Wednesday, February 17, 2010

E-Portfolios

E-portfolio

This article provides a general overview of how electronic portfolios are used in education which is also known as e-portfolios or digital portfolios. It also elaborates on the many different aspects on how e-portfolios also show several different ways to acknowledge ones’ work, progress, and achievements. The general characteristics of an e-portfolio are student centered, competence oriented, cyclical with regards to action and reflection and last but not least, multimedia oriented.
Student centered is the person who creates the portfolio and decides what he or she would like to be placed in his or her portfolio. The student also decides what material he or she would like to place in the portfolio for certain reasons like possible job interviews, resume related, work history, accomplishments, and or skills acquired overtime.
Competence oriented is a specific part in the portfolio which allows others to see how much experience or how good someone is in his or her field. This is very important to have in a portfolio because a lot of jobs like to know how much experience a person has had in a specific field before he or she gets hired. In many cases, having more experience may also give someone an advantage when it comes to competing in the job market.
Action and reflection is just as important as competence part of the portfolio because it shows how a person or student gives an account of the activities in which his or her competence is demonstrated. In an educational context this means that the person or student draws up a personal learning plan which is also known as a PLP. PLPs contain a series of activities with which the proposed competence can be practiced.
Multimedia is usually recorded and played, displayed or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. So the multimedia part of someone’s portfolio would usually have a video of themselves or something to that nature.
The demand for teachers and students to have an electronic portfolio is ever increasing in today’s society to help them be viewed as being more professional. So if someone does try to create one, it is important that he or she take his or her time and prepare correctly because that portfolio could one day be the very thing that gets that student a job or that teacher a better job.

Thought Provoking Questions About E-Portfolios:
What can be done to protect someone's identify from being stolen when dealing with e-portfolios?




I really enjoyed this video because I think this video hit the "bulls eye" when it comes to explaining what an e-portfolio is and how it may help you. This video starts off by giving the viewer a definition of what an e-portfolio is. It also shows the viewer examples of different types of e-portfolios which is three main types. It goes on an elaborate on those three different types of e-portfolios and shows the viewers samples of each. This video also explains how potential employers can google someone's name and the first thing that should show up should be that potential employee's e-portfolio. I learned from this video that e-portfolios also have different trends and those trends can change. Trends can change from individual portfolios to team organizational portfolios. This video even gives the viewer tips on ways to use free portfolio tools in which the viewer could use to help create, manage, and promote his or her own e-portfolio. The only thing I could perceieve negative about the video is that for someone who does not like to read often, probably would not enjoy it as much. This video does not have a speaker in it, but it is not a lot of reading to be done though. By far, this video gives some great information about the topic of an e-portfolio.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Ethical Issues on Technology

Do Students Respect Intellectual Property?
This article about “Do Students Respect Intellectual Property?” was very interesting because not only did it discuss about students respecting intellectual property, but also adults and teachers. A teacher by the name of Ms. Janesko attended a conference session on copyright laws. It soon came to her attention that she had been modeling negative behavior by her actions and words when it came to her using articles, books, internet information and works of that nature to help assist her in her classroom teachings. Ms. Janesko had also been allowing her students to do the same thing as well. After attending this conference session, Ms. Janesko felt embarrassed and ashamed of her actions and wanted to make a change for the positive. She took what she learned from the conference session back to her school, to help not just improve herself and her classroom but the whole entire school.
Copyright laws change up every year and can be hard to keep up with. Some teachers and professors teach students in a manner about topics the same way they may have learned. The only problem with professors and teachers teaching like that is, that rules and regulations change over time, so they may be teaching information in a manner that is no longer acceptable in society. That is why it is important for teachers and professors to try and stay up-to-date when it comes to teaching the modern rules and regulations on copyright laws. Attending seminars and meetings about those topics is a great way to stay on top of the information that is being taught and passed down to our students. Students have to then realize the seriousness of these copyright laws if they are to abide by them. Teachers and professors must try their best to exemplify the same respect and behavior when it comes to dealing with copyright laws and how they may approach their class. Teachers and professors should also reinforce these laws in their classroom as well by first teaching the correct way to use other people’s work within their own and if it is not done correctly and it is obvious; then a bad grade or referral to higher administration should take place. When other students take notice on how serious the issue is being taken, then they all will began to follow suit and try to do right. This is a process that will not just happen overnight, but with continued practice and support from other teachers and higher administration; then and only then will this problem of copyright laws be corrected.

Thought Provoking Question on Ethical Issues in Technology
What type of punishments can be handed out for copyright laws being ignored? AND....How seriously would those punishments be taken?



This video was interesting to me because of the speaker. He gives great information on what copyrighting is, copyrighting laws, and copy infrigment. He explains what very well the do's and dont's of each one of areas of copyrighting. He also does it in different voices which could be good or bad considering on the viewer listening. I enjoyed it because it kept my attention and kept me interested in watching the video. I also liked the way he told you the facts about the topic of copyright laws and materials before he gave his own point of view. The video was not lengthy and is well worth a peek.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Use of Computer Technology to Help Students with Special Needs

In today’s society, the world is an on-going transformation with new technology, inventions, and information that continues to help society grow and leap to new boundaries that once was only a dream or imagination. The use of computer technology to help students with special needs was a very well put together article. This article showed that people in the world today still care about other people and most importantly, the people whom are at a disadvantage when it comes to learning and keeping up with the modern world. The article explained how all of this new and modern technology can assist our children with special needs in the classroom so they will not get left behind and just pushed to the side. A child with special needs still has the capability to learn, it will just take a little more effort and attention. Computer technology can assist in closing the learning gap between a special needs child and a child whom is not special needs. So, what does special needs consist of? Special needs can range from a child having social, emotional, or mental disabilities to a child that may have hearing, sight, speech, or physical disabilities. The article gives some great examples of how computer technology can assist like, “augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices-that help make it possible for individuals with no speech, or individuals with poor speech, to overcome their communication problems”. Augmentative devices are designed to support or enhance the speaking capability of a person. Alternative devices, on the other hand, replace speech as a means of communication.
So how can computer technology live up to its potential and be most effective? Well, it starts with the teachers being the most important factor in this equation. Inadequate training to teachers is the largest inhibitor when dealing with this computer technology in the classroom. Our teachers today have to be well trained on how to operate this new and modern technology, so that the learning process and education being acquired is still just as helpful and effective to a child who has special needs just like it is for a child who does not have special needs. If teachers can get this training it would make a very big difference, especially if those teachers were to get compensated for their extra hard work, time, training that it will take to be effective using this new technology within the classroom.

Thought Provoking Question on Assistive Technology
Should teachers be compensated for the learning how to operate, teach, and work with assistive technology?!



I really enjoyed this video because it shows the lifestyle of a young lady who depends on assistive technology on a everday basics and how she goes through life living with cerebral palsy. She explains in details how each piece of assistive technology she uses assists her in her daily life so that she may be as independant as the next person or college student. The video is lengthy but well worth a view.