How much you were prepared before, you will mess-up something!

         In last EDT 615 class in our Spring semester my partner Nouf and I attempted to deliver a presentation and succeeded to some extent. We tried to cover all the important points in our WebQuest project considering time limitation. I felt that our classmates were interested in our topic and wasn’t boring for them, and that made us relaxed and felt comfortable. We made sure that each question that students asked was answered.

        Over all I would have to say that our presentation went pretty well. I felt a little bit nervous but I feel like I did a good job explaining my part (Teacher page). I think I could have given a little bit more eye contact. It was fun and I enjoyed being able to explain what we had been working on for one month!

Professional Development

Professional development is a great way to improve the quality of teaching/ learning presses. I think teachers should attend, participate or organize PD regularly to develop their skills. However, most of the teachers don’t have enough time or chance to participate in educational technology professional development to improve the teacher skills. Many experts think that to solve this issue teacher should work smarter in creating a helpful educational technology professional development within the time limitation. 

Since I have been here for just 2 years I don’t have that experience about professional development in the USA. However, I worked as social worker in a hospital in Saudi Arabia. I had the chance to participate in a few professional developments to integrate technology in the hospital. For example, the hospital got a new voice machine to record the patient report then print it out automatically. All the stuff in the hospital had been trained and introduced to the new machine for two months.  As a result, the new machine became a very successful tool for writing the patient’s report at the hospital and all the staff was ready and well trained to use it.

I believe Professional Development has to be a collaborative process. Everyone needs to be part of the educational technology professional development in order for it to be effective and improve teaching and learning, without making it individual responsibility of anyone, educator or expert.

WebQuest URL

This is the URL for our WebQuest (Saudi Arabia)

http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=85911

My Digital story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjsqQ2jEKHk

Online Safety & Security

Internet is unlimited in terms of helpful information and great programs, however at the same time caution must be applied In order to avoid identity theft or losing private information.

I believe that technology and internet became an important part in our lives these days. So in order to enjoy all the benefits that technology and Internet provide, and prevent and detect possible violations, students have to be taught how to use it safely. I think every school should provide an online safety & security course for teachers and students as well.

In my previous EDT 610 class I had the chance to learn about online safety & security and I had a great opportunity with i-safe organization, which works in support of Internet safety, to watch a verity of videos and get a certificate. i-Safe tutorials was a great opportunity for me; I learned a lot by watching the videos. I highly recommend a visit to this site http://www.isafe.org/ it seems to be a good starting point for educators, parents, students, and community members alike

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs listed safety tips as one use social networks, e-mail, and the Internet,

“1. Never broadcast private contact information. Never list your e-mail address or phone number in any public space, such as your profile page, a blog, forums, or photo caption.

2. If you are a member of a social network, pay close attention to your privacy settings, which allow you to choose how much personal information you reveal and to whom.

3. Carefully consider what you publish on social networks. Before you post photos, videos, or text, ask yourself if it would embarrass you if your family or employer saw them.

4. Before you add a widget (an application that can be shared with others electronically) to your profile, think about whether you want the creators of the widget to be able to access your profile page and information about your activity on the social network. Keep in mind that the social network generally has no control over these widgets, so exercise discretion when using these tools.

5. Report any abuses of a website’s Terms of Use to the website’s administrators. Any reputable website or social network will have a way for you to report abuses.

6. E-mail can be used to spread malicious software or obtain your personal information in order to commit fraud.” http://exchanges.state.gov/pro-admin/pdfs/safety_english.pdf

I can hardly believe this semester is almost over!

Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling is the usage of computer-based tools to tell stories. It’s usually containing some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. It can be vary in length, but most of the stories used in education typically last between two and ten minutes. I found that the greatest way to begin learning about Digital Storytelling is by watching videos introduction to Digital Storytelling.

Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights. Tell your story now digitally.

- Leslie Rule, Center for Digital Storytelling

It is my first time to make a digital story and I’m so excited. My Digital story topic is Middle East and North Africa Freedom. I think the digital story can be an effective assignment in nearly any course in nearly any discipline that requires a major project or presentation. There are some Educational Uses for Digital Stories For Students,

•                Undergraduate Research - Students involved in undergraduate research can develop digital stories to reflect on their research experience and/or present key findings.

•                Student Reflection - Students can develop stories to recount their experiences collaborating with peers and developing projects during their studies, or ponder their future as they get ready to graduate.

•                Course Project - Currently, students studying journalism and biology are working with their professors to develop various types of digital stories.

•                Portfolio Piece - Students develop a presentation in this dynamic medium to show potential employers or to submit with a graduate school application.

•                Co-op, Study Abroad or Experiential Education Reflection - Students can complete digital stories as a required assignment for experiential education programs. .http://www.northeastern.edu/edtech/teaching_learning/teaching_tools/digital_story

Google Docs & Google Calendar

The features of Google are endless; every time I discover new features on google I love it more. On last Monday I learned new wonderful tools on Google, which are Google Docs and Google calendar.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form, and data storage service. For Google Docs I can export, update and import all my documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. The data storage of any files up to 1GB each in size. Google Docs gives me added advantage of accessing my documents from anywhere. 

Google Docs have many uses in education. I remember I used it as students in EDT 610 class for collaborative work with my classmates and it was great and easy. Now I’m using it with my partner in WebQuest project so we can put all the work in google docs then we can add or change it.

Google Calendar

I have a really bad memory; my friends always call me the fish based on the theory that fish have bad memories. I always carry my calendar with me. After learning about Google calendar I will not carry mine anymore. It easier and faster and more organized and the most important clean. I prefer to use month view as my default view in calendar so I see events in context of a whole month. One can change the color and also share it with others. The great thing about Google features that you can learn more and watch videos about it online, you will find all the answers that you need and that what I exactly did.

WebQuest

The WebQuest is a new experience for me. I had the chance to get some helpful information in my other class EDT 620 but I never made one. I went through many WebQuest at QuestGarden, which was very helpful to look at others work and how the good WebQuest should be like in the end. My partner Nouf and I think of Saudi Arabia as a topic for our Webquest to introduce our country to American students.

We are thinking to use KompoZer to build the Webquest, which is a free program that I’m familiar with. However, one of my classmate told me about Zunal.com which is also a free website but it is more professional on WebQuests that helps to create one.

           I think WebQuest is a great tool that teacher can use in the classroom and the students probably will like it, as a different learning experience and a great way to get them motivated to excel in the classroom. I’m so excited to learn how to make a WebQuest, which will be very meaningful and helpful for me. I think it’s a great idea and defiantly I’m going to use it when I get back home, Saudi Arabia.

Flickr & YouTube

Flickr is a popular web site to share personal photographs.  Anyone can set up an account and upload images and videos. Some of the key features of Flickr are tagging, marking photos as favorites, allocating the photo where was taken on a map.

Flickr provides both private and public image storage. While uploading an image one can set privacy controls that determine who can view the image friends, family or both. Privacy settings also can be decided by adding photographs from a user's photostream to a "group pool". If a group is private all the members of that group can see the photo. If a group is public the photo becomes public as well.

I like this website because I love to take photos. The entire process in Flicker was relatively easy. I enjoy uploading the photos for my trip to Dubai in Flicker.

Here is the link to my flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/naelahalmuqwishi/

You Tube is one of the famous websites in the world. It is a video sharing website where users can upload, share, view, and save videos by having a google account. Videos uploaded to You Tube are limited to 15 minutes in length and a file size of 2 GB, however, user can upload and share unlimited videos.

  

 The process of uploading and sharing videos via YouTube is pretty easy. YouTube has a lot of great features for example, the ability of users to view its videos on web pages outside YouTube, the ability to save your favorite videos in your YouTube account, and the ability to fallow specific channels that you like.

  

YouTube has many educational advantages that teacher can get. However, teachers should be careful because as much as YouTube provides great videos, it also has inappropriate videos. In addition, Teacher Tube is a video sharing website similar and based on YouTube, which provides many educational videos that might help teachers and students.

Social Bookmarking & Social Website

Social Bookmarking and Social Website are very powerful and popular sites. I think using these sites for educational purposes is an opportunity for teachers and instructors to make their classes more interesting and organized.

First, Bookmarking services are websites that allow users save, organize, publish and share links to a variety of Internet resources for example, web pages, web sites, blog posts, articles, music, and video, etc. In addition, professors, teachers and instructors can use social bookmarking websites to see what information other teachers use in the studying process and learn from others experience. It is very easy to find relevant bookmarks as most of them are tagged with keywords and have description. I think social bookmarking is an amazing tool. I started to use bookmarking last semester. I use Diigo to save and organize my work especially with all the online work and searching I have so I don’t have to carry my laptop all the time or do the old way that I send it to my email through my email! Since Diigo is saving my work online in the cloud.

Second, Social Website, I have been using social website for a long time. In 2006 I set up a Facebook account. I can’t found many ways that we can use social websites for educational purposes except that teacher can open an account for her/his class subject so students will get the opportunity to communicate with their classmate, discuses topics, and share articles and videos. I think it will be helpful and fun especially that students will use a site that is familiar for them.

   

RSS

          RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is a great tool to save time and track all of the websites that one are interested in. simply it is like you tell every website you like to let you know every time that they update.

            These days the internet has so much content; it’s time consuming to get to different places to read and check information form each one. RSS offers a great way to read all the website that one fallows in one place! And one can even save it to read later. This application allows one to subscribe to any specific site to automatically receive new posts from that site for a quick access in an aggregator like, Google reader.

I believe this tool is really helpful for everyone and especially educators as Richardson says, “if you're an educator, I think it's the one technology that you should start using today, right now, this minute" (Richardson 2009 p.71).  So they can save time and track all the websites, especially those who have a lot of work online with students.

           It is a great tool, I like it and I’m using it now, it makes my day easier! 

Podcast

A Podcast was an interesting technological tool that I learned. Personally, I like it. It’s a really useful tool for education and has many advantages. Here Charles Thacker listed the advantages of Podcasting in Education in his article for students, teachers, and parents,

•       Meet the needs of more students with varying learning styles and aptitudes.


•       Provide ‘make up lectures’ to students who were absent.

•       Supplement existing material and resources with a portable and remotely accessible source of information.

•       Audio benefits vision impaired students and non-native speakers.

•       Ability to replay and review information helps to embed lessons in memory.

•       Asynchronous consumption allows for convenient access and multi-tasking (riding the bus, walking, working out, etc…).

•       Flexible curriculum pathways to encourage student participation and facilitate success. (2007,Thacker)

 Learning to use Audacity software and other applications similar to it takes practice. However, there are many websites can help. For example, in this website they show you how to use Audacity step by step. http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Audacity

 The first idea came to my mind of using the Podcast in education is to teach another language, in my case Arabic. The work I did was to teach basic Arabic words. I made it by using my Mac (GarageBand) it was easy and I had fun. Of course it took time to make it and I had to record a few times but overall it wasn’t difficult. I think using the Podcast to teach or learn other languages is really nice. One can go back and forth and listen to any word many times s/he wants.

        iTunes offers educational podcasts available for free download which is great for teachers and students. Another usage of Podcast in education that I found interesting in a Scotland school called Musselburgh Grammar School. They use the Podcast to produce the student news to inform students and staff about what is happening at the school site.

           I also found another site has the best 40 Podcast for teacher. I think it is very helpful. http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-40-podcasts-for-teachers/ after reading about all this cool stuff I liked the idea of Podcast and definitely I will !

Wiki

A Wiki is a powerful system for online communities to build web pages and web sites. It’s an excellent website for educational use and to encourage group social communication and cooperation. I think a wiki can be a valuable tool for many students. Students will find their learning is more effective when they are actively involved in the building of their knowledge. “In using wikis, students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiations with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance, and more.”(Richardson. 2009 p.65)

I thought anyone could add or edit the content of the website in Wiki, which  –in my opinion- has a lot of disadvantages and made me not use it as a resource. However, now after knowing that there are public and private Wikis and people are not able to add or edit the content in every Wiki. In the private sites in Wiki only people with passwords can edit the site and that makes me feel more comfortable with using it.

I like how the country of South Africa has put their entire high school curriculum on a wiki. I think it’s an interesting use of Wiki. “The goal is to make it easy for teacher to share information on how to deliver certain lessons or achieve certain goals in their students” (Richardson. 2009 p.67).

I’m so exited to make my wiki. The topic I chose for my Wiki is Saudi Arabia. I will introduce my country and tag some pictures. I hope to find enough resource for that. In conclusion, I think Wiki is a great way of learning and it has a lot of benefits for students and teachers.

A great video explain what’s Wiki

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=video&cd=8&ved=0CFYQtwIwBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bnet.com%2F2422-13731_23187449.html&ei=IPViTd3gOML7lwej3bSeDA&usg=AFQjCNElfuooOBcqPdH9feP2Xy_pTLTu8A&sig2=PFtyVYj0R3CerBHwhFQsNw

10 ways to use Wiki in the classroom

http://itcboisestate.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/10-best-practices-for-using-wikis-in-education/

iGoogle

In the last class I had in EDT 615 last Monday, I learned an amazing feature on Google, which I set up as my homepage. iGoogle has a lot of new and great tools and accessories to organized your homepage. It’s not necessary to have a Google account to use this feature. However if you have a Google account, the advantages are never ending. In iGoogle one will have everything s/he wants in one place. I have been using Google for a long time for just searching, after last class I use it for more than that.  With iGoogle I still have the standard search bar displayed, but also I can now with iGoogle personalize this page to display all the other items I find it necessary or use daily. For example, with the entire active political situation in the Middle East these days I chose a couple of news TV to watch all the Arab news and be updated whenever I open my home page. In addition, iGoogle is not just limited to the obvious desktop accessories. I can also add fun stuff, like chess to play in my free time. iGoogle allows me to display, in whatever order I want, all the features I would like to have on my homepage. This is everything from the weather in my area, time in Saudi Arabia, to Islamic calendar. Now I can watch news and read it, I can also check my Gmail in the same time in one page. Overall, I like iGoogle and I think everyone should use it to organize their homepage. 

The Blogs

Blogging is a new experience for me. In EDT 615 class I got the opportunity to set up a blog account and to learn new and interesting information, like how I can use the blog for educational purposes. For example, student can use the blog to reflect on the class work, as we will do in this class every week. A blog gives the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every student has an equal opportunity to share his or her thoughts and opinions by writing and commenting on what has been said. In this class I learn that communication and collaboration will enhance with the usage of internet blogs. Not just for limited students in one class, but also people all around the world. With blogs the students will get the chance to read more of other writers in the same subject they are studying, or even in other subject they might be interested in. I think many students have a desire to have their work acknowledged by blog so they will have the opportunity to publish their work.

 An important point that I learned through this class is how to keep myself safe while I’m using the blog by being careful and selective on my information that I would write in the blog. Another usage of blogs in the classroom, that blogs can be used as a class portal.  A blog is a perfect place where a teacher can post her/his class activities like assignments, a link to access worksheets the student have to do or other website to see it or even more a video to watch. In conclusion I enjoyed learning new usage of technology tool that relevant to education, which is helpful and enjoyable for students.