Course Participants

Terry Brown

Danielle Hannon

Laurie Manney

Jennifer Morningstar

Tim Moss

Scott Myer

Mike Phillips

Leayn Stockdill

Sue Turner

Andrew Watkins

Aaron Wheaton

Kim Wheaton

September 25

Activity 1

Answer each of the following questions by finding the answer on the Internet.

1.  What event triggered the United States' interest in developing a computer network (hint:  It involved the USSR)?

2.  What was the name of the government agency that was formed in response to the event from question #1?

3.  What was the primary reason for the United States developing a network of computers?

4.  What was the name of the first version of the Internet?  When was it operational?  What locations were connected?

5.  Was the first computer network easy to use?

6.  When did email first appear?

7.  Explain TCP/IP.

8.  When did the term "Internet" first appear?

9.  What is ethernet?

10.  What is DNS?  When did it first appear?  Who developed it?  Why is it important?

Assignment for October 2 (due by 11 pm)- Search Engines

Over the past decade, search engines have grown dramatically in both capabilities and importance.  Search engines used to be controlled and updated by actual human beings.  But as times have changed, so have they.  Search engines have always performed text searches, but now you can search for images, videos, driving directions, news, shopping information, books, and so much more.  For the most part, search engines are no longer controlled and updated by humans (there are a couple of exceptions).  There is just way too much stuff out there for human beings to manage.  Search engines now have automated programs that they use to deliver results pages to you.

Of course, there are many different search engines out there, each working a bit differently.  Click here for more information about how they work from wikipedia.  Click on the link below for more information about search engines in a PowerPoint presentation.

012306searchengines.ppt

Google is the search engine that has taken over the world.  The table below is the share of searches for May 2008.

Your first assignment is to compare and contrast 3 search engines.  Search for the exact same topic on all three search engines you choose and see if the results are similar or different.  See if one returns more useful content to you than the others.  See if one is easier to use than the others.  See if one is more visually appealing than the others.  Try image searches.  Try searching for news items on your topic (if applicable... this might not work if you are searching for results on the Pythagorean Theorem.  It hasn't been in the news very much recently.)  You can choose any three search engines you would like.  Here are some links:

Google

Yahoo

MSN

Live

Dogpile

Ask

Attached below is a Word document that you will fill in as you go.  Save your changes to the Word document and upload it as an "Attach file" link to your wiki page by Thursday night.  IMPORTANT:  Save the Word file on your computer as something with your last name in the file name, such as TavaniSearchEngines.doc or else you might accidentally overwrite somebody else's file!

448searchengineassignment.doc

Assignment for October 9 (due by 11pm)- Delicious.com

What is del.icio.us?

Del.icio.us is a collection of favorites/bookmarks. It’s a really big collection. You have access to your favorites and everyone else’s favorites who has an account.

Click here for more details from del.icio.us.

You can visit my site at http://del.icio.us/mrtavani to see what a site looks like.

Why should I use del.icio.us?

You can use the site to simply build a list of your own sites. The advantage to creating this list on del.icio.us is that if you are working at home and find some nice sites that you would like to access at school, you have the links stored and can then just go right to them at school.

You can use the site to share links with other professionals. Perhaps you want to create a list of sites that everyone in your department would find useful. Perhaps you want to create a list of sites to share with other guidance counselors in the area.

You can use the site to share useful links with your students. If you have a list of sites that you want your students to see, simply give them your del.icio.us address… or, better yet, put a google gadget on your webpage so they show up automatically.

How do I get started?

• Go to http://del.icio.us and click the register link at the top right.

• Fill in the necessary information. Please note that the username you choose will also become part of your web address for del.icio.us so choose a good one.

• I strongly suggest installing the browser buttons. They are quite useful and don’t really get in the way of anything else. Please note that you can choose to NOT install them. If you do install them, follow the instructions to do so.

• You will be sent a verification email to the email address that you provide that you must check in order to verify your email. This is done so that spammers and such can’t take up all the useful addresses.

• Once you are up and running, there are two ways to make links on your site. It is most definitely easier to do if you install the buttons.

• When you are on a web page, click the down arrow next to the del.icio.us button installed on your browser’s toolbar.
• Click Bookmark this on del.icio.us.
• In the box that pops up, your url shows up automatically. You can change the description and notes if you choose.
• The tags section is extremely important. As your list of links increases, the tags allow you to categorize them so that you can filter through them later. Additionally, it helps others know what your links are for if you share the links with others.

• If you chose not to install the buttons, you can copy a website address, go to your del.icio.us page, and click post. Paste the url in appropriate box and follow the other directions from step 5.

• Repeat step 5 and/or 6 for each link.

• To change aspects of your account, you can click on the settings link near the top right of your del.icio.us page. Some things you might need:

• In this section, you can import links from your browser that you have saved on your home computer. Under bookmarks, click import/upload and follow the directions on the page.
• If you decide to change your primary email, it can be updated under the Account column and then choose change email.
• You can “bundle” tags to create a hierarchy of links if you want. In the Tags column, choose bundle tags and follow the directions.

Your assignment

• Create a delicious account.
• Put several links (at least 10, but the more the better) to websites related to your field of expertise.  You must use the tag system for each link you enter.
• Put a link to your del.icio.us site on your wiki page.

Class Meeting:  October 16

First, unless you have received an email from me concerning your delicious account, all assignments look good for that one.

Next, we are having our second face-to-face meeting this coming Thursday, October 16.  You do not have to post an assignment for this week, but please come prepared to speak about your district's Internet Policy for both students and teachers!

Assignment for October 23 (due by 11 pm)- Image Editing

For this week, please find five (5) images of your choosing.  They can be from the web or from your own digital picture collection.  Your job is to edit each one using Microsoft Office Picture Manager as we practiced in class.  The specific changes you make to these pictures is your decision, but please make sure that you demonstrate different techniques, such as cropping, rotating, and such.  Also, all 5 pictures should be compressed for use on the web.

To post them to your wiki page, use the Insert Image icon on the first toolbar in the editing window.  Make sure your cursor is located in the spot on the page where you want your image to appear.  Click the Insert Image icon, wait until the list of images already uploaded to the wiki propegates itself, click Browse.  Navigate to the location of your picture and select it.  Then, in the green window, click Upload.  When it tells you that upload has been successful, click OK.  Repeat as necessary.

Assignment for October 30 (due by 11pm)- Podcasting

One communication tool available via the Inernet that has grown exponentially in popularity over the past few years is podcasting.  First watch the 3 minute video below.  Then, post answers to each of the questions listed below on your wiki page.

1.  What are three reasons podcasting is becoming so popular?

2.  Are iPods the only device on which podcasts work?

3.  Do you have to download podcasts to an iPod or can you watch them on your computer?

4.  Name three ways podcasting is different from traditional broadcasting.

5.  Find at least 3 podcasts that you think could be useful to you in your role as an educator.  If you have iTunes, I would start there.  If you don't, search for podcasts on the web.  Describethe podcasts on your wiki page.

Assignment for November 6 (due by 11pm)- On-line Video

With a decent high-speed connection to the Internet, there is an almost endless amount of video content available for you to use on your computer.  For this assignment, you are to find three (3) videos that can be useful to your classroom.  Please place a link to each of the three videos on your wiki page.  Also, provide a 1-paragraph summary for each as to their content and to what you could apply the videos in your classroom.  Finally, indicate whether you have a computer projector available for use or not.  If you do, indicate whether you have a projector permanently placed in your classroom or if you would have to "sign it out" ahead of time.

Videos can be found on a wide range of web sites, but if you aren't sure where to start, I would recommend youtube.com, teachertube.com, or UnitedStreaming.com.  Don't feel that you have to use these sites, but they can be helpful.  You can use a search engine to find videos, as well.

Assignment for November 13 (due by 11pm)- Google Docs

Has this ever happened to you?

You assign students a project.  They need to create a Powerpoint presentation.  The computer lab is booked.  And, of course, your students don't have Powerpoint loaded on their home computers.

Well... the days of dealing with this problem are mostly behind us.  Google has developed what they call "Google Docs".  What it allows you to do is create and store word processing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online.  The best part is that it is free.  Your assignment for this week is meant to be more exploratory than anything else.  Create an account on Google Docs and experiment.  A couple of things... I'm leaving this pretty wide open.  If you have trouble with anything, let me know.  But, I'm counting on you to set up the account and snoop around.  Don't worry about making mistakes.  Sometimes that's the best way to learn.  Also, Google Docs is still a work in progress.  Some things work better than others.  You might find problems that I don't know about and you might find some features more useful than other people.  But, I think that this is a tool that teachers and students can utilize to overcome the Microsoft monopoly.  Oh, yeah... if you create one of these items online and then download it to your computer, you can open it in a Microsoft product (Word, Excel, Powerpoint).  Pretty good, huh?

1.  Go to http://docs.google.com to get started.

2.  If you don't have a Google account, you will have to create one.  On the right side of the screen, you should see the login area or the create new account area.  Please note that if you are creating a new account, you can use any email address to which you have access.  Follow the steps to create the account.

3.  Once your account is created, login.

4.  Explore.  See what it has to offer.  To create a new document, click on the New button and choose one of the options.

5.  Make sure you save your work, but also make sure that you Share your work.  Invite me to view your work by next Thursday night.

Again... I'm leaving this open on purpose.  I want you to figure out if you like it or not.  Make sure you save at least one assignment and do the Share thing to submit your assignment to me.  By the way... that share thing... a good way for students working on a project together to be able to collaborate!

Class Meeting on November 20

HTML Tags

What are HTML tags?  HTML is the language of web pages.  In the beginning, when most of the web was text-based, HTML tags were relatively easy to learn.  I'm not saying that you'd spend your Friday evenings figuring it out because it was fun, but after some practice, they were managable.

For the most part, those days are gone.  The World Wide Web has been taken over by graphics, videos, sound, and all sorts of stuff that becomes very complicated to code directly.  For the most part, people don't code pages directly any more.  And that's all well and good.  I do a great deal of web page design and most of the time I can avoid looking at the code that goes behind a web page.   I stress that most of the time this is the case... not all of the time.  Even with all of the web editors available in today's world, I find that I must often times do specific pieces of a web page using the code.  Also, I find that it is often necessary to make corrections to web pages in the code.

Our goal here is not to become coding experts.  That's a whole course in and of itself... and probably one that we wouldn't get too many people to take.  Our goal here is to introduce to you what coding a web page is like.  If you are nervous about this topic, please just ask Gary Haley what he thinks of HTML tags.  He's very eager to give his opinion to me on this topic.

020206tagshandout.doc

Assignment for December 4 (due by 11pm)- HTML Webpage

As we discussed in class on the 20th, the way web pages are made is by using HTML tags.  Your assignment is to use some of the basic features we discussed in class and create a basic webpage.  Please see the link above for the tags.

Class Meeting on December 18

The Final Project

Your final assignment for the year is to come to our last class prepared to make a 5 minute presentation.  The presentation should describe in detail a lesson or unit you could use in your classroom that involves at least three (3) of the technology components we discussed throughout the semester.  These components include:

• Search Engines
• Delicious
• Image Editing
• Podcasting
• On-line video
• Google Docs
• HTML Tags

Create a lesson that would have students utilize some of these components.  The format of your presentation is up to you, but it may include a PowerPoint presentation, example work of what you would expect from your students, showings of podcasts or videos you would include in the lesson, or anything else that is pertinent.  You do not have to submit anything to me on paper.

Also, please remember that John Swayze will be there to do evaluations promptly at 6 pm.