Mapping a Concept

For this assignment, we were to make concept maps that described a subject that would be appropriate to study in a classroom setting. For my concept map, I chose the topic of Great White Sharks because they are my favorite animal and I find them quite interesting. I think this was an excellent assignment that taught me a lot about making concept maps. I have always been familiar with concept mapping and understood the process well but I had never had to make one on my own. The program we used to make the concepts maps was a program called Inspiration. I believe that it was a good program but was very touchy and sometimes repetitive, possibly outdated, to work with. In this assignment, most of the problems that I had happened because of the program such as detailing the project by making it physically appealing, but I found it is easy to work through by exploring the program further. I believe this would be an easy assignment to integrate into my future teacher career because concept maps have no boundaries. This assignment met NET goals 1: Facilitating and Inspiring Student Learning and Creativity because if a student was to create one on their own they would be able to use their creativity to pick subtopics and the topic of choice as well as make the concept map visually appealing and it also helps them learn because they are learning about a new subject when using concept maps. This assignment also met NET goal 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments because Inspiration is a program that is interactive for the student and allows them learn while experiencing a digital aspect of learning. This assignment also met NET goal 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning because a concept map on Inspiration is a digital platform for learning. If you would like to view my concept map you can find it here!

Getting to Know You...Getting to Know All About You.

My name is Olivia Cowart and I am twenty one years old. I grew up in Mississippi and still live here as of now. I work at a pet sitting business called Carol’s Critter Care in Ocean Springs and absolutely love it.  I currently attend the University of Southern Mississippi where I am studying Elementary Education with an endorsement in Science. I hope that once I graduate I will able to teach possibly fourth, fifth, or sixth grade in somewhere other than Mississippi. I have always enjoyed being around children so at first, I thought I would major in nursing and become a nurse in a Children’s Clinic. After attending a semester of Nursing School, I realized that it wasn’t for me and that the best way to show my love for children and love for Science was to be a teacher.

I am making this Blog to show my reflections on artifacts, “projects”, that I complete in my IT 365 course which I am currently taking. In my reflections, I will talk about what I have learned from the completed artifacts and what goals they may have met through certain NETS-T standards, NETS-T being the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers. In this class, I hope to learn more about web page development and certain softwares that are readily available and helpful to future and current teachers. I also hope to understand more about standards that teachers must follow such as the NETS-T and others. I have always had an interest in technology and feel that I have a good general knowledge of it. I hope this class will further my knowledge as well as my interest.