EDL 518 Final Post

The activities I enjoyed most about class are:
1. Learning how to make an video with MovieMaker
2. Learning how to make a Podcast
3. Having time to research sites
4. Having time to work on projects in class.
5. Excel activities done together was very beneficial.
I know that this course is going on-line, but I think one of the most beneficial aspects of the class was working on projects during class time and being able to have access to Dr. Closen and other members of the class for assistance.
Thank you for an enjoyable final course.

5/6/10

Although this blog is dated Thursday, it is actually a comment for 5/2/10, post-last class of EDL 518. I learned how little I know about technology in this class, but I also was forced to use it and to try it out. One of the best things was the time to explore and the time to collaborate with other teachers/future administrators. I learned of a lot of websites from my colleagues of where to get information that I need (via the Scavenger Hunt) so that is definitely part of the course to keep - the Scavenger hunt not only had us look for stuff but also sharing our two faves with the class helped me see a whole lot more. Wendy form Moline provided me with priceless information about ESL for which I am grateful. Jenny from Galesburg told me a lot about Reading Recovery, and made me which I was trained so that I could have been using it all year with one of my ELLs who is dyslexic (undiagnosed officially) and is an extremely low reader (Kindergarten level but in the 7th grade). Dr. Closen, you are a great instructor for many reasons. However, I am most grateful for a) your dry sense of humor, 2) your patience when we have technological difficulties and your willingness to help, and d) your easygoing manner. Thanks everyone for sharing.

Sunday 5/2

I really enjoyed this class mainly because most everything done in class I can use immediately. I think that the multimedia and scavenger hunt will be the most useful short term. I would like to see this class use prezi or spicynodes for a presentation to turn in. This, in my mind makes more sense for this class than a research paper. Overall, this is one of the more valuable classes I have taken in term of affecting the way I do my job. Thanks Dr. Closen.

5-2

I loved the Blog assignment!!  I think that this will be one of the most useful things for me.  I'm not looking forward to scanning all my assignments (the ones that I didn't create), but once that work is done, it will be so easy from then on.  I hated the wiki.  After talking to other people, it turns out that those who love wikis hate blogs and vice versa.

I'm with Dane on the research paper and the IIRC paper.  The point of the IIRC assignment seemed to be to prove that we could cut and paste, and couldn't the podcast replace the research paper (of course I'm also with Dean as my paper isn't done yet and the podcast is).   

While I was hating the webquest assignment while I was doing it, I also understand the value of doing an assignment like that.  Each web site is so different and trying to find the information that you need is often difficult. 

Overall I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot!  Thank you for a great 3 weekends!

Suggestions

I think that the huge list of websites we explored the first weekend was a cool thing to do. However, I'm not sure what that would look like in an online format.

I do not think the research paper is a worthwhile activity. (that may explain why mine is not done!) I'm sure that is an NCATE thing, but that's what I think.

Wiki, Blog, multimedia, podcast = cool
Why don't we do a Prezi. Learning that new system would be fun.

Great class. Really enjoyed it.

Dane

Class Overview

I found the wiki page and blog assignments to be very useful. There are a lot of ways administrators could benefit from using excel. I thought the webquest could have been shortened. During the class I was hoping to learn how to create a video and transfer it into something such as movie maker.

My suggestion for putting this online is to give very detailed directions. It really helped me to read the handouts you gave. The rubrics were very helpful. I was not sure how long some assingments should be. You might want to add this to the syllabus. Overall, I thought the class incorporated projects which benefited both teachers and administrators.

Sunday

I enjoyed the opportunity to see the various presentation and websites. It would be very nice to have an infinite amount of time to look at and for the various sites.
I look forward to developing and using some of these tools for my class. Students definitely learn differently than when i first taught in 1979.

I liked the multi-media and the podcast, I think they will be useful in the future.  I liked the Blog assignment metter than the Wiki.  I am not good with technology, but you made this topic easier to understand and I now have a better idea of how to solve a technology problem. If there was one thing I would get rid of it would be the research paper just because they are old news.

Sunday.
It was interesting to see the different multimedia projects. There are some interesting educational sites. I could see myself using many of the websites or videos in class. Of all of the assignments the url searches will bethe most helpful for me.

5/2/10

Things that were beneficial excel project, blog, pod casting, scavenger hunt, and multi media projects.

May 2

I really enjoyed watching everyone's presentations today. I feel we have all learned new skills in the area of school technology. I really liked being forced to produce the assignments and projects. We tend to get too busy in our lives that we simply don't take the time to learn new things or get too frustrated with technology. I also REALLY enjoyed the food..THANKS and good luck to all of those finishing the program!!

course "eval"

This course was great and there is not much I would change! I think the webquest was frustrating for some of us, but I definitely see your reason in having us complete it. Some of my favorite things that I think were definitely worth while were the multimedia project, podcast, and the scavenger hunt. We will have a ton of resources when we complete this course and I really apprecaite that. I feel like I can go back to my own building and be leader when it comes to technology after this course! Thank you!

Last Day

I really enjoyed seeing some of the projects that our class created.  I gave me some ideas for future projects and it was insightful to see others projects and buildings.  I feel A LOT more up-to-date with my technology skills after taking this class and feel like I am more motivated to continue to learn.  I also found it helpful to do the scavenger hunt.  When we get copies of all the sites from everyone in the class, I will create a resource for teachers in my building.  There were a lot of good websites previewed!

For future classes, the only thing I did not find to be of value for me, maybe because I am from Iowa, is the WebQuest.  I really thought that the other assignments were helpful to my learning.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the different multimedia projects today. If our minds can come up with all of these different ways to use movie maker, think of what our students could do! I am very excited about my own project and can't wait to show my students and get feedback from parents.
Overall I think this is one of the most useful classes I have ever taken and it has opened my mind to many new things. I am only 25 and I already do a poor job keeping up with technology, this course has definitely given me a wake up call!

The Last Sunday

This class has been very informative. I enjoyed learning about all of the different homepages. My favorite was iGoogle. This class really got me out of my comfort zone with regards to technology. It was a challenge, but I persevered. I just hope I don't forget what I have learned by the time I decided to leave corrections and venture back in to the "world" and teach "out on the streets."

I thought that the projects like the podcast and multimedia projects were great, but frustrating. Even though I have no use for the blog or wiki, I see the value in them. I think the scavenger hunt was a bit of a time waster.

last day

My list of educational websites is growing considerably. I'm amazed at the resources available. A couple weeks ago I felt like I was drowning in a pool of technology; a year ago i wasn't even in the pool. Now it seems like i'm treading water--albeit barely. Multi media presentations can be very powerful and productive. I'll certainly use those as an administrator. This was a great class that will certainly enhance my educational abilities.

last sunday

I was very impressed by not only the technical aspects of everyone's multimedia presentations, but especially their content. As a teacher, we rarely get to know, especially see, what projects and field trips other classes take part in. This project did exactly that. Nice job everyone! This was a fun class and I learned a ton. Have a great summer everybody!

Dos de Mayo...

I really enjoyed watching everyone's multimedia presentations today. I liked the creativity of the different uses for the presentation. It seems everyone is using them in their classrooms or at work for some use. How wonderful!
I think what I enjoyed most about this class (aside for the lovely snacks today, thanks guys!) were the multimedia presentation and podcast assignment.
I look forward to putting these skills to use in my classroom and as an administrator.....

Sunday, May 2

Today's class was very interesting and it was nice to see everyone's multimedia project. People are so talented and creative, I wish I had their skill and ability when it comes to creating these projects. I have learned a lot through this class and have enjoyed visiting all of the websites, even some of them from the webquest yesterday.....although they make my head hurt! Thanks for all of the info and resources for us to use!

Igoogle

I enjoyed looking at Igoogle, netvibes, and pageflakes websites. I personally like Igoogle and Pageflakes. Igoogle was very easy to customize. The gadgets were very cool and easy to add.

It was also interesting to look at people's projects. Everyone was very creative. I assume that everyone got some kind of frustration while working on those projects, but I learned a lot. I know that my wiki page, and blog page will be useful. It was neat to be able to put a multimedia and podcast project together too.

May 2nd

I enjoyed seeing all of the sites and projects others created today. I still have a lot to learn about using technology. I feel like this class has helped to push me in the right direction. After sharing my projects with others, a couple of teachers have updated or created projects. Educators sometimes just need a gentle push or led in the right direction.

Saturday.
I felt the pain of a few in the class, with converting video to wmv. Bit U finally overcame my deficiencies with video conversion.

post for 5/1/10

Blog for 5/1/10

My Mac is out of commission until my new charger arrives in the mail. For this reason, I have been unable to get to the class blog. I have it saved as a favorite on my Mac. I also do not have internet at home until my mac is recovered. My husband brought home his Sony work laptop and it is useless when it comes to connecting to the internet anywhere out of his school because they have a Nazi tech coordinator who has control issues.

That being said, Saturday’s class was incredibly productive – able to get the podcast and the multimedia presentation completed. However, Sarah and I could not get the presentation to play, so I fear we forgot to “publish.” This will become a Sunday job.

I liked seeing the websites that other people found on their scavenger hunt. I wrote down everything I liked and found it very useful. I love having all of these new ideas to use as a teacher. This class I would almost say is more useful to teachers than for administrators because there are so many opportunities to use technology to teach students. It makes learning so much more interactive for students, and they are clearly more engaged when technology is part of their leanring.

5-1

I have such a headache from looking through some of these websites.  I truly hate the ISBE site, it is one of the most user unfriendly sites that I have ever visited.  Looking up things there are a nightmare.  The excel projects are great, I have always wanted to know how to do many of the things that we have learned.  My only fear is that I don't use excel enough to really remember how to do it all.

websites

Today I realized how important it is to have a user friendly website. Trying to dig into information and find exactly what you are looking for can be very frustrating. I have to remember that this is what it will be like when I am a principal. Looking at different websites to find information. I am sure that we will use these sites a lot. Let's just hope I'm better at finding the information than I was today!

Technology

I have learned so much in this class, but at the same time I have never been so frustrated.  I think the two things that I will take advantage of will be the blog and the ability to do a pod-cast.

We laughed, we cried, we threw our computers...

Okay so big deal, I can do things with Excel now. Not well, but I can use what I learned today in my school tomorrow (or Monday as it were). I was able to put together a presentation that taught me the skills I would need to be able to create other presentations that could be used in school. There could be an application for our awards ceremony, for a music-pitching movie before a musical, or something to be shown at a board meeting showcasing what is being done in our school. This is cool.

The webquest = not cool.

Dane

Today was an interesting day. I found the podcast to be a good experience. When we listened to it, you realize how valuable a tool this can be. Finishing the with the webquest was interesting. It was both frustrating and necessay. I thought Dr. Closens point about doing here and knowing it now beats looking like an idiot when you get a job and cannoy find information for people.

Saturday, May 1

I enjoyed the Podcast activity until we lost our original and had to redo, however, our redo only took 20 minutes while the original took over an hour to create. I've been messing around with Audacity at home while I play the guitar and sing. Audacity reaffirms why I am a teacher and not a professional musician/singer. My four year old son enjoyed hearing his voice recorded singing the ABC's.

5/1/2010

I put off taking this class because technology is not really my strength but after doing all of the projects I wish I would have taken it sooner. Knowing more about excel would have been very helpful earlier on.

May 1

I found today's excel work a little frustrating, but very beneficial. Working with a Mac can be a little challenging when 90% of the class is using a p.c. I do however think excel is a wonderful tool.

I also thought creating a podcast in an hour and a half was very cool. I have always wanted to learn how to utilize this type of technology.

Saturday, May 1st

Happy May day. This morning went very fast. I really liked the experience of working on a podcast. I think I will use this in the future. I'm looking forward to getting my multimedia presentation turned in and presented. Myself and Jen worked very hard on it.
I am looking forward to seeing more of what people put on their scavenger hunt.
I am not looking forward to finishing the webquest of doom.

See you tomorrow 518. :-)

Saturday - May 1

The webquest activity at the end of the day was pretty frustrating, although I think it was really good for all of us to work though. There is so much information and so many websites that as administrators we need to be aware of that this assignment just touches the tip of the iceberg. I think having some time to visit the websites not while we are sitting in class will hopefully stick with us enough that when it comes time to actually be a principal we will remember that these resources are there. I was really impressed with the Illinois Principal's Association PD opportunities and wish that our prinicpal would share them with the staff, because there are many of them listed on the website that would be useful for teachers as well as administrators.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Today has been a very frustrating day. The information is great, really and has been a character building experience. Our supt is very technology savvy and we now have blogs, wikis tweets...etc. SO i must get with the program. I can see good uses for all of this and hope to have opportunity and more patience for this later this year!

3rd Sat. Reflection

After seeing Ben's multimedia project I am excited to see everyone else's tomorrow. I was very impressed with Ha's wiki and blog also! Even though I find the little scavenger hunt things rather tedious, I do see the value because I had no idea that I would find the schedule of payments/nonpayments toward my district with certain programs and other obscure things like that. See you all tomorrow.

Today's projects

The two items that were very helpful from today's class were the excel project and the Podcast.  I use excel often to formulate data from MAP testing, ITBS, SRI and summer ALEKS progress.  There were some "tricks" that I learned today that will probably cut my time down tremendously when working on these projects. 
The other project that was fun/interesting was the Podcast.  I plan on putting that Podcast on my blog for parents.  It is a good was to get information out especially to people who don't have a lot of time, or patience, to read newletters that are packed with information that is of no importance to the reader.  With the Podcast, those that are interested will be able to hear/view the program.  If they are not interested, they do not have to listen to it!

I feel like I am becoming more up-to-date with my technological skills and will be more comfortable using the with parents and students.

"Help" really does help.

Today I have been thoroughly frustrated by technology. But I did discover that "Help" really does help. I think this was the first time in my life that when I had difficulty and went to "Help" and it actually had an answer for me. It was amazing. I was able to complete my multimedia presentation after that.

ISBEIASAIASBIASBO

Good to know that there are like 50 sites detailing anything you want to know regarding state or federal education policies. I'm not sure why my principal looks at me with a confused look each time I mention one of these sites to him! I liked looking up the financial information specific to my district. You look at school operations a little differently when you know how much they cost...

May 1st

Today I enjoyed doing work on both Garageband and Excel. I am considering moving from the lower elementary to upper next year, and I think excel would be extremely helpful now that I may have to figure letter grades! It is nice to have the wiki page to help with excel because there are so many formulas and tricks to remember. The Vodcast we created on Garage band is very informative and I think my partner is actually going to try and present it to parents at a meeting as she is a guidance counselor and the content focuses on "sexting," an issue that I'm sure she sees in her own building and community. I teach young enough children that I do not deal with it as much, but I am certain I will have exposure next year if I decide to move up!

May 1st

The past few weeks I have learned a lot about technology programs through trial and error. I really enjoyed creating my own wiki page. It will be a great place to store documents and share information with other educators. My students really enjoyed posting on a blog. They have not had many opportunities to use technology in my classroom. I look forward to incorporating more in the future.

My students also love when music is put with pictures and slides to present information. It amazed me how a little music can help to hold their attention. They love teachertube and youtube videos. I appreciated others sharing the great sites they found and use.

Podcast

Podcast was an interesting assignment. We were having a little difficulty putting everything together. Then we had problem saving it. However, by redoing it several times, I think I will remember how to do it for a long time.

Excel is always nice to learn. I would like to use it more often in the future. It makes everything much easier and quicker.

benefit of 518

As a teacher, I'm reaping the rewards of taking this class early in the edl program. I've used wordle, wiki's, and other wonders of technology like the excel tools including conditional formatting and formulating costs. I think all school districts should include technology workshops utilizing some of the same concepts and programs we've covered so far.

April 11th Class

I thought I had posted this, but I guess I was wrong...
I am currently sitting in the second weekend of EDL 518. This weekend we have learned how to use Audacity to create podcasts. We also worked with moviemaker to create our multimedia presentations. A highlight of this weekend's class was taking time to research different websites that could be useful to teachers and administrators. A couple websites that I found fascinating were www.chacha.com and www.wordle.net. ChaCha lets you ask questions and real people respond with the answer in a matter of minutes. Wordle allows you to cut and paste text and then the program creates word art with the most common used words in the text.

Lessons learned

I have wanted to create a blog for my students for awhile but I didn't know how to do it. So, this was a perfect opportunity for me. I created a blog with different links so students can go in and read the news, watch tv, listen to radio, play educational games, etc.. I thought it would be a piece of cake to start after creating it. No, it was not.

First, only 2 of my 20 kids have blogged before. They had no idea how to start. When I sent them the invitations, it was a hassle helping them get to the site, and sign up for it. For those who didn't have the google account, it was more hassle. I have kids who are 11 years old, so we could not sign them up for a google account. So I had to contact the parents. I also had to send parents a note telling them about Blog, because I want kids to use the internet at home and blog once per week, and I want their parents to not worried about their kids using blog. Then, the accents! we don't know how to put the accents in. I am still trying to figure it out myself. I guess I can type it and copy and paste. But some computers would not let my students copy and paste. Then starting something new is just tiring.

My only concern letting students using this is I don't know how much they really write or they just use Google Translation. How do I know if students really spend time exploring? But so far, I am having fun.

Scavenger Hunt....

I think the scavenger hunt assignment has been one of the most beneficial assignments that I have worked on in the EDL program. The amount of teaching tools that are out their are amazing. I love this assignment!

I am actually looking forward to creating the Wiki page and the multi media project.  Technology is definately a weekness of mine.  I think this class will help me explore the different forms of technology and how I can use them as a teacher and when I become an administrator.

Sunday Evening

Our new supt. is very techonology oriented. I was lucky to get the last seat in a web 2.0 class, so some of what we have done LOOKS familiar. As we get wikis, smartboards, etc in our building, some people are feeling very overwhelmed. They view the school wiki as just one more thing to check. I agree, sometimes, but think that practice and use will make things easier.... email was odd when I first started to use it! We are also fortunate that our principal is working to bring more technology into the building.

I was glad we looked at the standards today -- shows us the direction we need to go!

earlier

As someone blogged earlier, I wish I would have taken this as my 3rd course instead of my 13th. I am kind of surprised at how easy most of these websites are to use and can see many real life applications in the classroom. I really don't think you need a blog, wiki, and a webpage for each class you teach, but I am glad we are covering everything so we can pick and choose which ones we want to keep and which ones we want to throw away. Good weekend overall. I learned a lot!

Podcasts and media movie

Okay...so I was really confused on what was expected on podcasts and imovie. Luckily I have a great partner, Jeff Ewing, who helps me figure everything out. It's good to be able to communicate and build off eachother. Even if Jeff is from Illinois. Lol. I am looking forward to using imovie more...I think it will be loads of fun with students!

Apparently.....

So I thought I had everything right...but seems like everytime I turn around I am screwing something. up...First I thought my IIRC was suppose to be all on one documnet...it wasn't. Luckily Dr. Closen let me turn it in anyway. The blog thing I thought we could just comment...but Nope need to create one.
Moral of this story is I am more technology handicapped more than I thought

April 10- April 11

Wow...what a big weekend. I really wish that I would have taken this class towards the beginning of my run here in the EDL program. So many valuable tech tools are presented in this class. I will admit in EDL 505 Wiki was a bad word in my mind. After today I created a new page and even added a video! I am also excited to work with Garageband. To me it seems more user friendly than imovie.

Technology in general

I feel like our school has made efforts to incorporate technology but we are still behind!  As an adult, I get excited about using the new things that we have learned so I know our students, who have grown up with technology, will be just as enthusiastic to use these tools instead of pencil and paper.  We really need to get with the times and teach to where students are at.  Right now, students are sitting through boring lectures and minimal technology experiences and we are loosing them!  I know money is the biggest factor but I think we need to look at how we can reallocate our funds to increase learning!

April 11th

Just like anything else, I am finding the more I use technology the easier it becomes. There was a lot covered today. It was much easier to use programs I have seen before. There are lots of ways students can benefit from using technology. I wish my school had wireless labs for students to use in the classroom. I am sure I will learn lots in the next three weeks using technology.

Sunday 4-11

It was interesting today to spend more time going through the NETS for teachers and administrators. It amazes me how little my administration and the district focuses on technology Although, we are in the first year of a consolidation so I hope that maybe the lack of focus this year is because of the overwhelming amount of issues, work and new stuff to fight through just to survive the consolidation process. I hope that next year we can spend more time actually working with other teachers on technology and how we can use it to improve what happens in our classroom.

Assignments

The clarification on the upcoming coursework helped a lot. I am sure all of the technology will become more clear as I spend more time with it. Plenty of work to do for the next 3 weeks.

It was interesting to go over the NETS standards for both teachers and administrators today. I was surprised to hear about the amount of people who wouldn't even rate their school a "meets" in most categories. I think so many teachers and administrators feel overwhelmed by the amount on their plate that technology is just not a priority. Unfortunately, we are choosing not to utilize tools that are so vital to the success of our students. I honestly think that no matter how much professional develoment we do, if we dont learn different ways to reach our students using technology it will be very difficult to change our scores.

Technology Support

One of the big things that struck me today was the lack of support when new technology is introduced. I like how this class works where we learn a new technology and immediately apply it and Dr Closen is there for questions and support. I am thinking if we could transfer this system to our schools how much faster technology would advance.

Blog-osphere

I feel NETS is a useful framework that allows students, teachers, and administrators to guide their development and assess progress. I'll have these posted in my office now and when I become an administrator.

I have a good feeling about my new and improved wiki page. I think the students will enjoy it as it's something they haven't been exposed to before.

4/10-4/11

I loved going through the different websites on Saturday.  I found a lot of sites that I didn't know about and appear to be very helpful, and I can't wait to put them to work.  I also liked learning about  audiacity, I've used garage band before, but don't always have my mac available, so learning a new program was really helpful.

I had never heard about the NETS standards before this class.  This is something that I think that we all (teachers and administrators) need to know about.  I wonder if my administrators even know about the standards. I think that we should be having more PD on these topics. 

Sunday, April 11th

I'm really glad I was able to start my blog today. I'm really excited to use it in my building. I think it could be very beneficial for my students.
I liked the scenario for principals. Laura is very much someone I aspire to be like when I'm an administrator. I understand it will be impossible to do that every day, but it's a wonderful goal to reach for.
I also feel like I have a better understanding of the ISTE standards for education. I didn't realize how in depth they were until today.

Getting Started

So, let's say your school really, for lack of a better word, stinks at this technology thing.  Your school doesn't use their technology equitably, use technology to monitor student progress, provide online resources for teachers, parents and students.What is step one? The possibilities of uses of technology in education is so huge, I almost don't know where to start. What do you think?


Dane

APA

It was nice to go over the APA Requirements for All Writing again this morning. I had never received a formal training on this. In college, I was taught MLA. I wonder what is the reason for changing?

New Technology

I really enjoyed having the time to look at different technology websites and trying to figure out uses for teachers and administrators. I know I have said this before in another blog, but new technology amazes me to the point of giddiness.

Saturday, April 10th

I really enjoyed class Saturday. I'm looking forward to working on my podcast and my multimedia presentation.
I also liked going over the websites. The websites I really enjoyed were wordle.net, lucidchart.com, and zamzar. I also liked all the video websites, however, I don't know how much access we'd have to those websites at school.
I'm looking forward to getting started on my blog as well.

April 10 class

Creating a blog was a pretty fun part of my day. Also, learning more about movies, music, and pictures was fun. I am excited to try some stuff out on my own just for fun.

It was great to have time to browse websites and think of ways that they could be useful for schools, learning, and school administrators. Google Earth is definitely something that I want to get used to using with my students. I really wish our schools could catch up with the available technology. It is a real shame to have so much at our fingertips but be so limited as to what we can actually put into practice. If we don't begin using what we know within 6 months or at most a year, I think we will lose what we have learned. Or, at least that is true for me.

Today really makes you realize how much is out there! I have been to confereces where so much technology that I could have access to was used and I had no idea. Free downlaods are great! I can't wait to try and use some of these in my own classroom, and of course I'll keep them in mind for whatever the next step in my career may be. I will for sure be using the animal.discovery website soon with my students.
I also enjoyed creating a blog. This is something my sister took interest in earlier this year when she started traveling through South America. What a neat tool to use both personally and in education. It makes me wish I could provide all families in my district with a computer and internet access!

Blogging

I love the idea of blogging!  I am excited to get this going with my students and parents.  I think it is a much better way of getting the information out over our newsletter.  Parents do NOT read our newsletters because they are full of information that is not useful to them.  Blogs allow the parents and students to access the information that IS useful to them!

Websites

I really enjoyed looking at the various websites today. There are many site that I know I will be using in the future, especially spacetime.com. In fact I have used tinyurl.com already today while working on my blog. I am happy that I now know about these sites and will be able to use them for my personal use since I can't professionally.

interesting websites

I really think most teachers need more time in their lives to explore and integrate new web applications to enhance their teaching. Obviously, this will never happen if we rely on teachers to do this on their own time without pay. I think principals should either make time or provide incentives to apply more technology, like any of the sites we covered this afternoon, into their daily lessons. The kids would enjoy learning much more if we taught them how to make their own learning easier through this new technology.

Ewing or you out?

Blogging is cool.


I think there are many things that could be done with a blog especially to help with your class. I had been trying to use teacherweb.com and I think that using blogspot is much easier. Formulating how to best post information that would be useful and easily findable would be the key idea. Perhaps running a Blog and a Wiki simultaneously would work best. You could link between the two.

Update: So you can create a list in Google Docs. So what I did was I created a link list on the right panel of my blog that when you click it goes to the saved and uneditable google doc.

I think that is very cool. So no wiki just google docs.

Dane

April 10th

I feel like I learned many new things today. There are so many things I still need to learn to get up to date with technology today. How can schools afford to stay up to date with the latest technology? I am sure the kids know more than many of the teachers.

I really like the idea of using blogs with students. I enjoy reading the newspaper online with blog comments. Adults often state comments that are erased once the monitor checks them. I worry about what students may do on blog sites.

There is not enough technology available to students at my school. I would love to teach my students to use movie maker. I still have many things to learn about it before I would be comfortable helping my students to use it.

I look forward to trying out many new things the next few weeks. The two goals I have by the end of the class are to know how to add music to presentations and to learn to create and connect vidoes.

Blogs and Websites

I think we need more hours in the day to be able to use all of the technology that is at our fingertips. Those websites we looked at earlier today were really good and I think many of them would be useful as a teacher or a principal, but without the time to find them, learn how to use them and teach others how to use them - it's just wasted technology. I hope that at some point in the future I can find the time (maybe this summer when I'm not teaching) to sort through everything and put together a list or toolbox of sorts that will make my life easier and enhance my classroom and my school.

Web Sites

I found the web-sites that we looked at today to be very helpful.  I like the idea of being able to find a video that you could use in the classroom.  I think it would be cool to try to make an avitar, it would be a neat way to communicate on our school web-site.  I am not going to lie, I am just a little lost with the multi media and pod cast stuff.  I am looking forwrd to figuring it out because I think they are good tools to use.

blogging

Ok so making a blog is not as bad as I had thought it would be. Up until now I have stayed away from anything that involved me having to even attempt to make a blog and was nervous about even posting to one. Like I said after actually making one in class today I would not hesitate to make another one. I think they could be very useful for numerous things in my building.

Saturday, April 10

Wow. Plenty of work for the next couple of weeks. The information on the websites was very helpful. I am looking forward to the finished products of all of the groups.

lots of stuff

I feel like my brain might explode! so, today's reflection is random in thought. It takes a lot of patience to figure out how to download, rearrange and even sign in! I appreciate the time to work and try things out. I have a lot of things to learn. Which is better -- a blog or a website?

The Audacity of Networks

In an attempt to connect with school baseball teams, youth groups, and other social organizations, I've created a laundry list of wikis, blogs, and social networks to update. I wish these personal wikis and blogs were available when I was in high school; I think they're invaluable. However, I need to somehow sync them all--or dump a couple. There's something refreshing about simplicity. Sometimes I wonder if the kids I do all of this for care the slightest bit about it. Now I need to make sure the right multimedia makes it to the right wiki pages and blogs....

Blogging

It was very interesting and enjoyable creating my own blogger page. In doing this exercise, I am relizing the potential that technology has to enhance learning. I feel like these things meet kids on a level they can identify with.

passwords...user names.....

I have been trying to keep my user names and passwords pretty uniform, but i need to do a better job of keeping track of them.... and my master list!

IIRC

What a fantastic tool the IIRC is! I have been using the IIRC for a couple of years now and each time I login I find the information available more fascinating than before. As a future administrator I need to be able to get my staff to be as fascinated at looking at data as I am. We have to let the data drive our decision making. Great tool!

No clear answers to the rules!

I think that the copyright laws are very confusing. I wish they can be more simple. I am still not sure if I "understand" the laws well. At least, I am more cautious about things from now on because I don't like to get into troubles. I like following rules!

I am learning new tools, and I know they are necessary in this world. I just wish that I am a big fan of technology.

I am looking forward to working on the podcasts and multi-media projects. This will be unchartered territory for me. Since I am new to the area it is interesting to see the test scores in relation to the area I moved.

Life is not fair!

What interesting lessons I learned in class today. I really enjoy the class discussions. I like asking questions to get clarity, even if it does earn me a bit of chastisement from time to time. I like thinking about ways to convince my administrator-husband to implement some of the things I learn in classes. I love hearing other people's views and realizing that though we are all in education, we don't always share the same perspectives. I am excited to finally learn how to do wikis and podcasts and multimedia presentations. My teenage daughter and her friends are EXPERTS at this stuff and I really want to know how to do it! The only element that makes me feel wary is that I will learn how and want to use it, but my school is not caught up with the technology that we need, and/or the school's web filter will have all the cool stuff blocked, and/or some other thing will go wrong that I can't even anticipate. I really do believe teachers need to increase use of technology in order to hold kids' interest, but getting the teachers caught up in tech knowledge to where the students already are (often) is a daunting task.

ad;lfkjs

I love using video clips to assist in driving home the message in lessons. I'm looking forward to creating the video while including text and graphics--similar to the Billy Joel video we saw.

The IIRC is really an invaluable tool as the numbers can be disaggregated in a variety of ways. The numbers don't lie... but they can be manipulated. I enjoy analyzing my school's scores and data to other comparable schools and districts.

Trying to keep up with the latest video pragrams and features makes me feel like I'm sinking in a live-streaming world. But, i guess that's what this class is for....

Sunday, March 21st

I learned how to compare schools on the IIRC site today. I think that will be very useful for looking at a schools strengths and weaknesses. I do not know anything about creating videos and using audio. The next weekend we meet I have a lot of new things to learn.

The videos today really got me thinking about how to use technology more in the classroom. It also made me think about whether or not students are critically thinking.

March 21

I think every time I get on IIRC I find more to do with it and more benefits to the website. There is so much information on there that it's hard to sort it out and find the time to use all of the benefits to our advantage. I would really like to see my school district offer some training, especially for our SIP team members, on the use of the IIRC website and how we can use it to effectively influence decisions in our school.

school comparisons

It was very interesting to start the school comparisons today in class. I am comparing the high schools in Davenport to each other as well as the rest of the state. Even though we are a little bit behind the state in reading in math, we are showing good progress according to the last three years of test results and it is nice to see all of the work we are doing paying off for us.

March 21st

What a wonderful weekend! I feel like I have a good idea of what to do for my assignments and all my questions (as of now) have been answered.
I'm really looking forward to doing the multimedia project. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I have a good idea of what route I'm going with the assignment and I am excited to get started.

Today really makes me wonder about the way people are "wired." When we watched the video of students passing the basketball I was one of those who totally missed the gorilla. I think the majority of my students would have seen it. I do however have a very close friend who has been teaching for 34 years who I think would have been in the same boat that I was. So many of us complain about the veteran teachers who dont use or "don't want to learn" the technology. I know this woman very well and she was a teacher that was ahead of the times in the 70's and 80's. She was the one letting students ride motorcycles in the auditorium for a speech performance. She was the one encouraging students to showcase their talents in whatever ways the could. She was thinking outside of the box. I would not consider her a teacher that uses technology in a transforming way, I don't even think I could say that she falls into the adapting category. But, I am certain that it is not because she doesn't care, or that she doesnt want to learn. I truly think she feels that technology is advancing at such an exponential pace there is no way she can even begin to keep up, that she can't learn it. She's tried. It depresses her because she does struggle and she feels like a failure. I think she doesn't feel that she can teach with technology because she will humiliate herself. Today makes me wonder if there is any research out there on people who did not grow up the way kids today have. Is it possible that they are "wired" differently as well, thus making them unable to keep up? Just curious!!!

It amazes me all of the technology out there that teachers could be using but aren't and possibly due to the lack of administrative support. The Billy Joel movie would be awesome to use in a history class and there could be all kinds of activities that could be generated from that one movie. I am going to take that idea back to our fourth grade teachers and also talk to our principal so she would be on board.

Day 2

I was one of the people who didn't see the gorilla in the video, I'm also older than 26.  I was so focused on watching the basketball and trying to keep count that I probably would not have noticed anything else that happened.   It really was a good lesson in how you can lose focus of the big picture when you are only focusing on one thing. 

As for the copyright issues that we discussed, I think that there should be both an undergrad class/lesson/seminar and that it should be a part of a districts new teacher training.  I had never heard the 10% thing before, and as we saw in the class most of us had "heard" things that weren't exactly correct. 

I am amazed at the amount of technology that is at our fingertips. I can see the benefits that can come from using technology if used correctly in the classroom. What I wonder is, if technology is becoming important in the classroom are the Universities training future teachers on how to use technology? I know it is frustrating for many of us because we just don't know how to incorporate some of this in the classroom.

an adventure

Today's drive was an adventure, much like some of the things that we learned and will learn. This year, I went from a classroom with white /chalk boards and a screen with a stick to hold it down.... to a classroom with a smartboard, document camera, etc. I know that there is a lot that i can do, but i also feel that there should be a balance between types of presentations and assignments. I struggle with having the students do powerpoints or videos -- i wonder if they are doing cool things and learning or if they are merely showing their technology skills.

After today I have two feelings. I am excited to start integrating more technology into the things I do and I am depressed at the fact that my school seems to be behind in meeting students needs for teaching in ways they learn best. We are just now installing Promethean Boards in our core classes. The first day of use, the kids were so excited to get to use the boards it showed their "thirst" for technology. That experience reinforced the fact that kids do want to learn, they just get bored with the way we are teaching.

Amazing Technology:)

A couple highlights for me from today's class are:

SIFTABLES: Watching the video had me thinking of endless possibilities for these marvelous little gadgets and the students who could most benefit from this new technology.

Excel Activities: I have been wanting/needing for years to become more proficient in Excel. I had a ball today learning some basics of Excel.(Literacy Uses) I look forward to honing my Excel skills while working on class assignments (Adapting Uses) and then taking what I've learned and using it to become more productive for recording and analyzing data.(Transforming Uses)

New Language?

When we did the exercise with all of the new terms, I felt like I was learning a new language! There were so many new terms and gadgets out there that I had never heard before. I felt very behind. I guess it made me realized that I need to get myself familiar with new tools if I don't want to look so "old fashioned" and clueless. I don't like that feeling. I thought I knew "enough" about technology, comparing with some people at my school, but I guess I knew very little.

I like learning about Excel because it is useful. However, there are so many things to learn about this program, and I am afraid that I will forget it after taking this class.

New Stuff to Learn!

I heard some new technology terms that I had never been exposed to before: Mabeam, Radio frequency ids (RFID), Prezi, Online document repositories, Extranet, Mashups, Mesh, Digital dust, and Digital ink. I got a refresher on Excel and learned new ways to use Excel. The thing with Excel is that I need to use it more often so that I don’t forget how to use it. I have seen it before, but can never remember everything. It also seems that I have not had any special class or training on Excel. With all the formulas and things, it is not as easy to pick up as Microsoft Word. Still, I am excited to learn more and look forward to becoming a lot more tech-literate by the end of class.

I definitely enjoyed today! This class will be extremely applicable in both my own classroom and in a future position as a principal. Prior to this weekend I spoke to a friend who has been through the program. She said that this class was definitely one that she took a lot away from and that she is constantly utilizing the knowledge she gained in her position as a principal. I can easily see how that is possible!
I enjoyed the activity that broke the use of technology down into the three categories of literacy, adapting, and transforming. It is interesting to think about where I currently stand as a teacher and where I think my building stands. Also good to consider where I want to stand as an administrator and where I would hope to have the majority of my staff!

Feeling the need for this class

I was in high school in the 80's when computers were not abundant or much beyond the black screen with the green words and cursor. The people that did have home computers were considered the "rich" kids. As I have gotten older and used more technology in my job, I feel like I am computer literate but nothing more. I really need to get up to speed with all the new and latest technologies for me, my students and my own children. I am excited to take this class to learn things that the 21st century learner already knows so I can reach them!!!!

Excel vs. Sliced Bread

Wow....Excel is a wonderful tool. I have used it in the past and thought I was somewhat proficient-I have already learned a ton today!!

Weekend 1, Day 1

Technology is a blessing and a curse. I love it, yet i hate it. It's always fun to learn new shortcuts in Excel, PDF file conversions, and other tech-saavy methods. But I can't stand when my computer crashes--like when you're beginning an assignment in class...

I'm curious why our District doesn't have a technology plan, yet was just awarded a $250,000 technology grant. I'm not complaining, though. Our staff was just trained on the flip cameras, and have much more training in the future over a plethora of other gadgets we got in the grant.

I believe that public education will eventually be an electronic environment; no bricks or mortar. I can't wait to implement the technology we'll be taught in this course.

First Day

I find that working with Excel is a lot harder if you are watching something on a PC and then trying to find that same thing on a Mac. Also I feel that if you do not use it on a daily basis you can quickly forget how to use it. I hope that I can find a way to use it more on a daily basis so that I can utilize it more. I think that as a principal I probably would use it more. My principal now is very tech savy and it really comes in handy.

excel

I did learn a lot of new things about excel that I didn't even know were possible. As a principal, I would at least make sure all the software on every computer in my building was EXACTLY the same because noticing all the problems we had in our classroom today with smart people working on nice computers, I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be to teach computer applications to kids working with poor equipment. I really don't see a school being very successful if they are working with many different versions of a program like excel simultaneously.

March 20th

Today was a good first day of class. I really enjoyed the video about the shiftables. They seem really neat. I'm 25 and I want some!
Going through excel today has brought back a lot that I learned when I was younger. I did also learn about the comments, which is really neat. I think that would make remembering things that much easier when looking at a screen full of numbers.

I have realized that being out of "college" for a few years the vocabulary will be a big adjustment. The amount of technology is overwhelming, Excel made me feel at home. It is like playing golf, I just needed a couple of good shots to bring me back.

Technology Challenge

I know that I am not very technologically literate, but thought I was somewhat proficient. After todays class, I understand that I wasn't even close. I do understand how technology can be an administrators best friend when it comes to time management and efficiency, but it takes time to learn all this stuff. Then it seems like when you do, it changes. It is almost a full-time job keeping up with it all. But, I also see the benefits of knowing how to full use what is out there and it is somewhat exciting once you do learn it. The big challenge is finding applications for it so I do not forget what I learned.

Excel

I liked what you can do with the spread sheets, but I have a lot of work to do to completely understand how to use it. It will be a very useful tool when I have to sort scores and it will make things much easier to look at now that I know how to hide columns.

Holy Excel, Batman!

So for my internship my coordinator wanted me to take all of the students in my school and graph out who is at benchmark and who isn't in several different categories. I had visions of graph paper and a Magic Marker. Those visions have ebbed and I think that can start to collect and import data that would give my teachers a good idea of how their children are performing. It may even be useful enough that teachers will use it.

Dane

Class 3/20/2010

I learned a lot about what I do not know about technology today. There are many things I could use excel to do. I am wondering how much data teachers would find useful. I see RtI as requiring lots more data on students. I love gathering and analyzing data, but not all of my peers feel the same way. I am leaving today thinking about how to make things as quick and efficient as possible. How can I move from just being technology literate to using technology to tranfrom things happening in my school and community? How do I get a staff to work together to be innovative and try the newest types of technology?

March 20

Wow....is there a lot of technology out there that I have no idea how to use. For me the hardest part of using technology is finding the time to research it and learn how to use it appropriately. I really like the idea of the conditional formatting that you can do in excel. That is something I have not done before and can see a real benefit to, especially when trying to sort test data and make it more meaningful for my staff. Excel is a very powerful tool and it very overwhelming to learn how to use it. It's also one that I found that if you learn something about it and then don't use it, you can quickly forget how to use it. It was a great tool for our negotiations and working on salary spreadsheets and quickly being able to get total dollar amounts for our school board.

Excel

There is so much that you can do with excel that I didn't realize. Makes me want to go back to my building and get my info to start working on it before I forget how to set up the charts:)

So excited!

I am so glad to be finally learning excel.  Just with what we have learned today, I can see so many ways to better use my yearly data.  I'm so excited to get back to work and start putting this to use.

Excel

Technology and I don't always get along. In fact I wrote on my note card that I wasn't proficient in any area of technology. I am easily frustrated and sometimes intimidated by technology. Excel is one program that has always intimidated me. It was great to find out that it is not so scary, in fact it was rather easy. I was able to follow along in class just fine and complete the tasks with ease.

Dane Barner....aka Paul Blart (mall cop)

I really enjoyed watching Dane throw his weight around in the hallway today while other students were disrupting our learning environment....Thanks Dane!!

Does this work?

I am trying to find if I am allowed to post.

Welcome back! It is challenging keeping track of everything - it seems as if I just get every password organized and one needs to be changed! Our new supt. is very technology oriented. Our school has a wiki, but a lot of the veteran teachers don't want to be responsible for looking at that too.

It was nice, but sometimes frustrating working with Excel. I find ways to do things and then foget where they were. Practice, practice, practice

Lost

When it comes to technology I am lost. I am glad that this class is offered so that I can get an idea of what is out there to help my school succeed. I want to know how do you keep up to date with all of the changes that happen in technology.