Blog Reflection #6

Blog Reflection #6 – Can you hear me now?

This week has shed some light on how much I don’t know about technology.  I want to know it all and just need to spend more time learning it.  The podcast seemed so easy and cool when I read and watched all the podcast.  I watched a couple of ones on the class wiki and got some ideas then went to do it.  It wasn’t that easy for me.  However I do see the need for the podcast in the classroom and/or life.  The podcast gives the personal touch to a lesson or idea.  Children today are all in television and/or games.  The podcast is like a television show so it is like learning and watching a movie at the same time.  They probably don’t even know they are learning anything.  It also has the idea that the person speaking is with you, making it more personal.

I started using Snagit but couldn’t figure it out.  I then went to Jing because I saw that several people on the Wiki were using Jing.  I still had a hard time figuring out Jing too.  I like Jing now though because it moves directly to Screencast.  I also had a problem with putting the pages together with my voice to make the actual podcast.  It was difficult but I will keep working with it after this class and hopefully I can get it down well enough to use in class when I start teaching.  I grew up in a poor family and have made so much out of what I have with hard work.  Technology has so much to learn but I know I can get it.  I know if I get my mind to something I want.  It happens.  I really want to learn all that I can about education and educational technology and be a great and up-to-date teacher.

Blog Reflection #5

Blog Reflection # 5

I was amazed with the mapping information activity.  I am still messing around with checking information.  The online searching process is or can be very involved.  In the past we would just look at the source for verification that the information was probably correct.  Now at least we have steps to help us find more reliable information.  It takes more to make sure your data is accurate.  I felt like before now, I was doing a pretty good job at finding accurate information.  However, with this week’s lesson, I don’t really know if my past findings were from reputable sources.  I used to just look into Google for any research.  I hope my past research papers were loaded with correct data.  From now on, I will use the November Learning site to look up data to see if the site is reputable and correct.  I will also be looking for who published it, the purpose for it, and the extensions to see where it is from.

It is really important that we start learning as much as possible about looking for valuable and meaningful sites.  We really need to teach this to the students because there is so much information on the web and students need to know how and which sites to choose for reliable data.  We can tell them how to do it but they really need the hands on experience on how to find good data. 

I think this week we have accomplished working and becoming familiar with research tools.  We have also seen some sources on where to store these sites, like in social bookmarking.  I thought the Delicious bookkeeping site was a nice way to keep up with reliable web sites.  It allows sharing of data from other students or teachers with the same interest.  However it was kind of hard to get around in.  I never could figure out how to add LEW_ETEC to my network.  I finally just gave up and added it to this blog reflection.  I think this bookmarking concept is great because once you find a good reputable site, then you can save it in your account under a stack or just as a link.  You can add tags to help pull your sites easily.  This will be very useful when I am teaching.  This sort of account can be used by class to see how valuable there sites are and make sure they are checking them.  It also can help link sites together in stacks and you can follow others with similar interest.

http://delicious.com/tammycooper20

Blog Reflection #4

Blog Reflection #4 –Assessment

This week has been very busy.  However I have received the concept of slowing down and focus on what needs to happen.  I have seen how learning and change can do so much.  I read the article, Electronic Portfolios as Digital Stories of Deep Learning”.  This article was about the two learning assessments in learning. 

I mostly relate to the Assessment for Learning (AFL) because I want to be involved, monitor, and clarify the learning process to others.  I want help students decide where they are in their learning, where’s next and how to get there in the best way.  I don’t want to be a teacher that sets in front of the classroom and just talks.  I want to be an involved teacher that comes to class with enthusiasm and ready for learning. 

I think the portfolio assessment assignment has an enormous amount of knowledge to offer.  While I am a student, I will use the portfolio for developing my writing, communication and technology literacy skills.  This can be used for my classes.  After school, I can update and use as a professional or career portfolio to help with my job hunting.  I will be able to post my resume, letter of recommendations, a list of references, teaching philosophy statement, evidence of teaching, and artifacts that demonstrate my student teacher’s capabilities.

I think the creation and development of my portfolio will be a great.  I will be able to get interaction with other students and employers.  I also will be able to assess my work from anywhere; work, home, or weekend outings.  The more I learn about the portfolio, the more I see in the potential for learning and assessing.  I guess I will never quit trying to learn so the possibilities can be endless.

I think this week on assessment has opened my eyes.  I realized several potentials for learning.  I know that I do not want to use the assessment of learning.  I want to be a good teacher and want to be involved with the students.  I want to make learning fun and make them eager to learn more.  I do however realize that to be the teacher I want to be, comes a good deal of work.

Reflective Blog #3 - Wiki Week

Reflective Blog # 3 – Wiki Week

This week opened my eyes to so much technology.  I created a wiki for recipes.  My thought was to have recipes added, comments on the recipes and any other ideas for recipes.  I thought this would make it easy for the working individuals, while going to school.  We all want our family to get the nutrients from a good meal but don’t always have the time to cook a good meal.  I started by just getting recipes that I use quite often and adding them as a word document to the pages.  I also added links with some good recipes on too.

There are several advantages to wikis but the main ones that I see were as follows:  easy to use and learn, people from anywhere can edit the wiki, and it keeps track of all the changes made and it says it’s easy to change back.  The disadvantages that I see were that it requires internet connection and not everyone has access to the internet yet.  Now since anyone can edit it then it could be vandalized or become disorganized with too many editors.  However, the Digital natives in our earlier article would really like the wiki because it is or can be fast paced and it makes group projects easier and more accessible.  The Digital natives have a hypertext mind and leap around.  The wiki could and would allow for this, while still teaching them.

In exploring the eLearning Tools Wiki, I discovered that this technology world is not as hard as it looks.  I will probably be eating my words on that sentence before the end of this semester but the blogs and wikis are pretty simple to prepare.  I would be interested in exploring YouTube videos.  YouTube is part of this web 2.0 technology adventure and I think that it would be interesting to learn how to upload and share on YouTube.