Constructing an ePortfolio

In making an ePortfolio, I was able to feel good about myself. Listing all the things I have learned how to use was very uplifting. I definately feel like I learned a lot in R503 and am glad I now have a place to list all the things I have learned to use.

I was really glad that Alex suggested using Mind Mapping software before we started constructing the web pages because it helped make the website more readable. I think my page is fairly easy to navigate, but then again I have a biased opinion.

I regret not having more time to spend on the page to make it better before it got graded.
I will be using this page A LOT in the future so it will constantly be upgraded.
I will give my students and their parents the web address so that they may view it and also use it in my resume that I submit for jobs.

I never thought about an ePortfolio bofre this class and now I am very pleased that I have one. I can only hope that it will help in my search for work and help those I tutor (and others in the world) to get extra help in math.

This ePortfolio and the class web sites we designed have shown me how much I might be able to reach the world and how useful and easy creating web pages is in today's world. Technology is a wonderful thing when you know how to use it ; )

iMovie Project ; )

Throughout this project I was challenged constantly. I learned iPhoto, iMovie, and more about iTunes. I had fun with this project because a lot of it ws just busy work at the end and I love busy work.

I was really excited about this project because I got to be in charge of the music. I had the perfect song in mind. A friend of mine is a musician and I really loved one of his songs in particular and he gave me permission to use it in my group's iMovie. I was even happier because my group members loved the song too. Thank you Joe Barilich for the use of your song.

This project was a little different than the previous one because we had a member of the group out on the first day. Only having 2 of us at the beginning made the project take a little longer. The group with 4 people got done first because they were better able to split up the work load. We got done last this time. But I found it frustrating at the end because only 1 person could really fine tune the project and publish it. I felt like such a waste sitting by and watching someone else do all the work at the end.

Overall the collaboration went well even with one person missing on the first day. The google doc we used for collaboration was used more that the podcast project but we also conversed over the phone as well.

I do not think that mind mapping worked all that well in our projects because admittedly, we made the mind maps after the script and everything else was done. If I had been doing this project by myself I would have found it helpful but with an English teacher in our group we didn't really need it. She has built-in mind mapping in her brain (Malinda).

I will definately attempt to make iMovies in the future because I would love to make tutorials for math. This way I can help people improve their math skills without ever being there ;)

If you want to see my groups iMovie click here.

Podcast Project ;)

Our Podcast topic was Digital Citizenship and Literacy. We broke it into Digital footprints, digital citizenship, and cyberethics. I had the cyberethics and actually learned a lot. I had no idea how many different organizations there were working with schools and parents and companies worldwide to help educate people about Internet safety and awareness.

Click here to view our Google doc where all our collaboration was done and our script was written and re-written. It was a very exciting process that I enjoyed immensely.

Here are the sources we used to find information for our Podcast.

Center for Digital Literacy. (n.d.). Center for Digital Literacy. Retrieved June 9, 2010, from http://digital-literacy.syr.edu/

"Cyber Ethics." Symantec - AntiVirus, Anti-Spyware, Endpoint Security, Backup, Storage Solutions. 19 Feb. 2007. Web. 8 June 2010. .

"Cybercrime.gov." Welcome to the United States Department of Justice. Web. 9 June 2010. .

Harris. "YouTube - Digital Footprints - Your New First Impression." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 09 Nov. 2009. Web. 8 June 2010. .

Koppel, Ted. "Koppel on Discovery : Your Digital Footprint : Discovery Channel." Discovery Channel : Science, History, Space, Tech, Sharks, News. 10 Sept. 2008. Web. 8 June 2010. .

Madden, Mary, Susannah Fox, Aaron Smith, and Jessica Vitak. "Digital Footprints Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project." Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Pew Research Center, 16 Dec. 2007. Web. 8 June 2010. .

"News and Announcements Display Page." CMS. Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology, 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 8 June 2010. .

Perez, Sarah. "Calculate Your "Digital Footprint" with New Tool from EMC." ReadWriteWeb - Web Apps, Web Technology Trends, Social Networking and Social Media. 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 8 June 2010. .

"Rules in Cyberspace." Welcome to the United States Department of Justice. Web. 11 June 2010.

Visual Literacy: An E-Learning Tutorial on Visualization for Communication, Engineering and Business. (2008, February 7). Visual Literacy: An E-Learning Tutorial on Visualization for Communication, Engineering and Business. Retrieved June 10, 2010, from http://www.visual-literacy.org/



This project was awesome. Not only did I get to learn how to use new software and web ware but I also was able to make new friends. I really enjoyed being able to do a group project with people who actually do work when they say they are going to. Its nice to find people you can work with efficiently. The Google doc helped us collaborate so we didn't have to meet face-to-face. And that was really nice because we all have our busy lives and other classes we are taking. It worked out really well.

It was nice to see how other people prefer to use different formats in Mind Mapping and how they can be useful. And learning to use Garage Band was very exciting. I am not as good with it as Erin is but I am looking forward to playing around with it in the future. She will not be in our next class so Malinda and I have to do it ourselves ;)

It was also nice to learn about Creative Commons during this poject and be able to use it for our podcast. I have other things I want to use it for and have already recommended it to other people who are musicians trying to get their music heard.

I have learned a lot about Macs (which I tend to hate) and the Internet that I never knew existed. I am really glad I took this class. I recommend it. Even if you think you are 'up' with the times, it never hurts to hear somebody else's perspective and what they know to be new to the 'net'.

Here is the link to Malinda's Blog post about our project.
Here is the link to Erin's Blog post about our project.


Digital Citizenship and Literacy Podcast by Danielle Johnson, Erin O'Leary and Malinda Mansfield is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Open-Source Learning Video

My thought and views on:

Video: Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning

He talks about people ripping and burning music off the net and sharing it to create a whole community of music lovers. Then he uses this analogy to explain open-source content with textbooks. This was a really good analogy that he used throughout the entire video.

This video was a little repetative because it goes along with Rubenstein article I just read but Baraniuk goes a little more into detail to give better understanding.

Books are cheaper because they are published on demand. I always thought this would make them more expensive.

And I always get excited when I see lego's and he used them to show how books can be compiled. It was nice ;)

Clicking on an equation in a math e-text to be able to explorethat equation would be really nice. Sometimes I think that maybe it might become a little overwhelming to some students. Wikipedia has the same thing and sometimes I become overwhelmed so I have had to learn to pace my learning when visiting that site. There are always so many things to click on to learn about. I have to learn the current topic I'm on before going on to something else. I think that the in-depth analysis will be a very good thing for these math e-texts.

I do wonder about the review & peer-review keeping the content concise and appropriate. Once there are enough people using this it will be a little easier.

Open-Source Education

My thought and views on:

Toss the Traditional Textbook: Revamping a Curriculum
Open source education resources can replace stale old volumes.
by Grace Rubenstein

If authors & teachers all keep changing this open source info that students will be reading for their classes they could potentially get very confused. They could go back the next day, or even a few hours later, and the text could look different. It's like having a math teacher that shows you 5 different ways to do the same problem and by the time you see all of them you can't remember how 'your' way went.

I do like the idea of open source content being used and ordering just what you want in your book for $20 instead of all kinds of stuff you don't want for $60. Not to mention all the trees that will be saved by people using the internet for reading instead of books.

Another problem would be those who do not have internet at home. It is a huge downfall and I know :( They will not be able to work on stuff at home the way other kids could. And right now I do not feel that the schools are adequately equipped with computers to host a program like this. I wish we could though. Think of all the money schools would save if kids could just 'hop' on the net instead of buying books. Maybe teachers could get paid more :)

Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0.

"More than one-third of the world’s population is under 20. There are over 30 million people today qualified to enter a university who have no place to go. During the next decade, this 30 million will grow to 100 million. To meet this staggering demand, a major university needs to be created each week." —Sir John Daniel, 1996

I hate to say it but I had never really thought about there not being enough room in universities for future generations. I think it never occured to me because I know that more people will be taking more of the 'mundane' jobs to meet the higher demands of a growing economy. And there are more Tech Colleges being established as well as numerous shifts toward online classes and schools. I think that there will be a balancing out and there will not be a shortage of room except for the already shortage at the more prestigious universities.

This article was very long so I just skimmed over some of the latter parts but I really did enjoy the Cartesian Learning vs. the Social Learning. It strikes me as especially intriguing beacuse it has to do with a book critique and project I am doing for another class. I really enjoyed the illustrations he used to show the differences in the two. I agree that Cartesian should be no more and we should all be moving toward Social Learning styles. The interaction between students, when they can explain it to others, is the critical point at which information concretes itself into the brain.

Open Course Ware and Open Educational Resources are wonderful additions given to the world of education through the advancement of technology. This is indeed a prime example of how some people are improving education through technology instead of letting it hinder.

Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity

TED Ideas Worth Spreading

"I believe that the only hope for the future is to adopt a new conception of human ecology, one which we start to reconstitute our conception of the richness of human capacity." -Ken Robinson

Ken belives we smother childrens talents. I agree. I once had a student who was an excellent artist and he never did his work in class for me. All he did was draw and doodle. One day I pulled him aside and had a talk with him. I explained to him that if he really wanted to be an artist for graphic novels then he needed to go to art school after high school. This changed his perspective on his current academics. I went so far as to make a deal with him. If he started to actually participate in class and get his work done before the end of class, I would let him draw a picture on my back marker board and I'd leave it there all day. His grade went from an F to a B-.

"If your not prepared to be wrong you'll never come up with anything original." I absolutely love this quote by Ken. My fiance's family is Cicilian. They always make sauce (pasta and sauce). When I was considered part of the family, they bestowed upon me the family recipe. I had it for about 5 years and had never attempted to make the sauce because I'm a terrible cook. I finally tried it and screwed it up BIG TIME. Turned out to be awesome and I now, in some people's opinions, make the best sauce in the family.

I found it very interesting that education systems all over the world have the same hierarchy.
math/lang---->humanities--->arts. I don't think I agree with Ken when he states that dance is as important as math. They have classes outside of school to learn dancing and if that child grows up to be a dancer, they had better be able to do math to make sure nobody is stiffing them on their money, or be able to read their contract before they sign it.