What I learn?

Well, what I’ve learned from this class

This class has opened my eyes to all the new trends in technology that there are out there at our disposition; application that I didn’t even know they existed before this class. I can say that the more interesting was how to create our own website. I know that it is a very basic website, but it’s a start.

I also enjoyed learning about TPACK and how it has shifted education in a new direction, where every student is taken in consideration by teaching them what resources they have instead of just lecture them on how to think.  As a future educator, this perspective definitely changed my mind, making me feel empowered by knowing that technology will help me help my students. After all, seeing them succeed is our job at least that is what it means to me.

Creating a blog has also been a great experience; it has given me a different perspective about. Being English my second language, writing is almost a challenge and writing a blog has helped me see it as a hobby rather than a tedious activity. It’s a fun, and interesting way to put what we learn in our own words

I love Voicethreat, and Moviemaker, these two application made me reinvent myself by seeing how much more interesting a presentation can be when using any of these, Power Point is history.

Diigo is another application I find extremely useful, it changed the way I store the sources I use for researches.

Sources:

Diigo
My Twitter

Copyright Law and How It Affects the Use of Technology in the Classroom

With the rise of technology, access to information has gotten faster and faster.  Back in the days, we had books, newspapers, and magazines, but now, we have information at the tip of our fingers; all it takes is a couple of clicks and we can get our eyes on a wide range of articles, books, all sort of magazines, and any imaginable source of information.

This has been a great advantage for educators, especially since students being hooked with technology, and access to the internet at a very young age, which has made teaching and learning a little easier and faster. But along with this “advantage” has come the so called “copyright” violation of many authors, who have worked hard to write, designed, or put the information together for us to use it.  So, how far can we go using and abusing of their work? First, we need to know what is covered by copyright.

United States Copyright Law protects authors’ original “works of authorship. A work of authorship must be “original” in order to qualify for copyright protection. This means that the author must have engaged in some intellectual endeavor on his/her own and the work must show a minimal amount of creativity. Some examples of what is not protected by copyright law because there is no minimal amount of creativity is: facts; words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring; mere listing of ingredients or contents.

Ideas alone are not protected, but their forms of expression are covered.

In the other hand, works, for purposes of copyright protection, include the following categories:

•Literary works

•Musical works

•Dramatic works

•Pantomimes and choreography

•Pictorial, graphic and sculptural works

•Motion pictures and other audiovisual works

•Sound recordings

•Architectural works

Example:

A student’s Web page, if original, is automatically covered by copyright. 

Sources:
using-copyrighted-materials-your-classroom
Copyright_for_Teaching.pdf
Educationworld.com

What is Visual Literacy and Its importance in Education.

Visual Literacy is nothing less than the ability to understand, interpret, and evaluate visual messages. It is based on the idea that pictures can be "read", communicating its meaning and making it easy to associate it with the text that accompanies it. 

Visual Literacy is something that has been primarily related to art, where students learn how to analyze paintings, and learn about techniques and concepts, such as lighting, color, or composition.

But today, visual literacy can be used in other disciplines; images are a major part of our world.  Images can be used to influence and persuade so why not use them to educate?
Visual literacy is a staple of 21 century skills, and it's reflected in the following standards:

• Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
  
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7: "Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos or maps) with other information in print and digital texts."
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7: "Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media.. "
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6: "Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text."
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1: "Prepare for conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively."
• National Council of Teachers of English Standards (NCTE)
  • Standard 1: Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts.
• The Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning Corporation (McRel)
  • Standard 9: Uses viewing skills and strategies to interpret visual media.
   

Visual Literacy is an universal language, with a complex structure that comes in a wide diverse of format such as :Advertisements,Cartoons,Charts,Collages,Comic books,DVDs,Graphic Novels,Graphs, Magazines, Photos, Pictogram,Signs, Slide shows, Symbols, or Websites.

This new Visual Literacy strategy is simple to execute, powerful, and effective, which helps students learn by interpreting images. With simple questions like What's going on in this picture?,What do you see that makes you say that?, or What more can we find,? we can spark children's cognitive interest in the subject that would engage them in a more effective way.
Images are considered a window to reality, so why visual literacy? Well, "because an picture is worth a thousand words." 


Sources:

Edutopia.orgIste.org- Visual Literacy
Vislit.org/visual-literacy/
Edutopia.org

EVERNOTE- Web 2.0 in action

What Is It?

Evernote is a web-based tool that allows you to keep all of your notes, images, and ideas in one “searchable” environment. Evernote allows you to gather clippings from various websites without having to bookmark the entire site.You can clip the text and photos that are important to you and "store" them in Evernote. Free software is available for both PC and MAC and allows users to work offline and then sync to the web version when they have online access. Evernote integrates with a variety of programs and devices including:

·        Skitch - manipulate images, add text or digital ink and upload to Evernote

·        Penultimate - send notes directly from the Penultimate app to Evernote

·        Twitter - send information from Twitter directly to your Evernote account

·        Most SMART phones (cameras can email pictures directly to Evernote)

·        iPads and other tablets

Evernote supports a number of operating system platforms (including OS X, iOS, Chrome OS, Android, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and webOS) and also offers online synchronization and backup services.

Unfortunately, the free version of Evernote is more restricted, and the use of the online service is free up to a certain monthly usage limit, with additional monthly use reserved for Plus subscribers, and unlimited monthly use for Premium costumers.

How Do I Integrate It?

There are a number of ways for students and teachers to use Evernote in the classroom:

·        To-do list

·        Notes

·        Research "web clipper"

·        Webpage "archive" or "link collector"

·        Business cards

·        Snapshots

·        Videos

·        ePortfolios

Consider the value of using Evernote during a research project. The teacher provides students an authoritative list of websites. This list is posted on the class web page! This saves paper and a few trees too! Students can review the sites and locate the piece(s) of information that are relevant to their topic. Rather than taking notes, most students will simply hit FILE > PRINT and print the entire page or in some cases the entire web page! The student takes the stack of pages that just printed out, stuffs it into a folder and forgets the specific portion he needed as soon as he walks out of the room. Here is where Evernote comes to the rescue. By clipping the appropriate part of the document, inserting the URL and tagging the information, the student has a virtual note card that is stored and ready when he needs the information.

Examples:

The Many Purposes of Evernote
Lesson Plan: Evernote in an Elementary class
Interesting and Unique Uses for Evernote
Shared Evernote Notebook Class Requirements

 Assessment: Evernote is a great tool for organizing notes, images, web clips, etc. By creating notebooks to organize content for each subject, students have one place to keep copies of handouts, class assignments, research, etc. If used as an electronic portfolio, assessment would address the specific requirements for the portfolio. Students can also share their notes with their classmates, and set reminders. 

Resources

https://www.evernote.com/

http://lifehacker.com/5989980/ive-been-using-evernote-all-wrong-heres-why-its-actually-amazing

https://teachwithweb2.wikispaces.com/Evernote

7 Reasons to Use Evernote Screen Clipping and Webshots
How to Share Kindle Notes in Evernote

Evernote Handout (1 pg)