CEDu581 Computer Architecture: The Final Week

"Top 10 Reasons to use Technology in your Classroom"

10. As a business education teacher, I may be asked to teach a Web Design class in the future. If so, I will need to brush up on my basic HTML and CSS, but more importantly, learn the web design programs used in our district. After fighting our way through CEDu533, I realize how important it is to have a basic understanding of HTML. However, I also understand that knowledge of programs such as Dreamweaver or MS Expression Web is necessary in order to teach a high school web design class.

9. Use search engines other than Google with students. I am amazed at how interested my students are when using metasearches such as IXQuick. It seems as if they have never used anything other than Google. They are instantly fascinated when they discover the power and results of other search tools.

8. Use presentation software other than PowerPoint. My students loved VoiceThread and MS PhotoStory when creating their business plan final exam presentations. I see tremendous potential in using Slide Rocket in the future. If I loved using it for some of our Stritch 581 projects, imagine how my students will love it!

7. Use online news resources for stock market simulations. My students no longer read newspapers or magazines as I do. They get their news from the Internet or television. As a business educator, I need to be aware of this as I design projects and assignments for stock and company research. In addition, this online news is much more timely than print.

6. Use survey sites such as SurveyMonkey or QUIA to get feedback from students regarding course content and methods of learning. As teachers, we continually strive to improve our teaching methods so that our students can learn more effectively with greater engagement. What better way to get that feedback than online surveys! I have used many of these in my business courses in order to find out what students liked and disliked about certain units. Students love to take the online surveys because they can be set up as anonymous (allowing for honesty) and they are online, which students like so much more than a paper/pencil survey.

5. Explore future uses of other classroom technology tools such as RSS feeds, Google SMS (students love their cell phones and using them for a legitimate classroom application such as stock quotes is such an engaging use of technology), Inspiration, SMART Boards, Web quests, Brain Pop, social networking, and Movie Maker. In all cases, these need to be used in meaningful ways that increase student learning and engagement.

4. Use wikis, blogs, or nings in class. Our district is piloting a new and approved wiki called Connect. In addition, we also have a blog available through our district’s student email service from Gaggle.net. I will experiment with these this summer and develop ways to incorporate them into my 7th and 8th grade Financial Life Skills curriculum for next year. I know that my students will get hooked on our stock market simulation as I introduce it through a wiki (maybe even embed a podcast), similar to what I created in Wet Paint Wiki for our 534 course.

3. Use technology to improve student engagement, thereby increasing learning. I cannot begin to count how many times a school day I am asked “Are we in the computer lab today, Mr. Nitz?” Students are so much more absorbed in our topics when they are done with technology. My action research project proved that point when I found increased learning by changing my accounting unit from overheads/pencils/paper to online/Excel/web-based teaching methods.

2. Offer learning options that appeal to my students’ various learning styles. An example of this was in my Consumerism unit. Here students were required to issue an appropriate product complaint. One choice was to write a complaint letter in Word. The second option, which most students took, was to create a cartoon with dialogue using the http://readwritethink.org/materials/comic/ online cartoon creator. The heightened level of student engagement was incredible, especially with those students who learn best visually! The quality of cartoons was equally amazing.

1. Increase LoTi and authenticity in all classes. Integrating technology into the classroom is a method that increases use of problem-solving. It provides an audience for our students and does nothing but increase the engagement of student learning. When students know they have an audience and understand how to present their work, they become so much more involved and take ownership. I have observed this when my students create their business plan presentations. Students work harder and with greater focus when they know others will be viewing their work.

CEDu581 Computer Architecture: Week 4

As I look at CEDu581 and the projects we have done, I believe I have acquired a much stronger appreciation for people involved in computer hardware and software design. I find it difficult to sit in front of a computer for most of the day, working on these assignments. I would imagine that programmers and designers, people similar to who we learned about in "Revenge of the Nerds," are wired differently than me. I cannot stay focused on one topic for more than 1-2 hours before I need to do something different. It is not necessarily the content, but the lack of movement and personal interaction. In retailing and in teaching, I am so accustomed to being on my feet all day long, working with customers, employees, vendors, and now students, teachers, parents, and staff. Blogging, emailing, and nings are great tools for communication but I guess I still prefer one-on-one, face-to-face interaction. Even when I do research on topics I consider hobbies, I still need to break up the tasks into small, manageable chunks of time, with something physical or social in between.

Our projects have made me realize how little I knew about computer software and hardware. I had never heard of Windows 7 before the Components project. Now I understand what a big deal it will be in several months. Reading my peers' Components projects was fascinating as it gave me a taste of the many rapidly-changing hardware and software topics out there. Just doing the research online demonstrates the information overload we can easily fall into.

Other areas of this class that will help me with technology, both at home and at school, include the following:

• Keeping my anti-virus software current
• Using a more effective anti-virus program
  
• Better understanding of what school district system administrators work with and how important their work is, even though we often feel their policies and procedures are annoying or counter-productive to effective learning and teaching
• Nings are vastly superior to blogs and wikis in terms of flexibility and ease of use
• More frequent file back-ups on my home computer
• Impending purchase of a back-up, portable hard drive
• Purchase of a new desktop computer in the near future with greater RAM and larger hard drive than our current 2002 Gateway PC. I now feel more comfortable with my basic knowledge of what to buy.
• There are other operating systems beyond Microsoft and Apple products!
  

CEDu581 Computer Architecture: Week 3

This was a fascinating week (or 4 weeks) because so much of what we worked on in CEDu581 tied in with what we have just done at Falls North Junior High.

First, researching Windows 7 made me wonder about our school's move from Office 2003 to Office 2007 next fall. I had several questions. I wondered if Office 2007 is compatible with Windows XP. The MS website answered that affirmatively. For some reason, I thought that Vista was necessary for Office 2007. This then made me wonder what our district is doing with our operating system. That was promptly answered by our tech people who said that we will stay with XP next year because our application launcher, Zenworks, supports XP. If Zenworks gets updated the following year, then we will move to Windows 7, skipping Vista entirely. My research on Windows 7, however, allowed me to understand that 7 is really just an upgraded version of Vista. Thanks to the Components and Linux projects, I now have a much better understanding of operating systems versus application software programs.

The second area that I learned a great deal about over these past few weeks is presentation software. My students used MS Photo Story, with fantastic results, as a method to present their business plans. Our district just installed Photo Story in our labs at North and I used this program instead of Voice Thread from last year. Our tech people wanted me to "play" with this program and report back to them. My students loved it because it was so easy to use and I loved it because my students were so engaged in creating their presentations! What an effective method for summative assessment when students cover all aspects of our business units in their Photo Story. My review of the MS Photo Story website was intriquing because the program is a free download and is marketed as "make show-and-tell cool again." As a business education teacher, I love this type of bandwagon marketing.

While working on our Components project, I thought it might be fun to try out Slide Rocket. After unsuccessfully trying to access this online program at home, I did achieve success at school. For some reason, my home computer said that every one of my email addresses already existed, preventing me from logging in. At school, no problem. I like Slide Rocket more than Voice Thread because of its superb animations and easier navigation tools. Slide Rocket also was much quicker to make a presentation with and the log-in was easier.

Finally, I enjoyed watching part 3 of Revenge of the Nerds. I find Steven Jobs fascinating, particularly with the introduction of the Mac back in 1984. I had just shown that famous one-time Super Bowl/Big Brother ad in my marketing unit and it was helpful to me to understand the computer innovation background behind the ad. Competition and how it affects companies and their CEOs never ceases to amaze me!

CEDu581 Computer Architecture: Week 2

Watching the second half of the Revenge of the Nerds video was fascinating to me as I followed along with this historic time line involving IBM, Microsoft, Seattle Computers, Intel, and Compaq. Some of the seemingly minor decisions regarding copyright, company purchases, and software purchases have developed into major corporate and computing history. Microsoft buying the rights to an operating system for IBM for $50,000 (I found further reading at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Computer_Products and posted the cool business card from SCP!) from SCP is amazing. This strikes me as analogous to buying Manhattan for $28 and buying the Louisiana Territory for $15 million.

The reverse engineering done by Compaq is also historic, not only in how it was done, but in its legality. Taking on IBM was gutsy and there are many other people and companies that are doing with right now as they take on Microsoft. Going back through corporate history, I find it amazing how companies who once dominated their industry (Woolworth, Sears, K-Mart, GM, Chrysler, etc.) are either in decline, bought out, or bankrupt. Who will it be next?

I recall my older cousin, Johnny, getting a job with IBM in Rochester, Minnesota, immediately upon his college graduation from UW-LaCrosse in 1975. Everyone in my family was in awe of him and his computing acumen. Even though I had no interest in computer hardware or software at the time, I was impressed with the immediate success he came upon by virtue of his hard work in earning his college degree. Johnny was the first one in my family to earn a bachelors degree and he certainly was a role model for me as I became the second to earn a degree in 1983.

I now have a better understanding of how Microsoft grew to dominate the operating system industry. Because Gates had the rights to sell software to all PC manufacturers in the mid-1980s, his company grew unbelievably fast. Our society's fascination with his management style, software prowess, and wealth is more understandable to me after watching these videos. I am now very curious about LINUX and open-source software and how they affect Microsoft's future growth.

CEDu581 Computer Architecture: Week 1

I found it fascinating to realize that, at age 47, I actually have quite a personal history with computers. As a business education teacher, I tend to always look to where we are going with computers in the future. It was fun and fascinating to look back on my background with computers, going back to Marquette U in the early 1980's to my family and retail use of computers over the years to my current use of computers as an educator. The Computer History Forum that we all participated in was interesting in that many of us share similar experiences, whether that be frustration with the early days of programing to the middle year issues of computer speed and capability to our modern-day issues of more power and applications.

I particularly enjoyed the "Triumph of the Nerds" videos as they really brought home how far we have come with personal computer hardware and software. Again, as a business teacher who works with students on stocks and investing, I now look at companies such as Apple, Intel, and Microsoft through different lenses. It is truly amazing how those companies are so young and yet have come to so far in terms of market penetration and market capitalization. As of the end of today, Apple has a market cap of $109.68 billion and Microsoft is at $178.53 billion. Not bad for companies started by "Nerds" in garages in the 1970s! I certainly intend on sharing some of this information with my future Computer Applications and Financial Life Skills students.

Finally, I found the list of companies from the Computer History Museum to be much broader than I expected. I guess I never thought of Timex and Seiko to be in that category, but it makes perfect sense that they are. Secondly, as a student of retailing, I was interested to learn that Commodore went bankrupt in 1994 and Atari was done by 1996. Sharp was the creator of Ever-Sharp pencils, the first all-transistor desktop calculator, and made microwaves that I have sold and used. At the family hardware store, we sold AT & T phones, GE light bulbs and toaster ovens, Hitachi breadmakers, Mitsubishi portable generators, Philips, Sylvania, and Westinghouse light bulbs, Rockwell drills, and utilized a Siemens point-of-sale system for 7 years. Wow! What diversification for these corporations.

CEde 520: Nitz--Blog 2

CEDU 520 has been both a fascinating class and process for me. I was pleased with how the planning went as we gradually built upon our IRB proposals over the weeks. The PowerPoint struck me as a particularly useful tool for creating the basic outline for our action research. I teach PowerPoint to my 8th graders, using all of the “bells and whistles” such as transitions, animation, and graphics. It was quite different, and informative, for me to do a simple research-oriented outline where the actual content, not the presentation tools, were of primary importance.

The article summaries have been most helpful in that the research we have read provided examples of how to conduct action research. The three general articles that we started with offered a broad background on technological use in education. Now that I have located my final five articles, I have narrowed my focus to business education and accounting-related pieces that help me to better understand technology-based teaching topics in my field.

I used ProQuest several years ago for my certification work, but I am most impressed with the improved ease of searching. I made great use of the search refining, reference list, and suggested topic tools. No doubt I will continue to use ProQuest for future research and reading in business education and classroom technology use.

Finally, I am very pleased with the excitement that my peers and principal have shown for my action research topic. My principal loves to see students offered more choices and my three approaches to teaching junior high introductory accounting provides well-researched options for future curriculum enhancements. My departmental peers are looking forward to reviewing my research in the areas of student achievement and engagement.

CEdu 520: Nitz--Blog 1

Now that we are several weeks into our Action Research Project, I must say that I am very pleased and comfortable with the process. By following the steps and time line, the process flows very smoothly. I am excited to implement my project and evaluate the results next semester. Actually observing and analyzing the differences in my Business Venture students will be fascinating. Between the accounting unit assessments and surveys, I am sure that the results will be enlightening and most helpful for my future teaching and my students' future learning.

The following positives about this experience come to mind:

• The incredibly supportive sharing with our Stritch peers
• Dr. Simmons' patience and timely feedback has been most helpful and even calming as we all dive in
• The support from my administrators, tech support people, and fellow teachers at Falls North Junior High has been very helpful. I am amazed at how many other teachers have done action research in their grad programs and impressed with how willing they are to offer their counsel for mine.
• Gaining understanding about the differences in experimental and descriptive research projects has helped me with our article summaries and with designing my project
• Using ProQuest has been informative. I have already thought of other units that I can improve by reading research-based online journal articles.
  

The following concerns and challenges come to mind:

• I am comfortable with my introductory accounting lesson plans. However, my steepest learning curve will involve designing reliable and valid student assessments and surveys.
  
• Understanding and interpreting the data collected plus the corresponding statistics
  
• Controlling the extraneous variables with a small sample size
  
• Our study team has worked well together and we have each added much insight to each summary. Our articles, however, have been fairly broad-based regarding technology use in education. Working on my own will be a greater challenge; however, I do look forward to learning more about instructional technology in business education and, in particular, accounting.
  
• Will my students in the control-group class feel disadvantaged if they know that my other classes are learning accounting through technology-based learning tools? Will my students even share these differences with each other?
  

General things that I have learned:

• Make sure to arrive well-rested, fed, and focused to our Oconomowoc class as the amount of material covered is comprehensive and important!
• Stay organized!! Use folders or files for our papers. On the computer, use well-named folders in which to store Word documents and bookmarks to get to pertinent class and research-oriented websites and online articles.
• Take an occasional day away from the action research project. This practice certainly allows me to come back recharged, refocused, and thinking of new ideas.