Ok, so I worked with the sketch up for a long time and could not really get a cell to work, turns out its more for architecture kind of stuff... but do not worry! I found an alternative that was also fun!
So instead of sketch up I worked with Qualtrics surveys to create a quiz about a scientific topic. This is the assignment that the students would recieve, its in a google doc form.

Online Quiz Creation




and then here is the students example of the quiz, click on this link to get to the quiz and take it!

Numba 9

For my 3rd project I'm am planning on doing option 1: the student assignment


Students: Biology Students
Program: Google Sketch up
Plan:I will use google sketch up, a program where you can model things and I will assign them to model a cell... or something like that... I don't have all the details down 100 percent but thats my plan so far!

The Battle for Justin's Stomach!!

Ok so for my 2nd project I chose to do option 2 which is where you create the student's assignment.

My students assignment was to create a movie about bacteria from information we had learned about in class. I actually got this idea from my fellow Biology Ed. student Jordan (who is also in this class) in our 276 class. We had a lot of fun coming up with plays about bacteria and viruses, and I figured that this would be a great assignment to give students! Because all students love to make movies right?!

So this past weekend my husband Justin and I went down to my hometown of Las Vegas and while we were there I convinced Justin and my siblings to help me out with recording the video. Overall I think its pretty funny and entertaining!
So check it out! Hopefully you enjoy it! I know that we had a blast putting it together! :)

Asynchronous Video

Asynchronous video is like what we have been doing this whole semester with youtube, but I have to admit that I did know how to create my own video and post it to youtube! So this week was very helpful for me!
here is my video on asynchronous video!
I hope you enjoy it!

Synchronous Communication... Yoda uses it.

So from what I have read and learned, Synchronous Communication is when people use technology to communicate with each other using video programs like skype, or talk online using msn messenger at the same time, hence the word "synchronous".

When I wached the lecture that was given where the person speaking was not even in the room it reminded me of an old Disney Channel movie called Zenon, Girl of the 21st century! haha in this movie Zenon and her friends are living on a space station up in space and when they go to school they are taught through a hologram teacher who is down on earth! haha This is awesome... I wonder if one day we will be able to do this?!

Also, holograms are used as forms of communication in star wars on many occasions, therefore, its a pretty legit way to talk to people, so we should all do it more often!
Here a picture of Princess Leah pleading for help from Obi Wan. (OK so this isn't "synchronous"... but still, its cool)





And Here is a picture of Yoda, talking with his fellow members of the Jedi Council.






These are both forms of synchronous communication!

I am such a fan of synchronous communication. I think it has so many wonderful aspects to it that can be applied to many areas in our life. I decided to talk with a couple of my friends in Hawaii who worked at Sea Life Park with me! I havn't seen them face to face in like a year and a half and it was so fun to see them and to be able to see their expressions while we talked! They are doing really good, and loved all the tsunami excitement of this past weekend!

Anyways, I really enjoyed this assignment, and I think that synchronous communication is such a blessing. We are so lucky that we live in an age where technology is so advanced that we can talk with people face to face who are half a world away! Its really exciting actually! I can't wait to see what technology comes up with next!

Why is Copyright important?

Copyright is very important for many reasons. First of all it allows people to safely put their creations out for the public to see, hear, experience, and learn, and it does so in a way that keeps those creations safe from being stolen. If we did not have copyright then people could steal others peoples material and claim it for their own. There would be no way to give credit to people for ideas, or inventions. And anyone could claim they invented something when really, someone else did.
Although we would hope that people would not steal the credit for things that they did not create, but unfortunately it is necessary in our world today. It is also important for people to learn how to learn and do work on their own, without copying other people's things. Copyright is very important in academic atmosphere's because students in school try to cheat all the time by copying other people's papers, and ideas. If there weren't laws against copyright infringement then students would never learn how to think on their own.

Movies in the Classroom!

I think that movies can be especially helpful in the classroom to help students learn and become more engaged in the topics! Movies can be very helpful, especially in science classrooms, where we sometimes talk about tiny microscopic things, and seeing pictures of them help students to understand the material much more! Of course movies shouldn't take the place of hands on interactions and experimenting, but they can be used to fill in missing knowlege, or to get students interested in Biology in general.
Knowing how to make movies is important for outside the classroom as well. There are so many fun ways that experiences can be shared through movies. Wether its through actual video recording of an experience you had or just pictures to music, movies are a fun way to share you life with people1
I lived out in Hawaii for a year and at one point I made a movie of mine and my friends adventures so that people at home could watch it and see all the fun things we were doing! It was fun to make, and it was fun to hear about peoples reactions to it! :)

My very 1st Website!

Hey group members!
So I just finished my teaching website! Take a look if you want but don't judge to harshly, cause its my first time making a website so I havn't learned all the ins and outs yet!
Here is the link to my site! :)

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsmartinsbiosite/

enjoy!

Nike Running as a PLN?

Ok so I've been wanting to start running since this summer. I have always been the type of girl who just assumes I can't run, but over the summer I got pretty good at it, and then I got married and started school and I havn't really been devoted to it since! So when I was looking at 2.0 sites to add to my PLN I found the Nike+ site that gives advice for runners, and training programs for running in races or marathons. there is also an area that allows runners to talk to each other and compare ideas about running, and information on specific races across the US. I am way excited about it because I can finally get a schedule to help me start running, and If I follow their schedule online than I can know exactly how far, and long I should run each day to get in better shape and prepare for a race!
I really like the ideas of PLN's. there is just too much information out there for one person to know, and if you have a big PLN you are able to access all that information much more readily. I only wish I devoted more time to creating my PLN and to learning in general! If I could do this I would be able to learn so much more, and more efficiently. I find that I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to do things, but if I had a big PLN I culd find answers to my questions through that and would waste less time!

Learning Your Whole Life Long!

I have always been a fan of Life Long Learning! I think that there are many benefits (especially in teaching) to constantly trying to learn as much as you can about the world around us. This is actually the reason I was first interested ni biology, because I felt I was learning very interesting things about the world around me in every class and every day. Then I decided that I would love to help others learn about the world around them as well!

When I think about life long learning I am reminded of the great examples of the founding fathers, Joseph Smith, and our current Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. He is so learned in the areas of poetry, classical books, and the gospel. I love how he always uses literature, or poetry in his talks, they make gospel topics more relevant to me. I want to work harder at reading good books and listening to good music so that I can to learn more every day.

Sometimes the idea of lifelong learning can be overwhelming as well though. There is so much information out there, and there is no way that anyone person could ever learn it all! But I am encuoraged when I think that if we do our part to learn when we can we will be aided in our efforts and we will learn all things (in the eternities or course). This makes me want to do better at learning, and to not waste my time on silly things like television, and video games. I know that if we can become life long learners it will not only benefit ourselves, but it will also benefit our children, spouse, and all of the students that we teach.

I like the deadlines for the class projects that are on the website, so i'm just going to continue with those suggestions!

Project #1: Create a Website
Due: Feb 3

Project #2: Instructional Video
Due: Mar 3

Project #3: Content Specific Area
Due: April 7

I am a biology education major focusing on the life sciences, so I will focus on biology for all three projects.
I am excited to learn how to create an internet site! This is something that I have always wanted to know how to do. And it will be very helpful skill, not only in teaching but in life in general! :)

1st blog posting

Hey my name is Kara Robison Martin. I am a biology education major, and I will graduate in April of 2011 (which is coming a lot faster than I thought it would!)
The assignment said to write about my experience setting up this blog, so here it goes. This is my second time creating a blog. My first time was for my humanities 101 class this last summer term. I hope that I enjoy this blogging experience more than that one! haha for my humanities class we had to do three huge blogs each week and even though my professor claimed they weren't a big deal and she wouldn't grade them hard, she did so I had to spend 30 minutes on each blog... that kind of turned me off to blogging since, but I'm sure that this will be better!
But setting up a blog for the second time wasn't too bad, I did it all in like 2 minutes!

I have a friend in my same program who has already taken this class and she has told me about some of the stuff we will be learning about. It makes me excited to learn it myself. She actually introduced our whole animal anatomy class to google documents and they really helped our whole class to study for exams. So I just hope to learn about neat stuff like that that will help me not only in school but in my future classroom and in life in general! The world today is in a technology age so I want to learn as much as I can so I can stay up with the world and the students I'll be teaching!