This evenings class was very useful and enlightening. I particularly enjoyed Alex's presentation of adaptive technologies and inclusion for students with disabilities. I usually have several students with disabilities enrolled in my culinary arts class and it is always challenging to find ways to accomodate each particular student's needs. Alex's presentation showed how far many of these technologies have evolved. Stacey's presentation had several good links to facilitate file conversions - from PDF to Word - video downloaders, etc., as well as many other technological wonders all in a well organized booklet. Erica broadened my understanding of how amazing the iPad is and all the vast array of applications there are for teachers to use. She inspired me to try and work from my MacBook from work. 

Overall, I have to say that this class has been a rewarding and useful experience. Due to personal issues (all relating to time!), I contemplated leaving the class, and program, at one point in the semester and I am extremely glad my teacher talked me down from that particular ledge.  Now that I have completed the course work, I not only gained new and necessary knowledge, I have at hand a series on assignments I can present to my present and future classes. I feel like the more I can integrate the internet and technology into my classroom, the more relevant (not to mention engaging) I will be.

I have included two links. The first is The Education World Special Education Subject Center. Here, you will find information and tools, from Education World and other valuable sources, chosen specifically for the special education community. The second link is a PDF document that provides a review of adaptive and intelligent technologies in a context of Web-based distance education. They analyze what kind of technologies are available right now, how easy they can be implemented on the Web, and what is the place of these technologies in large-scale Web-based education.

Allrecipes.com is a website that I have downloaded many recipes from over the last year and a half. Mostly I was just doing a general Google search for recipes and the site would pop-up frequently. Yet since I was tasked with finding internet sites that would be useful for web 2.0 applications I have taken the time to really explore this website. They have so many useful applications besides their myriads of recipes! I especially liked the tool for finding applicable recipes for ingredients you have on hand. Last week I had a bunch of butternut squash on hand that I had used in various ways on previous menus. I needed to find yet another way to infuse it into the menu. With the ingredients search tool I found a delightful butternut squash risotto to pair with that pork tenderloin I had in the freezer - yum!  In addition they have complete nutritional analysis at the end of each recipe, as well as, demonstration videos for all manner of foods and techniques. I found this site so useful I signed for the free membership!

Well, it has been quite a journey! After nearly having a meltdown two weeks ago, I am almost done. Using web 2.0 in my classroom has been a huge paradigm shift for me. Today, since the cafe is closed for the holiday bake sale, I wasn't quite sure what to do with my customer service team of students. Since being in this program has broadened my faith in collaborative internet focused learning, I challenged my students to research and develop the menu for the week after we get back from the holiday break. In two and a half hours, they finished and did an amazing job! I was so proud - they had it typed up with nice graphics and had recipes included.

My students are normally very engaged when we are busy cooking in the kitchen, but when it comes to curriculum studies, they will fight tooth and nail when they get the standard - lecture - read - and complete worksheets format. Web 2.0 provides me with tools and techniques that are useful, measurable, and engaging.  Best Practice Teaching with Technology has really broadened my toolbox.  My classmates continue to inspire me with their ability to collaborate and create amazing work, while our teacher directs subtly from the sidelines.

The WebQuest I was challenged to produce came out better than I expected. Foods of the World integrates so many standards and learning styles - it really brings it all together with a nice dollop of whipped cream and a cherry on top. I also plan to link in the SkillsUSA - Job Skills Demonstration performance piece with the individual recipe they choose. Embedding Google Maps into the project was an exciting idea - it really gave the students the feeling of being there. I know I got excited each time I zoomed into each ofthe cities while I was developing this lesson. I believe I can utilize this format for their senior final project: in teams they will create their own restaurants, including business plans and menus, and finally cook two of their "signature dishes" from their menu in the classroom for sampling. I believe it should work nicely.

Best Practice Teaching with Technology! Sounds exciting, doesn't it? It does to me. I use technology in  the culinary arts class everyday. The microwave, convection oven, mixers, walk-in refrigerators, food processors, etc. have changed the way we do much of what chefs have always traditionally done. Ever whip meringue by hand? It's alot of work! We can bake cookies in ten minutes in a convection oven! These devices save time and energy - that means we can save a lot of money in the culinary world. We can deliver customers faster, and more importantly safer, the goods and services they desire. But what about the way we deliver our education? How can I use technology to make the educational experience - better - faster - and more meaningful? That's what Education 2.0 is all about. If this course delivers what is specified in the syllabus and by what Ms. Young says it will, then I will feel my college dollars have been well spent.
 
One idea that I believe will be extremely useful is the WebQuest. I currently have three computers for student use in the classroom. The students use them to develop their resume and do WorkKeys practice. Most of the time they are not in use. Developing a WebQuest in conjunction with a Google Maps element would be enriching, relevant and meaningful. While at the SkillsUSA Leadership Conference in Lansing, Monday, one advisor suggested making the Job Skills Demonstration exercise part of our lesson plans. My idea is to provide a list of suggested regions in the world  on which students can do research papers; the assignment will include some element of Google Maps and will ask the students to each locate a recipe from their chosen region, a recipe that they will then prepare for the class, accompanied by a 5-7 minute demonstration. QuestGarden has a similar developed WebQuest on their website called "A Trip To Mexico":  http://questgarden.com/31/70/2/060801134118/ 
I also found a family cookbook WebQuest similar to an extra-credit assignment I already use: http://questgarden.com/130/39/6/110823074225/

This Weebly site is being developed for use in my classroom. I am at a new school this year and a week ago I found out the Regional Career Technical Center, where I work, is beginning to develop their own Facebook page with linked Weebly sites for each program. I have read our Accptable Use Policy and all of our students have turned in a signed copy.  I'm Excited!

The QR code scavenger hunt project was fun to envision and develop. It takes an idea that I had been thinking about and steps it up to the next level. With the QR codes, we as educators can take a device that we are constantly telling students to put away, and tell them to pull them out! Think they'll get excited? I think yes. Anyway to engage students is a good thing as long as there is an educable moment behind it. It seems our instructor's job is to search for new technologies out there, cobble together an assignment and see what our classmates come up with. Kind of exciting really and I think this assignment worked out well. I was a little disappointed that the codes could only hold up to 160 characters, so if I want more info the students would have to be directed to a website. Yet there are so many ways this technology could be utilized, the list is endless. My only concern is when tech like this loses its newness appeal and slides into been there, done that. However with a little creativity, at least for now, we have a new tool for reaching students and anything that keeps them engaged is a useful tool! I hope I can be one of the cool teachers who is trying fun new things for students to do - keeping kids excited about education!

Another way to utilize cell phones for educators is through something I learned at our flipped classroom professional development at South Lake. Greg Green introduced us to Remind101 - a text message service that doesn't give out anyones' cell numbers, but instead sends out an generic text "reminding" students to do homework or an upcoming test or project due, etc. Check it out at: https://www.remind101.com/ . It was simple to register, easy to use, and the best part of course - it's FREE! It can also be used to contact parents, again so many possibilities.

The past week's assignments made several things clear to me: designing an Educational website is hard and a lot of work, really good ones are few and far between, and the comittment and energy to maintain a website and keep it relevent is not always there (because of budgets or loss of interest). For an educational website to be good it must have interesting and relevent information that is age appropriate for its intended audience. The site must be intuitive to use and not too hard to maneuver around or take too long to load. It must have some kind of interactive activity, especially for children, but even I enjoy a good interactive activity at 51 years old! The activity should be related to the focus of the website, should develop the understanding of the topic, and still be fun to engage with. Finally, it should have a lot going on, but not TOO much. I once went on this website for the rapper M.I.A. and when it finally completely loaded I practically had a seizure looking at it because there was so much going on in the background. I was hoping it was still like that so I could post the link, unfortunately (or fortunately) she cleaned it up and its not like that anymore.
 
These articles seems to elaborate all of my thoughts on this subject:
 http://ezinearticles.com/?Website-Design---Things-to-Include&id=2174668
 http://solomonrothman.articlealley.com/examples-of-bad-web-site-graphic-design-30043.html

This is a mind map for Mise en Place created by me through Inspiration. We recently read an article on using mind mapping to convey ideas and information. Apparently the vast majority of people are primarily visual learners with some over lap into other learning style http://www.lbctnz.co.nz/sld/LearningStyles.html. As a result, I can see why most people would find mind-mapping to be a useful tool. However, I also think that mind-maps should have some sort of auditory element combined with them in order to accomodate the auditory learner, which should be doable for a creative mind-mapping tool. I am not sure how a tactile/kinesthetic learner could be engaged through a mind-mapping tool. Perhaps if a mind-map had some sort of physical activity involved that would physically emphasize the lesson? They could even have auditory directions for this activity that would somehow lead them through the exercise - a sort of physical/auditory mind map. Any tool that helps learners make connections from theory to actual experience is powerful indeed. I think that we will see more of this technology in the future.

Gliffy: www.gliffy.com
Gliffy looks fun and really easy to use. I could load all sorts of shapes and patterns plus weird robot pictures, etc., and personally prepared pictures. You can use it for: Process Mapping, Data flow diagrams, Decision making process flowcharts, Mind maps, Organization Chart / Org Charts, and Cause and effect flowcharts. The template provided made it really easy to figure out. It definitely seems more geared for the business community and there is a cost involved for using their site, especially if you want to use it for Wiki’s, Confluence plug-ins, JIRA plug-ins, and Jive App. 

"With a tool that makes it easy to create, share, and collaborate on a wide range of diagrams, Gliffy users can communicate more clearly, boost innovation, improve decisions, and work more effectively. Founded by Chris Kohlhardt and Clint Dickson in San Francisco, California, Gliffy is the world's first net-native business graphics software. We've committed ourselves to platform independent internet applications with rich user interfaces that make collaboration an easy and obvious part of your day."( http://www.gliffy.com/about-us/) 

Here is a list of non-profits that use Gliffy, all worthy organizations, but as another student pointed out—none of them are education organizations, the rest of their customer lists are all corporations. OpenSource / Non-profit: National Public Radio, Grameen Foundation, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Apache Software Foundation,  WWF – Australia,  JavaPolis,  PythonWeb. In the end I think the Inspiration site is better for students to use, since it seems to be designed for educators.

Popplet: http://popplet.com/ 
Popplet was very easy to use and is FREE! It would be very useful for students to use, but after gliffy and Inspiration, it’s more limited, but as I mentioned it’s FREE, so in the end I don’t think that the students would miss the extra bells and whistles from Gliffy and Inspiration. Easy to follow directions make this program very user friendly. I especially liked the collaboration feature; I think that could be very useful for distance learning programs. This site is definitely designed with educators in mind!

Slatebox:  http://slatebox.com/Education
 
"We love teachers. Many of you have asked to be part of a Slatebox pilot, and the education dashboard is coming soon!  A forthcoming version of Slatebox is coming soon that is custom tailored for education. Are you interested in being part of the pilot program? Please drop me a line at [email protected]. I would love to get your help and feedback. If you haven't already, consider signing up for SlateMind — our mind-mapping app — to explore collaborative teaching possibilities." (http://slatebox.com/Education)

We love teachers!? Doesn’t that say it all? Sadly it’s not free except for a limited time (30 days) or for personal use, but that is much more limited in what you can do at the pay levels. The “massive” level has the most users and is their premier level and the most expensive. The tutorial made it real easy to figure out and again reminded me of Inspiration. It does have a collaboration feature, which again could be useful for distance learning or collaborating with your classmates from home. It also has some nifty ways to add internet sources that come up in a new tab instead of taking you away from the site.

 All three seem to have effective security measures and once you go through the tutorials are fairly easy to use for High School students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM3iKk6YaeY&feature=youtu.be
In this video I demonstrate how to prepare whole wheat, banana, pecan,  blueberry pancakes for a tasty wholesome breakfast. Making this video was alot of fun and preparation, I made these pancakes three times to make sure I had it down. I saved them and put them in the toaster to reheat them - still delicious! Try these at home. My eleven year old daughter was my videographer - I paid her with pancakes. Thank you Shoshanah! 
Panckes for dinner? That's not weird! Check this article out: http://buzzlog.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93231/pancakes-for-dinner-hanukkah-traditions-explained
If you really want to find out  more about pancakes, here is a link to the Wikipedia article on pancakes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake 
My all time favorite restaurant for pancakes is the original House of Pancakes - they have four locations. Their big apple pancake is amazing! http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/index.html