What are some of the next steps that I will take to increase my knowledge about technology and find out how to apply technologies in my major and/or future career?

    I will definitely try to keep up-to-date on the current technologies and advancements made in and out of the education world. I will try to educate myself by reading current articles on new technologies on a regular basis. I will also subscribe to more RSS feeds, specifically ones dealing with technology and education. Once I have subscribed to the feeds, it will be easy to follow them and see the new technologies out there and how they are being applied to education. I could also start getting a magazine sent to me about the top technologies in the World right now. I think the best way to educate myself on technology and its uses is by reading up on it and maybe even creating a Wikispace or blog to see what other people's thoughts are on the ever-increasing technology in our World and to see if they can 'teach' me any new knowledge with their comments and perspectives (in their posts).

In what specific ways, did I become a more information literate individual this semester?

           I defined information literacy in the field of my profession in my week 3 assignment saying, it is “the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand” (YouTube.com-what is it and who needs it).  I have become much more able to detect if an article is a reliable source or not and the best ways to search for key sources. As well, I think I possess the characteristic of being able to “determine the nature and extent of the information needed” (www.ala.org). For instance, in week 8, I created my Prezi presentation and one slide was devoted to how I knew the article I had chosen was considered a good choice. I said the article was reliable since “it clearly provided the multiple authors that wrote it, included citations at the end of the document proving its sources are factual, was organized and concise, and contained many important tables that were meaningful and related to the main topic” (Belsha, slide 11). Another assignment I gained some knowledge that contributes to my information literacy is the week 4 activities I completed. In week 4 I had to complete all the word challenge exercises. I learned “how important it is to identify specific keywords that will most benefit my searches and how searching more specifically can maximize my search options, by giving me the information I are looking for” (Belsha4, p. 2). Also during week 4 (during the Keyword Exercises) I had to identify which words were “keywords that are probably effective, intermediate words that represent important ideas but probably aren’t effective keywords, words that have little effect on the outcome, or stop words that are ignored by a Search Engine” (21cif.com/rkitp/challenge/Keyword). “In this exercise I learned how to identify which words are the most important to include in a search and which words are practically useless and are best to leave out” (Belsha4, p. 2). It was more difficult than I expected, but definitely helped me be able to differentiate between important and not so important words when searching. 

3.b.c.d

I will change the ways I search on the Internet by making more advanced searches and making my searches more concise, leaving out unnecessary words. In week 3, we completed a chart in class about sources on a specific topic and then had to test our knowledge on picking reliable sources. My topic was borderline personality disorder and I had to find 2 popular sources, 2 scholarly sources, 2 primary sources, and 2 secondary sources that were all reliable choices. The 3 key factors to a source being reliable include: “authority—who wrote the source; intended audience—pick a topic that would be appropriate for your audience; and fact vs. opinion—having a balance between both facts and opinions and not having just one or the other” (Belsha3, p.1). I also should become a more information literate person, one who “recognizes that accurate and complete information is the basis for intelligent decision making” and who is able to “recognize the need for information” (YouTube.com-what it is and who needs it). This will prove that I am knowledgeable about the subjects I am teaching on and therefore will help students, parents, and peers respect me more.

            Similarly I will change the way I research by searching in a more advanced way and be more selective on the sources I chose for research, ensuring they are reliable. For instance, when searching on a search engine, like Google, there is a tab that says “Advanced Search” that will narrow down my results. In the advanced search it finds pages with “all these words, this exact word of phrases, any of these words, none of these words, and numbers ranging from a specific page” (google.com). This will help me gain information that will be most beneficial to me. Also, it is important to note if a webpage is .com, .net, .org, .gov, etc. This will help me know which sources are typically more reliable than others. For examples, most sources that are .org or .gov are the most reliable sources.

            I now am much more knowledgeable on the ways to clearly present information to others and to even share ideas or gain insight from others. For instance, the week 10 and 11 assignment in this class helped me see how useful a Wikispace could be. It is a great way to hear all perspectives from fellow classmates and how to start a debate. I was able to see snip-its on my classmates personalities by the articles they chose and by their reactions to the questions I posted or how they reflected on others’ questions. I also found it cool how I was able to post comments and further the discussion on the Wikispace. I also found Prezi to be a very collaborative tool since it is very versatile for the use of group projects. I love how any student can access the Prezi at any time and make the necessary changes needed. I also found the Google Reader to be a great collaborative tool to share and get ideas from various teachers. I can post my own ideas, as well as subscribe to any feeds or articles that strike my interest or will benefit my lesson plans. I also found blogger.com to be a great method for collaboration due to the fact that people can easily comment on each other’s posts and build off of one another’s ideas. 

3.a.5

Microsoft PowerPoint is another key technology that can be used in teaching. PowerPoint is very beneficial for presentations for a variety of purposes, including resumes, teaching lessons, presenting proposals, and much more. I will use PowerPoint with many lesson plans, I am sure. I have always felt like the majority of students are visual learners and sometimes having a visual representation such as a PowerPoint can help them remember details better and to maybe ‘picture’ the information (from class) for tests and quizzes. PowerPoints are also a key for collaborating with other teachers and learning from one another’s ideas. I also think PowerPoints can help people who have difficulties with public speaking and can provide information they can rely on if they get tongue-twisted or nervous during the presentation.  

3.a.4

Microsoft Excel is also a great tool used for education. In week 7 I learned how to generate percentages, use sparklines, insert a table, specify cell colors, and I practiced many skills I already knew how to use on Excel. Excel can be a useful teaching tool in aiding math lessons, creating data information, taking polls and creating spreadsheets of results, tracking a child’s progress (grades), conditional formatting, teaching kids about budgets, nutrition, etc. Excel can be used in many different ways and in a variety of lessons. For instance, it can be used to help enforce the idea of healthy nutrition and how to create a spreadsheet to track what you eat during the day. Another idea is using excel in a personal finance/ money unit and teaching the kids how to save money or how to create a budget. 

3.a.3

Microsoft Word is another great technology to use in any profession, including education. Writing lesson plans, newsletters to parents, class handouts, permission slips for field trips, and many more ways Microsoft Word can help assist teaching. The templates Word already has saved on the software helps make the teacher’s job easier in writing the documents I have mentioned. Being a teacher can already be hectic enough as it is, so any time savers can be a huge help! In week 6, we practiced some of the key features Word provides. For instance, I got practice with the review tool called “tracking” during that assignment, a feature I had never been acquainted with prior to the assignment. My gained knowledge for this feature was extremely useful since I found out teachers can even use the tool to write side notes and comments on assignments and papers. It is a great way to provide feedback. Microsoft Word is also a great resource to proofread your writings before posting them on the Internet or handing them out to people, due to Spell Check and grammar usage checks.