Online Grading

As a student I was always annoyed with never knowing what I was going to be receiving for my report card each marking period.  I seemed to always be guessing, and either become delighted or disappointed when the time came.  Nowadays most schools have a system where teachers can post grades online and students can receive their results as soon as the teacher grades them.  These grades can then be accessed by students and teachers right away.  When I first heard about this I thought it was a great idea for students, parents, and teachers.

As a student they will never be in the dark about how they are doing or what to expect in their coming report card.  They will be able to see what grades they have and also be able to know how much they need to study or how well they need to do on the next test to get the final grade that they desire.  The students would no longer complain or try to fight their grades, because the grades are all clearly shown online.  If ever the teacher makes a mistake recording a grade for a paper or forgets to record certain information the student can talk to the teacher about it and help him/her be aware of it.

From a parent point of view, when the report card finally comes into the mail it should never be a surprise what their child is going to receive.  The parent can constantly be aware of how their child is doing and help motivate them if they are falling behind or not doing well.  Also many times students do not report grades to their parents, but with online grading forging signatures is no longer a problem that parents need to face.  Lastly with certain online grading systems teachers can write comments upon each grade to help clarify and communicate the reason why an individual student received the grade that did, this would help not only the student realize what he/she needs to do in the future, but also the parent.

Phet: Interactive Science simulations

Phet is an online website that produces free online chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematic simulations.  Since I am a physics major this a great website to have students understand abstract concepts that they would have a hard time imagining.  Physics has many kinds of topics which are relatable and easy to understand, but there are also many concepts that are difficult to grasp, because many of the concepts have to do with invisible forces.  Because physics covers many topics which are intangible Phet is a perfect website that allows students be able to conceptual understand through simulations that this website provides.

For the high school level Phet has simulations for every topic a student would need to go over.  And many of the simulations are presented in a manner that is very fun and similar to playing a game.  I have only used it for the sake of physics, but it is a great way to have students understand the concepts behind the lessons that are being taught.  Phet is not a program where students can teach themselves physics, it does not really go over the math that is needed.  However many times in physics the biggest challenge could be that students do not understand the abstract concepts that the teacher is trying to explain.  Being able to have a resource such as this one can dramatically help students not only to understand physics better, but to come to be excited to learn about physics.  This I believe is one of the biggest benefits of having technology within the classroom; it gives teachers opportunity for every subject to be exciting and inspiring.  I believe once we can understand and learn to use the resources that technologies such as Phet provides it will make teachers jobs a lot easier along with being more exciting.

http://phet.colorado.edu/

Collaboration Canvas

With this new remixed canvas, I added the concept of Vectors.  Geometry is a perfect segue to Vectors, so when I saw this canvas I immediately thought how it would be perfect to introduce Vectors.  I kept most of the content that was on the original canvas I just mostly added new videos and pictures to further expand the subject and have the knowledge help learn about new concepts about physics.  Throughout the remix canvas I wanted to add videos and pictures that would perfectly relate the original canvas and it would not be confusing to anyone who originally liked the canvas.  To do this I got rid of some pictures that did not fit well with the new concept of Vectors.  Also I found videos that directly related to geometry, but still talked about vectors.  Math is closely related with Physics and so this was not difficult.  In the education system math and physics should be integrated more often.

Remix Canvas

Make Homework Online

As a teacher, they have many responsibilities that go beyond just the hours from 8:00am-4:00pm.  Teachers need to make lesson plans for each of the coming days, they need to think about projects and assignments to give out, they need to grade tests and homework, etc.  One of the most mundane and time consuming tasks that teachers need to go through is grading homework and papers.  With all of the tasks that teachers need to do it would seem that they should all have assistant that can complete all of the mindless work for them.  However since this is not the case, technology can really help to bring efficiency to teachers along with helping them to complete these mindless tasks.  So that teachers can all focus and put their energy into things that are important.

Webassign is one of these technologies that can greatly assist the teacher with homework.  Through an online program students can do their homework’s online, which can be immediately be graded and recorded for both the students and the teachers.  Along with having this technology save time for the teachers, Webassign can also help students to do their homework by showing videos that can help them to solve their problems.  Of course technology like this costs money, but is a great benefit to both teachers and students.  It is mostly available with math and science subjects, but there should be other kinds of technology that could give online homework just like Websassign.

Teachers have such a large amount of work that they need to do that demands a lot of creativity.  Mindless activities such as grading papers should be something that teachers would not have to deal with.  As education develops, all schools should have their homework be something that is graded and worked out online.   This would be something greatly beneficial to all students and teachers. 

Unit Plan Canvas

This was by far my favorite interactive activity I had to do in this class.  I admit it was the most complicating one as well and at times very frustrating, however it was very exciting to create such an appealing expression of a unit plan.  Newton’s Laws is not something many students find very interesting, however making this canvas I feel more confident that the students will feel more excited to learn about Newton’s Laws when they get to learn about it.  The videos and additional sources I was able to share will really help the students to understand the concepts when I start to teach them, because of how foreign physics is to many students.  In this unit students will be learning about Newton’s 3 Laws and how it applies to their everyday lives.  This unit will take around 3 weeks for students to come to understand.  It will be focusing on understand the concept of: inertia, force, and opposing reactions.  Students will be learning about this through lectures, videos, and many different kinds of labs and experiments.

Canvas: Newtons Law's

Online Education (coursera)

Online education is a part of the education field not everyone agrees with.  However if online education is free, this would be something only a small fraction of the people in the world would complain about.   www.coursera.com has over five million courses that are absolutely free, along with having them be given by some of the top countries in the world along with their professors.  Though some people may argue this is not the best form of education one can receive, most of us can see how websites such as these give opportunities to people with complicated situations.

I personally believe that online education is the future for the education system.  Especially since many times in school teachers are lecturing for most of the time, this does not have to be done repetitively.  Lectures should be given by the “best” professors and students should learn from those professors.  Education should be a place where students can digest the content and actually utilize all of the people that are gathered up and being interested in the topic.  Online education would not be replacing schools, but it will be changing the purpose of having everyone gather together.  During this precious time of having a group of people who are interested in the same thing, professors and teachers should use this opportunity to have students learn from each other and help each other to learn.

 Coursera does a wonderful job with allowing this to happen.  It gives the facts and the knowledge to students individually.  Once the facts and the knowledge is obtained the students can start to work on more of the fun things, such as analyzing or using their creativity.  Schools should start to weave online education more into the curriculum having students to learn independently.  Having students learn to be able to gain information on their own, and becoming confident to figure out problems that they come across.

This is a great TED talk that talks about this: http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html?quote=1807

Technology & Pedagogy

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhHP3jSZHVffdGlUTDU1dWU4V3N4b0o5T1hQalctZVE&usp=drive_web#gid=0

I chose this lesson plan, because I thought it was a humorous way to describe gravity.  Physics is the field I am studying in and I have often felt that teaching lessons that are humorous makes the assignments that much better.  The way that this lesson is constructed it gives a good simple way of discovering newton’s laws, while being able to see how it is applied to real life.  I would try to have most the lessons that I teach to be something that can be seen throughout life and relatable.

One of the biggest problems with this lesson plan is that it did not allow much for student centered learning.  It is mainly a lecture where students only listen to the teacher, and there was not much room for interactions.  Since gravity is something that we all experience I felt as though there should be more of a discussion within this lesson.  There also should have been a worksheet that was attached with the lecture; the students would need some time to grapple what they just listened to by solving problems on their own.

The video that was shown within the lesson is a great way for the visual learners to come to understand the concept of gravity.  Also with this video, if they were to watch it for homework they can watch the lecture again if they missed anything.  If the website had created some kind of game to go along with the lesson that would have made the lesson perfect, for the more active learners to understand the concept being taught.