Session 8 - Education Resources

This week's lesson was about online educational resources. Here's my take:
The Good:
Puzzlemaker - a good variety of customizable puzzles for classroom use.
Student Certificates - print free certificates from templates.
Internet4classrooms - lots of links to other sites.
Tuxpaint - free paint program for the younger generation.

The Bad:
Timeliner - great program . . . at a price.
Inspiration - a software package for making mind maps. I love mind maps, but not at a price. This is a high-tech solution to a low-tech problem.

The Ugly:
Wordle - I went to their site and wondered if I was in the wrong place. I seems to be nothing but groups of links to for-profit schools.
Teacher Tube - This one has gotten better with time, but two years ago it was a collection of second-rate, low-quality videos being presented on a too-slow server. Even today, most of the material here can be seen on YouTube.

There are many other resources and tool in cyber-land. I'll keep looking!

Session 7 - Creating a Webpage

This weeks my knowledge of Google was expanded once again. I had heard of Google Sites, but had never tried creating my own. I created my own site for my class at TCHS. It may not be the best/coolest site around, but it was very easy to do. I did some research and found out how to embed a PDF file in a Google Sites web page.

After I created the site for Electronics @ TCHS, I started work on a site for the class that I teach at DCCC. That work has been put on hold while I take care of some other business. I am trying to figure out how to create a "drop box" where students can upload homework and others will not be able to see it.

Today I learned about evaluating websites.

This weeks' assignments were very interesting. Mostly because I have played with source code and HTML, and I have always kind of subconsciously evaluated web sites, but this is the first time I have ever had to take the time to look closely at what makes a site "good" or "bad."

I spent time examining page info and source code for things that might not be obvious: If the author did not identify him/herself in text, did he/she tuck it away somewhere else? Were tables used? Were there hidden comments that might be interesting?

The thing that I found most interesting is something that I did not know you could do -- "link:" Now that I know about this kind of cyber-stalking, I did a little research and found that it is not as comprehensive as it once was. Not all links are returned in the search. But it is still kind of geeky cool.

Today I Learned About Adaptive Technology

I spend my days surrounded by computers. I have a tower that sits beside my desk that runs Windows XP and a MacBook on the desk. Sometimes I have my Windows 7 laptop beside the MacBook.  There are 17 other computers in my room. Other people bring their computers to me so I can "look at" them. But, I have never had to deal with Adaptive Technology.

Adaptive Technology is the world of software and devices that allow handicapped people to use technology. The software comes with various uses. It can read the contents of the screen to someone who has lost her sight or listen to, and obey, the voice of a person who is not able to type. There is also scanning software that is used in conjunction with an input device: The software "scans" the alphabet, and the user bumps a switch or gives a gesture that triggers an input to select the proper letter.

On the hardware side, there are keyboards with extra-large keys. They are great for people who lack fine motor skills. "Switches" are commonly used be people who need an input device that can be operated with a large motion, such as the movement of an arm or a bump with a knee. A "switch" can also be a device that detects a slight motion (the blink of an eye) to send a signal to a computer.