Session 1 January 8 - January 14

Hello!

My name is James Namekata and I am fairly new to the ETEC program. I just started this program and enjoy it so far. Those of you that have taken more classes than me can let me know later what I am in store for. I am majoring in educational technology because I want to learn how to use technology more effectively in my classroom. I teach Mathematics at Riverside Community College in Moreno Valley. I also serve our campus as the Math Lab coordinator.

For this class, I plan on submitting all 3 projects. I have an idea for the first project and I need to talk with Dr. Newberry regarding the other two. But my overall plan is to complete all three projects within their specified deadlines. My goal in this program is to learn as much as I can about technology and the more projects I can finish successfully, the better off I will be.

Focus Area 1: "Using technology to increase our personal effectiveness in our own role as well as being a model for others to follow"
My use of technology over the years is very limited. I have taught the hybrid elementary algebra courses at our campus for the last 5 years. The hybrid algebra classes are set up so that the students only attend lectures for 2 hours instead of the typical 4 hours per week as in a traditional algebra class. The remaining 2 hours are spent sometime during the week in our Math Lab on campus. The students clock in and out of the lab using their student id numbers. They understand that they are responsible for attending the Math Lab for at least 2 hours during the week. While in the lab the students work on their homework assignments on the computer using a program called "My Math Lab." http://www.mymathlab.com
The benefit of using the program is that the students may work collaboratively together on their homework without the urge to cheat and copy answers. Each student will have their unique homework problems generated for them when they log on. The problems are very similar but the values in the problems are all randomly generated. Therefore, there is no need to worry about students copying the answers from each other. Also, the students received instant feedback on their answers. If the answer is correct, they receive a green check mark for that problem. If the answer is wrong, they will get a big red X on that problem number. But, if the students wants to go back and redo the problems they missed, they have that opportunity to do so. The computer program will just generate a new set of values with a similar problem.
I also use PowerPoint for my lecture notes in my classes. Not only does this save me time from writing out definitions and theorems that students can find in the book, but I can also email my lecture notes to students who miss class. I also refer students to use resource material that the textbook publishers supply with their books. Many times the publishers will supply CD ROMs with the text and many students never take the time to explore the disks. I will usually show the benefits and applications during class of what is found on the CD ROMs.

Focus Area 2: "Communicating to others information about the effective use of technology including training and guiding others to use technology effectively"
I am the Math Lab coordinator on our campus so I know first hand how important training sessions to use technology can be. Twice a year before the new semester starts, I hold a training seminar for the teachers and tutors who will be working in the Math Lab with the My Math Lab specialist from the textbook publisher. The trainings usually last 2-3 hours and we walk through step by step how to set up the My Math Lab course on the Internet, how to access the course, how to do the homework, how to find resource material, how to access student records, etc. Basically, I train the teachers and tutors on working with the program. Of course, we cannot cover everything there is to know about My Math Lab in 2-3 hours, so over the years, I have composed a short FAQ booklet that we leave in the lab to help answer questions. I have also help create a website that students can reference if they have questions regarding the Math Lab. http://academic.rcc.edu/mvcmathlab/
Another example that I have experienced with the need for more trainings with technology is our WebAdvisor. This last year, our admissions and records office decided to put all class rosters, add & drops, census drop records, instructor drops and grades on the Internet. This works out fine for the instructors who can attend the trainings for using WebAdvisor, the new Internet program. The problem I have found since I also serve our campus as the chair of the physical education dept is that many adjunct faculty who maybe only teach one or two classes in the evenings cannot make it to the trainings during the middle of the day. Or possibly the one or two evening trainings we had for WebAdvisor were on nights these faculty couldn't attend. I believe WebAdvisor is an awesome program and I wouldn't trade it for any other program, but many of the coaches in my dept think differently. I have trained four of my PE instructors on an individual basis with WebAdvisor because they couldn't make it to the limited night trainings that were given.

Focus Area 3: "Supporting the effective use of technology through planning for technology use, promoting technology use, staff development, infrastructure acquisition and upkeep"
Our campus has two people, Julio and Ron, who do an excellent job in supporting the use of technology on our campus. They keep all of the labs (English, computer and math) running smoothly and with the most updated versions of software. They also fix any problems that we have with our network on our end. Since our college is going through the process of becoming accredited by the state as one of California's newest community colleges, Julio and Ron were the perfect two individuals to place on the technology standing committee.
Our college offers a hybrid academy for instructors who plan on teaching either online or hybrid classes using WebCT. I have attended this academy three times and learn more every time. Our college supports technology by offering trainings at our faculty development center. The technical trainings offered include: Access, Dreamweaver, Excel Gradebook, Acrobat, Camtasia, DVD editing, FrontPage, Adobe, Excel, HTML, iDVD, iTunes, Macromedia/Flash, PowerPoint, Turnitin, iMovie, Keynote, Microsoft Office, OSX, Publisher, iPhoto, Outlook and Photoshop just to name a few. These trainings are by appointment only and usually are one on one and hands on.

My activity log for this week is as follows:
Monday 1/8/07: logged onto blackboard and listened to Dr. Newberry's podcast. I began transcribing notes to myself and generating possible project ideas.
Tuesday 1/9/07: continued transcribing notes on project suggestions from Dr. Newberry's podcast.
Wednesday 1/10/07: examined all three of the possible blog sites that were suggested. Since I have never established a blog before, I wanted to explore all of my options and see what was available. I choose blogger.com and set up my blog site.
Thursday 1/11/07: listened to the podcast and posted my response blog to this week's question. I also included my learning contract and the beginnings of my activity log.
Friday 1/12/07: plan to log on and comment on my classmates postings.
Saturday 1/13/07: continue commenting on classmates response postings.
Sunday 1/14/07: continue commenting and possibly respond to comments left on my first blog posting.

I wish everyone the best of luck with this quarter. See you in class!

James