Wednesday, July 22, 2009
My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete
I have to say I am sad that my adventure in EDM 310 is coming to a close. When I started this class, I hadn't been in school for over 30 years and I had little knowledge of computers which all my classmates soon found out. I want to thank all of you for putting up with my loud comments of frustration and exclamations of joy when I finally figured out how to do something on the computer. It has been great taking a class with you. I don't know how I will ever be able to repay Bre back for all her kindness and patience in helping me get through this class. It is a true sign of the great teacher she will be in the future. Last and certainly not least, I want to thank Mr. Sullivan for taking the time to help everyone in the class. You are one of the best teachers I have ever had and I have had quite a few. If South Alabama doesn't give you a professorship in the future then it will be a terrible lost to the school. Good luck to everyone in their next adventures in life. It has been fun and totally rewarding. May God Bless All of You and Keep You Safe.
What I have learn and How I will use it.
I have learn so much from EDM 310. I doubt there are many students who have taken this class that have known less than me. When I began this journey in EDM 310, I barely knew how to turn on a computer. I certainly didn't know anything about blogs except to read my daughter's blog. I had no idea what podcasts, Google, Google Docs,spreadsheets,iTunes or Twitter were all about. After taking this class, I can successfully pull up www.Google.com and find out everything under the sun I need to know on any subject.
Blogging
I love blogging. I didn't realize how therapeutic writing could be for me. I have learned how to put pictures in my blog and how to use ALT modifier,Title modifier in an IMG tag to allow a blind person text when they encounter a picture in my blog. I know I will be using blogging in my classroom. It will be a great way to communicate weekly to my students and their parents. With blogging I can post homework assignments, and classroom events coming up. I will be teaching my students how to blog and have them creating their own blogs to share with their classmates. I can't think of a better way to express oneself.
Podcasting
I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to do a podcast. This will also will a useful to tool to use in the classroom. I would like to do weekly podcast with my students using it in learning centers where they would listen to a particular subject we might be studying. I would also want my students to create their own podcast. It would allow them to be creative on numerous subjects and share their own ideas with fellow classmates.
Delicious
I am sure Delicious will become a valuable tool in organizing websites that I will find useful for my school work. It will certainly become a method for shortcuts; linking me to lists of the most popular and useful bookmarks that I will need. I can't wait to add more to my present list and view other teachers and friends bookmarks.
iTunes
iTunes will be another helpful tool for me to use as a teacher. I found iTunes University to be one of the most exciting sites so far in the tech world of internet. This site will definitely help me as a teacher and help my students to collaborate in many new ways. It will also make web-based research easy and safe for younger students. The mobile learning aspect of iTunes will mean learning no longer has to happen at my desk but can happen any where if we have the right equipment. With iTunes, I will be able to give my students and their parents access to free educational content round the clock.
Access
Access means Alabama Connecting Classrooms. It allows Alabama High School students to have opportunities to receive advance placement electives and other courses they may not otherwise be able to get. As an educator it will provide me with many technological tools and added classroom multimedia to better my instructional resource for my students and me to use.
Alex
Alex means Alabama Learning Exchange and for someone who is trying to become a teacher or someone who has taught many years ago, this site is a wealth of information on the standards of Alabama education. It will be a site that will help me create lesson plans on whatever subject or age level I am teaching. It will also give me web links to other related subjects to expand my curricular guidelines. Alex will be a site that will save me a lot time in lesson planning.
Picasa
I am sure Picasa and power points will go hand and hand in my classroom. I love power points and what student doesn't like to see pictures that have a story with a message in it. I know I will use it in my classroom. I feel it is an effective way to teach and as the old saying goes "A picture is worth a thousand words" is very true.`
Google Tools
I know I will be using Google tools in the classroom. Spreadsheets, documents, form builders, and presentation creator are tools I have learn to use in this class and another class I have been taking. It has opened a whole new world of creativeness for me. Spreadsheets I will use in many different ways such as in record keeping, names and addresses of students,etc. The use of spreadsheets with my students will come in use with multiplication tables, currency tables and many other different ways in math, spelling, and history lessons. Document tool will allow my students to write stories, letters, poems, and book reports. Hopefully I will be able to teach them how to save their work to share with me and their classmates. Presentation creator would allow my students to be very creative and produce presentations for everyone to see. Google Tools has opened a whole new world for me. I will no longer have to draw my pictures by hand or write my stories on notebook paper, or use magic markers to make title pages. With Google Tools, I can go wild and make my work look really professional.
Blogging
I love blogging. I didn't realize how therapeutic writing could be for me. I have learned how to put pictures in my blog and how to use ALT modifier,Title modifier in an IMG tag to allow a blind person text when they encounter a picture in my blog. I know I will be using blogging in my classroom. It will be a great way to communicate weekly to my students and their parents. With blogging I can post homework assignments, and classroom events coming up. I will be teaching my students how to blog and have them creating their own blogs to share with their classmates. I can't think of a better way to express oneself.
Podcasting
I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to do a podcast. This will also will a useful to tool to use in the classroom. I would like to do weekly podcast with my students using it in learning centers where they would listen to a particular subject we might be studying. I would also want my students to create their own podcast. It would allow them to be creative on numerous subjects and share their own ideas with fellow classmates.
Delicious
I am sure Delicious will become a valuable tool in organizing websites that I will find useful for my school work. It will certainly become a method for shortcuts; linking me to lists of the most popular and useful bookmarks that I will need. I can't wait to add more to my present list and view other teachers and friends bookmarks.
iTunes
iTunes will be another helpful tool for me to use as a teacher. I found iTunes University to be one of the most exciting sites so far in the tech world of internet. This site will definitely help me as a teacher and help my students to collaborate in many new ways. It will also make web-based research easy and safe for younger students. The mobile learning aspect of iTunes will mean learning no longer has to happen at my desk but can happen any where if we have the right equipment. With iTunes, I will be able to give my students and their parents access to free educational content round the clock.
Access
Access means Alabama Connecting Classrooms. It allows Alabama High School students to have opportunities to receive advance placement electives and other courses they may not otherwise be able to get. As an educator it will provide me with many technological tools and added classroom multimedia to better my instructional resource for my students and me to use.
Alex
Alex means Alabama Learning Exchange and for someone who is trying to become a teacher or someone who has taught many years ago, this site is a wealth of information on the standards of Alabama education. It will be a site that will help me create lesson plans on whatever subject or age level I am teaching. It will also give me web links to other related subjects to expand my curricular guidelines. Alex will be a site that will save me a lot time in lesson planning.
Picasa
I am sure Picasa and power points will go hand and hand in my classroom. I love power points and what student doesn't like to see pictures that have a story with a message in it. I know I will use it in my classroom. I feel it is an effective way to teach and as the old saying goes "A picture is worth a thousand words" is very true.`
Google Tools
I know I will be using Google tools in the classroom. Spreadsheets, documents, form builders, and presentation creator are tools I have learn to use in this class and another class I have been taking. It has opened a whole new world of creativeness for me. Spreadsheets I will use in many different ways such as in record keeping, names and addresses of students,etc. The use of spreadsheets with my students will come in use with multiplication tables, currency tables and many other different ways in math, spelling, and history lessons. Document tool will allow my students to write stories, letters, poems, and book reports. Hopefully I will be able to teach them how to save their work to share with me and their classmates. Presentation creator would allow my students to be very creative and produce presentations for everyone to see. Google Tools has opened a whole new world for me. I will no longer have to draw my pictures by hand or write my stories on notebook paper, or use magic markers to make title pages. With Google Tools, I can go wild and make my work look really professional.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Using iPods in Instruction
I explored several different websites and found the Duke University Website most informative on the instructional use of iPods in the classroom. In August 2004, Duke University distributed 1600 Apple iPod devices each equipped with Belkin Voice Recorders to entering first year students. The Center for Instructional Technology(CIT) coordinated an evaluation of the academic use of iPods, drawing on course-level feedback from student and faculty and administrators and important campus stakeholders groups.
The findings from their evaluation came from 15 fall courses taken by 628 students and 33 spring courses with over 600 students involved with iPod use. Foreign language and music courses integrated the device but its use also extended to other social science and humanities courses. It was found that Audio-intensive courses reported that the iPod increased the frequency and depth of student interaction with audio course content through portable and flexible access offered by the iPod. Digital recording capabilities ultimately generated the highest level of student and faculty and recording was the most widely used feature for academic purposes. The iPod's music database and hard drive storage capabilities were widely used by the first-year students in academic contexts.
It was found that the academic uses of iPod devices by the faculty at Duke came under its use in course content as a dissemination tool, as a classroom recording tool, a field recording tool, a study support tool and as a file storage tool. The benefits of the iPod by the faculty and students was its portability of digital course content and independence from physical materials. Its flexibility to carry around reduced dependence on lab or library locations and hours. It also became and effective and easy-to-use tool for digital recording of interviews, field notes,small group discussions, and self-recording of oral assignments.
After reading about all the wonderful uses of iPod in the classroom, I couldn't help but reflect on my college school days when I would carry my 6 by 12 tape recorder to tape my classes. I lugged that tape recorder around for four years and now in this day and age I can simple take out my credit card size iPod and record. We've come a long way and I can't wait to see what's coming next.
The findings from their evaluation came from 15 fall courses taken by 628 students and 33 spring courses with over 600 students involved with iPod use. Foreign language and music courses integrated the device but its use also extended to other social science and humanities courses. It was found that Audio-intensive courses reported that the iPod increased the frequency and depth of student interaction with audio course content through portable and flexible access offered by the iPod. Digital recording capabilities ultimately generated the highest level of student and faculty and recording was the most widely used feature for academic purposes. The iPod's music database and hard drive storage capabilities were widely used by the first-year students in academic contexts.
It was found that the academic uses of iPod devices by the faculty at Duke came under its use in course content as a dissemination tool, as a classroom recording tool, a field recording tool, a study support tool and as a file storage tool. The benefits of the iPod by the faculty and students was its portability of digital course content and independence from physical materials. Its flexibility to carry around reduced dependence on lab or library locations and hours. It also became and effective and easy-to-use tool for digital recording of interviews, field notes,small group discussions, and self-recording of oral assignments.
After reading about all the wonderful uses of iPod in the classroom, I couldn't help but reflect on my college school days when I would carry my 6 by 12 tape recorder to tape my classes. I lugged that tape recorder around for four years and now in this day and age I can simple take out my credit card size iPod and record. We've come a long way and I can't wait to see what's coming next.
Dr. Christie's GPS Technology
I was fascinated by Dr. Christie's website on the use of the GPS as teacher tool. I received a GPS for Christmas and have truly enjoyed using it on road trips but had never thought of using it in the classroom. With technology becoming an integral and growing part of our daily life, Dr. Christie has offered teachers another part of that technology through the world of GPS and teaching our students how to use it.
On this website Dr. Christie compares brands, prices and features of GPS receivers and what are the best GPS receiver we should chose for our classrooms. She also offers a Podcast on GPS and Geocaching which is most informative. She gives you steps in creating a GPS lesson in the classroom for all levels from K-5-12th grade. She has taken teacher-centered classrooms to an exciting exploratory environment for the students through the use of GPS technology. By using this technology 2nd grade students can go a trip to the fire station and find where the fire is located by using the GPS or Middle School students can go to the National Park and find many different trails in hiking by using their GPS. Who would have thought that a simple little GPS that I call Shirley that gets me to Jackson,MS might become my next geography lesson for 3rd graders.
On this website Dr. Christie compares brands, prices and features of GPS receivers and what are the best GPS receiver we should chose for our classrooms. She also offers a Podcast on GPS and Geocaching which is most informative. She gives you steps in creating a GPS lesson in the classroom for all levels from K-5-12th grade. She has taken teacher-centered classrooms to an exciting exploratory environment for the students through the use of GPS technology. By using this technology 2nd grade students can go a trip to the fire station and find where the fire is located by using the GPS or Middle School students can go to the National Park and find many different trails in hiking by using their GPS. Who would have thought that a simple little GPS that I call Shirley that gets me to Jackson,MS might become my next geography lesson for 3rd graders.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Google,A New World A Coming
Google is designing the operating system primarily for netbooks that is becoming increasingly popular among budget conscious consumers that are primarily interested in surfing the web. The Google's Website will be based on the search giant's nine month-old Web browser called Chrome. The goal of Chrome is to create a simple yet powerful user experience with no interruptions.
What will this do for education and classroom use? For the classroom use it will be easy to bookmark pages in Chrome but not a necessity. Chrome maintains full text searches in its history so if you've already searched for something then it will take you back to the page you found the first time you ran that search. With Chrome what Google has done is built a browser that is right for today's Internet. It will make the education world of surfing the net for information quicker, cheaper and with a lot less hangups which is something for not very computer literate people like me need.
What will this do for education and classroom use? For the classroom use it will be easy to bookmark pages in Chrome but not a necessity. Chrome maintains full text searches in its history so if you've already searched for something then it will take you back to the page you found the first time you ran that search. With Chrome what Google has done is built a browser that is right for today's Internet. It will make the education world of surfing the net for information quicker, cheaper and with a lot less hangups which is something for not very computer literate people like me need.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Randy Paush's Last Lecture
Writing my blog on Randy Paush’s Last Lecture has been the hardest one for me to write so far. Randy Paush’s philosophy on life and his impending death reminded me of my husband’s view on life and death. The lecture was so similar with my husband’s viewpoints that I found myself questioning why God takes such great men too quickly. At the end of the lecture, I realized that God has used Randy Paush’s lecture to reach out to all of us with a very special message just as he used my husband’s voice.
Randy Paush had three major thoughts to pass on to us. The first one was “Always follow your childhood dreams”, they may change but valuable lessons are to be learned along the way. By achieving these dreams Randy talks about how you will be face with brick walls but you can’t allow them to stop you from achieving you dreams. You should never give up because when one door closes another door will open for you.
His second words of wisdom were “Enable Childhood Dreams of Others.” One of the ways Randy achieve this belief with his students was through a class he taught called Building Virtual World. The first project his fifty students did was so good that it blew him away and he couldn’t imagine how they would ever be able to top it. His mentor advised him to tell his students that the project was pretty good but he knew that they could do better. Another one of his classes was The Dream Fulfillment Factory of the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). The key to ETC success was the freedom it gave it students to create and to become self reflective.
The last thought Randy shares with us is “Lessons Learned.” The roles our parents, mentors, teachers, friends, colleagues all have an impact on our lives. They can be good or bad or positive and negative but we need to respect authority while questioning it. Learn from each other and have fun learning. Never lose your childlike wonder. Never give up and always help others. Be earnest with people. Tell the truth. Focus on others and if you do screw up always apologize. Show gratitude to others. Don’t complain; just work harder. Be good at something, it makes you valuable. Last but not least find the best in everyone.
Randy Paush’s Last Lecture on how to lead your life was a talk he was actually leaving to his children and God got a hold of it and share it with all of us and on that note I will close and shed some more tears for these great men that have left us far too soon but will never be forgotten because their messages live on in all of us.
Randy Paush had three major thoughts to pass on to us. The first one was “Always follow your childhood dreams”, they may change but valuable lessons are to be learned along the way. By achieving these dreams Randy talks about how you will be face with brick walls but you can’t allow them to stop you from achieving you dreams. You should never give up because when one door closes another door will open for you.
His second words of wisdom were “Enable Childhood Dreams of Others.” One of the ways Randy achieve this belief with his students was through a class he taught called Building Virtual World. The first project his fifty students did was so good that it blew him away and he couldn’t imagine how they would ever be able to top it. His mentor advised him to tell his students that the project was pretty good but he knew that they could do better. Another one of his classes was The Dream Fulfillment Factory of the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). The key to ETC success was the freedom it gave it students to create and to become self reflective.
The last thought Randy shares with us is “Lessons Learned.” The roles our parents, mentors, teachers, friends, colleagues all have an impact on our lives. They can be good or bad or positive and negative but we need to respect authority while questioning it. Learn from each other and have fun learning. Never lose your childlike wonder. Never give up and always help others. Be earnest with people. Tell the truth. Focus on others and if you do screw up always apologize. Show gratitude to others. Don’t complain; just work harder. Be good at something, it makes you valuable. Last but not least find the best in everyone.
Randy Paush’s Last Lecture on how to lead your life was a talk he was actually leaving to his children and God got a hold of it and share it with all of us and on that note I will close and shed some more tears for these great men that have left us far too soon but will never be forgotten because their messages live on in all of us.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Fischbowl Blogspot
This video to me was a little bit scary. I know our world is progressing in technology but to see how quickly its progressing makes me question how the older generation is going to catch up. I am 55 years old and my children have been in the internet world at school and at home for ten years but I haven't been and neither have my parents. I know we have to move forward but it seems that technology is moving at such a fast rate of speed that I wonder how we ever going to keep up. Older teachers who are teaching our children will have to progress in order to help our children progress into this very fast world we are living in.
My other concern about the progression of modern technology is how are we going to be able to afford all this new technology in the classroom. Will the statement "No child will be left behind" come true. We are in the worse financial crisis in our lifetime, in order to survive will we be going back to the bare basics? Yes,"Shift Happens" but which way will we be able to go backwards or forwards?
My other concern about the progression of modern technology is how are we going to be able to afford all this new technology in the classroom. Will the statement "No child will be left behind" come true. We are in the worse financial crisis in our lifetime, in order to survive will we be going back to the bare basics? Yes,"Shift Happens" but which way will we be able to go backwards or forwards?
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