Course Reflection :) great course!!!

This course was GREAT. I really did enjoy it. I have learned so much that I never knew about. I am so glad I was able to take this course. It will help me out so much in the future. All of the assignments were very helpful. I think my favorite assignment of all was the creation of the website. This assignment was very interesting. I think that creating website for your students and their parents is a great tool to use as a teacher. Technology is a great tool for all people in society whether you are a teacher or a business woman or man. Technology is and always will be a huge part of society.  I believe it is crucial that all people know about and keep themselves up to date on technology

This course was helpful, even though at first I did not know why I had to take it, considering I had already passed the Basic Technology exam. I am still very glad that I was “made” to take this course. I have learned more than I ever imagined before coming into this class. I really expected to have to do a Powerpoint, word document, and other simple things like those. However, like I said I was introduced to a ton of new software and technology techniques that can be taken advantage of by me and many other teachers in the future.

The “web tools” assignment was another one of my favorites! It was great to actually create my first “test”. I loved it. It made me feel like  a teacher! (I will be in one year) Everything that I learned during the duration of this course will stick with me for the rest of my life. I am so thankful for the wonderful teacher I had, even though I never actually “met” her I feel she was a great teacher. I also enjoyed getting to know the people in the class as well. This was one of the best “online” or “distant learning” courses I have ever completed. I am thankful for everything I have learned and will use most of it in my future. Thanks, Dr. Wang for this class.

Assisstive Technology

This assignment was fun, but a little hard to figure out at first with my new Windows 7 operating system. I enjoyed this project and learning about all the different ways to change the computer settings for those in need. This assignment taught me a lot and I will take this knowledge with me for the rest of my life. I loved doing this assignment and learning so many new things. One of the most interesting things I learned was how to change the contrast on the computer settings for people with vision problems. I never knew that there were so many settings on computers that could be changed to foster the needs of those with disabilities. This is great to know though, and I am glad that we had to complete this assignment. I learn something new everyday in this class. Learning about all these accessibility features has really made me think about how computers actually need more features like these to help those who have problems. This assignment was very helpful!!! 🙂

Assistive Technology Assignment

My Website :)

This was the funnest project I think I did all summer. I loved making my own website. I learned so much while completing this assignment. Adding this schedule and making rubrics was really fun for me. Having a website available for students and parents will help the classroom as a whole a better environment, and hopefully a better success. A lot of times teachers send home announcements by children, and let’s face it… children are children and sometimes lose things. Having a website and general spot for both parents, teachers, and students to refer to is a great asset to the classroom. With the use of this website, my students will know what homework they have and their parents will know also. I think that this website will be a great attribute to the success of many classrooms and well as students.

This assignment made me really excited about becoming a teacher. I love teaching and I love helping students and I think that this website will be a wonderful asset to my teaching and my career.

My Website!

Turn it in Assignment

This assignment was a little challenging for me. I liked this assignment though, we had to use turn it in whenever I was in high school. I like turn it in and I think it is a great site that can be very useful in the classroom. This site helps prevent a lot of individuals work from being plagiarised. It is important for students to understand the significance of stealing other people’s information and words. It is not just borrowing information, it is stealing, and it can be severely punished for stealing. Students need to know the legal aspects of stealing someone else’s words, but also the moral aspects as well. It is not right to take something someone else originally came up with and use it as your “own words”. I will definitely be using this to help inform my students about the dangers of plagiarising someone else’s work. This is a wonderful site and I do believe I will be using this site in my future classroom.

Turn It In Report

Web Tools Assignment

The web tools assignment was one that was fun and interesting at the same time. We had to create a rubric, a test, and a bookmark. The rubric was fun to make. I love creating stuff! 🙂 Creating the rubric was not very hard at all, it was actually pretty easy. The test was easy also and very, very fun. The test was the first test I had ever created, so I was happy to be able to created it. It was interesting and fun to do. The bookmark on Track Star was the project for this assignment that was the most challenging for me. I had never heard of or created a bookmark before. It was interesting to do, but wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing or if I was doing it right or not. I did enjoy creating all of these projects though and I also learned a great deal of information for my future use.

My Rubric!

My Test!

Track Star

Google Groups Assignment

This assignment was one that I really enjoyed! I love working with other people, and it was great getting to know George Arthur, Donna Busby, and Donna Crawford. We all worked together well as a team. Getting everyone started at the beginning was one of the most challenging aspects of this assignment, but once we got everyone in gear, everything went fairly smooth. I started the story, and everyone else contributed to it. Donna Busby created the PowerPoint, which was fantastic! George created the spreadsheet which was also really nice. The survey was the last thing that was done and I am not sure who created it to be honest. I think it was George Arthur, he emailed it to all of us, but I am not sure if Donna Crawford created it and emailed it him or not. Regardless, this assignment has been the most challenging so far. It was a relief when it was finished. I think that all of the assignments and discussions turned out great and I learned a LOT doing this assignment. I am thankful for all of my classmates that helped with this project and want to say to them, “THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK!!!”.

Here are the links to all the projects we created:

Group 1 Google Group:

http://groups.google.com/group/it-465-google-group-1-arthur

Group 1 List Serv:

mailto:it-465-google-group-1-arthur@googlegroups.com

Group 1 Discussion:

http://groups.google.com/group/it-465-google-group-1-arthur/topics

Group 1 PowerPoint for:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6PxOaDBtEWPNTdlOTlkYzctZWZmMy00Yzg2LWFlYTItNjViNzUwNmUwYTcy&hl=en_US

Group 1 Spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7pJNXhbv8zCZTI3ZTcyM2EtYTM2ZS00NmEyLWE5MGQtYjVlMjAxMmE0YmE2&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

Group 1 Story:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18K3UKECjAHsgqvQlVUuvgZAVGdaItakOmRRFwVpIlRA/edit?hl=en_US#

Group 1 Survey:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFJtZWhmR1Mxb04talNEZ2tUc2h0eFE6MQ

My Story – Movie Maker Project

This project was fun, to say the least. I loved working with my own pictures, which made it more personal for me. I love pictures, so this was one of the best projects for me to do! Working with windows movie maker live was a little mind-boggling at first, but once I got the hang of it, I was set to go. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to add audio on windows 7, because it was different from the tutorial; I got it figured out though. This project was fun and I would love to do something like this again. I thought it would be more like making a PowerPoint, but was actually like making a movie. I can’t wait to use this technology in my future classroom.

The link below will take you to my movie:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-dVAs7UVt1-ZDQ3ZDUxNTYtMTg1NC00OGI1LTlmMjItZDQ3MmRhMTdiMTI0&hl=en_US

Concept Mapping :)

This assignment was fun, but challenging at first. I learned how to use a new program, inspiration, that I had never encountered before now. I love this program and it is very useful. I can see myself using this program in my future classroom. There are so many things that I like about this program. It is fairly easy to navigate, after exploring it for a while. The amount of symbols available are unbelievable. This program could and most likely will be used by my students in the future to help them gather their ideas together and also to help them outline their main and sub ideas. This program is wonderful and I wish I would have known about it sooner. I think that this IT class is going to be helpful to me in my future as a teacher!

Photography Concept Map -Word-

Concept Map ISF version

About Me:

Hello!

My name is Maggie Bunch and I am a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi. I just finished my intermediate block of the Elementary Education program, and I cannot wait to enter senior block in the fall. This is the last class I am required to take before entering senior block. I graduated from Jones County Junior College in May 2010, afterwards starting Southern the following summer. I must be honest, I was quiet scared to start USM, but I am ultimately
happy here now! Since being a student at USM, I have recently become a member of Kappa Delta Pi, which is an honor society for educators. I am very thankful to have been given such a wonderful opportunity. I am excited to graduate in less than a year, but I know it will also be bittersweet.

I have a wonderful husband, Eric Scott Bunch, and we have been married for a year and a half. He is my best friend. He works two jobs to support us while I finish college. He is the most caring, wonderful husband I could have ever dreamed of. We do not have any children yet, but after I graduate in May 2012, we plan to have some. I love children and cannot wait to be an elementary teacher. I am anxious to learn about technology in the class with the instructor and other classmates.

-MB