Week 11: Open Source Software

This week we learned about open source software and explored different software tools and how they relate and can be applied to our career fields. Open source software refers to computer software that is available in source code which allows users to study, change, improve, and often distribute the software. This type of software is developed in a collaborative and open manner. The move for this type of free software started in 1983; open source software allows individuals to modify the software and share it with others. Through resources like Open Office.org, an open source version of Microsoft Office and other sites like SourceForge.net, which allows users to view and explore numerous open source software programs, open source software is easily accessible and free to all users.

Open Source Software is a resource that can definitely be applied and used in my future career as an educator. By going on SourceForge.net, I found numerous open source software programs ready to download, designed for the field of education. Some of these software resources include Paidei Education Platform, Turn-In, and easy p2p. Paidei Education Platform is a great tool for an educator that provides forums, exams, gradebook, and chat for students, teachers and administrators. Turn-In is a resource is a document submission system that allows students to submit homework to specific classes or sections. Easy p2p is a student to student file transfer and chat network. Just from these three resources, it easy to see some of the benefits that open source software can provide to teachers. It can help with communication, for teachers and students, online submissions, grading, exam creation, etc. and it is free!

http://mairin.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/a-k12-educators-guide-to-open-source-software/

I attached this site because I thought it was relevant to my field and introduced me to even more resources that a K-12 Educator can use in his or her classroom. From this site and the PDF document attached, I was able to explore learning materials, community resources and other open source applications. Resources like Open Clip Art, which provides public domain of art that can be used by teachers, and Scratch, a tool that allows students to create interactive stories, games music and art, are just a few examples of resources educators can use. Exploring the tools provided from this site showed me how vast the availability of open source software really is, and how there are so many resources that can be used by all different types of people in all kinds of careers.

Week 5: Tech Tools for Critical Thinking

During Week 5 we learned about learning theories and styles, open source software and we explored and mastered sights Webspiration and Wordle. A learning theory is an attempt to understand how people learn. There are three main types of learning theories; behaviorism, information process theory and constructivism. Behaviorists look at cause and effect relationships and how they are observed through behavior. The information process theory views the mind as a computer and analyzes how it stores and processes relevant information. Constructivists believe that humans construct knowledge through their minds based upon experience. Learning styles refer to the conditions in which we learn best; there are three main types of learning styles including visual, auditory and tactile-kinesthetic.  In addition to learning styles and theories, we also learned about open source software and how to use an example like webspiration. Open source software refers to computer software that has an accessible source code form that allows users to change, study and often distribute software. As a result of open software, the famous free operating system Linux was created in 1984. I also gained new skills in week 5 through the use of webspiration and wordle. Webspiration is a sight that allows its users to create intricate concept maps that are easy to share and collaborate on. Wordle is a tool that creates a graphic representation of text in a word cloud that shows the main ideas of a piece of writing or text. Different learning styles and open source software expanded my technology knowledge and are definitely ideas and skills that will be useful to incorporate in my classroom.

Being aware of different learning styles and how to teach to each style is important for any educator. It is vital for me as a teacher to understand the different learning styles so that I can try to cater to each student’s needs in the classroom. A good teacher uses different instructional approaches and considers the audience, environment and topic before deciding what the best activities are to do. In addition to being aware of the varying learning styles, open source software is also an important aspect of technology that can be utilized in a classroom. For example, sites like webspiration are a great way for students to map out their ideas on a topic and it is an easy way for parents, other students and the teacher to collaborate and share ideas. Another tool that can be utilized in the classroom is Wordle. There are numerous ways in which a teacher can use wordle. Wordle is a great way for students to self reflect on essays and main ideas and to summarize other pieces of literature or work.

I found this Youtube video to be silly and creative but also informative about the different types of learning styles that we learned about this week. The video really emphasized the importance of catering to each learning style within a classroom setting; this is something all teachers have to try to accomplish when teaching a lesson. The auditory learner in the video was able to understand the calculus problem just by hearing the explanation from the teacher. The visual learner needed to see the problem worked out on the board and the kinesthetic learner was able to grasp the concept by working through an example problem on the board. These three different learning styles represent the diversity of individuals and how they learn which will definitely be present in a classroom setting.