It was great blogging and doing projects with you all. Just wanted to let you know that my first grandchild is on his way into the world this very minute and my second grandson's baby shower in tomorrow. Peace be with you.
Nancy
Saturday, August 6, 2011
ED 517 Microcomputer Appliations in Education
Without a doubt, this has been my favorite class ever. I am thrilled about everything we learned to do with technology. Most of it applies to the classroom, but much of it is useful for personal use as well. If I could, I would just keep taking this class continuously because technology changes continuously, and I would always be learning new things. In fact, if I ever needed to switch careers, not that I want to, I can see myself in the tech field in some aspect.
On the down-side, I am so beside myself because the access I have to using technology in the classroom is so limited. Last year I had access to an Elmo, projector, and laptop which I used all the time. I incorporated technology with the aide of the tech coach every possible way I could. I loved it, the kids loved it, and they were engaged. On the flip side, there are teachers who were given a Smartboard, but only used it minimally to teach with. They did not use technology to engage the students to their fullest potential. I really really want more technology to in my classroom.
I would love for nothing more than to teach in a high tech school. There are actually other countries who are attempting to replace paper textbooks with tablet PC's. (see here) Come on USA, join this race!
On the down-side, I am so beside myself because the access I have to using technology in the classroom is so limited. Last year I had access to an Elmo, projector, and laptop which I used all the time. I incorporated technology with the aide of the tech coach every possible way I could. I loved it, the kids loved it, and they were engaged. On the flip side, there are teachers who were given a Smartboard, but only used it minimally to teach with. They did not use technology to engage the students to their fullest potential. I really really want more technology to in my classroom.
I would love for nothing more than to teach in a high tech school. There are actually other countries who are attempting to replace paper textbooks with tablet PC's. (see here) Come on USA, join this race!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Online Collaboration
I forgot to mention blogging as a source of collaboration. I have enjoyed the blogging component of this class. It seems like you know everyone in the class a little better than most classes by means of the blogs. I have also learned many things from reading other people's blogs. I have tried several new online programs because someone enthusiastically blogged about it. Beaches and blogs, two great things in life.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Online Collaboration
Collaboration, cooperation, association, organization, combination, amalgamation, integration, assimilation, adaptation, collaboration, or any way you want to look at, the WWW has it all for working together.
Discussions - One common way to communicate as part of a class is to participate in the discussions. I like how it keeps very good track of who replies to who and it keeps it all in one place. Discussions are a great way to hear other people's opinions and learn from what they say. I think that setting up a discussion for my classroom parents would be a great way for them to keep in touch with each other about what's going on in school. They may be able to set up partner or group study sessions.Or they may just be able to help clarify content for each other.
Pirate Pad - The Pirate Pad is a cool way to create a quick and slick method of communication with others. Beware though, it is public and anyone can stumble onto it. It is interesting to type in random names to see what comes up. I found one that was written in a different language.
Projects - I love how projects can be worked on by multiple people on the Google docs. I think this will be an asset this year for my new team. We can create documents that we can all use and we can edit them together as a team. I love it!
email, gmail, younameitmail. - I seriously need to carry around an address book with all of my own addresses now, let alone my friends. I am sure this will get easier as I use what I have more often. Maybe my cell phone notepad would work for this. Would that be safe?
There are so many ways to collaborate online. With my one group, I gave a final farewell to one member via clarion email, and she gave me one via gmail. That is when it can get kind of messy is when there are too many places and you might not check every place every day so you might miss something. I think a better word for Google would have been Boggle (overcome with astonishment).
Discussions - One common way to communicate as part of a class is to participate in the discussions. I like how it keeps very good track of who replies to who and it keeps it all in one place. Discussions are a great way to hear other people's opinions and learn from what they say. I think that setting up a discussion for my classroom parents would be a great way for them to keep in touch with each other about what's going on in school. They may be able to set up partner or group study sessions.Or they may just be able to help clarify content for each other.
Pirate Pad - The Pirate Pad is a cool way to create a quick and slick method of communication with others. Beware though, it is public and anyone can stumble onto it. It is interesting to type in random names to see what comes up. I found one that was written in a different language.
Projects - I love how projects can be worked on by multiple people on the Google docs. I think this will be an asset this year for my new team. We can create documents that we can all use and we can edit them together as a team. I love it!
email, gmail, younameitmail. - I seriously need to carry around an address book with all of my own addresses now, let alone my friends. I am sure this will get easier as I use what I have more often. Maybe my cell phone notepad would work for this. Would that be safe?
There are so many ways to collaborate online. With my one group, I gave a final farewell to one member via clarion email, and she gave me one via gmail. That is when it can get kind of messy is when there are too many places and you might not check every place every day so you might miss something. I think a better word for Google would have been Boggle (overcome with astonishment).
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