Organization is a key thing that every teacher should have in order to be successful. It is also important for college students too, so they can balance out a very rough schedule every semester. Both students and teachers use the internet quite a bit during the day and most teachers have their homepage of their browser set to google or their gradebook and students have it set to the university homepage or facebook. There is a website on the internet called Protopage. It is a homepage that comes up everytime you open up your web browser and can hold links to your most important or most visited websites. It can also show your email inbox to show you if you have any messages. You can create a to-do list to keep you organized with all of your work. And you can add the little boxes called “Widgets” that can hold information like weather, sports, news, and entertainment from your favorite websites. You can also customise it to the way you want your homepage organized and even set the color scheme of you page. This is a very important tool that teachers and students can use to keep their lives organized and make surfing the web a much easier experience for them. Teachers can have links to their gradebook, blogs, and email all on one page instead of having to search for them. Students can have links to their blackboards, emails, and websites were they do their homework(ex. MasteringChemistry.com for chemistry homework). The to-do list is like having another agenda for the day on your computer. The Protopage website is free of cost and is very easy to set up.

www.protopage.com

Protopage

Originally uploaded by oilersbaseballroldy

A computer projector pretty much takes the hassle of creating transparencies for overhead projectors.  These machines put the screen of your computer up on the screen and make it easier for teachers to present materials for classes and it makes it big enough for everyone to read.  You can go through powerpoints for notes in a lecture or show students how to access information on a website.  It can also be used as a help for an art teacher for graphic design by showing students how to use different programs to make works of art.

http://www.zardec.net.au/keith/project.htm

I recently just listened to an educational podcast from a technology teacher named Ron Kroetz about new software that is a web browser for kids. The first one is called Kidz CD.  It is basically a set browser for certain age groups and it allows them only to do certain things. The age levels for this are 3-6, 7-12, 13+ without chat, and 13+ with chat. All this program basically does is protects your kids from going to any websites that are not suited for them.  This is not only a great tool for parents, but teachers as well because it makes a child focus on school work all day long instead of getting on Myspace and Facebook and other gaming cites during learning hours.

http://www.kidzcd.com/

Another type of software that is available is a web browser for autistic children called Zac browser.  There was not much information about it, but the main thing that it does is that it makes the autistic child focus more on the activity at hand.

http://www.zacbrowser.com/

Podcast RSS Feed: Technology Teacher Podcast Episode 23

Listen to the Podcast: http://media.podshow.com/media/16448/episodes/114750/techteacher-114750-06-06-2008_pshow_251214.mp3

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX100487411033.aspx?pid=CL100571081033

The reason why I selected Microsoft Office is because this program is very helpful in all aspects of education.  For example, Word can be used to type papers and make newsletters for the parents and Excel can be used to keep track of the student’s grades.  Microsoft Office will benefit my students and I because it is so easy to use to get assignments and other educational information organized.

Bill Gates invented the computer which helps the schools alot now days with grades and internet options for kids to use for projects and school work.

William Steward Burroughs invented the calculator which made mathematical equations ten time fast to solve.

Douglas Engelbart (left), invented the mouse for the computer and made navigation from places on all over the screen alot faster and helped teachers copy images for projects alot easier.

http://alvintrusty.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/who-is-important-here/

http://delicious.com/harrolds

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32004711@N03/