Respeonse to Ch. 2

1. After reading the section on Feeds (pp. 18-19), watch the online video 'RSS in Plain English' to further develop your understanding of how RSS works. Then, register for a bloglines or Google reader account. Follow the directions provided by the service.

I registered for a google reader account and began subsribing to my favorite websites.

2. Based on your reading (Information Gathering with Internet Resources, pp. 14-24), evaluate the following websites for accuracy of content. Be sure to identify the procedures you used to evaluate the website.
* Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
* Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination
* Dog Island Free Forever
* All About Explorers
* History of Robots in the Victorian Era
* Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
* The First Human Male Pregnancy
* Which of these is the true World Trade Organization website? http://www.gatt.org OR http://www.wto.org

Procedures:
Relevancy- relates and has examples of things related to what you are searching.
Credibility- source of the information and treatment of the subject

Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus- not accurate, relates to a topic that is a hoax but does have pictures, information about it, etc. It has date developed and last updated, no bibliography but does list other sites, not affiliated with an organization, came from a .net, it is biased in wanting people to save these animals. When searched for Wikipedia and other sources said it is a hoax.

Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination- not accurate, little information about MLK, more about white pride, etc. No dates of development or updating, not affiliated with anything. It is biased against MLK.

Dog Island Free Forever- not accurate, no dates, no bibliographies or affiliated organizations, when searched came up as fake.

All About Explorers- not accurate for what it appears to be, information about the explorers is not true, the "about" part of the site explains it was designed by teachers to show students why they should be careful when researching.

History of Robots in the Victorian Era- not accurate, does have dates and related to topic but no bibliography or affiliated organization, when searched on other sites said these robots are not real.

Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division- not accurate, does not have bibliography or legitimate organization affiliated with it, at very bottom of page in small print does say they do not claim to be telling the truth, when searched came up as a hoax.

The First Human Male Pregnancy- not accurate, no dates, bibliography or legitimate organization, when searched came up as false, although this site is false there was a man (who is transgender) who did have a baby in the last few years which this site did mention.

www.wto.org is the real site

3. On p. 24, Jonassen briefly mentions Internet scavenger hunts (AKA treasure hunts or knowledge hunts). Choose a content area and grade level, then do a search for a web-based scavenger hunt. How many do you find? Do any of them promote meaningful learning?

5th grade Christopher Columbus- 5 scavenger hunts, most just had fill in the blanks or short answer sort of questions but one site expected students to use their answers to have more meaningful learning by creating a time line, etc.

4. On pp. 25-26, Jonassen introduces webquests. Visit webquest.org and find a webquest you could use with a grade level you are interested in teaching, then provide an explanation for how that webquest you've selected is more than an 'electronic worksheet'. Use Jonassen's criteria for a well-designed webquest. That is, does the webquest incorporate cooperative learning? Does it incorporate consideration of multiple learning perspectives? Does it incorporate analysis and synthesis of information? Does it incorporate creation of original products that demonstrate knowledge gained? Is it open-ended? Is it student-directed?

A President to Lead Them All
Students are in groups and working together so it is cooperative learning. There are different learning perspectives involved as students have to use a computer to research, write a paper, and make a poster. Students are expected to analyze information about different presidents and synthesize it to decide which one they think will be the best. Students are required to present the information in their own way with the instructions given and present whatever information they think is necessary for the interesting facts portion. It is very open-ended as the students are expected to find whatever information is necessary with some guidelines to convince the class of their choice. It is student directed as students are finding the information with just a little bit of prompting and presenting the information to the class.

5. Search the web for an example of an elementary teacher who uses handhelds in his/her classroom. Provide an overview of how the teacher integrates handhelds. Does the teacher's use of handhelds allow her/him to do something s/he couldn't do before OR does the teacher's use of handhelds allow her/him to do something s/he could do before only better?

I found an example of a teacher who used handhelds in her 5th grade classroom. This specific time she was doing a social studies economics unit about the Great Depression. Students basically bought and then traded shares, started businesses and created a town by using their handhelds to beam information to the teacher and each other as well as used various programs similar to Microsoft Word and a calculator, etc. The use of handhelds allowed the teacher to do something she could do before but better. For example the students used the handhelds to calculate their losses and gains which could have been done with a calculator. They also bid on shares by beaming to the teacher instead of shouting out which the teacher said made this a quieter experience. Overall, the lessons could have been done without handhelds and really without any technology but the handhelds made the lesson easier (as in time in organization) and probably more fun for the students.

6. After reading the section on online survey tools (pp. 36-39), take this online survey. This survey was created using Zoomerang, one of the survey tools mentioned by the author.

I took the survey.