Chapter 8 Application and Reflection

According to the textbook, Encryption is the process of converting readable data into unreadable characters by applying a formula that uses a code, called an encryption key. There is more than once that the documents I downloaded from Internet or received from friends turn into meaningless symbols. Whenever I encounter this situation, I alway doubt that document itself carries virus. So now I realize what really happened- the sender and my computer didn't use the same encryption software or illegally downloaded protected documents.

 

Parental Controls are totally new to me. I didn't know Windows operating system itself carries such useful tool. So later on I can turn on the parental controls in Windows to set up the time limits, games and the specific program limits on my classroom computer. I also think it's necessary to teach parents or guardians to use these tools by emails to supervising their kids at home.

 

Honestly speaking, China is notorious for not respecting copyright or breaking copyright law. When I was in university, I remembered that we could copy the whole textbook or essay without no hesitation. In my mind, there was nobody who taught us what the copyright is or why we should protect the copyright. Everyone took copying as each other's generous sharing subconsciously. Time changes. Nowadays, more and more Chinese  realize the great importance of protecting copyright. When I came to US, I was very cautious about copying stuff from other's work. According to the Fair Use law, as a teacher, we seem like having the freedom of using a copyrighted work with non-profit educational purpose, but actually I always feel confused. Am I breaking the copyright law if I share the scanned textbook file ( downloadable )with my students in the Edmodo? Some teachers say it's okay; others are not. I believe that I should research more and know more about fair use in our school district.

Chapter 7 Application and Reflection

In this chapter, what expressed me most is that I know how to evaluate the effectiveness of technology. Before I never realized that I should do the evaluation of technology, such as apps and web resources. In my mind, if other teachers recommend this app or website, it must be worth to try out in my classroom, which is a wrong conception. In addition to listening to students' feedback, this chapter provides many good samples of evaluation rubrics, which I can easily grasp and adjust a little bit based on my subject to apply it in my class. When I want to evaluate a software/app, i can focus on its content, documentation and technical support, ability levels and assessment, technical quality and ease of use to check whether the software/app is best suitable for his lesson. To evaluate web resources, I should pay attention to the authority, affiliation, purpose and objectivity, content and learning process, audience and currency, and design of websites to maximize the value of the web. 

This chapter also makes me to better plan the evaluation of technology- based students' project. Before, I ignored students' creativity should also be evaluated besides the content and planning of one project. Creativity must be promoted by using technology in learning. 

This chapter shows me excellent examples of integrating technology into the curriculum in one or more computers in the classroom. I think the most helpful thing to me is that I learned that creating a curriculum resource page is a good idea to help students learn more. And it will save much time to evaluate many webs and apps one by one during the on-going work days and guarantee a safe internet environment for students to safari. What's more, this chapter reminds me that I should not forget to include the technology integration and evaluation in my daily lesson plan to meet the 21st Century Skills standards.

My Favorite Three Educational Apps

In my Chinese class, my favorite apps are Edmodo, Quizlet and Kahoot. 

Edmodo is a very helpful class management tool which is very effective on desktop, tablet and phone. Using Edmodo, I can not only post announcement, homework but also share learning materials, class pictures or projects with students. Students can summit assignments electronically to save paper; and it saves me much time to do grading. Edmodo provides a very secure and free platform for both teachers and students to keep good communication. What's more, I really benefit a lot from Edmodo by joining many professional communities, such as technology communities. Other teachers' generous sharing gives me a hand to solve problems in my teaching.  

Check the official website of Edmodo here.

Quizlet is a popular flash card app, not only just used in language learning. In my Chinese class, students can create their own flash cards to preview and review Chinese vocabulary. Instead of traditional way of memorizing vocabulary mechanically, there are several fun games for students to play with to learn new words or phrases. Quizlet can also generate tests randomly based on the vocabulary given, which helps me save time on lesson planning.

Check the official website of Quizlet here.

Kahoot is an interactive and game-based app. I use it to create small quizzes, discussion and poll.  When I show the quiz through the projector, students can join in the game by the code using their cell phone or iPad. Taking a quiz as an example, students have to respond to the multiple- choice questions within limited time and they can get the feedback of the question and their ranking right away. Every time, students are totally engaged in this game and become very competitive to win the game. In the end of the game, teacher have access to the result which gives teacher clear data showing how well students performed on this quiz and which question teacher has to reteach. I think Kahoot is a very useful formative assessment tool for teachers to adjust their lesson to better meet students' need. 

Check the official website of Kahoot here.