EDT 5410: Final Project

Target Audience

Students who are interested in continuing their education into the college level are the focus of this assignment. I would suggest any student as young as 10th grade. Any younger than that and it may be too soon to figure out what they would like to do as a career.

Context

This is for a school. It will help students to realize what is needed and expected at the higher education level. Along with that it will inform them of what they need to do and help them to make a decision on what they would like to do for a living.

Learning Objectives

By completing this lesson the students will know the following:
· Steps needed to complete to be able to attend a college/university
· Costs of completing this education
o The different types of loans and which are best and how to get them
o Scholarship Possibilities
o Grants – who qualifies and how it works
o Work-study – what it is, who qualifies, and how it works
· What field they would like to pursue as their career choice

Description of Lesson/Intervention

Students would be required to complete the following:
· Google Map - with at least 3 possible colleges - Within the map you would put the following information

§ Cost of Attendance

§ Possible Degree Choices

§ Scholarships Available
· Blog - Communicate with other student via their blog on this project for ideas

· Google Web Pages – Create a website that has useful links on it such as the FAFSA website, different scholarship websites, help with college websites, etc.

· Google Documents – Choose their top pick for college and write a brief timeline on what they need to do to be able to attend school, what to do for financial assistance, and the degree chosen.

Artifact

The students will be required to make each of the following themselves.

Google Map - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=48.019324,-89.516602&spn=12.200328,27.070312&z=5&msid=108328551722908940835.00045057ed22c80e4cc7b

Blog – http://collegepreparationproject.blogspot.com/

Google Web Pages – http://hayesmeli.googlepages.com/collegepreparation

Google Documents - http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ds9284b_3d8r8h6dx

Justification

My justification for each of the online tools is listed below.

§ Google Map – To be able to see a live map of each of the different colleges and have hyperlinks to various information about each is much better then just a paper map which shows you where about the college is within the state. You can zoom in also with a google map, get directions to and from, look at other sites nearby, etc.

§ Blog – To be able to share and discuss different ideas with your current students through a blog is quicker and more direct than having to say email or call on the phone. This way you can check everything out at times that are convenient for you.

§ Google Web Pages - By having interactive web pages all in one location it is much easier for other students to locate helpful information then having to go and do the searches themselves either on the Internet or in the library.

§ Google Documents - While Word is just as good as google documents, google documents is easier to publish to the web. Students will have a much easier time posting their docs out on the web for all their classmates to see by using Google.

EDT 5410: Week Seven Reflection

What was your favorite activity of the semester and why?

I really enjoyed checking out all the different websites this week. I was not aware o fany of these. The picnik website was simply awesome to me! I can not wait to edit all my pics on this website for free! Adobe photoshop is so expensive and sure it does more than this but this website does alot of what photoshop does and for free...did I say free!

EDT 5410: Week Seven Reflection (R/D13)

What most made you say (or think) "that's so neat!" Why?

Cybernetics!

The microchip in the arm is just amazing. How awesome would it be to never open a door, cook dinerr, clean the house, wash dishes or clothes, to have a robot to do it and a chip in your arm to schedule it. Or better yet to never drive a car...kinda like night rider! I hope some day I can afford one!!!

EDT 5410: Week Seven Reflection (R/D12)

Describe two tangible take-aways that you think you could apply in your work.

When I train different individuals on different software the visual aids of static images should be more effective. For example, when teaching a new employee how to award a student, if I were to show screen print outs of each of the different screens and steps that are in need of being changed and arrows showing what buttons are to be clicked on and when, that would be more effective than just text.

I think I could incorporate simulations into my current job in regards to our Return of Title IV software. This software takes various calculations into play and some of it is done manually. By having a simulation it may help our people figure out the complex calculations easier, not to mention to explain to the student how the calculation works. This could be used in the classroom also. Say for instance in a drivers training class. Before the students go out and drive if we had a car simulation program (similar to flight simulation) they could practice on and they could practice all sorts of things like parking, stopping, turning, and even different situations that may arise like wet roads, accidents, or icy roads.

EDT 5410: Week Seven Activity

Review at least two online applications.

Google Documents:

A wonderful product. It allows for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. You can upload from a variety of different software including the Office Suite of products. It is really neat that you can publish your work as a web page or post it to your blog directly and with ease. I would recommend using this product only if say the person didn't have Office and that is what everyone else was using. If Microsoft Office is available then you might as well just use that. Unless, of course you were going to post it to a blog and then you could save a few steps by using google documents.

Ajax:

I went out to the website and the first thing it wanted to do was to load a plug-in. I am not a huge fan of loading plug-ins to my computer so I was disappointed right away. I then continued to read and it suggested that the software works better with Firefox. Well, I am a Microsoft supporter so I don't use other software such as Firefox or Mozilla. Not that the software is bad but the average user isn't going to want to have to load the plug in and Firefox. So, no I wouldn't recommend it just due to the fact that you have to load different software.

Zoho:

Very similar to Google Documents. It has all of those abilities and then some. It has invoice software, online note taker, organizer, and chat just to name a few. It is very easy to share with others, you can publish directly to a blog, see the history, sign digitally and nothing is required to install. I would recommend this tool to be used because of all the different tools that it has to offer I think is is one up on Google Documents and that is why I am recommending this over it.

Picnik:

I am in love with this website! I am so excited to go out and put my pictures on it and edit them and play with the different tools. I loved how you have all different kinds of options to change your pictures for example, black and white, sepia, soften or matte. You can print just about anything from this site from pics to mugs to key chains to clothing and then some! It is easy to open up your pics from other websites such as facebook, photobucket, picasa and more. The auto fix button was the coolest. One click and my picture was so much more vibrant! I love it and would recommend it. It would be neat for a yearbook class or even a fundraiser.

EDT 5410: Week Six Screencasting

Lesson: Preparing Seniors for Applying for Financial Aid For College

Set of Screencasts: Free Application for Federal Student Aid Tutorial
Scholarship websites and how to apply
FAQ on Financial Aid

Audience: Seniors and their Parents/Guardians

Screencast: Free Application for Federal Student Aid Tutorial

Description: This would first talk about exactly what the FAFSA is. It would then take you out to the website fafsa.ed.gov and it would do the following:

• Walk the student through the process of applying for a PIN for both the student and the parent.
• It would tell them what information is needed to fill out the FAFSA.
• Demonstrate an example of filling out a FAFSA

Screencast: Scholarship website

Description: This would talk about the best ways to search for scholarships and show the most popular websites for finding scholarship. It would then also discuss the terms used when talking about scholarships and answer FAQs

Screencast: FAQ on Financial Aid

Description: This would answer various FAQs on Financial Aid. There are so many questions related to FA that I think this would be both beneficial to the parents and the students. It would also go into what to expect with FA and when the best time to apply is.

I think these screen casts will prepare high school students and their parents when it comes to Financial Aid. So, many students and parents come to our office with a bunch of questions and concerns and I feel screencasts like this would not only help them prepare but also help them feel more comfortable about going to college and how they are going to pay for it.

EDT 5410: Week Six Google Page Creator

Here is the link to my google page website



http://hayesmeli.googlepages.com/pcsetupandtroubleshooting



It contains links to useful websites for troubleshooting windows errors and also Oracle errors. Usually when I have a error I am not familiar I go to one of these websites to figure it out.