Learning Style

I tend to be a visual learner mostly, though with the addition of tactile experiences while learning adds to my learning.  I would always do well I tests and assignments if I could see how it was done first, able to take my own notes.  I have memories of taking history exams during my undergrad and have an image of the notes that I took during a lecture in my head to help me recall information.  I know that if I didn’t take notes that I would struggle with preparing for a test or completing an assignment.  I wrote everything down, every little detail; this always helped me remember. 

When planning lessons I find it’s important to include as many learning styles as possible.  With a blended curriculum it makes it a lot easier to do this.  While creating the biology Moodle lessons as a team we worked together to offer all different types of supplemental resources that help our diverse population of students.  I am still finding more that can help and still I am still searching for more (i.e. a good, cheap if not free translation website for the many ESL students that I have).  This coming summer I would like to work on incorporating my Jing videos and kinesthetic aspects to the lessons

Licensed Photo

This is a link to my Flickr page, which has my first licensed picture that my fiance took of our cat Maggie when she was still a kitten.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59744610@N02/5463202031/

Creative Commons

I chose this image because coming up in my biology class we will be discussing photosynthesis and cellular respiration.  I find that both of these concepts can be extremely hard to teach without visuals and graphic organizers. 

Photo Attribution:

Original image: Simple photosynthesis overview.PNG
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simple_photosynthesis_overview.PNG

by: Daniel Mayer
Released under an Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

I regularly use images and other media in my curriculum.  I strive to integrate them as much as possible.  I find that most students that if they can see it while they are learning it (modeling etc.), they tend to remember the concept.  In the blended curriculum that I have been teaching this year it has been crucial to have a media component to all of the lessons.  This lesson has taught me that I need to go back and review the media sources that I have been using and check their CC licenses.  I know while creating the first semester of the biology curriculum we were not making sure we were checking our sources before linking/embedding/copying and pasting.  This will definitely be something that I bring up to the higher ups at district.

On the other side of things, there are several lesson of my own creation that I have post to the Moodle site that my district uses that I did not get a CC license for now that I am more educated about CC I would like to a license for. 

RSS Post Part 2

Jing Video of my RSS page navigation

This is part 2 of my RSS page post.  I have found that my RSS page has been an excellent way to organize the websites that I visit daily and/or should be visiting daily.  I have found articles on how to engage parents in their child’s learning, blogs about topics that I can use for my classes and several news articles that I can use to connect what I am teaching to the real world.  My favorite RSS feed currently is the Science Blogs feed.  It is a feed of the blog posts that are being made through this site.  I like it because it doesn’t limit me to just one single blog, but actually several.  I have also found that I have been using my RSS feed to keep up to date on news headlines.  I used to just get my news from the headlines on Yahoo or MSN (both are very limited and tend to more about pop culture) because it was easy, now I find my RSS page to be just as easy and offers me a lot more.  I can see using my RSS page in my teaching by using the articles/blogs that I read as teachable moments and to make connections to real world.  I also have read a few articles/posts that can help me with strategies for using technology in the classroom. 

Tonight I read an article about a note taking app that is now available for the iPad (http://www.techlearning.com/article/36566) .  This got me thinking about if there were any other note taking options online or programs that my students or I could use (we don’t have iPads, though we wish we did).  I did a google search and was able to find software that can be sued for taking notes, some free (http://www.evernote.com ), some not (http://www.perfectnotes.com/ ).  These are programs that I could use myself or that my students could use.

PC Maintenance and Security Lab

1. “Intrusion detection and intrusion prevention software”          Feel that I would share the purpose of IDS and IPS, because I feel that most people have the same misconceptions as I did. I thought intrusion detection and prevention was something that was important to pay attention to and that it was all included in either my windows firewall protection and/or my anti-virus software. Through the tutorial learned that its optional, though recommended (by the tutorial). IDS and IPS looks at what is happening to your computer with more depth. It looks at behavior of programs and changes and not just what is left behind. Like the CSI of malware.

2. “Good Safety and Security Habits”
          One thing that I learned and will be sharing is that it is important to have a routine to update/check my computer’s health. This includes, updates(ant-virus, spyware, firewall etc.), scan disk, backing up files, This is no different than taking your car for its regular oil change in that it can prevent anything from happening to your computer. Some information that surprised me was about Universal Plug and Play. This turns you computer into an open server and is unnecessary for home computer user. Universal plug and play can leave system vulnerable and should be disabled. Lastly that it should not be confused with plug and play because that is a useable program that allows for USB’s to automatically start up when you plug them in.

3. “File Backup Options”
         It is important to back up what you have on your computer. From what I have learned is that a lot of people do not chose to do back up the data on their computer (or at least do not do it as often as they should ). There are several different options for backing up your data. Windows has a built in back up options that walks you through what settings you will need to back up you computer along with an option for where is saved to. I learned that there backup utilities online that are available (free and not-so-free). All programs seem to be relatively easy to navigate and utilize, it’s just a matter of using them regularly.

My PLN

I created my PLN with wordle.net and using a word document.

I feel that my PLN is constantly growing. While in completing my Bachelors Degree at CMU I started using facebook but had no idea of its potential. Over time I have grown my PLN though growing my facebook network, posting to blogs, creating my own blogs and using twitter. My PLN has grown also through the different places that I have worked and with the people I have worked with. I hope for my PLN to grow by including my new colleagues and working on using moodle to include my students more in my PLN. My PLN will grow through the use of my new blog, collaborating in developing my SIG group's project, tweeting more, and my RSS page. All of these resources will grow my PLn through allowing me to learning from many different people and resources.