Michelle Longarino

Final Portfolio

I believe that it is important to debrief on what this class has taught me in order to remind myself how the materials and information we learned can help me with my teaching in the future. Technology use is getting more commonly used amongst the younger crowd, and this class has showed me a way to have my students doing something productive and fun online rather than just playing nonsense games. The countless amount of new websites we were introduced to, and the free applications could and will benefit me greatly. I was already extremely familiar with M.S. Office with the apps such as power point and Microsoft word. I made the PowerPoint about myself, which I have had to do in many of my classes already. One of my favorite materials that I created during this class was with Hot Potatoes. I was able to make a matching game about colors, and it was useful to learn this because I am an early childhood/childhood education major. It was simple to use and I had fun playing with it myself.

With Hot Potatoes I was also able to make fill in the blanks and word finds. I thought this would be helpful to me in the classroom to re-teach the students concepts and help them master it. Since technology is getting more popular with the younger kids, they will also be able to do these exercises at home on their own time if I don’t want to take up too much time during class. When it comes to helping myself, and not just the kids, I really liked the PhotoFlexer website. I was able to edit images with no cost. Not only does that benefit me, (since I love taking pictures), it also benefits my students. I am now able to make great graphics and designs for activities and decorations around the classroom. There were a number of things I learned during the technology and ethics unit. if you don't charge for the thing you're using, it's not a violation. Anybody could copyright something that hasn't been copyrighted yet. This is not true because there was a law created that said that anything that you write down, it's yours. The moment you do something, it is yours. If you base your story on another work, it still belongs to you. Another name for this is derivative works. There are some exceptions to this such as parodies. Copyright violation isn't a crime. There is a huge amount of money that you could have to pay if you steal anything. I learned that almost everything is copyrighted and if it's posted on the web, it doesn't necessarily mean it's fair use. If something is in the public domain means that anybody can use the material. It is so simple to just site where you got something from so there is no use in dealing with the penalties such as getting fired and having to pay money. With open source you are allowed to make a copy of it and give it away unlike the applications we have to pay for such as Microsoft word. The TEACH act has extended copyrights of teachers. If I want to share a song or a picture with the class and only the class, I am able to do so. I learned that the bottom of most documents is something called creative comments and they explain what you are able to do with the document. This is extremely important to me as a teacher because I need to know what I can and cannot use in my classroom. I do not want to lose my job or have to pay money just because I forget to site something. From taking this class, I learned a lot of new websites I can use for resources as a teacher, and learning my copyrights will help me to use them affectively. One of the most interesting things I came across on the Internet this semester is the Free Rice website. I love that you