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.