Chapters 7 and 8

While reading chapters 7 and 8, I was finding myself thinking, wow this is real life information. I was not aware of programs such as Badware. I also found the Wiki to be interesting and challenging. Plus learning about a teacher and her struggles with keeping students interested helps me to realize that teaching is always a challenge.

First the text (p. 164) talked about Badware, which is a type of invasive software that fundamentally disregards a user’s choice over how a computer will be used. Known as adware, spyware, and stealth dialers, Badware programs enter people’s computers unknowingly and disrupt normal operation by allowing pop-up ads, redirecting web searches, working against anti spyware programs. I learned the hard way about Badware. Just a couple of weeks ago I received a message from a friend on Facebook. I normally use Facebook only to communicate, and share pictures with my long distance relatives. This day I decided to respond to the message that I thought was from my friend, but it wasn’t. That day alone I must have received at least ten calls stating that I had won money and they just needed a little more information from me before they could send me the money. This was a very scary situation and was just unbelievable just how much information some of the solicitors already had on me. The web is very scary and at the same time it is the future.

Secondly, the new ideas that I learned this week was about the Wikis (p.187) .Wikis is an Hawaiian word meaning quick or rapidly. These are websites that teachers and student create and edit together by reading and revising each other’s ideas and comments. This is something that was definitely new to me. It is fun and challenging to be able to interact with my professor and classmates all at the same time. I actually completed my first Wiki page. This has to be one of the most challenging but exciting classes that I have taken online. It is such a good feeling when I learn something new to someday use in the classroom.

Lastly, after reading about the teacher Michelle and her book reports (p.212) that she has her students complete. She starts off the year with the students being excited but as the year goes on they lose interest. Technology will be a good place for her to start to try to jump start the students to be excited again. It reminded me of a teacher that I worked with that had the students do weekly reading logs. It was the same concept and challenging to some of the students, but over time they lost interest. Especially the ones that didn’t like to read each day. Rather then trying to excite the students she just let the same process continue. Reading and comprehension is a vital part of learning. I can see this being a challenge to me in the classroom.

I found these two chapters to be very interesting. It is directly related to my current life and my future career goals. I feel I am learning things that are and will continue to be useful. It is exciting to continue to learn new ways of connecting with your students in the classroom.

 Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.