Student Technology Survey

• Send the answers to this survey to lawrence.wirth@yahoo.com
• Go to Larry^2 = Larry Squared and read the posts titled “First Steps for All Students”, “What is This?”, and “Blogging Policy for School Without Walls Class Blogs”
• Note the Links to “SWW Class Blogs” – these blogs are currently empty, but all of you will be contributing to filling them up very soon!Watch your google mail account for an invitation to the class blog!

1. Do you have access to a working computer in your house?
Yes / No

2. If the computer in your house is connected to the Internet, how is connected?
Dial Up / DSL / Cable

3. What kind of Operating System does your usual computer have?
Windows / Linux / Mac

4. How much time per day do you spend doing homework? (outside of school)
_________Minutes

5. How much time per day do you spend doing homework on the computer (outside of school)?
_________Minutes

6. In what classes do you use a computer?


7. What do you the usually use the computer for the most when using it to complete your homework?
Internet Search / Word Processing / Calculations / Multimedia / _____________

8. Which of the following do you own/use regularly (Check all that apply):
MP3 / Cell Phone / Walkman / Gameboy / Xbox / PDA / Video Camera / Digital Camera

9. How much time per day do you spend on the computer doing NON school work?
_________Minutes

10. How would you rate your overall ability to use technology?
Expert - I could teach someone / Novice - I can use it on my own / Beginner - I rarely use the computer / Nonuser - I never use the computer

11. What programs are you familiar with?
Word / Excel / Powerpoint / Moviemaker / Inspiration

12. What types of activities do you use the computer for?
Instant Messaging / E-Mail / Gaming / Internet research - CD Rom, Internet / Manipulating digital pictures / Downloading music/videos / Blogging / Pod casting / Word processing (Using Microsoft Word) / Creating multimedia (Using PowerPoint, etc) / Taking online polls / Shopping / ____________________

13. Are you a registered user on any websites?
Yes / No

14. Do you have your own web page? (My Space, Facebook, other)
Yes / No

15. Do you have your own blog?
Yes / No

16. Do you regularly contribute to other blogs, either as an author or with comments?
Yes / No

17. Do you use your cell phone to send text messages to friends?
Yes / No / No Cell Phone

My google mail address is _______________________@gmail.com

First Steps for All Students

HERE ARE YOUR FIRST STEPS:

1. Sign up for your google mail account by going to http://mail.google.com/. Your e-mail address (like AAAAABBBBB@ gmail.com) and password will be your username and password when you sign into Blogger.
2. Complete your technology survey and send just the answers to me from your google mail account at lawrence.wirth@yahoo.com.
3. When I receive your e-mail, I will be able to send you an invitation to join the class blog.
4. Accept the invitation, and set up your Blogger profile.
   

IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT PROFILES:
There should be no personally identifying information available from your blog posts or profile, except for your "Display Name", which should be your FIRST NAME and LAST INITIAL (Such as LARRYW). This means when you "Edit User Profile" in Blogger, DO NOT SELECT "show my profile", "show my real name", or " show my e-mail address". Those checkboxes should NOT be checked.

What is This?

To All Students in Geometry AM, Geometry PM, and Tech Know:

As you know, I've rejoined Larry as a student teacher for the next 6 weeks, and one of my pet projects will be to integrate student blogging into our Geometry and Tech Know classes.

As students who are members of a learning community, you have a responsibility to contribute to this effort. We will work at whatever pace is best for all of us, and use our class blogs to increase everyone's learning and achievement.

In class, I handed out a short survey to get an idea of your experience with e-mail, blogs, and other forms of electronic communication. We will be using Blogger.com as our blog platform, so everyone will need to sign up for a google mail account (if you don't already have one) which will allow you to log into Blogger.com. After you have set up your google mail account, send me your survey results from your google mail account. Shortly, you will receive an e-mail from me with an invitation to the class blog.

We will help each other with these first steps until we really get the hang of what we are trying to do.

Blogging Policy for School Without Walls Class Blogs

Blogs set up and used by the students at the School Without Walls (SWW) in Rochester, NY should adhere to the following rules and regulations to protect privacy, show respect for all, and contribute to learning.

These guidelines were taken from Darren Kuropatwa and Bud Hunt, who provide the inspiration for the class blogs of SWW.

• Students using blogs are expected to treat blogspaces as classroom spaces. Speech that is inappropriate for class is not appropriate for our blog. While we encourage you to engage in debate and conversation with other bloggers, we also expect that you will conduct yourself in a manner reflective of a representative of this school.
• Never EVER EVER give out or record personal information on our blog. Our blog exists as a public space on the Internet. Don’t share anything that you don’t want the world to know. For your safety, be careful what you say, too. Don’t give out your phone number or home address. This is particularly important to remember if you have a personal online journal or blog elsewhere.
• Again, your blog is a public space. And if you put it on the Internet, odds are really good that it will stay on the Internet. Always. That means ten years from now when you are looking for a job, it might be possible for an employer to discover some really hateful and immature things you said when you were younger and more prone to foolish things. Be sure that anything you write you are proud of. It can come back to haunt you if you don’t.
• Never link to something you haven’t read. While it isn’t your job to police the Internet, when you link to something, you should make sure it is something that you really want to be associated with. If a link contains material that might be creepy or make some people uncomfortable, you should probably try a different source.