the internet. Even though students may have access to their files from any computer what happens when they don’t have access to the internet or systems are running slow? There are also potential costs later in the future for using such programs that are currently free. Then there is the issue of privacy, will the files really be safe?

In addition to cloud computing what would be another means to reducing expenditures in schools without sacrificing materials?

Apart from reducing cost on software through cloud computing, schools can also purchase net books instead of laptops. Since computing on the clouds doesn’t require any storage space and students would be working online then it would make sense to incorporate the use of net books. Why net books? Net books because their main purpose is for internet use. In addition, they are more affordable because they are sold at a reduced cost over laptops making it them even easier to replace.