Top 8 Tools for Fall 2019

1. Chrome

Google chrome is a web browser developed by Google, known for its strong browser performance. It is known for its minimalistic user interface, having a cleaner, more professional appearance. Chrome allows users to synchronize their bookmarks, history, and settings on multiple devices with the browser installed through a Google account.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Security vulnerabilities: Google Chrome is up to date with its security. Google Chrome has been heightening its online security and privacy.
• Malware blocking and ad blocking: Google Chrome allows you to block ads and protect your devices from online viruses.
• Privacy: Google Chrome has an “Incognito mode” that allows users to browse the Internet safely. The websites visited will not be recorded in the history tab.
• Protection: Google Chrome protects its users accounts by using strong passwords, a series of security questions, and alternative e-mail accounts or a phone number to contact the user if any trouble has occurred.

Cons:

• Google Chrome is so heavily relied on; it is unknown as to what would happen if it were to suddenly “disappear.”

2. Google Apps

Google Apps is an extension of Google Chrome. It includes various online apps that allows users to create online presentations, documents, blogs, and classrooms. It also includes various forms of entertainment such as, YouTube, Google News, and Google Play. Chrome provides 15 gigabytes of online memory for Google Chrome users to store their documents, online presentations, videos, etc.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Google provide Gmail, which allows users to receive and send emails to Gmail and non-Gmail users accounts for free.
• Google offers 15 GB of memory online, which allows you to store documents, pictures, videos, presentations, and other various forms of multimedia on the Internet.
• Google Blogger is user friendly, allowing users to easily edit and be creative online.

Cons:

• All of Google’s apps aren’t always so easy to find, unless the individual is a frequent Chrome user. Although Google Chrome provides a beginner’s tutorial, I feel that all of the apps should be listed alphabetically and easily accessed through the Google apps icon on the top right.
• Google apps should include a feature that allows users to organize their “top apps” that they use frequently.

3. ERIC

ERIC is an acronym for the Education Resources Information Center. It is a free online digital library of education research and information. ERIC’s mission is to provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information for the public.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• ERIC is a free online digital library that is easy to use.
• ERIC allows students to have access to research articles and educational documents online with ease.
• ERIC holds peer-reviewed educational research-based articles.

Cons:

• Firewall and other malware protection software will block ERIC. So, you will have to unblock it manually.
• Your device must have Adobe to download the online PDFs; however, the articles can be read online without Adobe.

4. Prezi

Prezi is an online presentation tool that allows users to create visually appealing angles through a series of zooms and effects.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Prezi is free; however, you can pay more to have access to more space, download your Prezi
presentation with its zooms and formatted effects, and keep your online presentations on private.
• Prezi allows users to create a group presentation online and edit as a group at the same time.
• Prezi has many free online formats for users to edit and create with.

Cons:

• Prezi is expensive if the user wants to have access to its unlimited features.

5. Canva

Canva is a graphic-design tool. Canva allows you to create online presentations, animated social media posts, posters, flyers, cards, banners, headers, ads, letters, documents, magazines, resumes, yearbooks, book covers, and so much more. Canva includes a wide variety of formats for the multimedia editing features listed above.

Rating: 4/5

Pros:

• Canva is free and offers a variety of fonts, colors, pictures, and formats to create almost any form of multimedia product possible.
• Canva is user friendly and allows new users to edit and create with ease.
• Canva allows students to create online presentations with other Canva users.

Cons:

• Canva allows students to create online presentation with other Canva users; however, only one user
can edit the presentation at a time.

6. Wix

Wix is a web development platform that allows users to create a free website. If you are a first time Wix user, it asks a series of questions pertaining to what kind of website the user would like to create.

Rating: 4/5

Pros:

• Wix includes already made formats for users to edit and play with for their website.
• Wix allows users to include several features on their website, such as videos, community forums, and online chats.

Cons:

• Wix takes a while to load after you've finished editing your website.
• Wix doesn't allow multiple users to edit the website at the same time.

7. MOODLE

MOODLE stands for modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment. MOODLE is a free, online learning management system that can be used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other e-learning projects in schools, universities, workplaces, and other sectors.

Rating: 4/5

Pros:

• MOODLE allows students and teachers to communicate easily through direct messages or online
comments and submissions.
• MOODLE allows students to submit various forms of multimedia products online, which doesn't
limit what type of assignments or projects students are able to produce.
• MOODLE allows teachers to post deadlines and include announcements for students to read online.
• MOODLE includes formats that allows teachers to grade, organize, and submit with ease.

Cons:

• MOODLE isn't accessible at certain hours or on certain days.

8. LiveBinder

LiveBinder is an online binder that allows users to store and organize resources in one location.
LiveBinder allows the user to view the online resources and links like a book.

Rating: 3.5/5

Pros:

• LiveBinder is user friendly and is easy to organize.
• LiveBinder allows users to upload photos, videos, resource links, and text.

Cons:

• LiveBinder only has one format.
• LiveBinder only allows one photo per tab.
• LiveBinder doesn't always show the online resource when inserted in the tab.

Special Education "AT" School

          As a Special Education Major, "STEM for People with Disabilities" allowed me to expand my resources and tools for my future SPED classroom and my future students. It enabled me to look for the future of my students beyond high school and how to better prepare them for their future careers they would choose for themselves. This video allows prospect educators, including those who aren't majoring in Special Education, to ignite the mindset of including students with disabilities in the STEM classroom. Whilst this video instills the feeling of hope and promise to many students with disabilities and their parents, the issue of availability of services still linger. Unfortunately, while it is the law for public schools to provide services to students with unique needs, our island has a limited number of resources.

          This video only included students whom are high functioning, verbal students. The absence of nonverbal students spiked my curiosity and had me ponder about the hidden message the video might send out to students with low functioning disabilities or students whom are nonverbal. For students whom are unable to communicate verbally, due to disabilities such as being mute or autism, may have the impression that they do not have the skills or services available for such students to attend STEM classes or universities and colleges for their future careers. While this video is quite interesting and empowering for many students with disabilities, I also find it quite controversial.

          This video implies that STEM isn't offered in a Special Education classroom, and that it is only available in general education classrooms. However, a Special Education teacher generally teaches all the subjects in their classroom to students with disabilities of various grade levels. Usually Special Education teachers who teaches one main subject work at schools who have enough Special Education teachers to teach the other subjects. Special Education teachers have certification that allows them to teach from kindergarten to 12th grade because students in SPED have specific needs that aren't necessarily at grade level with their peers. STEM is offered in a Special Education classroom, but it is modified to accommodate their unique needs.

          Regardless, I feel that this video has allowed my classmates in this class to have a better understanding of how to include students with disabilities in their future classrooms. This assignment has required our classmates to write about how they feel about students with disabilities using assistive technology in their classroom and including students with disabilities in their STEM classes. This video has provided my classmates the starting point in how to accommodate these students in the classroom. My classmates and I had an informal discussion about ways to teach students with special needs that doesn't just include graphic organizers but also tactile manipulatives and appropriate teaching strategies to supplement their learning. As future educators, it's important to remember that assistive technology only aids the student with special needs. We must also ensure that our instruction is of high quality, scientifically based classroom instruction.

         In a lesson plan, a general education teacher must pay special attention to the section labeled "Accommodations/Modifications." This is the section in which teachers, for both Special Education and general education, are able to modify the lesson for students with disabilities and how they can accommodate to their unique needs. Modifications refer to how teachers can scaffold the lesson plan content to students with disabilities or learning difficulties. Accommodations are ways teachers can attend to students' unique needs, such as offering a computer for students with limited mobility for their writing assignments. According to the video, "Academic preparation lays the groundwork for STEM careers. For students with disabilities to perform on a level playing field, STEM learning environments must be designed to fully include them and reasonable accommodations need to be provided. Considerations should include:

• assistive technology and software supports that help students with disabilities utilize technology that other students have access to, as well as use it as a compensatory tool
• physical access to laboratories and equipment for individuals with mobility impairments
• alternative formats to printed texts and visual aids for students with visual impairments
• organizational tools for students with learning disabilities
• visual options for material presented orally for students with hearing impairments
• multiple learning and testing options which benefit people with learning and other disabilities."

          Ms. Katherine Stewart, a general education Chemistry teacher, had a student whom was visually impaired. According to Stewart (2018), "from a teaching point of view, it was a challenge at times to explain a concept that was very visual from a conventional perspective. However, this resulted in thinking about these concepts in a different way. In some cases, the analogies and explanations given to help the student who was visually impaired understand the concept, also improved the understanding of other students in the class (not to mention that it also forced the instructor to be clearer and think/ anticipate in advance)." In the beginning, Ms. Stewart had difficulty teaching Chemistry to a student with visual impairments. However, this teaching experience has allowed her to experiment with different teaching strategies that can allow the student to understand the content that was being taught.

          Including students with disabilities in learning activities of a general education classroom requires discussions, meetings, careful observations and interviews about the student with disability to figure out ways in which a student learns, cooperates, and finds interests in regards to learning. Through this, the teachers can find some information to put into the student's profile, which includes information about their gender, age, language knowledge, teaching and learning strategies, and reinforcements that work with the child. This process helps teachers tailor their teaching to match the student's unique needs for their modifications and accommodations in a lesson plan. Similar to the modifications and accommodations that are made for the students with disabilities in your classroom, you must use assessments to ensure its appropriateness for their grade level.

          About a year ago, my SPED Cohort and I attended a GSAT conference in which we presented our assistive technology. The ten of us collaborated and created six tools that can be used for students with disabilities. My friend created stress balls made out of balloons that were filled with either rice, flour, and cornstarch. She specifically chose ingredients that were not toxic, just in case it were to break and its contents may be ingested.  Another friend created a book holder out of pipes and pipe connectors. The book holder was strong enough to hold a large textbook. Another friend created a faucet extender for students with mobility issues to have easier access to water. Another friend created page turners by taping fuzzy balls to the corners of the page of each book. This allows students with fine motor problems to turn the page with more ease. Another friend created a laundry folder out of tape and a cardboard box. This allows the user to fold their clothes neatly. And finally, I created an orthopedic pillow that helps students in wheelchairs to have comfort for their back. It helps the user sit up straight, and it is easily adjustable. We had brought our tools for students and individuals with disabilities to test out our products, and it was rewarding to see them enjoy and use what we had made. We wanted to created assistive technology that wasn't expensive and used recyclable products for teachers, parents, and families to create at home.

          All in all, I feel that this video allowed me to see how I can include students with disabilities and special needs from a general education teacher's point of view. It had allowed me to see through the window of understanding that showed me how some general education teacher's aren't as aware of teaching and learning strategies for students with disabilities, and that's why some of them have difficulty including these students when they are mainstreamed into their classroom. According to Carter and Rice (2016), "meeting the needs of the students with disabilities largely emerged as highlighting the features of the online environment as accommodation." It showed me how important it is for teachers and paraprofessionals to collaborate in meetings about the student's progress. It's given me an incentive on ways I can communicate with teachers whom need help with teaching and including students with disabilities in their classroom.

References

Carter Jr., R.A., and Rice, M.F. (September 2016). Administrator Work in Leveraging Technologies for 

          Students with Disabilities in Online Coursework. Retrieved

          from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1119795.pdf

Stewart, K.M.E. (2018, November 26). My Experience Teaching General Chemistry to a Student Who Is

          Visually Impaired. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1199797.pdf

How I Would Teach An Educational Unit About Digital and Internet Safety Issues

Objective of the Educational Unit: 

         The objective of this educational unit was to inform the class about Digital and Internet Safety. The class broke up into groups to present four respective components of the unit, which include: Digital and Internet Safety Issues, Textual Harassment and Sexting, Phishing and Pharming, and Cyber bullying. Each of the groups creatively presented what their topic was about, how it affects students, and how we can prevent these issues and promote Internet safety for our students as parents, professional teachers, and active guardians. According to Garcia-Umana and Tirado-Morueta (2018), "it is essential to apply educational measures to promote the responsible use of the Internet, it is unquestionable that information technologies are gaining strength in the information society and preferably among adolescents who will be the future of society." So, I feel that this educational unit has influenced us as future professional educators to incorporate Internet safety with our lessons, especially with how technology is developing and present in our everyday lives.

How the components worked cohesively as an educational unit:

          In my perspective, the four components of the unit worked together cohesively to inform our class the different aspects of Internet Safety we should teach our students in the classroom. It allowed us to listen and present as professional peers. In regards to Internet Safety, I feel that our class managed to elaborate on different ways students should protect their identity, private information, and overall safety online. However, I feel that we should have another group presentation in which they demonstrate how to find the credibility of online websites and sources.

          In addition, I feel that the order of how we presented the four components in class can be modified for the overall educational unit to have a more powerful impact on our peers during class. I feel that our presentation should go in the following order: Cyber bullying, Textual Harassment and Sexting, Phishing and Pharming, Distinguishing Credible Sources, and Digital and Internet Safety Issues. In this order, I feel that the students will start off with topics that they are more exposed to, then leading into topics they have not yet been exposed to.

How would you design a lesson on Internet safety:

          With this educational unit, I will teach my students five different components of Internet Safety while integrating other content standards such as ELA, Math, and Science. For elementary students, I would design this educational unit to be taught in third quarter to build their computer skills prior to an end-of-the-year project that requires the use of Internet. I would combine cyber bullying, textual harassment and sexting with ELA standards by having students identify the main idea and details of the components and identify ways to report cyber bullying, textual harassment, and sexting. I would also create an interdisciplinary lesson that teaches students how to distinguish credible sources with Science standards, requiring the students to analyze and compare credible sources with non-credible sources. And finally, I would link digital and Internet safety issues with math by having students generate bar graphs to visually represent how many people are affected by not being safe on the Internet.

          For secondary students, however, I would design this educational unit to be taught at the beginning of the school year. Much like with the design for elementary students, cyber bullying, textual harassment, and sexting will be taught in an interdisciplinary lesson with ELA standards. However, the students will be asked to write a reflection, instead of just identifying main ideas and details. In another ELA lesson, I would teach about phishing and pharming. I would then check their understanding by having the students create a Venn diagram that compares the differences and similarities between phishing and pharming. In a Science class, I would incorporate my lesson with how to find credible sources online. I would also have them participate in practice activities that teach students how to distinguish credible sources and how to use that information in their science projects. And with Math, I would incorporate digital and Internet safety issues by having students create bar graphs and pie charts to represent how many people are affected by using the Internet in an unsafe manner.

Conferencing Tools:

          For this project, my group members and I didn't use any web conferencing tools. However, we communicated mainly through WhatsApp and Google Docs. With Google Docs, we were able to assign parts for the presentation and share our information we gathered from the Internet. Google Docs also made it easier for us to compile a list of the resources we used for the project, allowing us to convert it into APA format for our presentation slide. WhatsApp allowed us to communicate on who can edit at certain times. The presentation tool we chose was Canva, which only allows one user to edit at a time. So, we were able to use WhatsApp to communicate whether someone was editing the presentation or if someone wanted their turn to edit. If I had the chance to do this project over, I would have created a website using Wix or create a presentation with Prezi. Canva was quite finicky to work with, and it was difficult and time consuming for us to constantly "wait our turn" to edit the same presentation.

Suggestions for this Assignment:

          I feel like preparations for our presentations would have gone a lot smoother if we were given a rubric based on what we are being graded on and what is expected on our presentation. It would have given us an outline of what was required, so that we can go beyond the rubric and be creative. I feel that being told, "Be creative." is counterproductive because students aren't able to have a foundation of what is expected before being able to expand beyond their presentation.

Conclusion:

          In conclusion, I felt that our class did wonderfully as a group to present the educational unit. We covered important components regarding Digital and Internet safety. I feel that most teachers would only teach students about cyber bullying. According to Faryadi (2011), "the authorities at universities should take steps to curb cyber bullying. Victims of cyber bullies suffer from emotional and psychological stress, and inevitably their grades will deteriorate." Although cyber bullying is quite an important topic to discuss, I feel that there are other digital and Internet safety issues our future students must be aware of. And this educational unit allowed us to explore different ways we can teach our students how to use the Internet safely.

References: 

Faryadi, Q. (December 2011). Cyber Bullying and Academic Performance. Retrieved 

          from: https://eric.ed.gov/?q=cyber+bullying&ft=on&id=ED574784

Garcia-Umana, A., and Tirado-Morueta, R. (July 15, 2018). Digital Media Behavior 

          of School Students: Abusive Use of the Internet. Retrieved 

          from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1185397.pdf

Food Chain Game

Introduction

         The objective of the educational online game assignment was to work as a group to evaluate an online game based on its educational content and effectiveness for student learning. Our group consisted of five respective members: Francesca Aguon, Angela Chong, Savannah Unpingco, Querida Maritita, and myself. Our first hurdle was to find a game that we all wanted to present on. As a group, we were overwhelmed by the amount of online educational games that were available on the Internet for students, parents, and teachers.

Choosing Our Game

          After much exploration on the Internet for an online educational game, we had chosen a game from Sheppard Software, called, "The Food Chain Game." The game teaches the player about food chains with the use of graphics, diagrams, audio, and short animations that demonstrate how energy is taken from plants and other animals. The game has seven levels, each gradually increasing the difficulty with more components added to the food chain. The game includes several living organisms in the food chain, such as plants, fishes, birds, lizards, and humans. We liked this game because it catered to visual, audio, and kinesthetic learners. In class, we felt that many of the students talked about games that boosted students' mathematical skills. So, we wanted to choose a game outside of the mathematical content to showcase games in other subjects. As a group, we felt like this game would be intriguing for students who like science or require something more visually appealing and fun to participate in science activities and learning.

Creating our Rubric

          Through careful observation, our group initially had difficulty in creating a rubric to rate the game that we had chosen. Our group members haven't had much experience with drafting rubrics. And so, it was difficult for us to figure out the criteria we would be grading and how to categorize these characteristics as unsatisfactory, satisfactory, or that the game met its target requirements. Thankfully, we had a class session dedicated to editing our rubric as a group. And so, it had made it easier for us to observe the game further to discuss in detail on how we can modify our rubric to showcase its effectiveness in student learning. The criteria listed below include visual graphics, navigation, design and layout, diagram, inclusion of learning styles (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic), along with the game's objectives, instructions, goals, feedback, and subject.

Ways to use the game

          The game can be used either as a warm-up or a formative assessment of a lesson. The game is best suited for second or third grade science classes, regarding lessons based on food chains. The game also includes five tabs that build the player's background knowledge before allowing the individual to play the game. The game introduces food chain with paragraphs that talk about producers and consumers, food chains, bigger food chains, decomposers, and photosynthesis before allowing the player to play the game. The game gradually becomes more challenging every time a player completes a food chain. According to an article written by Guseva and Solomonovich (2016), "the well-known concise definition of ZPD as “the distance between the actual developmental level determined by individual problem solving and the level of development as determined through problem solving under guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” appeared in Vygotsky’s first English translation (Vygotsky, 1978:86). This builds the students' zone of proximal development, having the students start from building knowledge, perform activities on their own, and then completing more challenging tasks with guidance.

Adapting the game into a lesson

          In our group presentation, we used the food chain as our way to activate background knowledge before introducing the activity. However, as a professional teacher, I would prepare fill-in-the-blank worksheets for the students to complete as the students read the links individually. I would then have all the students pair off or go into groups of 4 or 5 to participate in a Kahoot! Activity. Then I would have the students return to the link to start their game. The students will be given a graphic organizer to fill out, naming the producer, the first consumer, second consumer, etc. in their respective food chains. According to Struble (2007), the study showed that graphic organizers in particular were tools that allowed both teachers to examine their students’ thinking and learning on the topic which the class was studying. Graphic organizers are vital tools that allows students to explain what they envision in their head, which is why it is my preferred tool for majority of my lessons. However, this game has allowed me to expand to other preferred learning styles, such as auditorial and kinesthetic.

Technological Tools

          In order to compose our group presentation, we used WhatsApp as a primary source of communication. It was the most convenient for our group because we all had smartphones that could connect to the Internet. WhatsApp is a free app that allows users to communicate through texts, audio call, and video call. As a group, we used WhatsApp to communicate through text and to send graphics that relate to our project. For our group presentation, we used Prezi. Prezi is a free website that allows users to create presentations beyond switching between slides, giving creators more freedom to expand on their creative ideas. Prezi was really convenient because we were all able to edit the presentation at the same time without any complications regarding how many were online. We also used Kahoot! to complement our presentation to assess what our classmates understood from our presentation. Kahoot! engaged the students to participate and compete in an assessment about our game. And finally, we used Google Docs and Google Sheets to take notes on our game and to create our rubric for our group project.

Conclusion

          Overall, this group presentation taught me the importance of group work, communication, effort, and learning how to use new technological tools. Our society has a wide variety of online tools that can be used to our advantage. The Internet has so many resources offered at the tip of our fingertips; however, it is important to identify credible resources from sites that aren't qualitative. However, I also learned that there are several main components in group work that can't be reached online, such as communication and understanding that can be built when we were all face to face. Regardless, I feel that technological tools are complementary to our everyday obstacles such as contradicting time schedules, meeting arrangements, and creating presentations beyond paper and posters.

References

Guseva, L.G., & Solomonovich, M. (2016). Implementing the Zone of Proximal 
          Development: From the Pedagogical Experiment to the Development of the 
          Education System of Leonoid Zankov. Retrieved 
          from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1146704.pdf

Struble, J. (2007). Using graphic organizers as formative assessment. Science
          Scope, 30, 69-71

About Me

Greetings, online citizens, and welcome to my blog!

Contrary to my pseudonym, I am not a queen of hamburgers. Instead, I am a university student majoring in Special Education on a small island called Guam. I am currently taking a class that encourages me to utilize more online tools and resources to use as a future reference for my own classroom. Regardless, I hope you come visit my blog for more educational content. Also, if my professor is reading this, please give all of us A+! We thoroughly enjoy your class, and we have all been working hard to complete your assignments. Thank you for your time.