Week 4 Review

This week we talked about hardware - the virtual beginning point, or at least base for much of what we'll discuss for the rest of the semester - mostly because without hardware, we can't do half the things we do unless we have hardware first. Hardware is the stuff we can physically touch and feel, compared to software, which is the stuff that runs on hardware. We covered how the difference between hardware and software can be understood by using a book as a metaphor. The book, it's physical pages, cover and binding, even the ink would be 'hardware'. The software portion would be the story itself, the meanings behind the words, "Once upon a time, there once was..."

Having this understanding between the two different types of 'ware', can help you establish what types of needs you have for your classroom and/or troubleshoot problems you might be having with technology.

Most of us have some type of experience with technology - and in this day and age of cell phones, iPods and computers, most of us have several experiences with hardware, and having an appreciation of how hardware has changed over the years can help us understand how hardware has changed and how it will continue to change.

Week 3 Review

Class this week really consisted of three major sections of content:

• Understanding the link between standards and objectives
• Playing with HTML Code (tags)
• Introduction to LiveText

These sections are not categorically related to one another, however they are meant to have impact on each other in some respect. Understanding the link between standards and objectives helps you to write and create strong lessons. Lessons (and the lesson you have for homework) can be created electronically in LiveText by creating documents. Documents created within LiveText can be further enhanced using HTML coding (tags).

Creating lessons is something that simply takes practice and understanding how objectives fit into standards also takes practice. Knowing how these things come together is not as simple or concrete as identifying the answer to a simple math problem like "2+2". This is especially true of the technology standards for students. These standards are far less concrete and more 'nebulous', but many examples of how teachers hit these standards exist.

Next week we'll start taking computers apart - or at the very least, looking at them and the peripherals we use with them.

Chapter 3 Missing Downs

Thanks to Kristen - (EN), I've been told that the Chapter 3 Puzzler is missing a few downs (and no I don't mean football here), I've posted the downs in Blackboard in under Week 2's assignments and will post them here - in addition to sending out a class-wide email.  I'm sorry about that - somethings in curriculum just are not edited well enough.  I've gone back and re-examined the teacher's text and the originals I have are also missing the clues.  So here they are:




Down (for Chapter 3 Only):


 


21. A program that tells the computer how to function and
how to manage it’s own operation.


 


22. The “brain” of a computer, incorporated into a single
microprocessor chip.  Within it,
calculations are performed; the flow of information between input, output, and
memory is coordinated; and program instructions are transmitted.


 


24. A set of instructions that tell a computer how to
complete a unique task such as word processing, database management, or
drawing.


 


25. A measure of resolution in printers and some other
output devices.


 


27. Multiple types of media that are combined into an
integrated whole that presents instructional content.  Although not only digital media my be included, the term is
often used to refer to a computer-based format that combines, text, graphics,
audio, and even video into a single, coherent, digital presentation.


 


31. The series of chips that make up a computer system’s
temporary memory  area.  This area empties when the application
is closed and fills up again when the user opens a new application.