Class 2... Twitter, Internet lawsuits, what more?!?

This week we discussed twitter for a social networking site.  I am currently an user on twitter, but I was hesitant of putting my username available to the classroom. I am very loquacious and blunt, straight to the point on twitter. Sometimes I tweet things I would not tell people that are not close to me or I do not know. So I hope I do not offend anyone in the class that is following me, IF I do, I am sorry but that is me you will have to unfollow me :)  I am excited though, this is something I do every day, tweet about what is going on.  Let's see whose the clown in our class. Make me laugh!!!

During our readings, I find them as a guide or helpful hints for teachers.  It's giving us ideas on what we should do and how we should.  I read the article about the lawsuit against the school that barred the two young ladies from sports.  I do not think they took care of it correctly.  They have parents and the school can only do so much.  They cannot be the parent and the teacher.  Only the parents have the right to do that. If the event did not occur on campus I do not think its fair for them to do that to those students.  The board maybe doing something and we do not know it, but if we found a picture of a board member doing something, would we barred them from coming to meetings or even suspend them? Probably not.  That is their personal life.  The article was very good and interesting.  I would share it. Click here!

Week one of CEd0535... Blog & Reading o_O

Today we had to blog about what we learned this week. And since I did not get my book yet. It supposed to arrive by the time I get home, I will just blog about my research with the other blog sites.  I really enjoy learning more about Edmodo. I mad an account as a teacher through them so I can see "the other side" and what they have to offer.  I enjoy how you can edit a student document, draw, edit, etc right there. I like how you can post the grades, have a discussion session, create quizzes, etc.  It's very cool and helpful for teachers.

After reading some other blogs about the readings, I noticed I may not be considered a blogger, I might be a journal writer. We will see when I read more about it.  This is the first blog of the class so far. So I hope I don't get to far behind. I did not think he would have reading the first week since people had to order, buy, or wait for their books. grrrr!!!! **Fingers crossed***

Putting the pieces together...

This week for class we put all the pieces together for our Pecha Kucha.  The first day I uploaded all my photos to voicethread.  Then I re-arranged them in the correct order and the next day I followed my story board for a steady flow to record.  However; that did not go as well.  I was stuck, I was going to fast, I was going to slow, and so on.  I found myself getting frustrated with the information I had.  I was asking myself what am I doing wrong. Once I took a breather I returned to my assignment.  Next time this will takes more than a week for me to do, since we have different schedules and a lot of outside issues to deal with. 

Tonight we meet with our group and I want to know how they handled thier Pecha Kucha. Speaking of meeting with our groups, I did not like last week meeting. We used faceflow, and there were no faces flowing across my screen at all.  Deb had to be the middle man, Deb could only hear Josh, Josh and I could not hear each other.  I hope we do not use that this time. It was horrible!!

After reviewing some of the documents provided by the professor, I can say some information I already knew.  I had to look up information for 280Slides and it was an easier search for me. Nothing fascinating at all.  I like 280Slides concept as well.

Well, this is all I have to say about this week. I hope you all have a good rest of the week and a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Peace....

Week four.. Prezi and More!!!

This week I was able to do more research for my Pecha Kucha.  When we met in class on Thursday I did not know for certain what I was going to do as my final assignment.  After consideration I decided to do 20 slides for the home buying process. Since I closed on my home this past Spring, I think its helpful to share that information to others.  After doing the story board for it, it's becoming more easy for me.  I did think it was going to be difficult, but thanks to Louis, we can get a more understanding of it. 

During our reading for Digitales, I noticed I wished I had more knowledge of copyright laws and rights. With better knowledge of this I know I am able to use more photos or other peoples documents. I will not be nervous or asking myself is it safe to use this.  Just because it's on the web does not mean it's safe to use.

The prezi assignments, we did before in another class, seems fun looking at others.  I remember the first time I did a prezi and received good feedback on what to do better. Today I'm using that feedback, and I hope we all will see improvement. Prezi is a little tricky when you get to zoom in and out. I was confused on that, because I didn't know how the user would view it first (zoomed in or out).  This time I am taking my time to improve and use knowledge that I received before.

I noticed this class is giving me a lot of ideas I can use at home as well since I am not a teacher. I find myself talking about voicethread so much and now Prezi is becoming better for me.  I'm excited... but of course it's raining outside and I wish I could sleep right now..

Until next time =)

Week 3 Revision!!!

This week was an okay week for me. When I had to redo my presentation it was  a little tough for me.  I had ideas on what to present, but I don't think my presentation turned out well.  I did my best though! Other than that, the elements listed in Digitales was a good list.  I noticed that I had to adapt at least one of the elements- Creative Tension- I did say this would be hard for me.  I'm use to telling good stories and having a happy ending.  I like the ideas about quotes being used, but I hope the quotes don't be over-used.  I must remember to post my pictures that I take daily with my camera phone.  That is a little challenging because it's not directly from my phone! I hope to get them all posted by tomorrow (Wednesday).  That assignment is fun, but you can really forget to keep posting them daily.  That will be my goal for next week is to post daily.

Good Night!!!

Voicethread and more!!!

This week in class we looked at voicethread which can be found here!  Voicethread is a wonderful resource for story telling.  I enjoyed how the class worked on a history subject: Civil Rights Movement to do an example of voicethread.  It went perfect with our assignment.  I also learned more in history this week after viewing other people presentations.


Also this week we looked at standards again.  I remember when I started this cohort and Zac was my partner.  He broke down the different education standards, and I find it funny that we are going over these again.  I understand that it's for the multimedia purposes and now and we are comparing or seeing other ways we can use the standards.  I am hoping I am doing this part of the assignment correctly.  After reviewing other examples I believe I understand the assignment.


This week has taught me that we can use digital storytelling for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.  If you ant to discuss your family tree, give examples of "how-to," recipes, etc you can do that with digital storytelling.  This is something I can see myself using for anything.  I love it.  I had the fun working with voicethread as well.


Check out my voicethread presentation on Emmitt Till ---> here!


I cannot wait to see what next week has to offer!!!!

Digital Storytelling Class 530

My first thought about having to take this class was of course WHY?!? I honestly thought this had something to do with all photography.  After watching some examples of digital storytelling, I figured out why we are taking this class. This class seems like its going to be a great learning experience for me.  I am excited to take this class and to see what all it has to offer.  I hope to learn in which areas I can use digital storytelling in a classroom or training environment.  I do understand its well known for history classes and I can see why.  



I think digital storytelling would be excellent for a breaking the ice assignment.  We do have some students and co-workers who are very quiet or shy.  Since this storytelling is digital they will not have to worry about speaking aloud.  It's all tapped and you can have some fun changing your voice with this.  


I am hoping to learn more about digital storytelling. 

And we come to a end of 525

Yesterday's class was a learning expierence for me.  I learn somethings from not being a teacher and I really enjoyed lisenting to Nate's presentation because I was once a student of music and I remember always using PENCIL and paper to write out music down and taking notes.   It's crazy how things change and they have software/programs such as Noteflight which is an online application that help individuals write music.   I do wonder if this site teaches individuales how to read music as well.  That would be awesome. I remember using paper and learning the acronym FACE. Every good boy does fine.  I miss those days, ha!

This class was very fundamental for me.  I learned what type of tactics I can use in a classroom and which ways teachers should use them now and how teachers were using them then. I can say I learned a lot in the class. 

Week 5. Class 525

This week in class was very questionable for me.  Or should I say, I am more nervous for the presentation we have to do tomorrow in class. Even though I am not a teacher I used a project my job has me doing and modified it, just like the rest of the class had to do for one of their curriculum's.  My biggest fear right now, is if I did it correctly.  We shall see tomorrow at eight p.m. 

In the last chapters we read for class, we read about similarities and differences, generating hypothesis, and homework & practice.  All these tactics were used by me and everyone else growing up. Similarities and differences supposed to help the individual quickly figure out what the 'subject' does not have in common.  It's a compare and contrast tactics to me.  It takes a lot of thinking for similarities and differences to me. 

Generating hypothesis is one of my favorites.  Some may say its a lot of work, but I think you  get better results when you try it yourself and also if you are an individual that like to test yourself or see how much you really know.  It can take awhile by testing something, not getting the result you expected on and having to do it again.  It's more work than the others and it's making you think about different ways to get an answer to you test.

Homework and Practice are the very first way we all learned to become perfect.  Practice makes perfect! We hear that every where, in school, church, band, doing homework, from our parents, friends, etc.  But it's true, practice does make perfect.  When a student gets the homework, they are learning especially if they keep practicing it.  It's their choice to do it, but more of the parent's choice to be on them and constantly reminding them what is important.  This reminds me of the UNCF statement, "The mind is a beautiful thing to waste" and it is.  Practicing something, you will become perfect at it.  One should practice what they really love and then it will become a passion for them.

A little late but week 4

What a busy week and weekend... But after watching the two videos for the class, I must say they were not as much interesting. I lost interest right away.  I do understand what he is saying in the "How cognitive surplus will change the world" video about day care. How the parents kept coming late and later after they only charged $10 for late pick-ups. They didn't think about the teachers and that's how it becomes teachers doing to much and they don't notice it.  With my mom being a day care provider I see that all the time.  However the fee is higher, but parents still do not care.  If parents decide to go shopping or go out for a bite with a friend, they are going to do it. 


Cooperative Learning:


I like cooperative learning a lot.  I do believe if you put individuals in a group they will learn more information from other students/classmates.  Students an put ideas together and it's supportive.  If students can learn by singing than those students should sing.  Teachers should put a group of singers together.  If another group of students can learn by drawing them let them draw.  Putting a group together in ways that enhance their learning is a great idea.  Something I would do in the future.


Reinforcing Effort:


I never understood what reinforcing effort was until I read the book and some other blogs.  Giving feed back is considered reinforcing effort.  We are telling the students how good their work is, and what else they can do to better there work.  This should be done EVERYWHERE and in EVERY classroom. I remember in one of our classes we talked about something like reinforcing effort and I thought it was important to hear good words and also words that would help better myself and my paper.  Reinforcing effort is important for students. 

Week 3 of Class 525... Maps and more

This week for class we looked at different online tools for sorting out information and mind mapping.  I did look at all the links provided by the teachers.  I think I could use some of those, but not all of them.  The first one I liked the most was Mindmeister. I like how the students can add notes just for the teacher can see them, they are allowed to be creative and make them look nice.  It's very flexible if you wanted to move some information around or change your thoughts.  Nice and easy to use this resource.

The next one I looked at was Exploreatree.  This one reminds me of mind mapping but you can make it creative as well.  You are allowed to add comments, reminders (like side notes), and add pictures.  This reminds me of google doc and PowerPoint presentations.  You can present and share this info all from notes.  It's taking notes and presenting at the same time.  No need to take notes on one page, put your thoughts on another then make a presentation.  It's all done here, which is COOL!!! Exploratree is easy to use and play with. If you made a mistake all you have to do is hit the undo button or simple press the "x" to delete your mistake.  You can also see other people comments and collaborate which makes it easy for students to work together.  I like this one the BEST... 

The last one I would like to talk about is the graphic organizers. Here you can find a lot of different type of mind maps to use.  I remember starting off with these kind of organizers. This are more simple and boring to me.  I think to keep a student more interesting, one should use exploratree or mindmeister.  Its easy to write it but if you're using this document on the computer, I think it's more work.  You have to make sure you are typing in the circles/squares.

Learning about feedback, recognition, and objectives... 525 week 2

During class this week I learned somethings about in the slide show, when she had the students fill out different types of feedback resources that they know already.  I was lost and did not know what she was asking until I saw some of the answers.  I like that this week we explored some of the resources, because I am not a teacher and I am learning some of the resources that is out there to use.  It's preparing me for what is yet to come.  I like Rubistar, Quizstar and Quia. I think rubistar is a great website for teachers to make rubrics, it's already set up, all you have to do is enter the information you want on there. There are different kinds you can select form as well. With quizstar I like how there are options for students to review quizzes and teachers to make up quizzes. Not only is this going green and saving paper but it's faster and easier for the students to gain access at anytime. I wonder can you set a timer on quizstar? I will most defiantly use those resources.


After reading the article "Feedback that fits", I am very pleased with it. I can agree to some information provided in the article and I did learn somethings as well.  I like this statement "But feedback is only effective when it translates into a clear, positive message that students can hear." This statement is very true.  When a student understands what the teacher is saying other than this is good or figure it out yourself type of attitude, it's a better result for the student. It's listed perfectly clear under the topic 'Student Understanding and Control'.  It stated "That means, first, that the student has to be able to hear and understand it. A student can't hear something that's beyond his comprehension, nor can a student hear something if she's not listening or if she feels like it's useless to listen" This is explained perfect, because I find myself doing that too. If I don't find it useless I will not listen.


As far as the feedback area in this article, I learned some good points. Choosing which mode to give feedback in I think this was the best one: "Individual feedback tells a student that you value his or her learning, whereas group feedback provides opportunities for wider reteaching." I did not know that about the group feedback, it makes perfect since though.


 I agree with this statement as well, "Feedback should be specific enough that the student knows what to do next, but not so specific that you do the work. Identifying errors or types of errors is a good idea, but correcting every error doesn't leave the student anything to do." I personally agree to this because it should help the student. You as a teacher, should have the student thinking and not just getting through with work so easy or doing everything for them.  Teachers must push the student to do some work for them.  I think this is a good idea for parents as well.  Some parents may do the work for the student and not show them how they got the answer they got.  I like good criticism, some may call it hard/harsh, but it's really not.  I like it because it makes me want to do better.


I really enjoyed this weeks assignment because I am learning something new about feedback, etc.  Great lesson week =)

First blog for class 525.....

Before receiving a late email, I almost thought we had another week of rest. But I guess not, lol that's what the cohort program is about.  After opening the email I seen which professor we had and I thought to myself oh oh, we are going to have a lot of homework.  Luckily this week we didn't have that much homework.  This time I have a new group again, I'm group mates with Jessica Ische. 


After reading both of the links provided for our class it seems like were going to put some plans together or rather do something different than playing with technology.  I noticed in the first article we were assigned to read, "Principles of Teaching and Learning", was more of a help for the teachers.  Under the learning tab I found the first bullet point so true. I think every student, even us comes into a class with prior knowledge or something we gained from another class.  This is how we learn. Everything mentioned in this article was good.  The second article "A meta-anaylsis of the effectiveness of teaching and laerning", was more boring for me.  I do not like research and this article talked more about research.


I am looking forward to the class and what's it has to offer, but not all the work :)  I would like to do something different from the technology, but I am going to miss the technology part of it.


Blogging later.......

I can't believe 520 is OVER :(

My last week in this class was fun as well.  I had a blast with the final meeting our team --James and Shawn--had.  They both are hilarious and I will work them most definitely again.  I was a little "salty" at the fact that I could not participate in the group discussion on last week in class.  I had signed onto my moms computer because we had a family event going on at her home, come to find out no mic. But there is a camera. I was confused doing the audio set up it said could not locate the mic. Maybe moms should upgrade, ha!


But more importantly, the assignments this week were common sense and nothing new. I can honestly say I never heard of Creative Commons.  It sounds like a pleasant and cool idea, without having people get in trouble.  We discussed photos and how some of us was between slide # 10/11, if it was not allowed or not. I didn't think it was allowed, because a person can always say they didn't agree about a posting you posted on facebook or any network site.

Talking about Internet safety, I feel safe that I can order stuff online. I only visit sites that I'm aware of and that I always go to.  I'm comfortable browsing the web and doing other activities on the web.  The children safety assignment was fairly easy to do. We had fun with it and hope the class enjoy the project.  I wish Shawn the best of luck, while he is soon to graduate and finish the program, and the rest of the class mates... well... a couple of months left!!! :)

Week 3 of class 520

Week three was fun!!! I actually started a great conversation during the session about home schooling.  I'm not a fan of home schooling, I think a student would not be as social as if they were in a public/private school.  I think home schooling is more for parents to have control of their kids and like someone said also their spiritual belief.  Other than that, we talked about different tools and worked with our groups a lot this week. I like my group team Zombie, even though I love Vampires, ha! I'm a twilight fan!!! We work well together, we used google + hangout again, they actually introduced me to that. 

Some of the tools that we learned or talked about in class this week, we used in our previous classes.  So the assignment was a little easy. One tool I didn't like a lot or didn't help me a lot was toxbox.  The website didn't help much. I don't think I would use that one personally.   Week three was a fun week for me, again.!!! I'm enjoying this class more and more.

...Until next time.....

Exploring Week 2.. WIKI's and all....

This week during class, I thought we were going to have a lot of work, but it wasn't.  I actually had fun doing my evaluation assignment and using the chat via our wolfmail. Shawn Beatty has been helping me with my form. I was confused at first but I fixed the little issues I had and now my evaluation form works fine.  Dealing with WIKI's for the second week was wayyyy easier.  I never used WIKI before and my first week I struggled. I was putting my answers under comments lol.  I now know that I should edit the document first then post my thoughts. 

Reading how people feel about Wikipedia was another assignment.  After reading that assignment my thoughts/feelings about Wikipedia remained the same.  I go back and forth with Wikipedia and use it as a starting point, but I won't say it's a very bad source site to go view.

Learning how one should search the web was a good reading assignment as well.  I like the NETS that we should look for when searching the web. If we use those, then we all will be better searchers. I am learning a lot this week in class.  Let's see what next week has to offer...

First Week of Internet Learning Resources class

My first week of Internet Learning Resources class was nice, quick, and enjoyable.  I enjoyed this class from the start because the instructor was interesting to listen too. I can't really explain how exactly he's different from the others, but this one instructor seems to be so cool and understanding.  I can understand him better than my last class.  Maybe because my last class dealt with more teachers, and since I'm not a teacher I felt a little left out of the class. I didn't talk or participate as much, but for this class it seems like it's going to be different.  I'm looking forward to this class and the possibilities it has to offer.

Reflection on course 515... The tools course

This class was a amazing class.  Not only did I have a new partner to work with--Zac-- which was amazing and I was nervous at first but he helped me understand a lot more about teachers and some abbreviations that I was confused about at first.  As we may remember, if you read my first blog for this class. I was nervous about it. I didn't think I was going to last because all the work.  As a team we did great and I really appreciate all the help Zac provided. 

This class was a bit more learning for me, exactly what I'm paying to attend school for.. LEARNING, ha!  I learned more about different research tools, online writing tools, and more features/programs in Google Docs.  Using the spreadsheets was the most different tool I used in Google Docs. I was use to the Microsoft way of spreadsheets, that's what made it difficult for me. 

This class benefited me a lot of ways. I did learn about tools and how teachers don't really have a voice in the new software that comes across. I had fun doing the software evaluation.  Using a software evaluation form was benefiting because you can use that form at work, school, and home.  This can help you decide if the software is good for you and your students.  Dave, the instructor was very cheerful every time we met on skype or in class.  I must say, when you have a enthusiastic teacher you become comfortable and not afraid to participate or be bored.

Amazing class....

Until next time you all

Support your students future.... My thoughts!

Good morning and happy Tuesday,

After going over that last two chapter in our classroom book titled, "Supporting Learning with Technology", I found chapter 10 to be the more "fitting" chapter for me.  I like the title alone of chapter 10 and I'm a big fan of supporting anyone that want's to exceed in technology and enhance their technology skills.  One must understand what the student(s) want and then you can support them from there. 

Explaining information to the students will be very helpful.  Knowing the guidelines to help support students is a must.  This is mentioned in the book--the guidelines.  Of course you have to know the up to date products, software, and information in order to succeed with helping.  The three trends that they have listed on page 264 in figure 10.1 is very helpful.  As I said before technology is taking over the world.  Supporting one's idea about learning about more technology or technology for the first time, won't be a bad idea. 

Chapter nine had great topics and ideas for teachers.  I like all the administrative tools they have listed for teachers. When ever I become one, I would look into those tools.  Having professional development (PD)  seems very important in this weeks lesson.  There are certain characteristics of PD that are listed in this chapter as well.  This chapter as well as chapter 10 are good outlines for teachers.

This week in class is a lot of work to me!! Doing the google site for the classroom was fun, I never used that before.  The only software I used to make a web page was in my web page class, which was FrontPage.  That sounds so old now, ha!!!

Until then folks.

Week 4 for course CED 515.

I attempted to watch a video for this weeks lesson.  Every computer I used did not have real player on it. I download it but a blank page appear.  I did chose the area of technology.  Like before I want to do something with technology and students. The video I wanted to watch was the I love spiders for the Kindergarten class. This would have been a great project for that grade level. It's introducing the children how to explore the web, how to upload files, and send e-mails.  When children start young it's easier for them to use the new software or move from one class to another.  They will have experience and it will be easier for the next teacher.  Also technology is taking over a lot of things now, so starting this young will be a wonderful idea.

Spreadsheets & NeTrekker

I'm blogging so late due to a crazy weekend I had.  This past week in class we talked about spreadsheets and using a online researching tool provided by schools named NeTrekker.  When I first used NeTrekker it was so hard. I had to use the YouTube videos on how to search and look for items using NeTrekker.  I was getting so irritated that I had to take a breather, ha!  It was hard looking for different spreadsheets that other peers did not post on the discussion forum.  There was not a lot of choices to choose from for this assignment. I was tempted to use another resourcing website.  I took my time and found something though. 

Spreadsheets are easy for me to do.  Using google docs for the first time was fun as well.  The only thing I noticed is that whenever I click the link the professor gave to us, I can't copy it in my wolfmail account.  My wolfmail account is connected to my Gmail account, so it defaults it to the Gmail one.  I decided to do my own simple recipe since it was not in my favor.  Other than that, this week lesson was good.

I'm looking forward for next week, then we get a BREAK.. whoo hooo....

Online Word Processing

This week in class we discussed online word processing.  Every since I started the program here at Stritch I then started using Google Docs.  This was the first work processing program I ever used.  In class we learned about more and in the first week of class we used another one. I believe the name of it was Writewithme or Teachwithme. I don't recall the exact name but the program was a very helpful and fun program to use.  It reminds me of Google Docs, except you get to chose a color you want to be in that program.  Online word processing would be very helpful in group discussion, group projects, etc.  I can see myself in the near future using online word processing in my classes.

Using Productivity Tools Effectivly -CEDO 515

The new class is so far a lot of busy work or simply just a lot of work.  I'm going crazy trying to juggle all of this work and work at my job lol and take care of my child. Whew!!! ***Wipes for head****. I do understand this is a Masters Program, but this is the only class so far that's changing things up.  I was use to the same group of people that I was working with, now almost everyone has to change their schedules around to work with the new groups.  No complaint though!

I was excited to do the graphics presentation and the PowerPoint one, but then I looked at the additional homework we have to answer from the book, I was like oh eem geee (OMG).  I hope I survive through this class. I'm already counting down the days I have left and when I get a break.  All I can do is wait and do all the work I can do.  This first week was  A LOT of work.

to be continued.....

Excited

Happy Wednesday everyone.  I'm just excited today because everything is moving as planned.  I'm closer to closing on my home, which should happen in a week or two.   Then mother's day is coming up.  I love making my mother proud and happy and to show she's the best mother and I adore her, I always send her some where.  Unfortunately this time she's only going to the pfister hotel for one night with my favorite auntie.  I'm treating them to massages and then there headed to Chicago (Chi-town). 

I start a new class tomorrow and I wonder how it will be.  This is the first instructor to have us purchase a book and I don't know what to think.  I like reading but I hope the material to read is not boring (Zzz) The only thing I can do is see.  Other than that, the sun is shinning and it suppose to be a sunny day here in Milwaukee.  55 to 60 degree weather is winning!!!! yay. 

Have a wonderful day all

Reflecting back on MEIT 510

This class has been a little of a learning experience for me. When I first started the class I was a little intimidated because I'm not a teacher and I feel I have to work harder than others.  Whenever I met with my teammates, I felt comfortable, I was not as nervous and I have been in the past, well when I first started this course.  But to reflect on this class, I remember doing some of this work in my undergraduate studies for my major in computer science.  I did learn more about Ubuntu and Slax.  I don't recall learning about those two operating systems in my undergrad course.  Doing the under the hood project was fun for me! I enjoyed doing that five years ago, it brought back memories.  I found watching Triumph of the nerds video interesting.  I think it's crazy that I never heard of those videos before.  This class had a lot of work to do, but it was well worth it.

Triumph of the Nerds and Social Network

Happy Monday All...

So this weekend, Saturday I decided to relax and enjoy some "me" time.  While my daughter is away and it was a beautiful day I ordered "The social network" on demand.  I started laughing while watching the movie because it reminds me of and assignment we had to do in our MEIT 510 class.  When I watched the last version of Triumph of the Nerds I thought it was interesting to find out that people that artist were stealing ideas.  That's the same thing that happened here in The Social Network. They said that Mark from facebook stole some guys ideas from school.  I just think that's crazy how people say it's stealing.  What he did was take their idea but made it better and added a lot more to it.  They called Mark the next Bill Gates and he's the youngest billionaire.  I believe he's the next Bill Gates.

I just thought that was interesting to me.

:::.....Security......:::

This week in class we talked about Internet security.  I watched all the videos that the professor in our class offered us to watch.  It talked about why security is important, and how to check to see if your computer is safe/free from viruses.  If you would like to check it out yourself, here's the link to it.  To run the audit on your computer to see if it's virus free we used this link as well.  I ran the audit on my mom's computer and I can't wait to go home to find out the results.  When I was walking out the house, heading to work, so far she had one infection that required attention.  I thought that was funny because she currently has Norton 360 on her computer.  I came with the conclusion that either my mom has not ran her audit check using Norton or Norton is failing.  I think it's nice for Microsoft and other companies to provide free services to check your computer. 

Security is a really high risk when working with computers. There are plenty of ways to detain people's information. I actually seen those (rogue) type of messages on the home and work computer. It's very freaky how it happens. They are forcing themselves to copy one of your hard drives on your computer and downloading the fake "anti-software". I say fake because they are getting all of your information that's on your hard drive, but they tell you your computer is at risk and they are downloading the latest security on your computer.   It's very disturbing and scary. Sometimes you may become eerie about going on certain sites and you don't know if it contains a virus or not, if it's real or fake. The first thing I learned in high school about malicious malware and viruses, was to check for spelling. I have noticed if you read it very fast you won't notice it.

I remember I became a individual of fraud from a fake google offer. I received a job offer that told me to go to this google website and fill out the application. You must pay $25 dollars to start and you will receive a packet in the mail. (It was a work from home offer with Google). I was desperate for a better job, just graduating from college and working for Google would be a great dream coming true and a great company to work for. I remember hearing something or seeing something about it being fake. I couldn't sleep that night either, I kept telling myself something is not right about that ad. I called my bank the next day and they cancelled that pending transaction and also sent me out a new card with a new number. It was a scam that was going around. I was terrified about it. The computer I was using didn't have any protection on it either. I blame myself for that incident though. You will experience it one day, but don't be surprise when it happens. Hopefully you will be prepared for it.

Viruses?!? hmmmm

This week's lesson was about viruses in our class. I was a little excited to learn why Mac's don't have viruses.  It told me a little of why not, but I'm sure I can research on my own as well to find out. 

I have a Mac myself and haven't used it yet.  I did learn about some of the anti-virus software/programs that they have for Macs.  I believe one of them are the iantivirus programs.  I already knew about the other programs like Norton and Avg.  Bitdefender was new to me!  I remember cleaning my aunt's computer that had more than 715 problems of malware on it.  It was sad to see that she was dumb found to such a thing. 

I took my time to clean it and now since I put Norton on it, it's been running well; not the best, but well.  In class, they mentioned how the viruses/malware problem persists. At my job (Time Warner Cable) we have a lot of those issues.  People don't listen to the IT department when they send out e-mails telling us not to open with a title saying "E card from Kim Love".  People still open them and they spread so fast! It's ridiculous to see people opening documents they know they are clueless about.  Then it takes the IT department days to fix the computers only because there's four members on the IT team here.  I know there're a lot we can do to try and prevent the viruses, but they will never go away. 

By the way, this week's class was fun for me, even working with my group on the OS program. 

Talk to you all later...

Feeling different

As I proceed with my new class-Computers and How they work-I am becoming a little weary.  I am the only person in class that's NOT a teacher and comments I hear the professor say to me is a little intense.  I know I'm not the best in grammar or English, heck better yet writing.  I try my best to do well with what I know and what I have.  When I feel things are directed towards me I then become quiet because I don't want to be mislead.  I hope my classmates understand that I'm trying to write on a level that they are on. I have a bad habit of writing how I talk.  I know this is a Masters program so I'm trying to do better.

Enough of that....

The activities we are doing in the class--under the Hood-- reminds me of my Junior year at Lakeland College. We had to assemble and disassemble and entire computer (well the tower).  It was so much fun. I also remember taking courses about operating systems and networking.  Those were the best classes because it was so much hands on.

To be continued................

My (Jessica Bragg) Computer History

Wow!!! My computer history goes back to when I was around the age of 8 or 9 years old.  My mom bought my first apple computer. I honestly do not remember the name of it, but it was so OLD.  I noticed myself putting the computer together with out reading the instructions on how to do so.  Then the next thing you notice I was typing with out looking at the keyboard.  I can't remember exactly how things got started but it was amazing. 

I remember my mom enrolling me to this program at Cardinal Stritch for a reading program.  During our "free time" we were able to use computers.  I was in the 6th grade when I joined this program.  The instructors let us use the computers to play games. I always wanted to play Mavis beacon, ha! That's so funny to me because it sounds so old.  The teacher noticed how fast I was typing and wanted to show others.  She did so and I'm happy that she was amazed with me because I noticed my passion for computers as well.  With her motivation I kept going.

In middle school I took all the keyboarding classes and did well in them.  I passed with flying colors.  Next I was accepted into Heritage Christian School, and I continue with my computer classes.  Java was my favorite class even though it was hard. I enjoyed publishing programs and making things work, even though I hated the programming part.  I dislike programming! 

In college I received my bachelors degree in Computer science.  Again that was a lot of programming, but I found a little liking for it.  The professor made it fun and interesting for me.  While taking college courses I noticed that the computers has change dramastically. I love it though.  I love troubleshooting and fixing computers. I also like teaching others about computers and how to use them.  It changes how I play and work.  I can do things more easier and faster now.  Even adding on usb flash drives for computers are very helpful now.  I remember the floppy disks and I still have some of them with my old work from high school on them, ha! Now we have touch screen computers, you can speak to the computer and have it type your work for you.  There's a lot of other things the computer can do, I love it too.

Down one, on to the next....

Since, I missed class on Thursday I had to listen to the recording.  Which was very helpful to do.  After listening to the recording I learned even more information that I did not know.  I'm excited about my graduate studies journey.  I still can't believe I made it this far! I'm very sadden at the fact that any of my professors before did not tell their students about the DropBox.  Do you guys know how much time, worrying, and procrastination that would have saved me?!? TONS!  I was so excited about the online storage service, I found myself explaining it to my mother.  Dropbox is the best right now. I'm not a huge fan of Evernote though.  It's more work to me, or too much going on.  Dropbox is easy and helps you get straight to the point.


It's cool that I learned what you can possible use web cam's in classrooms for.  I was soooo against it, until I heard the possibilities you can use them for.  I guess exercising our mind is not so hard! Every time I heard an idea what you can use them for I kept telling myself "oh" lol.  Also, I started following some people blogs!


I can't wait until our next course starts.  I'm ready to learn more and continue working with this great group of people.  I can honestly say that so far I'm happy that I started this program. Now we are down one class and on to the next one (class).


Until next time....

As the week goes by

The past week has been moving along very fast.  I'm still nervous with school and all seeing as though everyone in the class is a teacher except for me and one other student.  When I met with my group on Sunday night I actually enjoyed it.  We discussed our information and worked on our project together.  I like that we have "vRoom" and we use elluminate to speak and meet with one another. However; I'm still nervous.

I hope that I learn a lot out of this class and keep being focus. I've been out of school for 2 years and my mind is preparing slowly but surly.  I was excited to see that Cardinal Stritch offered an MEIT program for Instructional Technology. After reading the description of the class I immediately applied for the program. My goals are to help individuals learn what I have a passion for, teach in/at a school or university.  A lot of things are going on in my mind right now.  I feel like I'm all over the place in this blog. 

Later y'all....

First Blog ever!

Hello All,

This is my first time doing a blog ever.  I always wanted to do want and I'm excited that this is a form of communication for this class.  Again my name is Jessica Bragg and I'm looking to learn a lot out of this class and program in general.  I am excited to learn new things and so far one of the new things that I learned was using Google Docs.  I am not a teacher, I'm just a student and I never used google docs before.  However; I have seen google docs on my android phone. lol.  So, I'm excited for the two new things so far--Google docs and blogging.

I hope to learn a lot of techniques that I can use one day to teach a class.  The type of class I'm looking to teach one day will be either a training class with the company I am with now, or either a Intro to computers class at an university.  As some may know I  have a passion for computers and I will love to share my passion with others.

My first day in class was very interesting!  I thought I knew about a lot of web browsers but I did not know about Flock and Opera.  That was fun getting with the group learning what each of us knew.  After doing research on Flock, I won't consider using it. lol.  After all, I hope to learn more in this class and my other classes as well.

Good night!