Ipad App Review: Concentration

On my second application review I came across a game called "concentration". This game is very helpful for students who have trouble with mathematics and geometry. This game can accommodate 2 players who take turns and have to match the contents of 12 blank squares with one another. As an instructor I would suggest this game because it doesn't overwhelm the students due to its simple gameplay, however it still requires the students to learn in a way that doesn't put too much pressure on themselves.

Ipad App Review: French

On my first application review, I saw a fun game called "French". As if the name didn't say it all, the application has multiple games for learning this language. As a student who doesn't know or even understand the language I did learn how to count to 10 in just minutes with their spelling called "word birds, in order to advance to next stage you had to spell the scrambled number without electrocuting the birds. I find this free application be very fun and educational, and the games can keep young students engaged enough to want to learn French.

When I Become A Teacher

Webquest Digital Media

Here is the digital media is used on the "Myths of pet adoption" which goes along with my Webquest on adoption and volunteerism at the local humane society.

Here is the link to my Webquest:https://sites.google.com/site/washingtonwebquest/ and it is also embedded on my favorites.

Webquest Rubric Save An Animal

Link to Website:http://questgarden.com/148/77/7/121002171331/index.htm

A Rubric for Evaluating WebQuests
The WebQuest format can be applied to a variety of teaching situations. If you take advantage of all the possibilities inherent in the format, your students will have a rich and powerful experience. This rubric will help you pinpoint the ways in which your WebQuest isn't doing everything it could do. If a page seems to fall between categories, feel free to score it with in-between points.

	Beginning	Developing	Accomplished	Score
Overall Aesthetics (This refers to the WebQuest page itself, not the external resources linked to it.)
Overall Visual Appeal	0 points There are few or no graphic elements. No variation in layout or typography. OR Color is garish and/or typographic variations are overused and legibility suffers. Background interferes with the readability.	2 points Graphic elements sometimes, but not always, contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships. There is some variation in type size, color, and layout.	4 points Appropriate and thematic graphic elements are used to make visual connections that contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships. Differences in type size and/or color are used well and consistently.  See Fine Points Checklist.	4
Navigation & Flow	0 points Getting through the lesson is confusing and unconventional. Pages can't be found easily and/or the way back isn't clear.	2 points There are a few places where the learner can get lost and not know where to go next.	4 points Navigation is seamless. It is always clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them.	4
Mechanical Aspects	0 points There are more than 5 broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	1 point There are some broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	2 points No mechanical problems noted.  See Fine Points Checklist.	4
Introduction
Motivational Effectiveness of Introduction	0 points The introduction is purely factual, with no appeal to relevance or social importance OR The scenario posed is transparently bogus and doesn't respect the media literacy of today's learners.	1 point The introduction relates somewhat to the learner's interests and/or describes a compelling question or problem.	2 points The introduction draws the reader into the lesson by relating to the learner's interests or goals and/or engagingly describing a compelling question or problem.	2
Cognitive Effectiveness of the Introduction	0 points The introduction doesn't prepare the reader for what is to come, or build on what the learner already knows.	1 point The introduction makes some reference to learner's prior knowledge and previews to some extent what the lesson is about.	2 points The introduction builds on learner's prior knowledge and effectively prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the lesson is about.	2
Task (The task is the end result of student efforts... not the steps involved in getting there.)
Connection of Task to Standards	0 points The task is not related to standards.	2 point The task is referenced to standards but is not clearly connected to what students must know and be able to do to achieve proficiency of those standards.	4 points The task is referenced to standards and is clearly connected to what students must know and be able to do to achieve proficiency of those standards.	4
Cognitive Level of the Task	0 points Task requires simply comprehending or retelling of information found on web pages and answering factual questions.	3 points Task is doable but is limited in its significance to students' lives. The task requires analysis of information and/or putting together information from several sources.	6 points Task is doable and engaging, and elicits thinking that goes beyond rote comprehension. The task requires synthesis of multiple sources of information, and/or taking a position, and/or going beyond the data given and making a generalization or creative product. See WebQuest Taskonomy.	6
Process (The process is the step-by-step description of how students will accomplish the task.)
Clarity of Process	0 points Process is not clearly stated. Students would not know exactly what they were supposed to do just from reading this.	2 points Some directions are given, but there is missing information. Students might be confused.	4 points Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know what to do next.	4
Scaffolding of Process	0 points The process lacks strategies and organizational tools needed for students to gain the knowledge needed to complete the task. Activities are of little significance to one another and/or to the accomplishment of the task.	3 points Strategies and organizational tools embedded in the process are insufficient to ensure that all students will gain the knowledge needed to complete the task. Some of the activities do not relate specifically to the accomplishment of the task.	6 points The process provides students coming in at different entry levels with strategies and organizational tools to access and gain the knowledge needed to complete the task. Activities are clearly related and designed to take the students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking. Checks for understanding are built in to assess whether students are getting it. See: Process Guides A Taxonomy of Information Patterns Language Arts Standards and Technology WebQuest Enhancement Tools Reception, Transformation & Production Scaffolds	6
Richness of Process	0 points Few steps, no separate roles assigned.	1 points Some separate tasks or roles assigned. More complex activities required.	2 points Different roles are assigned to help students understand different perspectives and/or share responsibility in accomplishing the task.	2
Resources (Note: you should evaluate all resources linked to the page, even if they are in sections other than the Process block. Also note that books, video and other off-line resources can and should be used where appropriate.)
Relevance & Quantity of Resources	0 points Resources provided are not sufficient for students to accomplish the task. OR There are too many resources for learners to look at in a reasonable time.	2 point There is some connection between the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Some resources don't add anything new.	4 points There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Every resource carries its weight.	4
Quality of Resources	0 points Links are mundane. They lead to information that could be found in a classroom encyclopedia.	2 points Some links carry information not ordinarily found in a classroom.	4 points Links make excellent use of the Web's timeliness and colorfulness. Varied resources provide enough meaningful information for students to think deeply.	4
Evaluation
Clarity of Evaluation Criteria	0 points Criteria for success are not described.	3 points Criteria for success are at least partially described.	6 points Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors. The evaluation instrument clearly measures what students must know and be able to do to accomplish the task. See Creating a Rubric.	6
Total Score				50/50

Original WebQuest rubric by Bernie Dodge.


I found this website to be simple in nature but accomplished at getting the point across. All of the links worked which is more than can be said for most of these sites. Also the navigation was seamless from platform to platform and the process is straightforward which is a huge plus when working with high school business students.

Double Journal Entry #15

Deconstructing Digital Natives: Chapter 8 Beyond Google and The "Satisficing" Searching of Digital Natives.

1. What is the purpose of this chapter? To try and understand how students who are so familiar with today's technology, yet they use it so poorly for academics.

2. What is the major finding from a review of studies that have looked at technology adoption of young people?. Does this finding seem to reflect your own use of technology? The early adoption of technology differ in gender(Males play more video games and get into disciplines where early adoption is a necessity) as well as geographic location(rural to metropolitan, on campus to off campus learners)

3. How do the authors define Information Literacy? It is defined as a set of skills and knowledge that allows the learner to find, evaluate, and use the appropriate information they find.

4. What is the "clear message" from a review of the studies focused on college students information seeking behavior? Do these findings relfect your own information seeking behaviors? The main thing I found most interesting is that students only use one search engine(Google) and don't go beyond the finding it provides. This unfortunately is the extent of my research as well.

5. What does the term "satisfcing" in the area of decision making mean? It is defined as taking the "satisfactory" option instead of the best option at any given time.

6. What are the differences to deep and surface level approaches to a learning task?It is to the extent of which one researches content.

7. What should educators aim to do to improve the scripts student have for sophisticated online information seeking? I believe that educators should dedicate a few class sessions to ensure students are using the appropriate links to research. If not that use progress reports of content resources or even give student a list of resources for them to use.

8. Why is Google's page rank system problematic for information seeking? The ranking process is flawed becuase it is ranked on how many hits it has so website such as Wikipedia is at the top of the list and that isn't bad but in order to find resources approved by educators the researcher/student would have to look much further.

9. Are you "digitally wise" when it comes to information seeking? Give an example of how you approached an information seeking task for one of your academic courses this semester (do not include this class). I would say that I am "digitally careful" because I make sure that certain links' content is as valid as I can find it. I don't use .com and try my best to find .edu or .gov-type sites.  

10. Has the popularity of the Internet and the information contained on the Web created a new problem for undergraduate students research skills? Why of Why not? It poses problems for students who are lazy(like I can be some of the time) because with so much more information available, that mean more useless and more concerning wrong content that students will use just to finish research. On the other side it can give students the opportunity to see all sides of the topic of their research which can lead to better content.

Webquest

WebQuest about WebQuests Worksheet

Print this page out and use it to jot down notes while you examine each site. Remember to stay in character as you examine the sites and don't compare notes until you get back with your four-person group.

Your Role

___Efficiency Expert

___Affiliator

X Altitudinist

___Technophile

Your Impressions

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Gorillas	1. The links on this page came from the same handful of sources, which helps students with consistency.	1. Along with the links provided there should be a little more content on the page itself.
Shakespeare	1. I particularity like the process piece on how to do a skit, it is very clear and concise for students.	1.I think that more rubric can be made a bit more clear for peer reviews.
Earthquake	1. The picture in the process window is great for not only a visual but the content to with it.	1. The only weakness I see is the dating on some of the links, the information to some can't be accessed.
Foreign Country	1. The links are current and working and familiar with students(travelocity to be specific).	1. Maybe a few more links to add to the content to make it a bit more straightforward.
Waves & Sound	1. The links are great, some link to content others to worksheets, great for students to pick up on.	1. For something like this I would make the evaluation subjective to the students. It may be hard to measure progress by this set of criteria.

Bernie Dodge, Department of Educational Technology, SDSU