Bye

It has been a wonderful semester and a very entertaining group of classmates. Goodbye for now and hope to see you all in another class.

EDM 310 Summary

1. Blogs – I had a blog before this class and now love it even more. I think it will be very useful to me when I have my own class and I plan on having a class blog and student blogs.

Wikis - They are pretty neat, just not sure how much I will use them.

Presentations – I enjoyed making and watching the presentations we had in class. I think there will always be presentations of some form in schools.

Google Docs – I really like Google Docs and have found it useful since I can access them from any computer. I definitely plan on my future students using them; no more I left it at home!

Google spreadsheets – I don’t remember doing these but I am sure I could if needed.

Picasa – Is a really neat photo program and would be useful to students. I have this wonderful MAC that has a great photo program on it.

Podcasts – What an experience! This was my first experience with podcast – listening and making. They are really neat and can be quite educational. I would love to have podcasts for my students.

Videocasts – I loved getting to make my first video. It was such a sense of accomplishment and I think this would be a great project for students. This would be great for science labs in the future.

YouTube – I am addicted, always have been. But now I have a new reason, an educational one.

Posts you read – I have enjoyed reading my classmates post even though I don’t comment on them. I think it would be great for students to read other blogs so they can get some new ideas and new views.

PLNs – This was new for me and a bit of a challenge. But I have a small PLN that I quite like and I hope to expand. I think this will be very useful when I become a teacher.

Twitter – I still refuse to get on twitter – sorry.

Teachers and students outside of our region - Skype is such a wonderful invention and has opened the “doors” to classrooms all over the world. I think it is great for students to get to see how different cultures learn and what they study.

Comments4kids – Wonderful project. I think this should always be part of the class and I hope to make it part of mine one day.

iTunes – I like it, I love it, I can’t get enough of it. Mostly I use it for music.

iTunesU – I had never heard of this and it is amazing. Education online! I will definitely use this in my future classroom.

Accessibility issues and the use of html tag modifiers to address some of those issues – I don’t know what you mean here.

Who you are as a professional – I have certainly changed since this class. I have brand new knowledge of technology and I can’t wait to use it in my classroom!

Google forms – These are some incredible surveys and very useful. They would be great to use at the beginning of the year to get to know my students.

Data bases – There are many different kinds and they seem to be quite helpful.

Google Earth – This was awesome, too bad the project did not work out. But I have continues to work with it and try different things.

Delicious – I do not use Delicious.

ACCESS & ALEX – Very neat programs that the state of Alabama has, just hope people take advantage of them and use them.

Foliotek – Personally I don’t care for it but I know how to use it.

Technological literacy – Extremely important and should be a requirement in order to be a teacher.

The future of schools - Should be very interesting to watch. It will be interesting to see how long schools put off a lot of technology that should be schools already. Or if schools embrace technology and take full advantage of it, hope it is the latter.

Your "intellectual trail” – I have certainly grown in my knowledge of technology and my confidence in using technology. Thank you for that Dr. Strange.

2. I don’t think there was anything I wanted to learn that I didn’t. I learned more than I could have imagined in class.

3. Well, if I had used Twitter that would be one. Other than that I enjoyed everything we learned about.

4. I LOVED getting to make a video, which was really exciting. I thought it would be way over my head but it was easy and now I enjoy making lots of them.

5. I found the PLN to challenging just because I was not sure what really made up a PLN. Then I just started exploring and found forming a PLN was not that hard.

6. Sometimes you would go off on tangents and I would get lost but not really bored.

7. I really liked the course. I think you should make everyone make a video and of coarse Comments4Kids.

8. I think I have a lot more to learn about different technology and always will. But I am certainly more technologically literate than when I enter the class (far, far more literate).

9. I hope to continue to learn more through my PLN and of coarse the Tech Literate Blog. I never want to stop learning.

This has been a great assignment that I have enjoyed. I think it is important to comment of student’s blog since many teachers are require them to blog. This way they know that people are reading their posts and it is not for nothing. I know I enjoy getting comments so I know students must love it! I hope to continue to check the blog I have left comments on and continue this project. This is an earlier post I made about one of my experiences with Comments4Kids.

This week I went and explored Mr. Toft's class blog. Mr. Toft and his class are located in an elementary school in Ottawa, Canada. The blog is kept as a way to for his students to journal about what is happening in class. Not only does the class post on the blog they also follow other blogs around the world like the one by Miss Wyatt in Tasmania. The students are also taught to comment on blogs and to be respectful and positive.

I read and commented on Emily's post. She wrote about some of her favorite things. Her favorite colors are orange and blue, which I love too because of Auburn. She also loves to play hockey. Which I have respect for anyone who can do all that on stuff on ice.

Personal Learning Network - PLN

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a collection of many different things that you can pull information from such as blogs, wikis, websites, or people. Most of my PLN has been developed through EDM 310. I have learned so mush from my other classmates and from their blogs so I consider them part of my PLN. Angela Boyer, an 8^th grade science teacher, is also part of PLN and has taught me about Glogster and Animoto. I have several blogs that I now check because of this class such as Langwitches, Tech Literate Teacher, At the Teacher’s Desk, and Moturoa’s Blog. Before this class I had been following my friend’s ESL blog that tells about different ways she teaches ESL in Ukraine. Many of the different activities can also be used in any class. I also consider the EDM 310 Fall 2009 Class Blog to be part of my PLN. I hope to continue with my PLN and add more to especially when I have my own classroom.

Rachel's Adventures

In the beginning of EDM we learned how to use Google Docs and as a project had to make a presentation based on ourselves. I decided to share some of my adventures that I have had overseas. I shared about my summer in Great Britain (2006), my summer in India (2008) and the semester I lived in Ukraine (Jan. - May 2009). Here are a few slides from my presentation. They are in order: Great Britain, India, and Ukraine.

Project 11

Since their are just too many things to cover in class Dr. Strange split up the topics so that we could teach each other. May, Ashley and I choose to cover Edublogs. We split up the work so that everyone had a fair amount of work to do. I covered what Edublog was and some of the features it offers while May covered how it benefits students and teachers. Ashley finished our presentation by covering Educampus.

Podcast

So while in EDM 310 we had to make a podcast with a couple of other people. So May, Ashley and I decided to do ours on how technology is used in schools. Instead of sitting and talking about it we decided it would be far more interesting to interview actual teachers in

Baldwin County to learn how they use technology. We put together a video entitled Technology in Schools.

Technology and New Rules

7 Stupid Mistakes Teachers Make with Technology

I completely understand the first mistake of not backing up data, so it is one of my favorites on this list. Before I got my most wonderful and perfect MAC I had a Dell that after 4 years would completely crash about every 6 months. So I quickly learned after loosing all of my research, papers, and assignments to back things up. I think this rule would be crucial for teachers seeing all the work they put into lessons and different projects.

I also consider it very important to watch the students when they are the computers at what sites they are going to. Students know how to get around the “protective” barriers on the computers and can get to almost any site. Students normally just want to go to Facebook, Twitter, or check their email but that needs to be for home not school. I have found that the best teachers provide several additional fun websites that pertain to the current material for students to visit when they are finished with their assignments. This keeps them off the websites they should not be on and still learning while secretly having fun!

7 Brilliant Things Teachers Do With Technology

Empowering students with technology is brilliant! In a world that relies so heavily on technology why not use it to push our students to be better? Instead of saying how harmful technology is teachers should be pushing students to use it and to broaden their skills. I hope that I will be a teacher that shows students the wonderful benefits of technology and teaches them to use the power of technology to improve themselves.

I think it is so important for students to learn from each other especially from students from other cultures. Today it is easy to contact classrooms around the world with blogs, wikis, and Skype. By using technology to connect with other cultures it makes it more alive to students instead of just reading about it. In our world today people always have to work with people of different cultures and I think it is great to start this process while still in school. This will not only benefit the education of the students but also break down many cultural barriers.

New Classroom Rules

3. Leave your seat only when necessary, which should be often to go collaborate with others or demonstrate something to the class

My favorite thing in school was getting to bounce my ideas off of other students and getting to hear theirs. Sometimes it took another students to explain something to me before I could understand it. So, I think it I important to give students the opportunity to collaborate and to give advice to each other. Of coarse this does not mean cheating, giving answer, or being disruptive but helping each other when needed.

15. Know what you are supposed to be learning, why, and what you will do with the knowledge

So many students know what they are studying but have no idea why or what they are supposed to do with the information. If teachers show the students how to use what they are learning in real life then many students will be more interested. Plus this form of learning is not the normal memorize and spit back out but true understanding and applying.

At the Teacher's Desk

At the Teacher's Desk is a wonderful blog! It gives teachers a great example of how to use technology in their classroom and sometimes tells what equipment can be used. The blog also proves that using technology in the classroom benefits students and their learning experience. I also like how many teachers can share their experiences and advice on this one blog.

In one of the posts it is mentioned how much technology will change our schools but then Mr. Chamberlain proposed, “How will my school change for the better because I am here?” I was so taken back and really had to think how I could make a difference. As stated by Kelly Hines it is not always about the technology but willing the teacher is to learn how to use it and apply it. I think to make a difference I need to teach students using the methods they enjoy such as different forms of technology like blogs, videos, and Skype.

Not that it has to do with technology but I loved the Getting Out the Lead project. It was a great way to get students involved in changing their future. This project provides a way for students to learn about the science of lead but also about the government and how to get your voice heard while still remaining civil. Another project I liked was the Skype call between two languages classes, what a great idea! I remember in my high school Spanish class my teacher would say the best practice would be to talk to native speakers, if only we had Skype.

Mike Wesch

I really enjoyed Mike Wesch talk on how technology is changing us. I agree that many people feel like they have no significance in the world today. They feel the need to make them important and need to create an identity for them. I agree with Wesch that our society has become very self-focused and only concerned with ourselves. Wesch brought up a good point that this could have negative effects on our government by creating disengagement by the people and fragmentation.

Wesch then talked about how technology is changing us by allowing people to connect with strangers in ways they might not connect with close relative or friends. Youtube is playing a huge part in this by allowing anyone to post videos for anyone to watch. People are becoming more aware of themselves when they are sharing on their videos and it is becoming a type of therapy. Through Youtube and therefore technology people are connecting with many others and it is breaking down boundaries. For more check out Mike Wesch.

Why Students Should Post Their Work

I think that a student posting their work on blogs or teachers doing it for them is wonderful. As a student I am a great example of why it is important. Through this class I have had to keep a blog of what I have learned. It is wonderful to go back and see all that I have done and it is a nice record to have. Younger students will also enjoying looking back at their blogs to see all that they have learned.

Another reason for students to blog is that it is a way for them to connect to other students from around the world. I have learned from Comments for Kids how people from all over the world can come together through technology. Students are able to learn about different cultures and the different things other students are learning. Such as the Moturoa's Blog from students in New Zealand.

Students should also be allowed to post their work so that they can learn from each other. By reading other student’s work online they have access to more information than they could ever learn from a classroom. I have enjoyed reading work by other students in the class so I can see their point of view on topics. Students can also learn to see things from another point of view by being able to other student’s work.

ACCESS - Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide

ACCESS is a program started by the state of Alabama similar to ALEX. ACCESS wants to provide students the chance to learn no matter how far away from the classroom they are. It allows high school students and teachers access to reliable information. It gives students a chance to take courses that might not be offered at their school by interactive videoconferencing. It will also offer more challenging classes for those who want them. This helps in trying to make all school equal by offering all classes to all students.

I think this is a great program although I do not think it will solve the problem of inequality between schools. I think it would be a great benefit for those who want more of a challenge or what to take a class not offered in their school. It could also benefit me as a teacher to take a class that relates to what I teach and try to enhance my class. This sounds like a great new program and I hope students take full advantage of what is being offered. For more information check out ACCESS.

ALEX - Alabama Learning Exchange

ALEX or the Alabama Learning Exchange is a new way to share information. The program is meant to be used by teachers, students, and parents. ALEX is a place where teachers and students can search for useful information that pertains to what they are teaching or studying. The site has many things to offer like web links, lesson plans for teachers, podcasts, and even some professional training.

I think that ALEX would be very useful to me as a teacher. It would give me some to go and easily look up information on topics I am teaching. I would be able to get help and ideas from other teachers. This would allow me to bring new ideas into my classroom that might benefit the students more. It would also benefit the students to have some where to go after school hours to get reliable help with school topics. I am excited to see how this project grows! For more information check out ALEX.

The New Media Literacies

Skills: judgement, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation, simulation, collective, intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization, multitasking

- What do you think of them?

o I think that students do need to have all of the skills so that they can make the best use out of technology. Like one person in the video said we are no longer just consumers of information but also producers.

- Are they really the 21st century skills that will be needed to be effective artists, citizens, workers?

o I think to make strong and appropriate presentations using information found on the web one would need these skills. The skills help the person find reliable information, sort the information, find media support like pictures, video, and sound. All of these are need for presentations today with companies and schools constantly wanting the next best thing. People today MUST know how to gather information from the web and effectively present it and that is where these skills come in handy.

- How many of these skills do you possess? Which ones?

o I am not sure how many of these skills I have. I think I have judgement when it come to reliable material. I also think I have the skill of negotiation, appropriation, play, performance, visualization, and multitasking.

- How will you acquire the others?

o I am not sure if I have transmedia navigation, simulation, collective intelligence, and distributed cognition. In order to gain these skills I would need to do some more research on what they are and what they entail. I would then practice the skills so that when it came time for me to really use them I would be prepared and use the skills effectively.

Dear Kaia and Intrepid Teacher: Singing Hearts

Dear Kaia is a blog by three year old Kaia with the help of her father, Mr. Raisdana. It started out as a way to show photos but turned into a way to document her life said her father. On her blog was a post about how her and her father went outside to explore and take pictures. Kaia shared her pictures on her blog and through a video essay. It was great to see a father teaching his child at such a young age how technology and learning go together.

Kaia’s blog does not end there. Mr. Chamberlain saw the blog and shared it his class as did many other who saw Mr. Raisdana’s tweet. Kaia was able to share and connect with students and classrooms all over the world. Mr. Raisdana even skyped with Mr. Chamberlain’s class to answer questions. I liked Mr. Raisdana’s comment on his blog that through things like this people are able to take chances and to learn beyond the classroom. Check out Dear Kaia.

Networked Student

The Networked Student video brought up some great ideas of how to teach students using technology. I am not sure I agree with having the entire course being based on social networking but I would definitely like to involve networking in a project. I agree that it is important to make connections with people and many different sources.

I also strongly agree with the video that students must be taught what to look for when researching and taught what is reliable information and what is not. This will help them find good and reliable websites and articles. The students will also need to be taught how to use a social bookmarking site, blogs, wikispaces, google scholar, online libraries and many different sources.

I think that this is a great idea to incorporate into the classroom. I liked how the student in the video shared his project and findings through a blog of his own and on other social networking sites. I hope that when the time comes I can be teacher that teaches students how to network.

Take a look at this amazing video.

This Is How We Dream

Dr. Miller starts off his speech talking about printed book and libraries. Today students may never step foot in their universities library because almost everything in online. Students can also not only access their universities resources but those of universities all over the world. He said that people’s workspace today is laptops and word processing. Books are now in print and digital copies.
There were changes that Dr. Miller also spoke about when it came to presenting information. Documents can now show pictures and video and can also come with background sound. People can also collaborate with others from all over the world by using video and conferencing programs. It is now longer just about the text of documents but about their visual and auditory presentation.
I really liked Dr. Miller’s comment that when it came to information on the web most of the restrictions are those that we place on ourselves. People are not only using video and music programs to compose information but also the actual web. One professor came up with several programs using the web. One would search all the bogs on the web and that instant and measure their mood. The program could show the happiest city in the world!

Check out the first part of his speech!

Duke and iPods

Duke University has incorporated the use of iPods into their classes. The iPods enhance class materials, lectures, and even assignments. The courses themselves are requiring the use of iPods and a variety of departments are using them. According to Duke iPods allow students to gather audio and video from lectures, can be used for field recording, store and file information, and serve as a study support tool.

I think using iPods in class would be great. According to an article by John Parrott many schools are using them in their music and foreign language classes. The students are able to download their lessons and then listen to them when riding the bus or other times when they weren't originally studying. Parrott says that using technology like iPods in the classroom appeals to the student's attraction to electronics and gadgets. It also allows them to be interactive with their study material. For more on using iPods in the classroom read Parrott's article Using iPods in the Classroom Promotes Interactive Learning and More Effective Studying.

iTunesU

I had never heard of iTunesU until my 310 EDM class. I was amazed to learn about all the information on iTunesU. One of the most bewildering things was that Universities were putting their classes up on iTunesU! I was in shock and then thought what an amazing idea. To me I see it as an easier way to share educational information since so many are using iTunes now.

Of coarse, like many things on the internet you have to be careful about the source. Such as the channels for learning languages, who knows what they are really teaching you! But overall I think it is great network to use to get information. I hope to explore it more in the future.

Dr. Alice Christie and WebQuests

I went and visited Dr. Christie's website and found a blog about WebQuest. WebQuest is a website of sorts that allows students to share about what they are doing in their classrooms. The teachers can pick the topic and then the students design the WebQuest. The format for each WebQuest is that there is an introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation, conclusion, reflection, extension, and notes to the teachers. This allows the student to share and get feed back from others.

I could definitely see me using this in my science classroom one day. The format for WebQuest is very similar to that of a lab report. This would be a great way for students to do lab report where they can show pictures and have links to other websites. To use WebQuest would be a great way to make lab reports fun and interactive.

Mr. McClung

Mr. McClung shared many important things he learned about his first year of teaching on his blog. He had many great points about what a teacher should be. The idea I like the most was that everything should be student centered, it is not about the teacher. The students and their learning are the main priority. Another great thing to keep in mind is that not everything in your class will go as planned, things will go wrong. It is how you handle these situations that is important. I also agree with him that teacher need to be reasonable when setting standards for students. I like what he said about teachers are the ones that pick them up, dust them off and encourage them to go again.

He also had some idea about how to be a better teacher. Such as communicating not just with students but with other teachers as well. Another one of my favorites was for teachers to incorporate technology. I liked when he said don't expect to be an expert, just try. The comment that really got me thinking was the one about teacher working in a learning environment so why don't they continue to learn. That one really stunned me, I just had never thought about. But may teachers think they have the perfect way of teaching and refuse to learn, what kind of message is that sending to students? Read more at

Mr. McClung's blog.

Wikipedia

Wired had an article about who was editing Wikipedia. Since Wikipedia has come out students have been told not to use it as a research source. This is due to the fact that anyone can edit the Wikipedia posts. I like Wikipedia and use it often for small bits of information but when doing research. I look up a topic on Wikipedia and then when I find something interesting I see if I can find that information at a more credible source.
But Wired has shown that Wikipedia's credible is changing. Due to Virgil Griffith there is now a way to track the IP address of anonymous editors. The program he is using ha traced edit back to companies and individuals like senators. The edit made on the post remove anything to blemish the company or individual's reputation. These removals can be very misleading and it why is hard to trust Wikipedia. But if Wikipedia starts putting Griffith's program to use they may one day become a very credible source. Check out the article at Wired.

Practice

Here is a picture os Samford Hall at Auburn University


This picture of me was drawn by Tina. If was for one of her art classes at Auburn University .

Randy Paush

Randy Paush's Last Lecture was very inspirational. I thought growing up that you had to achieve your childhood dreams quickly and then get new "adult" dreams. But Randy showed that you can be any age and achieve your childhood dreams. I like the fact that he shared one of his dreams that did not come true, playing in the NFL. But he right in that sometimes the dreams you don' get teach you more than the one that you do get. I love the quote he gave, " experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

Randy also had many great points about how to reach your teaches and how to enable others to do the same. He said that you have to bring something to the table, you can't just sit there and let others do the work or hope it happens. One of my favorite concepts was " head fake." I knew of the concept but now it has a name. Get people to learn something hard by doing something fun. I also realized that it is true when he said that people need permission to dream. Many times in school we taught to follow certain rules even for creative projects to to completely free to dream can be a foreign idea.

While teaching Paush set up several different programs to help others reach their dreams. The first was simply a coarse offered called Building Virtual Worlds. It enabled students to have almost complete freedom when creating their worlds (no shooting violence or pornography). I loved when he was told by his mentor not to set a bar for the students and that we actually inhibit them by setting a standard. We should also be pushing students to have better ideas. Another project was ETC that was a masters degree that based on virtual reality projects, but it pushed students and made them better. They made lots of Edutainment videos that taught concepts while having fun. The program was such a success that companies were promising the students jobs before they were even done. His last project is ALICE that enables young students to learn computer programming though making videos.

Paush said that an important thing is that students need to be taught what it is like to help others achieve their dreams. It can be a greater reward than achieving your own. He also made a point that people have to help you, you can't do it on your own. My favorite thing and to me the most encouraging is to never lose the child-like wonder in life.

Did You Know 4.0

So, I really like these Did You Know videos. They have some really interesting facts. I never imagined how many websites are out there! But the top fact was the 2,000,000 tvs are in the bathroom! I just had to laugh out loud on that one. I knew from this class that social networks are becoming important but I did not fully realize just how important. They play a major role in society now, I mean Obama used them, and I need to catch up!

Phones are no longer just for talking. I text a good bit but I am below that average young person with 2,272 text messages a month. Phones have now become music players, cameras, and now computers. A new fact I learned was that phones will be the primary connection tool by 2020. Guess I need to upgrade my phone.

Comment for Kids Week 3

This week I went and explored Mr. Toft's class blog. Mr. Toft and his class are located in an elementary school in Ottawa, Canada. The blog is kept as a way to for his students to journal about what is happening in class. Not only does the class post on the blog they also follow other blogs around the world like the one by Miss Wyatt in Tasmania. The students are also taught to comment on blogs and to be respectful and positive.

I read and commented on Emily's post. She wrote about some of her favorite things. Her favorite colors are orange and blue, which I love too because of Auburn. She also loves to play hockey. Which I have respect for anyone who can do all that on stuff on ice.

Mark Wesch

I really liked Mr. Wesch video and idea of asking students about their lives and the way they use technology. I can relate to most of the statics they shows in the video. I graduated from Auburn University where up to my senior year my smallest class was 150 and teachers rarely knew or cared who you were. I bought lots of books I never used and read hundreds of things that were not relevant to my life. I am definitely a multitasker now and I am not sure that is a good thing.

It is so true that most students that have laptops in class are not using them for class related things. In this way technology can be a hinderance. The ability to just hop online distracts students from lectures. Which most classes are lectures and not really teaching. I can not think of anything to add to this video because it sums up my college experience.

Kelly Hines and Technology

Kelly Hines brings up a great point in her blog that it is not all about technology. So many talk about making changes but what will really start the changes? I agree with Hines that it is the mind set of teachers and school faculty. Everyone needs to want to make the changes. Hines states that to do this teachers need to be learners. I completely agree and feel like so many teachers forget this!

She also makes a point that teaching and learning are not the same. Teachers need to learn to teach in a way that students can learn. Then comes in the technology because like Hines said technology is of no use without good teaching. So just supplying schools with technology does no get the job done, teacher's methods also need to be up to standard.

Mr. Fisch and Technologically Illiterate Teachers

Mr. Fisch wrote a great post about technologically illiterate teachers. He poses a challenge to all teachers to learn more technology and to share it with their students. I agree with him that a teacher not being able to use technology today would be like a teacher not being able to read and write 30 years ago. This statement really made me realize just how important technology is today. Like Dr. Strange said it is SO much more than just word, powerpoint, and excel. It is blogging, podcasting, posting videos and using all of these in the classroom.

I also agree with Mr. Fisch that teachers and school staff need to be held responsible for their technology skills. Those who are lacking skills should have to take a workshop to learn them. Like he said on his blog we can not afford to be nice any more. Teachers are no longer just affecting themselves but their students, which will one day affect their future. As teachers we no longer have excuses not be technologically literate. I recommend you read his post at http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html.

Langwitches

I went to the Langwitches blog to learn more about podcasts. This blog has some wonderful information about conducting podcasts.  There is a step-by-step process of how to prepare and plan out a podcast. This will be helpful for those like me who like to have everything laid out before starting on a project.  There are tips for recording audio as well, which will be extremely useful since I have no clue how to do this. The post about producing a podcast is essentially podcasts for dummies!           

The post about reflections was very insightful about what she think makes podcasts a success in classes. The post lists some benefits of the podcasts and what the students learned but also some tips for teachers.  I think this blog is great and will be very helpful in the future when it comes to making podcasts. I am most certainly going to be following this blog!

Learning from Last Semester

I watched last semester's podcast on technologically literate teachers. There were some things that I would like to do in my podcast and then there some that I would not like to do.  I really liked how the ladies used personal examples to explain themselves. It made their ideas seem more relatable to me.  I also liked how two of the women were lively, it helped keep my interest.

On the other hand, I did not like how two of the ladies just sat there. They seemed stiff and bored. I realize that the podcast was a discussion but I think I would like to already have an outline of the questions and my answers. This way there is not a lot of silence during the discussion.  Also, I would not one person to dominate the discussion. But this podcast was helpful in determining what I would want in a podcast.

Podcasts

What makes a great podcast?  That seems to be the main question.   In class we are beginning to learn about podcasts and will soon make one of our own.  To help us learn about them we were given about six different podcasts to go and listen to.  Some were for teachers and others were about new technology coming out soon. 

            Many of the podcasts had one main speaker and would then have 2-3 quests to discuss the day’s topic.  I enjoyed this type of podcast the most as long as the speakers would not interrupt each other.  When there are several speakers speaking at the same time it becomes very difficult to follow the conversation.   There was one podcast that had only one speaker and I did enjoy that one because it was easy to follow.  There was another podcast that had co-hosts and I did not like that podcast because they constantly interrupting each other.

            When it comes to learning I like to get straight to the topic and not beat around the bush.  Most of the podcasts had a few minutes of just talking in the beginning, which was fine for me.   Then there were some that took 5-8 minutes to finally even state the main topic and get the discussion going.  I also did not like how some the speakers would joke about things only they knew about, alienating their audience.

            I enjoyed listening to podcasts for the first time and I will definitely be listening to more for personal enjoyment.  Through the podcasts we were assigned I learned what made a good podcast that I would enjoy.  I like podcasts that are clear and easy to understand and do not have speakers talking over each other.  I also want a podcast that does a little talking but gets to the topic for the day quickly.  I look forward to learning even more about what makes a podcast great.  I think podcast will make a great companion to my classes one day.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis has some great ideas about how to teach her class.  I liked how she models how she is going to teach the class around the different skills and abilities of her students. She appeals to how they learn and what would makes them interested in learning.  I also enjoyed how she encouraged them to be thinkers and had them teach some of the subjects in class.  It was encouraging to hear from another teacher that teachers don’t have to know everything.

         The Digiteen and Flat Classroom Project were both very interesting. It was neat to see how she had connected her classroom to others around the world.  The ability to understand all this technology will help the students but so will the cultural education they are receiving.  I also agree with Vicki Davis that if we only teach using paper and pencil then only certain types of children are going to succeed.            

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

I really enjoyed the talk by Sir Ken Robinson.  He had some amazing points about not educating just the mind but the whole being.  People learn in different ways and should not be discriminated for doing so.  I liked the comparison made between strip-mining the earth and doing the same to students’ minds.   We should not be taking away from the children but enhancing them.

I also agree that the arts, such as painting, music and dance, are important to students.  They should not be pushed to the side for other subject matter.   Just like our lives have become video based information instead of reading, who is to say that in the future the arts aren’t more important than other subjects.  I completely agree that we are taught not to make mistakes and that in turn hinders our creativity.  Maybe bringing technology into the classrooms can help bring out the creativity in students as well as educate them in the “important subjects”. 

Did You Know 3.0 and Mr. Winkle Wakes Videos

Did You Know 3.0

The information and statistics in the 3.0 video really surprised me.  I knew the United Stated education program was lacking compared to China and India but I did not realize to what degree.   I also knew that a great amount of the technology we use every day was pretty new but I did not realize how far technology had come.  I did think it was neat to see how many people would get involved with the new technology so quickly.   I also never realized how many other things, like the English language, have also grown along with advances in science.

The last few statements about building computers as smart or smarter than humans was a bit concerning to me.  I enjoy all the benefits of technology but I don’t think I would ever want one smarter than me.  It is fascinating to watch science fiction movies on the topic of super smart computers and thinking that will happen long after I am gone.  But with technology advancing who says that couldn’t happen in the next years to come.  I only hope that I can keep up the technology!

Mr. Winkle Wakes

The first thing I thought about when watching this was what if someone really could come back from the past, like Benjamin Franklin, he would be shocked by all the technology we use everyday.  Most of the technology people just use and have no idea how it all works. Then like the 3.0 video showed people from the past did not have as much information as we have today. 

The video mentions the unchanging status of technology in schools .  For most schools they are stuck in the past with not enough funding to move forward.  Then some that do have the funding have teachers that are technologically scared and refuse to use things that would enhance their class. The video showed how important it is not to let our schools fall behind with technology and how teachers should be integrating it into their classrooms.

Welcome!

My name is Rachel Kinard.  I was born in Louisville, Kentucky and raised around that area until I was 11 and my family moved to Spanish Fort, Alabama.  From a young age I had a great love for animals and always wanted to be a veterinarian.   That is why I went to Auburn University.   But after one semester I realized 8 years of really tough classes was not for me.  So I decided to get a degree in zoology so I could still work with animals.  This degree would allow me to work with the more exotic animals that I really loved.  While getting my degree I volunteered at the Montgomery Zoo and worked mostly with the large cats.  I graduated from Auburn with my degree December 2008.

            In my last spring semester I went on a trip Ukraine to teach English as a Second Language during my Spring Break. I loved the experience and I really loved the teaching.  So after that I really felt that I should be a teacher and began to pursue the possibilities.  My family is from Baldwin Country so I looked for a good school that was close by and found the University of South Alabama.  Since I already have a science degree I only need my teaching courses and I will have my Secondary Education Science degree.

            One of my passions is traveling.  I have been very fortunate that I have gotten to travel to many different places. I have been on some trips touring countries in Europe but I have also been on service trips. I spent two of my college summers in Great Britain and India teaching and doing mission work. I also spent last semester living in Ukraine doing more ESL work. I one day want to be able to teach overseas.