COPR 1123 Final Comments

I have learned about many new technologies that are out there for educators to use and most of them are free.  What teacher isn’t going to like that?  I have enjoyed this class very much.  I even enjoyed my failures~~how else do I learn if not from my own mistakes?

I did not learn how to share a slide show very well.  I still don’t get the hang of it.  This is one of the Web 2.0 tools that I will keep working on because I feel it will be the most useful for me.  I am having to furlough one Thursday for the next three months and this is how I will present a lesson to students.  So back to square one and start again !  I will conquer this!!!

Thank you Dr. Smith for all of your wisdom, direction, and encouragement you have given me throughout this semester.

Social Bookmarking

I viewed three social bookmarks that only two of them were worthwhile sites.  I really liked citeulike.com.  It was very easy to maneuver around and find what you were looking for.  It was very easy to find what you weren’t looking for.  I felt that this site was good professionally as well.  Colleagues in my line of teaching can get together and review this site and blog about its usefulness, educational value, and ideas for integrating into instruction. The other site I viewed was edutagger.com .  I had the best time with this one.  I clicked on so many tags that I lost track of time and missed most of the Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans.  It takes something really special for me to miss a Colts game!!!  I am going to school on Tuesday and emailing my friends about edutagger.  I want to start a blog about this site and maybe by spring semester we can have some of the activities in place to use for instruction.

280slides.com

Really like this webiste/web tool.  You can do everything right there on the site.  I created a presentation on my top 3 favorite web tools.  Really liked uploading a picute of my dog into the presentation under picnik.com part of the presentation.  I have to confess that it took me three tries before I got this whole thing figured out.  Then another 3 tries before I could get it shared properly.  I must be a slow learner or I need to stop doing my assignments at 1:00 a.m.  I must also confess that I had a good time doing this assignment and that it did teach me alot of new things-including frustrations-and how to work through them.

Wiki Wiki Experience

I compared two wikis at educational wikis.  I found one from Southern
California that a class of 2nd graders and their teacher set up.  They had links for science, reading, writing,  and social studies.  When I clicked on each one, it was like a word bank.  Each link had the alphabet and content words assigned to each letter of the alphabet.  I’m not sure what that was doing except to reinforce the alphabet.  I clicked on one of the links in the writing segment because I wanted to read one of the  group stories.  The link would not open.  Also, pages contained a picture of a padlock.  Each page was protected.

Math 12 Outcomes Portfolio-Nova Scotia, Canada

They had orange letters for their title and withing each letter were outward moving circles.  Different!  I couldn’t look at them too long.  It was also nominated (and I think it won) for Best Wiki in 2007.  Their links included quadratic functions, exponential functions, circle geometry and probability.  The portfolio instructions link gave very detailed information about how the submissions were to be made, when they were to be made, sample problems, a plagarism warning and the grading process.  I really liked this one.  Maybe because it was a higher level.  I can see a use for this type of organization for a reading course.  Can entries be deleted from a wiki?  I didn’t see that issue addressed.  Did I miss it?

Schools could really make use of this concept.  I would like to try one for meetings.  We can’t all get to together at the same time and this would lend itself nicely to everyone getting a say in what needs to be done.  Could schools use this concept instead of after school meetings?

 

Wikis might be a good idea for countries to have educational information traded back and forth.  A school in the United States could wiki with a school with a country in Africa.  Information can be exchanged within academic subjects. 

Science:  weather, climate zone, topography

Social Studies:  population, demographics, culture, economics

Writing:  tales, handed down stories, favorite books/authors

English:  cultural idioms, word endings, syntax

The possibliltes are endless.  The educational value limitless.  But-cyber security and safety must be at the top of the list for both parties involved.

 

I had a hard time getting started with this assignment.  I kept looking for the Web.20 set up by Dr. Steven Smith, but never did find one.  I (hope) followed directions and set up my own.  It seemed too easy, so I’m sure I missed something.  In the examples I looked at, they had links on a side bar.  I didn’t understand how to do that and would like to know.  I know I can make my page more appealing, but I guess I need to play with it more.

All in all, it was a good experience.  I still want to set one up for meetings.  I will keep playing with my new toy.

 

Leadership and New Tools (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6 of Web 2.0 , New Tools, New Schools by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum presented many thoughts of concern for me.  The authors talked of blogger Wesley Fryer.  Fryer believes that technology conversations take place from as high as the “policymakers” to as low as “classroom teachers and administrators”.  Isn’t this where the problem lies?  Policymakers are deciding what goes into education and then criticizes what comes out?  Wouldn’t it be better if the classroom teachers did the technology and proved higher test scores first and then sent the numbers to policymakers and administration to base education content on?  I’m not sure I’m making any sense, but sometimes it is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.

Another concern, as has always been a concern, is that seasoned teachers will not open themselves to new “ways”.  They will not use technology in their classrooms.  This still goes on.  But there will come a day when all teachers at all levels of education will be technology savvy and a technology leader.  Only then will technology change the look and the way of education.

MindMeister

Mind Meister is cool!!!  Though I can now empathize with my online students when they say they are having trouble navigating around websites and Georgiaview.  I had trouble getting on with one of my colleagues.  We were on at the same time, but couldn’t view each others contributions.  We are still playing with this web tool!  I wonder how it would work with department meetings?  Might give it a try!

Google Docs

Chapter 3  was so full of information.  New ways to help students who are “born” into the technology world!  Google Docs maybe just what I have been looking for in the world of online teaching.  So many of my students have trouble viewing my postings and  I am having trouble viewing theirs.  Google Docs will be a godsend for all of us to use.  I will be redoing my Orientation Page and will include Google Docs website for students to use.  I am still not totally convinced about using Social Networking.  I am on Facebook and am very sure that most of my students are there as well.  What I am concerned about is the fact that if I post assignments or let them post assignments on Facebook, learning may not be taken seriously.  Is this a concern or am I playing devil’s advocate?  Still thinking this through.

Wiki, on the other hand, sounds like something I would like to incorporate with my colleagues.  We don’t have time for  meetings with each other.  Our schedules are SO different.  A wiki can be set up and we can all attend the meeting during a block of time that would be convenient for each of us.  I am looking into that one.

Yellow!!!!!

Yellow is the color of my concern when I opened my blog site and found that I had no blogs!!!  What happened to the one I put in on Saturday, Oct. 17?  Ahhhhhhhhhh!  I must be doing something wrong!!!

I am finding that web 2.0 are  really fascinating toys  to  play with.  I wish I had more time to play.  Maybe this weekend.  Is anyone else finding it hard to have enough time to play?