Sarah+DuPree

= = =Biography= Hi my name is Sarah DuPree. I am a junior and am a secondary history and government education major. My technology disaster was that in my senior year of high school in an AP English class we had a big project/paper that we were supposed to work on and present. Mine didn't save when i though it did so, i had two hours before the class to redue it all that had before thaken me a week to make. Still got a b on the assignment thought, but very stressful.

Not best picture, but that's me running a race. toc

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Web Exemplars
Since i would be teaching a secondary history class (preferably eighth or ninth grade) a Christopher Columbus lesson might acutally be useful at times. From looking at the web i think that i found a good one and a bad one. Bad one- http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/christopher-columbus.htm In this webiste it contains a lot of good information within it about Christopher Columbus, his life, and voyages. At the same time though it is confusing because it seems to be hard to access certain information. Also, the facts of importance are all jumbled up and hard to make sense of since so much is in such a little space. It is also not helpful that there are many other links to other sites that have nothin got do with the explorer. Good one- http://www.columbusnavigation.com/ THis is a good site because it highlights the important parts, easy to access and gives brief but important information about the explorer. Also, the format is simple and easy to understand. There are also links on top to help search the site for what is of interest. The color of the writing pops out well, especially the importnat information that is also a link.

Talk
After looking at the web exemplars of fellow students i think for the most part we agreed. For some though we definetly disagreed. For the site http://www.columbusnavigation.com/ i thought it was a good site, while others though it was uncreditable and kind of not useful. DIsagreements on sites shows good ways to find out what instructional sites will work for our students. Some thing to look for is the availablilty of access for students, the credibility of the site and its information, an author and their background of the topic, whether or not it is useful to the student, and if it keeps students interested and easy to understand for whatever subject or grade level. I totally agree with Samantha Rist on her good example b/c it's the same as mines. For the bad one, the enchanted learning one is pretty bad. It's difficult to keep attention because so much is going on.

03-05-08-Site Design
After looking through everyone elses ideas on making a website for students i think the most important thing to entail is accessibility. Overall many people in class seem to think that it is important to make the webiste conventional and easy for studetns to understand. The website ideals should have a basis to work from and have many tools to help students navigate throughout the site. A good idea when designing a site for students is make sure to keep it simple and not confuse. A good technique would make sure the links are kept short, a place for help for students or parents, and make sure the site is straightforward in the use of it without putting extra things within it. Overall a site for students that is easily accessible will probably bring about more use on it and students can better understand its importance. When looking at Richards site design ideas i think they are very thorough and have good goals for students. The site seems pretty organized and hopefully students will be able to use it, also i like how he has the link for helping students. To make this site desgin a little better though it might help if he had a way for parents to see it and understand what's going on, also the sublink can kind of be confusing as to their use. Overall i think the site will help students and it seems very accessible.

3-7-08-Site Design
After reading Pynchon's article on Luddites main goal was to help people understand the roles and what Luddites are in our society over time. The article was interesting because i have never heard of the term used before. It was interesting to see that Luddites seem to have had a bad reputation since they are seen as people who dislink technology in our world. At the same time though it can be understandable when technology is taking the place of humans such as jobs. Overall what i got from this article is that the author is trying to explain what a Luddite is, where they come from-their background, and how they have been percieved historically. To make this article easier to understand for a high school student (preferably a history class) i would try to tie the article into a lesson of an event that could coincide with Luddites. Since i even had trouble reading through this article i think that it might help to provide a timeline, or a discussion in class on the article to better understand it and see what peers thought of it as well. A debate on the pros and cons of Luddite ideals might also help connect the students to understanding the topic as well.

Communities
For my wiki i think that Facebook as well as Youtube would be very helpful for my class and wiki i would have. Facebook would be great for outside use by creating groups based on each topic in the class. The groups would only be allowed to the students in the class and since they would probably already be using this tool a lot online maybe they would take more interest for its use on the wiki. The benefits would be better use of material through a communication tool many students probably use. I would also use Youtube. It might be difficult to monitor its useage though, but the videos would be a good supplement for lessons as well as for the individual students to better understand if they are more visual learners. The Youtube has many videos on the government and would provide more information or answer questions in a new way. Youtube could also be used by students as a different tool for learning. This would benefit students because new tool as well as can choose from many options of videos on the topics in class that correlate.

Wiki Assignment
http://dupreegovernment.wikispaces.com/