OLPH Technology 8

Useful links:

Our Lady of Perpetual Help School Website

Grade 8 Wikispace

Tech class blog

Stock Market Expedition

Discovery Streaming

April 16, 2012

Updated info at

http://olph-technology.wikispaces.com/Technology+8

February 19, 2012

Updated info at 

http://olph-technology.wikispaces.com/Technology+8

December 8, 2011

Updated message on olph-technology wiki.

November 5, 2011

End of quarter comments - See olph technology wiki.

September 13, 2011 -  Hi everyone and welcome back to a new year of technology adventures! This year I am experimenting with posting news and class assignments in a different way. I have created a wikispace for OLPH technology (aptly named olph-technology) and I will be posting class project information on that site. You can still subscribe to this page for updates, since whenever I have information to push out I will do the push from this page and you can just click the link back to the wikispace. (You may not want to use the Notify tab on that page as you would be notified every time I changed a typo and that could become tedious!) The technology wiki will grow as the year progresses. There is a lot I want to add that the space on schoolnotes just doesn't permit. Students or parents should feel free to contact me via the schoolnotes link at the top of this page or directly at pruffing at gmail dot com. Visit the new site at http://olph-technology.wikispaces.com/ and please pardon the dust - still under construction!

**I will be deleting the notify option for any parents who do not have a student in eighth grade this year. I believe when you sign up you get the option to be notified of "all pruffing's pages" and many people check yes, not realizing that they will get 3rd grade updates, and 4th grade updates, etc. Our emails accumulate quickly and we don't need any more unnecessary messages to open. So when you sign on for a page be sure it is just the page for your child. My main schoolnotes page will just be a portal to the other pages and will not likely be updated throughout the year, so feel free to add your name to that page and you will not be inundated. :-)

June 10, 2011 - Well, the last quarter of the year flew by, and because of our renovation project actually ended a little sooner than expected. Now it is time to say goodbye, and congratulations, to the Class of 2011.

During the course of this year we have blogged and participated in the global community, collaborated on wikis, learned about using Creative Commons licensed art and music, learned about formulas and charting in Excel, created video projects, and honed our presentation techniques with PowerPoint. We also discussed Internet Safety protecting our privacy as we engage in social networking, and the consequences of bullying. We learned to evaluate websites for quality used technology to "learn how to learn". I hope that you will continue to advance your technology skills and become life-long learners in this area. Technology is advancing more rapidly each year and it is exciting to be a part of all that is happening.

I will welcome news of your technology ventures in high school, and if I can ever be of assistance to you, please let me know. Blogs will stay active (in the alumni section) for another year so that you may continue to add to them if you wish. Or venture out and start your own!

Best of luck to you all as you leave Our Lady! You are the leaders of tomorrow. Our world is in your hands!

March 15 - We have recently been discussing Digital Citizenship. Last week we delved into the concept of digital literacy and talked about ways to assess information found on line as to reliability and usefulness (the CARS method). Students also "googled" themselves and some were surprised to find certain information about them was public.

This week we discussed digital communication. In email I demonstrated how a phishing scam works, and also showed the difference between CC and BCC, as well as problems with forwarding emails.

Regarding privacy issues, we visited a site and then saw a video relating to Facebook privacy settings, as well as problems in Google Buzz. I was dismayed to see that so many students had public Google profiles and had first and last names, photos, and full conversations, some going back quite a few months, all online for public viewing. I believe students did not realize such information was public.  Parents, please sit down with your teen and check over Facebook privacy settings as well as Google Buzz if they use it. (I would discourage the use of Buzz but that is strictly my opinion.)

We also watched a video that showed how easily someone can lose control of an image they send to someone else, and once it is out there, it is totally out of our hands.

Video links are available on the class wiki link at the top of this page. 

February 3 - Comments regarding second quarter grades:

There were 4 graded assignments for the second quarter - stock sheet setup week 1 (32 pts); assignment 2 carried over from quarter 1 after being put on hold because of the video project (50 pts); stock sheet weeks 1-4 (59 pts); creating a table in Word (50 pts).

Please note that anything that appears in blue is a clickable link with more information. If you notice that the year average letter grade does not seem to match what you see for quarters 1 and 2, please look closely at the percentages for those letter grades. I purposely do not change the value of the year average until it prints on the final report card because I want you to be aware of your actual point status overall. Some of you will notice that you have received a letter grade above what the percentage reflects. There are always special factors taken into consideration in grading but you should be aware of what you have really earned to date. Some students have been given extra chances to turn in late assignments, but some also have chosen to forego the opportunity and go play in the gym so you need to accept the consequences of your choices.

One final reminder: If you are absent on a day we are in the computer lab, please assume there is something that you need to catch up on and do not wait for me to send for you. If you wait until the next class period to ask about it, you will be behind in the work and will be struggling to catch up. Please take responsibility for this. We try to accomplish a lot (well, I do anyway) during one class period.

 11/23/2010 - The multimedia project is behind us and we are off to investing in the stock market! Today students spent their $10,000 on four stocks (diversify!) and used the closing prices on Nov. 22 for their purchases. We looked at the map of the market and how events in the news (not good today) have an impact on the market here and also around the world. We will continue to follow the chosen stocks for 8 weeks and chart results at the end. Using formulas in spreadsheets makes this easy!

If you have not finished "assignment 2" which went on hold due to the media project and is now part of the second quarter, please complete that by November 30.

Happy Thanksgiving!

10/19/2010- Continuation of media project
Students are reminded to record all outside resources used in the project in a document to aid with credits at the end of the video. Remember: No copyrighted material may be used. Some students are using their own drawings, which is great, but your drawings need to be sharp and boldly colored and very neat, or the image will scan poorly.

Deadline for assignment from September regarding Wordle, blog post and hyperlink has been moved to Nov. 4 due to the time spent on the media project. (See schoolnotes 9/21). Media project due in its final form on Nov. 2!

10/12/2010 - We are continuing to work on the multimedia project in technology class and also in the classroom with laptops. Project showcase is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 4. All entries must be in the diocese by Nov. 12.

10/5/2010 - Project 2061
Students viewed sample video formats and techniques for producing a 60 second video about their school in the year 2061. This is part of a Diocesan media contest and is being worked on in technology class and lit class by student teams.

9/21/2010 - Assignment 2 started in class -

1. Update the About Me section on your blog side bar (in control panel) using at least 5 complete sentences about yourself. (No personally identifying info!) Be sure you edit for spelling and punctuation.

2. Insert widget code for Better Blogger Badge (found in Shared Work or here) into the About Me box in Control Panel. Submit for approval.

3. Using the initial free choice post of the year (whatever you started writing about), include at least six sentences on your topic. One of the sentences should refer to the Student Blogging Challenge. Use the term Bloggers' Challenge or Student Blogging Challenge to create a hyperlink to that site (found on the left of our class blog.) Edit your writing for spelling and punctuation. Paste into Word and use spell-check.

4. Insert your Wordle image (links to images at bottom of this page) into your post using either right or left alignment with vspace and hspace at least 5 px.

5. Remember to request publishing!

9/14/2010 - Tech term of the week: cloud computing. We watched a Common Craft video to understand the meaning of this ever more commonly used term in today's society. We also noted the very simple low tech tools used to create these very popular videos.

A visit to Mrs. Valerie Burton's blog site showed how her students used rap and create weekly videos to summarize current events topics. We also experimented with the Wordle website. Students created their own word maps about a topic of choice, using the random visualization generator and then reviewed how to take a screen shot and save their image in a JPEG format and even use their image as desktop wallpaper. We may upload these and post them to blogs and wonder if anyone can guess the topic, similar to Jen Wagner's "Guess the Wordle" site.

Please remember to return your Internet permission form before next Tuesday. Soon anyone without a form on file will not be able to use the Internet at school until it is returned.

Part 1 involved working as a group to research the assigned topic (drug abuse, use of tobacco, cyberbullying, alcohol abuse, social networking, performance enhancers, eating disorders, driving, and other risky behaviors). Research was done using a custom Google search engine with findings posted on the class wiki.

Part 2 -Once the research was completed, we discussed the do's and don'ts of effective PowerPoint presentations and each group prepared for a presentation to their classmates. Students then shared orally and visually what they had learned. They also did peer assessments. Unfortunately the technology grades for this presentation were often low because students ignored some basic requirements of the project such as an overview slide or crediting sources at the end.

Part 3 - The information from the presentation was adapted for a podcast script. Students learned to use the program Audacity, and recorded their podcast. One of the activities to help them learn the tools of Audacity was to listen to the audio of a jumbled poem and reorganize the audio into the correct sequence. This poem was a 22 point assignment. This podcasting and Audacity work should be enough to bring up some slumping grades, however, if the file is not saved in the appropriate place and I have nothing to score, it will lower rather than boost the grade. Students have until Friday, June 4, to make sure this file is available for scoring.

What remains to be done is taking the saved voice recordings of the students from their audio script and merging them into one track, which will take some editing on my part. They will then be uploaded to Podomatic and a player embedded on the class blog. Not having advanced audio equipment makes this a bit time-consuming. I will post a notice here when that has been completed. 

During the course of this year we have blogged and realized that we are part of a global classroom, collaborated on wikis, learned about Creative Commons licensing, learned about formulas and charting in Excel and better presentation techniques with PowerPoint, and were exposed to several Web2.0 tools that could be of benefit in high school projects. We also discussed Internet Safety and how to protect our privacy as we engage in social networking. I hope that you will continue to advance your technology skills and become life-long learners in this area. Technology does not stand still, and neither can we. (Working on following directions and meeting deadlines would be a plus also!)

I will welcome news of your technology ventures in high school, and if I can ever be of assistance to you, please let me know. Blogs will stay active (in the graduate section) for another year so that you may continue to add to them if you wish. 

Best of luck to you all as you leave Our Lady! You are the leaders of tomorrow. Our world is in your hands!

Image used under CC license

March - Students have been working in teams to prepare a health presentation on an assigned adolescent risky behavior. The PowerPoint project will be presented to classmates and if time permits in the 4th quarter students will also share their research in the form of a podcast. The health project will be the entire fourth quarter technology grade.

As a concluding activity for our discussions on Internet Safety and a final assignment for the third quarter, students should be creating a blog post of their Top Ten Internet Safety tips. All directions for this are found in the assignment section on the class blog. Due date is Monday, March 29. There will be no second chances for late assignments as the quarter closes on the 31st.

In January and February we finished our work with Excel and the stock market. Congratulations to Kevin who had the highest earnings for the 8 weeks, $10,897.52, by investing in Boeing, Honda, Microsoft, and Apple. The scores for the stock sheet weeks 5-8 and also the line graph are posted in PowerSchool. Unfortunately as of March 24, of the six 8th grade students who were reminded that they needed to come to the lab and complete the line graph assignment (names even posted on the board in grade 8) only two students came to finish the missing work. The other students will have a zero unless they make arrangements to be down here and the quarter is almost over!

December - As of Dec. 16, scores for Blog Challenge 7 and Stock Sheet week 1 have been posted to PowerSchool.  Students who received a zero on some or all items on Challenge 7 have until Dec. 22 to turn in a re-score request. Challenge 8 will be returned on Dec. 22 and the re-score deadline will be Jan. 5. Please remember that by requesting a re-score you lose the on time points for that assignment.

On Dec. 22 we will have charted stock purchases for 4 weeks. The weeks 1-4 spreadsheet will be due at the end of class.

If you have not removed your personal widgets and you scored less than S on the first quarter report card, you need to remove them by the end of this week. If I need to remove them then you will lose the privilege of having personal widgets in the second quarter also.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration. Watch your stocks, and feel free to blog about your holiday activities!

12/1/09 - Stocks were "purchased" and number of shared determined. These shares, along with any left over cash, will remain the same throughout the 8 weeks.

11/24/09 - We began setting up the Excel spreadsheet we will use for our stock market activity. This will give students experience with inserting formulas and doing other formatting with spreadsheets as well as be a fun way to look at what the stock market is all about. If you have opinions to offer to our students as to which stocks they should purchase with their "$10,000" please let them know. They will do their buying on December 1 and hopefully make a "profit" over the coming 8 weeks. If you do not come in with the names of companies whose stock you wish to purchase on Dec. 1 (4 or 5 max) then you will pick from the grab bag and take your chances!

Challenge 7 will be published by the 25th if you have submitted it. You will have time over the holiday to review the look of your post and be sure you have followed all directions. Challenge 8 was also discussed - count 3 and comment. We have covered a lot of skills in our blogging challenge and we are about finished. That does not mean we will not use our blog pages for many other activities.

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

11/17/09 - Topics included inserting code from CC attribution in the text window rather than the WYSIWYG window, and making sure information in the Challenge 7 post was real and sensibleThe bare minimum of six sentences will not be enough to make an interesting blog post! Students should begin to

11/10/09 - Following a video tutorial I made, students created their own personalized teacher list for Schoolnotes. I will ask to see that on 11/17 to see that it includes all major and minor subject teachers. We also reviewed requirements for Challenge 7 as well as the sample post. Creative Commons licensing and use of correct attribution was also reviewed. Post due date: Nov. 24.

***Students who receive less that S for the first quarter technology grade (even after the curve!) must remove personal widgets from their pages (not assignment widgets) and will earn that privilege back in the second quarter when grades improve.

11/3/09 - Make up assignments were accepted for the first quarter. Students with all work caught up should have been continuing to leave respectful comments for other bloggers in the Blogging Challenge.

10/27/09 - Score sheets were returned for the Blog Challenge 4 assignment. There were several students who received a zero for not submitting the assignment. We also went over Blog Challenge 5 (again) and students had the opportunity to work on whatever was missing from their pages.

**Information regarding the close of quarter 1:**

The following list of assignments must be completed for first quarter credit. Any assignment for which you received a zero due to non-completion (except for Challenge 1) will be re-graded IF you return your score sheet to me with "Please re-score" written on it. Without that sheet I will not return to your blog page to re-evaluate your assignment. I absolutely will not keep looking at everyone's pages "just in case" you completed your work.

1- Blog Challenge Week 1 - 35 pts.
2 - Widget (Clustr Map or Flag counter) - 10 pts.
3 - Blog Challenge Week 2 commenting - 45 pts.
4 - Geographic widget - 10 pts.
5 - Translator widget - 10 pts.
6 - Blog Challenge Week 4 - Internat'l Blogs(2) 31 pts.
7 - Blog Challenge Week 5 - personal choice with link and images - 44 pts. (as of today this assignment is not yet graded.)

Deadline for any "re-score" requests will be Monday, Nov. 2. After that date I will NOT accept any sheets for re-scoring whether you have completed the assignment or not.By having the assignment re-scored you forfeit any points that would have been earned for having the assignment completed on time. I will also make one more pass before final grades are in for any missing widgets. The original point value was 10 but students may earn 9 or 8 depending on how late the widget appeared on the page.

10/20/09 - Score sheets returned for Blog Challenge 2 on commenting; steps for inserting images were reviewed for Blog Challenge 5.

10/13/09 - In class review of adding image from approved site, BAD, and hyperlinks.

Here is a list of dates with activities due. Please add to your assignment book calendar and follow the directions listed on the class blog.

10/15 - extra credit (optional) activity for BAD
10/16 - geographic widget (either time or weather)
10/19 - translator widget
10/21 - post recommending 2 student blogs from foreign countries
10/26 - post on topic of choice using image and hyperlink

10/7/09 - In class on 10/6 students were reminded about the widget activity. It was due 9/28 and should have been done in class yesterday if still had not been posted. The grades are now entered (10pts for the widget, 0 pts for no widget). Unfortunately there were still several students who received zero points. We also went  saw examples of "blogrolls" and "categories" and reviewed once more the directions for the commenting assignment (technically due on Oct. 5 but students were given until the end of the week to make changes if they had done it incorrectly).

I am sorry to say that many of the people who could have submitted their first assignment for re-scoring did not do that. I will not accept late sheets at this point (unless a student was not in school this week). As we are at the mid-point of the quarter, there are a number of students with a U grade in technology. If this applies to you, please take great care with the commenting activity and other assignments for the rest of the quarter.

**Students without the Internet permission form on file will not have access to Internet resources until that is returned.

**No one should be entering their comments for another student without receiving their scored comment assignment.

Assignment 2 - Blogging Challenge Week 2

This assignment has 2 parts and the explanations are in separate posts on the class blog.

Widgets - Due Sept. 28  Easy 10 points - follow directions!

Commenting - Due Oct. 5  Please look at the sample student posts from another school (Brad and Abby) and follow directions for hyperlinking to the individual posts that I have listed in the explanation. Some students have submitted this assignment but some are not being published yet because they are not writing the actual comments they plan to make, just saying why they liked the post. This is NOT what you should be writing. Also, all 5 comments should be included in one post. Once again, SPELLING COUNTS!

9/27/09 - Scores have been posted in PowerSchool for the first blogging assignment. I am quite disappointed in the number of students whose work was incomplete. (If your point total out of 35 is a blue hyperlink, that means I have inserted a comment with the score.) I even approached several students personally after the 18th to point out that some key things were missing in their posts, but usually to no avail. Also, in class 9/22 the assignment was reviewed with my  Comments on Blog Challenge 1 post. Students were told to look over their posts and complete whatever was missing.

These are the conditions for which I will re-grade your post. I will not keep re-reading and re-scoring your work. Eventually the window of opportunity will close.

1. You must return your score sheet to me with the words "Please re-score" written on it. I will accept this sheet up until October 5. (Sheets are being returned on Tuesday, Sept. 29.)

2. Only students who have received a zero in a part of the assignment may submit their sheet for re-scoring. If you have misspelled words and want to correct them, you are free to do so, and I strongly encourage you to do so, but I will not re-score based on spelling errors.

3. Anyone who submits their sheet for re-scoring will not receive the 2 points for having the assignment completed on time.

4. I will not ask you for the sheet or remind you to turn it in. It will be announced in class on the 29th and listed here.

Assignment 1 - Blogging Challenge Week 1

Be sure to review the requirements for the blogging assignment begun in class. If it is highlighted in yellow make sure you have included that item. I have been approving avatars that were uploaded, and "About Me" paragraphs, however it does seem that some students have not bothered to check spelling and grammar before submitting for publication. Whatever needs to be finished on the assignment should be completed by Friday, Sept. 18. If you have a home computer issue and cannot get online, please come to the lab with a pass to finish your work. Should you have any other problems with the assignment, please email via the schoolnotes link and don't forget to include your email address so I can respond!

 First class: Tuesday, Sept. 8. We reviewed log in procedures for network, wikispaces, and class blog. We will be participating in blogging activities with other schools this year, learning to be better bloggers and commenters. There is information regarding having home computers updated on the main technology page. If anyone does not have access to a home computer, and you are getting this information via someone else, please let me know so I am aware of the situation and we can find ways to keep all students up-to-date in assignments. Technology spans the curriculum and is not just a once a week activity. Next week a signature form will be coming home which indicates your awareness of various posted online policies regarding technology use at OLPH. Please sign and return promptly. Students and parents should feel free to email me via the link above at any time with questions or for help.

Deadline for requesting to change your PowerSchool log on is Monday, Sept. 14.