Traditional Versus Online Education

Education is an unique experience for every student. Nowadays, we are lucky we can choose from different types of schools for what may best fit our own learning styles. Although I believe there are pros and cons to both traditional and online education, I am excited about what the future of online education holds.

Traditional education is great because it provides an individualized experience to the students. They are able to talk face-to-face with their instructors, receive individualized help and learn leadership, teamwork and social skills through personal interactions. However, the growth of the internet is changing some of these experiences.

Online education is a new platform that is gaining rapid popularity. There are many sites that allow students to collaborate together over the internet by tracking each student’s comments and edits. Another popular idea is the reverse lecture class. Students watch the lecture online and then during class time they are able to work on problems, get one-on-one help and ask questions. I think this is a great idea to help the students have more interaction and clarification time during class.

Many schools who don’t offer specific classes, can now enroll their students in online classes through another school. The students can find a subject they are interested in as well as participate in higher-level thinking courses. 

One of my personal favorite websites is Khan Academy. I love this site because it lays out many difficult math and science concepts and re-explains them in several different ways. It is very accommodating to different learning styles.

Right now, there is a wide variety of resources to explore and begin to integrate into a traditional classroom with technology. As more resources are developed, online education will become more affordable and popular as a school form.

For more information, check out these articles and websites:

Sources:

Can Online Education Tackle Achievement Gap? Tell Me More. National Public Radio. Oct. 2012. http://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162643520/can-online-education-tackle-achievement-gap

Hood, Grace. More Teachers ‘Flipping’ The School Day Upside Down. All Things Considered. National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/2012/12/07/166748835/more-teachers-flipping-the-school-day-upside-down

Khan Academy. http://www.khanacademy.org/

Online Education Grows Up, and For Now, It’s Free. All Things Considered. National Public Radio. Sept. 2012. http://www.npr.org/2012/09/30/162053927/online-education-grows-up-and-for-now-its-free

Go PURPLE on OCT 19th!!!

Wear PURPLE on Friday, October 19th to celebrate and support LGBT rights and LGBT youth!!

:D

Back in blogland

Hello friends,

Wow. It has been quite a while since I last visited blogland. Here are some quicky updates.

First off,  I am sorry about my mysterious disappearance and absence. It kinda just happened without me planning it. Guess life will do that to you.

Second off, my summer job is going really well. I have been busy working at the college library on my school campus. I love my job and the people I work with a lot!

Third,  I have been getting all of my paperwork ready for grad school. The library job really helps for that, both for experience and references. :)  In addition, I have been getting ready for my senior year of (undergrad) college- one semester left and then a semester of student teaching. Then grad school. :O

Next, my family just got back from a week of vacation on the beach. It was much needed and we had wonderful 80-90 degree weather the entire week. Now, usually we prefer the 70s, but two weeks ago, our normal temperature in Iowa was 105 degrees. Soooo.... the 80-90 degree weather on the beach was absolutely gorgeous!!

Oh, and we had a surprise party for my mom the week before we went on vacation. We had been planning it for a month or so and it never got spoilt! That was pretty darn awesome-- I'll do a separate post about this with more details later. :)

Let's see.... the puppy, Cleo,  had to go to doggy daycare/boarding while we were on vacation. However, being social, she adored it! She had a blast playing with the other dogs everyday!  (She is kinda bored at home now...hmmm)

We are moving my sister to her college for her first year starting next week. She is getting really excited for her college year to start.

And we got our new pond installed and the fish moved in. They are nice and happy. And... don't know if this is good or bad... they are quite tame. If you sit on the edge of the rock and dangle your feet in the water, the 5 fish swim right up and kiss your legs and toes. :)

Oh, and lastly... I have been teaching my mom to crochet. So far, she has mastered the chain, single crochet and US double crochet. Yay!!

Okay- Now I have to work on my statement of purpose for my grad school app. I'll be back later with more details and maybe some pictures too!

Thanks for reading!!

As Always,

Katy

And the Winners are…

dun dun dunnnnn…………




Marina (Evelyn-May) and Claire ( Sweet Birdy Love)!!! 






You both posted about excellent-sounding books, so I would like to send you both something.   : 0)
Also, now I am going to add both of those books to my list. Ooo. I'm excited!




Please both email me at kayakerbook@gmail.com with your home mailing addresses. Then I can send you a cute little something in the mail. :)


Thanks!




P.S. Sorry this post is a day late. I had a bad migraine yesterday because of the much needed rain that was passing through. I'm much better today. :)


Have a great day!

As Always,

Peace,

Katy

Thanks!

Hey everybody,


Sorry for my absence from blogland lately. I have been busy working. I will fill you in about that a little bit later.


Anyways- this is just a quick note thanking you for your kind comments and your wishes for my foot. It is getting better, slowly. :)

Hugs and Thank you's!


Enjoy your weekend!

As Always,

Peace,

Katy

GiveAway!!!

Thanks everyone! I have reached 30 followers and probably a few others!!!!! :)

I want to do a little giveaway (my first one!) for you. :)

Soo.. this is what you will have to do...

Comment on this post by Saturday the 16th and tell me what your favorite book is/author and why you like it. :)
Then I will put your names into a bucket and pull out a winner!

You are all amazing and I enjoy reading each of your blogs. Thanks for reading my blog. I don't know you all that well, but I consider you my friends!! Thanks!! ;D

As Always,

Peace,
Katy

Blanket Progress and Flowers!

Ah... It is a super nice day outside today. But I have re-injured an old injury in my foot and am wearing my walking boot again. It seems to help my foot feel better. So I have been reading and crocheting a lot.


My star stitch blanket is getting bigger. I am really liking it. Yay!! It is the first big project and the first blanket that I have made.

Pictures of my blanket progress:

And some pretty flowers: Water Lilly and Clematis

Hope everyone is having a sunshiney day!!

As Always,

Peace,

Katy

Cleo's 1st Birthday!

Cleo's first birthday was on May 21st! My sister and I were excited to celebrate with her.

My sister baked her 3 peanut butter and carrot cakes.

Cleo really enjoyed them!

She unwrapped her presents. This is the squeaky gecko toy I got her. It has about 7 different squeakers and a rattle in it's tail.

My sister, EJ made Cleo 2 new bandanas.

And EJ found a crocheted pig toy for Cleo.

Cleo finally discovered the joys of unwrapping presents. This Christmas, she didn't really understand what was going on. But she was excited for her birthday presents.

EJ found a rawhide baseball for her and I found a giant rawhide bone.

Cleo enjoyed her birthday very much. It took her almost the entire week to finish all of her treats and goodies. 

Happy Birthday Cleo!

As Always,

Peace

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to all of those families and friends in the world who have lost a loved one.

Thank you to those soliders who have served... no matter what country it has been for. Every person has lost someone due to a fight for what they believe in.. whether it is the same belief that the US has or a different belief of what is right. Today, our differences are set aside as we remember those who have given their lives and those who have made it home with so many horrible memories. They all need our support and love right now and always.

Our vets have seen so many things.. whether those things were part of war that the nation wants to forget or part of a war that the nation still admires. It doesn't matter. Those vets are people and they need to be supported. They went to war at the time they did because the government believed it was the right thing to do. We can't just shove them aside and forget about those vets who served in the wars that we no longer wish to remember. The reality is that there were people who fought in those wars.. whether that was the right choice or not.. and now those same people who made it back home are being ignored by their families because they have so many bad memories, anger problems, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. They need our love and support to help them have a moderately normal life for the rest of their years.

The most of what we can do is to offer support and a safe, loving place to those young soliders who are now coming home from recent/current wars. They need to have the support from their families and friends  and fellow humans in order to live a somewhat normal life. They have many years ahead of them, and they don't deserve to be shooed away by their families.

So Thank You, Thank you, Thank you to our vets. To all the vets in the world who are experiencing the same memories and problems. Thank you for serving and allowing many countries to gain more rights. Thank you for giving up your normal way of life in order to serve and experience death of fellow soliders and friends. Thank you for going through all of the horribleness that is war in order to help your fellow citizens gain something that you/they believe in. Thank you.

Peace,

My First Monarch Caterpillar of 2012!!!!

Hello all!


I found my first caterpillar on my milkweed yesterday morning. Mommy Monarch had visited last week and was laying eggs. I went out just to see if I had any caterpillars and... there was one! Usually where there is one, there are more nearby... I just haven't found them all yet. Once they get a little bit bigger, they will pop out on the plants. However, there are usually several that are all the same size which means that they all hatched around the same time. So right now I can only find one, but in a few days I will be able to find a lot more!! :D


Here are baby caterpillar pictures!

 Some pretty flowers and water drops!

 A milkweed beetle!

 My waystation sign!

As Always,

Peace,
Katy

Star Stitch Blanket

Hello Everyone!!
I hope everyone is having a cheerful, sunshine filled day! :D


As for me, I just found a cool blanket made with the star stitch. This is my current project! :)


I saw Jules' blankets (Little Woollie is the name of her blog) that she has made using the star stitch that she found. She was nice enough to post the address of a tutorial for making the star stitch on her blog. I decided to try it. 


To my delight, the blanket is coming along very nicely. At first, I had a problem with the first row curling up. After a few times of ripping it out and redoing it, I went on to the next row. After I had a few rows completed, it stopped curling up. I am a very tight crocheter. I also tried to work on keeping my stitches loose. However, the blanket seems to be working ok now. 


The star stitch is very relaxing and quick to work. I really like that it is not a "gappy" pattern. 


I started by chaining 265 stitches because I wanted it to be wide enough to wrap under my legs. Now I am working on the length. Here are a few photos of my progress.

This is one side of the stitches.

This is the other side of the stitches.

I was going to do 3 rows of yellow, but ran out. So I had to switch around my colors a little bit. However, since I have no plan and am just doing random colors it is still working out alright. I ended up doing 2 rows of yellow and then 1 of teal and am now working on a purple row. I think I  might do some orange rows after the purple. Then I have to decide if I want to repeat my colors again or keep going random but with repeating colors since I ran out of yellow. Guess I'll see what I feel like once I get to that point.

Well... I have to go and work on my last school project of the year. I am not very motivated but really need to get it done so I have more time to relax and crochet. :)

More pictures to come soon!

As always,

Peace,
Katy

Garden and Spring Flowers!

Hello all,


This weekend I was at home and took some pictures of the flowers. They are so cheerful. Plus, the flowers never get tired of modeling for photos! :)

Cleo recently decided that she loves to run through the daisies. They were all nice, but now they have paths pushed through them in several places. That's what puppies do! Cleo will be 1 year old on Monday, the 21st! 

This is a Hummingbird Moth. It fell into our pond, and my dad fished it out. We put it on a daisy to warm up and dry off. It stayed for about 15 minutes and then flew off.

After my sister's grad party, we took down our balloon decorations. Cleo played with squishy balloons when she was younger. She is very gentle with them and likes to carry them around by the belly button. She was super excited to carry around these 3 balloons that were all tied together.

After a little while, she had popped a couple of the balloons. They didn't scare her though. She just picked up the balloons that were left. We always supervise her when she has balloons so that if they do pop we can take away the broken pieces before she finds them and possibly tries to eat them. We are careful, and she enjoys playing with them.

As always,

Peace,

Katy