What the Future Holds

Conducting a Circuit

Have you ever been in class and was given something without direction and wondered how you were going to manage to make it work? Lucky for you, I have. We were set up in teams of 5 to 6 people and the only hint we received was to watch a short video about explaining an electrical circuit. It is an unbroken path along which an electrical current exists or is intended or able to flow. Electricity follows a path of least resistance or short circuits.

I was a little confused at first because we were given a kit and in the kit was a circuit board with several different colored wires inside of it. We were asked to bring few materials to class along with a laptop if possible. We were given direction to at least go onto the Frogger, which is a gaming website.

Why we were given the video, the circuit board with cables, materials such as:

• Aluminum foil
• Bananas 
• Card board
• Sliced celery
• Playdoh

and a laptop because we were expected to complete the circuit with these specific tools. We first connected our cables to several different objects such as a banana, aluminum foil, and playdoh. We needed to figure out how to get out objects to process through the frog on the computer. We first began to think that the banana was the way on getting the frog to move. It did, however it did not move in the way we had first expected it to. We began to connect specific wires to the banana and coordinating them to either moving front, back, left, and right and thought maybe moving the banana in those directions will help the frog move. Well, we were all too focused on the banana because it was just not working.


We began to experiment with the help of our professor on paper. What he had done to help us try and complete the circuit was that he drew 4 dots onto the paper with the lead pencil. With that you were able to connect one of the cables to the led. As a group we realized that we needed to connect the source with the cables to other sources with one of the cables being the ground state (or earth).
We then color coordinated the objects in specific directions with the blue cable attached to aluminum foil (front), the green cable attached to another piece of aluminum foil (back), the gray cable attached to the banana (left), the red cable attached to the playdoh (right), and lastly, the yellow cable was the ground (or earth). Our conclusion was that the yellow cable was the clicker in which when we hit those specific materials indicated which way the frog moved.

It was definitely a challenge at first, but the whole purpose of this exercise was team collaboration. Our professor gave us this exercise to see how we all work together on being able to complete the circuit and because in the real world we will have employers who want us to work as a team to come up with a solution to any given problem without given direction. It is up to us to be able to work together and get the job done. In life we are going to have to work for what we need to accomplish and with that said our team was able to conduct the game by completing the circuit together.

Marketing and Educator Programs

The other day we had a guest speaker and although she is not into my field of study she was able to give great insight into how the real world works. Robyn Hrivnatz works at Microsoft and had worked as a school teacher for 16 consecutive years where her focus was on the Primary curriculum for teachers in the United States.


She had given insight about how social media changed within a few years and how it began to play a huge role in her everyday life because she connected with those who were also interested in what she was interested in as well. Using social media is a source of understanding the audience and using it for professional reasons and getting advice in the moment of using it. She was able to use social media to connect to what was going on in the classroom via Facebook and Twitter. Understanding the audience is learning, and understanding the competition on these medias such as what is being launched, what is new, and current gives you a clear insight of that specific profession you are interested in. It is a place to connect with others. While working for Microsoft, there are several divisions to consider. There is always room for error so it is critical to have someone proof read anything being posted about Microsoft.

While using these medias anytime while posting, it is critical that they disclose that they work for Microsoft in case someone is following them that they want to make sure they are not disclosing anything inappropriate that could risk their job. Robyn had explained about using social media to gain respect and increase the fans especially with those who love Xbox. Those who begin to tweet about Xbox and tag Xbox via Twitter, they will acknowledge them and respond back to them.

Why did Robyn transition from Education to working at Microsoft? Well, she double majored in Computer Science because there is limited technology in the classroom. She loves to learn as much information about it as she can because you can tap online about what you are interested in and it allows her to be able to work with other teachers and others in the classroom so others can see what it is like. She also mentioned a few of her favorite pieces of technology, which is Skype or google hangouts because you receive easy connections, it is simple and easy to get started. Onenote also struck out to her the most because she is able to receive true collaboration within different schedules. Robyn pointed out a great fact, that not everyone works the same throughout the day. So, using this tool helps the students receive instant feedback. They are able to get the information they need right away. There is no delay on waiting to get back to them. One thing that I know for sure that she loves and misses the classroom experience because within the classroom you are able to build relationships and bonds with the students. It does make a difference, however she is able to schedule visits in local schools to be able to meet with the students to get the classroom experiences whenever she can.



Overall, a few tips she gave us as far as social media is concerned is the balance between being professional and being yourself. Anything you put on their is public and permanent. You want to search for hashtags in your field and build conversations based off of them. You have to stay connected so others will notice you. Take risks and comment on posts that interest you. Linkedin is also a great way for future employers to get to notice you. Though when using Linkedin, it should not look like a resume. It is there to see a summary of who you are. Build yourself a personality and show what you are interested in.

The Connected Educator


With technology advancing every year, we are learning how to adapt to new changes. Social media will also be evolving through our times and generations to come. We will begin to have to medias similar to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Though things to consider while we are learning everyday, is to remember these medias are tools to stay connected. Finding people who share the same interests as you, exchanging ideas, sharing imaginations, insights, and opinions. Anything on the web has become a great learning resource when you use it for the right reasons of course. You can begin to add to the world's understanding and advocate for positive changes in the world. Learning is about attaching new knowledge to existing understandings. We can use these medias to chase our passions, empowering them to find our voices online and off, and creating a threat and stress free environment online as well. With all this you begin creating your personal learning network which would help you in the long run for future employers.