Blog #2

In this short week the few basic topics/tools that were covered in class were: creating a folder for all EDUC422 material, using Letter Wizard to create a business letter, inserting clip-art via textbox, bookmarking vs. backflipping, and the Internet vs. the World Wide Web. When creating a folder on a MAC you press control + right click on the mouse + scroll down and click on new folder. It will then appear on the desktop as an icon. Using Letter Wizard to create a business letter is pretty self-explanatory once you find it in Word. However, inserting a clip-art is not. In order to insert a clip-art via textbox, you go to insert + go down to text. Once the textbox is in the document, go back to insert + go to clipart + choose the image, and it will automatically go to the textbox in the document. To get rid of the lines around the image, right click + control, go to format, and change to no lines. Then you can freely move the image and it will not interfere with the existing text.

Bookmarking is simply saving the URL of a website, where as Backflipping gives a description along with the URL. The Internet and World Wide Web are not the same thing. You must have the Internet in order to run the World Wide Web. A few important key terms to remember are that .com means commercial, http means hypertext transder protocol, and html means hypertext markup language.

The reading "Teaching for Understanding" illustrates three findings regarding learning in the classroom which are: preconceptions, understanding, and metacognition. It is important to recognize this as a future teacher so we can encourage positive learning, through technology, where students will want to engage in rather than be scared off when introduced to a new concept. Technology seems to aid and change preconceptions where students can become organized, gain experience by personally engaging, permit the use of clarifying websites so that the students will want to actively participate in learning, and evaluate their own metacognition using technology in order to become successful learners. Technology can also aid in clarification for the students. By understanding the above I can create a fun and technologically savy classroom.

The reading "Netiqutte" seems blantantly obvious. However, I did not know prior to the reading that chain letters are illegal. It is important to remember that actions on the web are the same as real life, so don't do, say, or type anything that might be regretted in the future, such as making threats. There is no such thing as "privacy" on the Internet, so don't disclose any information that you wouldn't want someone else to have. And most of all, there is no such thing as "deleted," ever, so choose your words wisely!