CED 525 Class Four Reflection

I found our WebQuest work to be very interesting. As an undergrad at UW-Madison, I created a WebQuest on using music in education for my computing class. Since that time, they have fallen off my radar of ideas for the classroom. With enough searching, I'm sure I could find one that we could do as a group in my academic instruction. I did find an excellent site that I shared with the second grade teachers on basic economics concepts. The WebQuest is entitled Making Money
They were elated to receive it! I'm looking forward to see what the kids do with it. One of the challenges of being a resource teacher is the feeling like I can't deviate from a reading lesson and basic math instruction. I'm hoping to have a little time in the near future to do some further investigation into some possible WebQuests that could be used in the resource room.

I also found the idea of Creative Commons to be new and intriguing. We often get lectured at school about copyright laws which has led many of us away from adapting things we find on-line for classroom use. I definitely need more time to investigate this concept further and develop a better understanding but I do feel as though this has good implication for technology based instruction. Time's sure are changing!

CED 525 Class Three Reflection

While not being the most uplifting class, I found this week's class to be very informative and interesting.

I was very intrigued by the resources available on tappedin.org Several of the topics in the next month are of interest to me. I'll definitely have to check out the special education and "math and technology" forums to see if they are of value to my current teaching situation. I am always searching for new methods and materials to diversify instruction.

The time we spent on Internet safety was eye-opening for me. I have always considered myself to be very cognoscente of distributing personal information on the Internet and otherwise being savvy about Internet safety. I was amazed at the piece we watched on the soccer player in California whose identity was traced through the seemingly innocent information on her profile. This week's class made me re-think what the students in my school are accessing at home as well as the information they may be providing to others on-line. After viewing this information in class and then reading and viewing more at home, I think our school needs to take a stronger stance on educating children about Internet safety at a younger age.