T-tests Assignment

I have really struggled with this assignment.  Technical issues have been a big part of it.  I was able to do the age and discussion posts tests at work on Excel 2007.  This was after I copied the Google doc. at home and sent it to my email address at school.  The browser on my computer at school does not support the Google Chrome or Google Docs.he worksheet that our class received.  When I copied the spreadsheet and pasted it into Excel at work I selected the entire worksheet and sorted the age column.  I then added the data analysis toolkit to Excel.  I did this by selecting tools in Excel and then selecting add-ins.  I selected the data analysis toolkit and hit OK.  When I finished this I selected data analysis in tools and scrolled down to T-test 2 sample assuming equal variances.  I selected number of discussion blogs for ages 22 to 30 and then the number of discussion of blogs for ages 32-57.  I clicked OK and the statistics replaced the spreadsheet in a box that I widened the columns of to reveal all of the data. This was my result
Age and Discussion Posts.

I purchased Excel 2010 Home and Student Edition yesterday trying to continue on with testing more columns in the spreadsheet.  I installed the program into my computer and imported the Google document into Excel.  I followed the same steps as above with adding the data analysis toolkit.  Then I selected the entire worksheet and sorted ages.  I am trying to figure out how to get the screen that I got with the T-test outcomes like the one in Excel 2007.  So far, I have only been able to get the equal variance and cannot find the new worksheet ply screen.  I also cannot copy and paste the t-test pop-up in Excel 10.  I saved my results of the screen on Jing and am including the links:

Fake quiz and age

Millinial and Age

Teaching and Discussion Posts

This is the homework that Dr. Pierce assigned.  We were to follow the process of sorting the independent variable.  Then select T-test and select the cells for array 1 and then select the cells for array 2.  I have Excel 10 and I put "1" in tails and "2" in type and the result appears. I used this process to complete my homework. On the browser tests I had to change how the data was sorted for Internet Explorer and Firefox so that the other browsers would appear together in order to complete the T-test.

	AGE	Gender	Teaching
Score	0.244535528	0.284534544	0.064918329
D.Posts	0.003893*	0.444181273	0.064722595
MelScore	0.035912082	0.3765718	0.014593073

	Chrome	Firefox	IE	Safari
Score	0.112	0.133	0.027*	0.031*
D.Posts	0.258	0.213	0.193	0.126
MelScore	0.448	0.409	0.140	0.069

I represented my scores in the browser test in thousandths because the example was like this.  We were to put an asterisk by any data that was significant.  Dr. Pierce gave an example with age and discussion posts and score and Internet Explorer.  I put an asterisk by score and Safari because the result of .03 was less than p=.05.

This assignment fits into the NETS-T standard 2.  This assignment definitely was a digital age learning experience and required completing assessments.

Online Class Meeting - October 20, 2011

Tonight was pretty awesome.  My first ever online classroom meeting.  I went to the link Elluminate and logged in.  There were a few classmates on at the time and some of us practiced talking.  We realized quickly that only one person can talk at a time and until the person talking de-selects talk no one else is able to talk.  The moderator asked if we had video cameras and my classmate Jana Woofter appeared.  It was nice to see her.  She helped me at the tail end of Audacity when I was about reduced to tears and suffering from sleep deprivation.  The conversation was good in our meeting with good participation as well.

We discussed data analysis from the link that Professor Pierce e-mailed to us in
Google doc.  Prior to class we were asked to create a research question and hypothesis.  We used the information in the hypothesis  and null hypothesis links to aid us in this task.  The class discussed sort descriptives and averaging in Excel.  Prior to the class starting we were to write a hypothesis  and null hypothesis using the information we were given.  Some of us shared our hypothesis with each other and what a independent and dependent variable would be.  I have looked at the spreadsheet a lot and see many possible avenues to compare. In the discussion one comparison brought up was teaching and number of blog posts vs. not teaching and blog posts.   The teaching students blog more than the not teaching students in our class. My initial hypothesis was that younger students experiment more with various browsers than the older students.  After the meeting I think that my hypothesis was not really what we were supposed to do.  I decided to look at fake test scores for teaching and not teaching students.The meeting ended with the moderator telling us he  was going to give us a lot of "painless" tests.  I hope his definition and my definition of "painless" are similar.
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Hypothesis:  There is a significant difference with fake quiz score compared with students that are and are not teaching.

Null hypothesis:  There is no significant difference quiz scores compared with students that are and are not teaching

Teaching and Fake Score Results

Students 30 and ↓	Students ↑ 30
0.064918329
	Alpha = .05
	Result: Significant

Using Excel for action research is a great way to gather statistical information.  This would be in compliance with NET-S standards.  Students are often asked to do reports and research and using tPublish Posthis tool would make their job easier and also most likely more accurate.

How Millennial Am I?

I went to the link pewresearch.org and took the quiz.  My score was 74%.  I think that this is pretty good considering that I am on the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation.  I think being around my students and going to school myself keeps me more in tune with the world around me.  I also really enjoy Facebook.  According to the chart below I am one of the 30% in my generation to have a profile on a social network.

I think understanding the tendencies within generations is useful in understanding the culture and beliefs of others.  I find it interesting that some traits no longer appear beginning in Generation X and new traits replace the old traits.  Values and  morals are not included in Generation X and the Millennial generation, but I believe tolerance is like values and morals. Technology is not mentioned in the Boomer and Silent Generations.  Work ethic does not appear in the Millennial generation.  Something surprising to me is that the Silent generation was the smartest of all groups. This was an interesting activity.  I think this information reveals the necessity of technology in the classroom and complies with NETS-T standards.

Personality Profile - #2

I took the indicator test again  at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp and got the same results as the two previous times I took it.  My results were INFP.

What it is to be an INFP type...

INFP - Idealistic, loyal to their values and to people who are important to them. Want an external life that is congruent with their values. Curious, quick to see possibilities, can be catalysts for implementing ideas. Seek to understand people and to help them fulfill their potential. Adaptable, flexible, and accepting unless a value is threatened.



Healers present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even distant around others. But inside they're anything but serene, having a capacity for personal caring rarely found in the other types. Healers care deeply about the inner life of a few special persons, or about a favorite cause in the world at large. And their great passion is to heal the conflicts that trouble individuals, or that divide groups, and thus to bring wholeness, or health, to themselves, their loved ones, and their community.
Healers have a profound sense of idealism that comes from a strong personal sense of right and wrong. They conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable place, full of wondrous possibilities and potential goods. In fact, to understand Healers, we must understand that their deep commitment to the positive and the good is almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make extraordinary sacrifices for someone or something they believe in. Set off from the rest of humanity by their privacy and scarcity, Healers can often feel even more isolated in the purity of their idealism.
Also, Healers might well feel a sense of separation because of their often misunderstood childhood. Healers live a fantasy-filled childhood-they are the prince or princess of fairy tales-an attitude which, sadly, is frowned upon, or even punished, by many parents. With parents who want them to get their head out of the clouds, Healers begin to believe they are bad to be so fanciful, so dreamy, and can come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. In truth, they are quite OK just as they are, only different from most others-swans reared in a family of ducks.
At work, Healers are adaptable, welcome new ideas and new information, are patient with complicated situations, but impatient with routine details. Healers are keenly aware of people and their feelings, and relate well with most others. Because of their deep-seated reserve, however, they can work quite happily alone. When making decisions, Healers follow their heart not their head, which means they can make errors of fact, but seldom of feeling. They have a natural interest in scholarly activities and demonstrate, like the other Idealists, a remarkable facility with language. They have a gift for interpreting stories, as well as for creating them, and thus often write in lyric, poetic fashion. Frequently they hear a call to go forth into the world and help others, a call they seem ready to answer, even if they must sacrifice their own comfort.

I agree with the results. I take care of a lot of people.  I consider myself easy going most of the time and get along well with people.I appreciate beauty and find it in the simplest things  I teach Special education students and have made a point to get to know them as well as teach them.

This type of testing would be valuable for teachers.  Differentiated instruction is becoming less a choice and more the norm.  Understanding our students' temperaments helps us know how they are motivated, what is important to them, and whether they are most comfortable in small group or larger group activities.  Being sensitive to our students' temperaments would be a win-win for the teacher and the students.  I think that this information would apply to the NETS-T to aid in planning lessons.

Personality Profile - #1

This assignment required reading the Myers & Briggs basics at the foundation website: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ . According to the Myers & BriggsType Indicator (MBTI), the questionnaire measures temperaments,but does not measure traits, abilities, or character.  The type indicator is based on four temperments:


The Four Temperaments

• As Concrete Cooperators, Guardians speak mostly of their duties and responsibilities, of what they can keep an eye on and take good care of, and they're careful to obey the laws, follow the rules, and respect the rights of others.
  
• As Abstract Cooperators, Idealists speak mostly of what they hope for and imagine might be possible for people, and they want to act in good conscience, always trying to reach their goals without compromising their personal code of ethics.
  
• As Concrete Utilitarians, Artisans speak mostly about what they see right in front of them, about what they can get their hands on, and they will do whatever works, whatever gives them a quick, effective payoff, even if they have to bend the rules.

• As Abstract Utilitarians, Rationals speak mostly of what new problems intrigue them and what new solutions they envision, and always pragmatic, they act as efficiently as possible to achieve their objectives, ignoring arbitrary rules and conventions. 

I have taken this questionnaire in two different classes while working on my Bachelor's degree.  Both times the results were the same, INFP.  I agree that the results are very spot on in my case.  I believe that this is why this test is widely used.  Most people that took the test when I did agreed with their results as well.

Audacity Project - Post #2

When I grew up music was always playing in my house.  My parents were young and liked Rock and Roll.  They even went to see the Beatles in concert when I was a young girl.  They passed their love of music on to me and I passed it on to my children.  Music makes me feel happy and many days after work I crank the volume way up and “sit” dance and sing my way home. I have  had a really hard time deciding on what songs to include.  My podcast time ran out before my song choices.  I had to continuously remove songs.  I also was not very quick to learn that while in pause mode I was not able to snip the tracks.  I also was like a maniac with the mouse and kept getting the choice of arrow tools confused.  This led to multiple re-dos.  I used fade in and fade out for most of the songs.  Again, it took me awhile to realize this could be done with individual tracks and waiting many minutes to fade out an entire project at once, which didn’t really work well. When I finally got all the songs and narrative to meet the time requirement and sound alright I once again struggled for a long time trying to get my finished Audacity portion into the Beanpod.com.  Thankfully Jana Woofter helped me via Facebook and phone.  Thank you again, Jana. So here I sit three days late, sleep deprived and hopped up on coffee finishing this assignment. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

I used Real Player to download videos from YouTube.  After the videos were downloaded I converted them to MP3 format.  I downloaded Audacity and opened a new file.  I dragged the MP3 music files into Audacity and edited them.  The computer I used had a built in microphone so I did my narratives with the internal microphone.  When I completed my recording in Audacity I saved the file by selecting Save Project.  I named the file Debbie’s Podcast and finally ended up saving the file to my desktop.  I did this because I lost the project a few times.  When I saved the project in Audacity the file extension was .aud.  I followed the tutorial link classmates had shown on the discussion section of the blackboard.  The tutorial showed saving the file as an MP3 file in Windows Media Player.  I downloaded Beanpod.com and registered.  I then logged into Beanpod.com and  scrolled down to where the files are imported.  I selected desktop and the file that contained the Windows Media Player MP3 file with my pod cast on it.  The file uploaded and I copied the link from the upload tab when the upload was complete.  I then pasted the link into my blog.  I tried over and over to get the Lame converter to work, but with no luck. After all the trouble I had been having I used what worked.    I hope this doesn’t count against me.  This assignment would be appropriate for all NETS standards.

Audacity Podcast – My Music Bibliography


Track 1:  Introduction audio clip
Track 2:  Ray Charles - What’d I Say
Track 3:  Trini Lopez - If I Had A Hammer
Track 4:  Audio clip
Track 5:  Tom Jones - It’s Not Unusual
Track 6:  Audio Clip
Track 7:  The Jackson 5 - Got to Be There
Track 8:  The Stylistics - Betcha By Golly Wow
Track 9:  Audio Clip - split track with Echo effect
Track 10:  Pink Floyd - Breathe
Track 11:  Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
Track 12:  Audio
Track 13:  The Indigo Girls - Closer to Fine
Track 14:  REM - Find the River
Track 15:  Audio mixed with Yanni - In the Morning Light

Audacity Post - #1

This project has been very difficult for me.  I have spend many hours and days trying to put the project together.  I am satisfied with it for the most part.  I love music so much it was hard to really choose songs.  I decided to do my podcast about my earliest memories of music and some of my favorites growing up.  I think I am much older than most in this class, so some of the songs I included are older as well.
In the classroom, this project would be awesome for Social Studies.  This month celebrates Hispanic Heritage and this week has been dedicated to Anti-Bullying. Both of these topics would be well represented through music and narrative.  I plan to make a podcast with my students. They will enjoy it and this type of work in the classroom is differentiated and appropriate for my students.The link to my podcast is: http://media29.podbean.com/pb/e8019d404407ef4f6ae17a7ba361dbe2/4eac7543/blogs29/402180/uploads/DebbiesPodcast.mp3I listened to my podcast from this link and it seems the volume isn't as seamless as it sounded on Audacity.This assignment falls into the NETS-T standard 3 because to complete the assignment we had to demonstrate fluency in technology systems and in order to complete our podcast we had to practice with the new learned technogies.