A "Radical" view of education

This is quite an interesting presentation by Sir Ken Robinson. Makes you think about education in our society today and whether there really is something fundamentally wrong with some of it's processes. Take a few minutes to watch and maybe respond with your thoughts, it really is worth your 12 minutes. Thank you professor Liss for showing this in class!!

Reflection of Ed Tech Standards

   As an educator I have the goal to do the best i can to give students the opportunity to view and use technology as much as possible. This EDUC 520 course has provided me with the tools I need to incorporate technology into any classroom setting that I might be teaching in. I feel confident in creating a home webpage with links to any current classes that I might be teaching (through a blog), utilizing google applications to provide each one of the classes with their own google calendars with daily projected lesson plans, assignments, homework and tests as well as course goals and a syllabi, as well as many other things. I plan on using blog(s) as a discussion and journal board for any and every classroom, and plan on creating captivating lesson plans with tons of different multimedia programs.
  Taking this course and really becoming a part of the tech culture has made me realize just how important these tech standards really are. Technology is an incredibly powerful tool that can teach, inspire, entertain, organize and just generally help students become more knowledgeable. Having a curriculum that uses a lot of digital interaction gives students the ability to access assignments and lessons online, view edited presentations from their instructors in class or on a webpage from home, the list goes on and on. When we get down to it, we need to be able to come to the realization that the technological revolution is quickly becoming our way of life. Our way to socialize, do business, shop, study, etc. We as educators have a responsibility to our youth to utilize these tools to help them become positive and productive members of the technological society that their future holds for them.
      
    
  

Screenr vs. VoiceThread

      

Spreadsheet of Student Test Scores

     Working in Google spreadsheet with this data set was really quite easy. Copying and pasting the raw data into a new document, using the provided formulas to create the averages for each student and test as well as the overall average of test scores was the brunt of the work required for this assignment. The one place that i did get caught was trying to get both the graph and the data sheet to embed into my blog so that they were both completely viewable all in one screen, i definitely need to work on fixing dimensions when embedding.



     The data set and graph that you see above is the progression of student scores for tests 6-10 for the students who scored below the overall class average score of tests 6-10, which was 191.9. Just by viewing the graph you can see a steady incline in these scores from test 6 to test 10. With the exception of Hepburn's test 7 score, just about everyone increased their scores steadily with each exam.

Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0?Web 2.0, which is also known as cloud computing, is a term that describes the ability of any user with internet access to collaboratively share and store information and applications on the web. Web 2.0 gives us the ability to access a multitude of different organizational and social tools from anywhere we have internet. 

The “Personal Productivity” tool that I signed up for was Delicious.com. Delicious is a social bookmark service that allows you to store all of your favorite bookmarks in one place. It allows for you to make your favorite sites extremely accessible and lets you share them with other people. Lets just say that the program really lived up to its name (insert cheesy laugh). But really, I no longer have to have multiple homepages and am a bit more organized with my computing because of this tool and have thoroughly enjoyed it thus far. You can view my account here:

Take a look at my delicious account here!



The “Screen Recorder” application that I chose to sign up for was Voice Thread. Voice Thread is a multimedia slide show that has the ability to incorporate pictures, video, audio and text all in one place. Not only can you create pre-recorded presentations with the tool, but you can also interact with others while viewing it with the doodling tool. The possibilities that a free application like this open’s up for teachers, students, and really anyone who wants to interact with others are endless!!

Response to Google Forms

            Using this Google tool was extremely interesting, exciting and confusing all at once. The capabilities that this resource provides are pretty awesome from the standpoint of a future educator. Google forms allow you to create your own surveys, worksheets, or tests in a simple format with a ton of options.

Once you create a form, you can print it out as a worksheet for students, or use it on the web, have students respond to the questions and submit their answers and Google forms will automatically quantify the data for you, which i thought was one of the most interesting part of this application. Once i figure out how to embed the page that shows you the quantified data i will :)

Post #3: OTEN Conference

This is an audio response to the Keynote speaker and one of the workshops i went to at the OTEN conference.

Post #2: How can a blog be a useful tool in education?

Ways a blog can be useful in education:
- It provides an easily accessible place to store information for students
- Can provide a place for students and teachers to interact outside the classroom
- Could easily be used as a work portfolio for students to store pieces
- Great resource that parents can access… either their student’s work or a teacher’s work or expectations and assignments for a class.
-Great educational marketing tool
- Post event dates and invite followers to see information
- Teachers and students can use it as a place to ask questions or ask for recommendations
- Updates are instant
The options and tools that a blog can provide for both the teacher and student are near limitless!

Post #1: About Me!

                   Hi everyone! My name is Ian Mansfield, and welcome to my blog for my EDUC 520 class in the Willamette MAT Aspire program for the fall of 2010!
                 For those of you who don’t know me all that well I will quickly map out my short 24 year long life story. I grew up in Hillsboro Oregon, a relatively large suburban town just west of Portland.  I was the only man in a household of three holding down the fort with my mother and sister until I left for college. I got involved with a multitude of sports at an early age and through those accrued a strong passion for competition and involvement. I spent my high school years playing basketball, soccer and running track while staying busy with all the facets of school leadership as well as volunteering. All of my involvement in extracurricular activities and decent grades got me a full ride academic scholarship that brought me to Willamette University.
             While at WU, I studied psychology. I very much enjoyed learning about developmental, behavioral and cognitive psychology. Being able to understand how the human mind works is an incredibly fascinating thing. I also played basketball and competed in track at Willamette. After graduating from WU, I jumped into the workforce and got a position at a treatment facility for developmentally disabled troubled youth. I really enjoyed working with the teens and decided I wanted to explore what other opportunities there were to work with kids with disabilities. So in 2009, I applied to and was accepted for a position at McKay high school in the Special Education Department's Emotional Growth Center.  It was near the end of the school year when I realized that I wanted to pursue a master’s degree to teach special education.
             Teaching as a career has always been in the back of my mind because of how much I love kids and want to be a positive role model for them like many teachers and coaches were for me. I am very excited about our program and can not wait to have my own classroom!!!! Along with teaching special education I am very passionate about the topic of health and feel like pursuing an endorsement in health education would also make me very happy. As I mentioned above I also was involved in many sports as an athlete, I have also now taken the plunge into the realm of coaching. I have been a volunteer basketball coach at South Salem High now for 3 years and plan to continue coaching throughout my teaching career.
           Outside of education I really enjoy trying to keep up with technology, all kinds of sports and sporting events, good music, food (gosh I loooove food), microbrews, hiking, the beach, the forest, ANIMALS (doggies especially), DIY home repairs, running, eating healthy on occasion, a few video games, sleeping and Netflix. Im sure I left quite a few things out but I might just add them in later. Hope you enjoy my blog!