Wiki vs. Angel

It has been a while since I have posted. Beyond being swamped, who said that summers were relaxing, I haven't felt like I really had anything new to add. Everything that I would have discussed, we had already talked about in class. However, as I was doing the homework for this week, I again had the thought that I preferred the wiki to Angel. As we have posted our discussions, it was nice to be able to scroll through the other responses. On the Angel site you need to click on each individual response to read them. Not that this is a lot of work, however, I often didn't look at all of the responses. I feel that I have gotten a lot more out of this class because I have had easier access to the thoughts of my classmates.

Google Sites, Web Sites and Wiki's Oh My!

I think it is really important to have a web presence in this day and age. Not only does it allow others to readily access information, it also creates a place to showcase projects, provide resources, allow for questions and answers, etc. I have 2 webpages associated with the school district and my own wiki (I chose to use a wiki instead of a web site generator like Weebly because at the time I was able to do more of what I wanted with wikisapces. I used my wiki as my e-portfolio for my library practicum and when I was interviewing for jobs. Currently our district is really making a push for all teachers to at least have their district webpage up and running.

I think this is true of students as well. I truly believe that students should be publishing their work in some manner for a wider audience. This allows them to become more responsible digital citizens.

I also thoroughly enjoy Ken Robinson. I have seen a number of talks by him and he is always inspiring. His message always points to the importance of allowing students to work to their strengths. Open ended project based learning does just that. It allows students to showcase their knowledge of subject matter in their own way.

The ever changing world of technology integration

As I was looking at the intime videos and information, I was reminded once again how fast technology changes. These assignments were on the cutting edge when they were created 10 years ago, and many of them now appear very outdated. However, I was also struck by how easy it would be to adapt one of these assignements to current technology. I had this same realization a few years ago when I returned to school to complete my library certification. We had been asked to take an old lesson and revamp it. I looked through my material from MANY years ago (when there was barely any internet to speak of!!!) and found that I didn't need to start over completely. I could easily make my decent lessons good, and my really great lessons even better, simply by adding new technology twists. For example, instead of having my students make a poster for something, I could have them create an advertising campaign using a wide variety of on-line tools. A good lesson does not need to be trashed simply because the technology that it uses is outdated.

The unit that I was particularly interested in was the Solar System Colonization Project for middle school. This caught my eye because one of our teachers has moved grade levels for next year and is being asked to teach Earth Science (an area that she has little background in) and I have been on the look out for resources that could be of use to her. The more I looked at this unit, the more I realized that we could do a lot of neat things with it without having to reinvent the entire thing. When I showed it to her, she was thrilled and now thinks that I am even more amazing!!! You can't beat it.

Spreadsheets in the classroom!

I don't like spreadsheets. I admit it. I find them intimidating. I use them when I have to for budgeting and finances, but I don't like them. (I know that I said that before!) I do like how they make some of my work easier, but I've never really learned how to use them. I know how to plug numbers in to pre-formatted cells like I do for my budget, but I don't really know all that spreadsheets can do. I have learned how to format and create functions, but I don't use them enough to remember from one time to the next, so I find that every time I use a spreadsheet, I have to learn all over again. This is frustrating. This being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this weeks assignments. It never would have occurred to me to use a spreadsheet for a recipe, but it was slick. The lesson that I found was interesting too. Although the basic use for the spreadsheet was fairly predictable, I liked the thinking that was incorporated into the process. The students were really being asked to evaluate and analyze the information that they had inputted. Then they had to speculate about how the numbers would change if they changed certain statistics, etc. and how they would be able to use this information.

I'm not sure that I will ever come to love spreadsheets, but maybe if I continue to work at it, I can learn to peacefully coexist and accept that spreadsheets might have more to offer than I had once believed.

On-line life

As an LMS I was aware of most of the searching techniques that we discussed in class and the google game, but I hadn't looked at many other search engines. I'm as bad as the kids, I just resort to google because it's familiar. I did find a number of different search engines that were specific for education, and would be great to use with my students. The one I really liked is www.infotopia.info. I have already suggested it to a few teachers, they all loved it, and I put a link to it on my library home page. I need to spend some more time working with this. We have specialized databases that we encourage students to use, this would just be another good step to take.

I was also familiar with google docs as an on-line word processing tool. I like the idea of collaborating on a document and having it available wherever you are. There is nothing more frustrating than getting home and realizing that I saved an important project to my server folder instead of my computer documents and therefore I can't access it from home. However, people have a habit of using what is convenient and familiar which, in this case, is usually Microsoft Word. Again, I am also guilty. As on-line programs become more sophisticated I think people will use them more and more. The one drawback for using these programs with kids is that our students don't have a school e-mail account provided to them so that they often can't create an account. Our new technology coordinator seems to be in favor of this in the future, so maybe there is hope.

Using Productivity Tools - Graphic and Presentation Programs

This week we worked of Graphic and Presentation Programs. I was excited to look at some programs that I was unfamiliar with. I liked the variety of the programs, some of them required little or no skill, and others would be great for some of my more artistic students. I used Pixton for my graphic because it doesn't require much skill, but has many more options that make your comic look more professional. I am a huge comic fan, and love looking for opportunities to use them in the classroom. I find that comics can help students really narrow down the topic to focus on the really important points. They need to be concise and specific in their word choice to make them effective.

The presentation program that I used was less impressive. Although I like the idea of being able to access a presentation from anywhere, I felt like Empressr did not have enough of the features that I use to make a presentation effective. I have used slideshare often, not to create my own presentations yet, but to view those that others have posted to the web.

I have to say that I am not particularly fond of the textbook at this point. I am finding that it is difficult to follow with all of the sidebars. I was reading the first chapter via the posted pdf since my book had not yet arrived and it was a nightmare to get through. Another frustration is that most of the links are no longer active. I know that this is an issue with the rate of change on the internet, but it is still frustrating to see a site that looks like it might be worthwhile, only to find that it no longer exists.

Computers and How They Work Experience

This class was very frustrating for me. I was way out of my comfort zone for most of the time. Although I have to say that I learned a lot. For instance, when I was thinking about my perfect computer, I understood what was meant by the different components. I had never opened a computer before or looked at different processors, etc. Much of my research was also time consuming since I needed to read and re-read in order to make sure that I understood the jargon and the definitions that they were using.

I was really hoping that I would have learned other practical information as well. For instance, when my desktop crashed, how do I go about reimaging it, or what are some things I could try to get my icons back up and running? Some actual troubleshooting techniques. Maybe this is information that will be coming later, but it is an area that I feel that I'm lacking in. We have a tech. department to deal with these issues at school, but they are often occupied elsewhere when we need them and if I knew a few things to try I might be able to fix it without having to wait for them.