DEEP Web

For this blog entry I thought I would share some useful information with my classmates. One of my professors taught my class about the DEEP Web and the many benefits that it holds. So you might be asking yourself:

What is the DEEP Web?
The DEEP Web contains web resources that lie below the surface web.
* Surface web = web that is indexed by search engines and subject directories
* Most of DEEP Web is in searchable databases

DEEP web Stats:
* Deep Web contains 7,500 terabytes of information (19 terabytes of information in the surface web)
* Deep Web contains nearly 550 billion individual documents (1 billion in the surface web)
* A study at the NEC Research Institute (2001)published that Internet searchers are therefore searching only 0.03% of the pages available to them today.

When to use the DEEP Web:
* Directories and Portals when you:
- have a broad topic
- want selected, evaluated, and annotated collections
- prefer quality over quantity
* Invisible or Deep Web (search sites and databases) when you:
- are looking for information that is likely in a database
- are looking for information that dynamically changes in content
* Search engines (general and specialized) when you:
- have a narrow topic
- want to take advantage of the newer retrieval technologies

Here are some "Hidden" databases that you as educators or future educators might find useful when teaching:

* Educator's Reference Desk
* Nature Serve Explorer
* FindArticles
* Complete Planet

PhotoStory 3 - Digital story

The assignment of making a digital story using PhotoStory 3 proved to be an interesting experience. It wasn't overally hard to make the story once I had decided exactly what I was going to do my story on. What seemed to take me forever was to decide on what exactly I wanted to do my story on. Did I want to do it on Fastball Nationals that I went to last year in Montreal or did I want to do it on family or friends??? Boy ... this was turing out to be a hard decision. Finally after days of pondering, I decided to do my digital story on the most interesting team bonding experience that I have ever taken part in. To view my digital story please watch the video below:



Cougar Women's Hockey - "It's A long Way to the Top" from Stephanie and Vimeo.

PowerPoint Extreame Makeover

Many educators use the presentation software PowerPoint in the classroom as a teaching and learning tool. PowerPoint provides opportunities for teachers and students to incorporate multimedia into their presentations to liven them. What I have learned by watching PowerPoint Extreme Makeover by Dean Shareski (fetured below) is that my own PowerPoint presentations are not being as effective as they could be. Through this short video I have learned some great tips that I will continue to use when I am doing a PowerPoint presentation. I suggest that if you would like to make effective PowerPoint presentations you should watch this short video:

Blogging

Weblogs or blogs are springing up all over the internet, but their introduction into the educational arena affords this communication tool a new format and set of users. Generally, blogs have been considered a personal online joural where outside users can comment on an individuals postings. Blogging as a classroom application allows for enhanced comprehension and communication among students as well as the ability to build deeper understanding across the cirriculum. Creating a collaborative learning community brings a whole new life to blogging.

Here are some free Weblogs or Blogs that might be useful to you for either personal or classroom ventures:

20 Six Weblog Services
eBloggy
LiveJournal
Blogarama - The Blog Directory
Weblogger

Introduction of Myslef

My name is Stephanie and I am currently in my last year at the University of Regina, pursuing a degree in Secondary Education. I am majoring in Business Education and Special Education with a minor in Phys.Ed.

I am a member of the University of Regina Woman’s Hockey Team. Between school and hockey I do not have a lot of free time. However, I do make time to play fastball during the summer months and am hoping to go to the Senior Ladies National Championship in August.

My attitude towards technology in my own personal experience is that technology can be both a wonderful and unpleasant invention. At times it has the power to do amazing things that people think would be virtually impossible, such as email and the ability to create many types of documents. At other times it also has the power to make a sane person go crazy. Like me right now, I have been extremely frustrated trying to log onto our online sessions because it either kicks me off or won't let me log on at all. It is definitely driving me crazy, thank goodness that the sessions are recorded.

I believe the potential benefits of technology in the classroom are that it helps students engage in different types of learning concepts. I also feel that students learn and listen better when introduced to new ideas. Technology helps students to expand their knowledge in an even bigger and better way. The potential limitations of technology in the classroom are that students may become dependant on computers and not learn how to find information or do things manually. Technology can also take away the fundamentals of interaction with other people causing students to lack in people skills. I feel that in moderation technology in K-12 learning environments can be very beneficial to a well rounded education.

What I hope to learn in this class is new teaching methods that will engage my students and make them want to learn. My previous experience with computers is average. I know enough to get the job done, but I am by no means an expert. This is just small glimpse into my life and knowledge of computers.