Assignment 4- Buying a Computer

Sitting at a desk all day is a thing of the past. Children need to have hands on participation in order to stay excited about learning. Their computer should not be mounted to a table top, but rather move around with them. A durable, reliable, affordable laptop is what all-fifth grade classrooms at our school need. That is why the HP Pavilion dv6z is the best investment to make when buying our computers.

The durable plastic cover of the HP Pavilion dv6z is what makes it so appealing to me for the fifth grader students. It is very hard to scratch or make marks on the cover. I want the students to feel like this is their computer too and not be afraid of damaging it when carrying it around the room. I’m suspecting this computer will be used almost daily by the children so I was excited to hear the the keyboard was also made out of durable plastic and had very little flex when typing with pressure. Reviews of the dv6z said it felt “rock solid” which is exactly what young kids need in a computer.

In today’s tough economy it is more important then ever to watch our spending. The HP Pavilion dv6z is priced at a reasonable six hundred dollars. This is also including a printer with a mail in rebate. The Dell Studio XPS that is similar to this HP is priced just over a thousand dollars. That is about four hundred dollars worth of savings just because of the brand name and a few features we won’t need in our classrooms.

Extra amenities that this computer offers that will help in the classroom include a built in video camera, Altec speakers and great battery life. I’m excited about the built in video camera because it will be a fun and easy way to get as many guest speakers into the room. I’m hoping to set of video conferences for the students to talk to people in the areas were learning in class. The Altec speakers are supposable the best out there as far as volume and clarity are concerned. I think the teachers will appreciate the whole class being able to hear with ease when showing examples on the screen. A great battery life is often taken for granted when picking out a computer but in our case it is very important. Students don’t want to have to constantly sit by an outlet when using a computer and with the HP Pavilion dv6z it shouldn’t be an issue if charged everyday after school.

I’m excited to get new computers for the students because I think in the long run it will make learning more fun and effective for them. With all these great features I see no downsides to the dv6z and hope you consider it when making your final choices on what to get the fifth grade classrooms.

inventory assignment #2

Margaret Price

Taking a Cognitive Style and Learning Style Inventory online was an easy way to become aware of my personal preferences when it comes personality traits and learning styles. It is important for teachers to be aware of their students preferences when it come to learning so they can more effectively communicate their messages to their students.
The Cognitive Style inventory was a very brief questionnaire that ultimately summarized my personality down to four types. First I was characterized as having very Extraverted characteristics when it comes to my most natural energy orientation. This means I feel deprived when cutoff from interaction with the outside world and I tend to act first, think later when it comes to my decision making. The second question was to identify which way of understanding was most automatic for me to pick up. I ended up have many sensing characteristics which include mentally living in the now and having a memory recall that is rich in detail. The third question seemed almost identical to the second question and gave me no new information towards my learning style. Lastly my action orientation towards the outside world is a very perceiving one, multitasking does not fluster me nor am I afraid of time pressure situations. I feel this test was much to brief to accurately describe ones true personality, however the answers returned to me from http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html seemed to be accurate in their description of my personality because I did not disagree with one type they labeled me as. However, I think if i were to administer this questionnaire to my students I would find a website that had more questions relating to each style so I could rest assured the information i was getting back was an accurate description of my students.
The learning style inventory from http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/results.asp was much more in depth compared to the cognitive style inventory because this website had a seventy question survey compared to four. I was not surprised to find out that my preferred learning styles were social, physical and verbal. I am a very athletic person where social and verbal skills are key to learning new plays so I feel as if over time I have become accustomed to using these styles towards my learning in the class room as well. Although I was surprised to see that my visual score was so low. Being an artist and an athlete I find myself watching how people do things a lot before I attempt it on my own so I thought visual would actually be my most preferred style of learning.
Overall I think it would be helpful for anyone to take these inventories so they can be aware of their preferred styles when it comes studying or working on a paper etc. I would defiantly recommended these fast, easy to understand surveys to educators of all ages.

Computer Assignment #1

Maggie Price        

        Assignment 1- Technology in Education

            My senior year of high school I was given the opportunity to intern for my former fifth grade teacher. I was ecstatic to finally have hands on experience in the classroom, as well as an opportunity to give back to my community at the same time.

            Walking through the front doors of Rachel Carson Elementary School for the first time in seven years brought back many bittersweet emotions. Bitter because the days of art class and recess were no longer a part of my life and sweet because it was in these very halls that my life began. At first glance little seemed to have been changed since my departure, sure the ceilings were a bit shorter and the desks not as spacious as I once remembered but overall the positive learning atmosphere still remained. It wasn’t till the next day when I accompanied the class to the computer room that I saw how much technology had improved from my time there. The room that once housed ten moving box sized computers now was the home to at least forty flat-screened dells. I was shocked to see fifth graders able to produce a quality power point presentation on their recent trip to colonial Williamsburg in a few short hours. They made uploading pictures, adding audio and visual effects to the presentation all seem like second nature to them. I was in awe that they possessed a skill at 10 years old that I did not learn till a freshman in high school.

            To me educational technology is the use of any television, music or computer program that helps the child learn more proficiently in the classroom. The role of educational technology is to make the learning process more enjoyable and effective on students, while giving the teacher more options with lesson plans in the classroom. Technology is often able to work alongside the teachers to make concepts easier on students to grasp. The downside to educational technology is that it does not run cheap. Often decent computers and televisions are not priced so that every school system can afford them. Some may argue it’s not fair for some students to have access to these new devices while others are denied. In addition to high prices technology often malfunctions. It is much harder to replace a broken computer then it is to fix a broken piece of chalk. 

             Like all things educational technology should be used rationally in the classroom. Students should still have to read novels even if there is a movie out about the subject or work math problems out on paper even if the computers calculator is able to do it much quicker. However if used correctly, technology can speed up the learning process for many students and allow the teacher to cover more information than ever before. I’d like to see students taking tests online to speed up how fast they can receive feedback on their performance. Also I think it would be beneficial to both the students and the teachers if more elementary students had homework due online. This would eliminate losing homework on the way to school and make for convenient grading for the teacher. Without my time spent in the classroom I would be ignorant of the increase of technology being used as a teaching tool and how proficient teachers most be with technology just to keep up with students.