Daily Posting - Thursday

Today we reviewed online learning with all of its warts. I really like online programs as long as they are valid. It's like anything else. If you do it legitimately, it can be fabulous, but if you just sleeze by then you make the rest of the new programs look bad and not benefit the student. To do online learning well, it requires a lot of time initially to set up the platform and courses. It would be beneficial if you first started out in just one area, like 7-12. There are so may standards and criteria that you need to meet for the state as well as your own district. But, the hassles are worth it. You can meet so many different needs of kids and it can be very exciting.

Reflections on Day 3

OhMyGod...I think I am going to die. I am so lost and confused that I sure hope there are written tutorials for ever doing this again. The podcasts were fun and the vod cast was easier on the PC than what we did on the Mac, but the processes are still complicated. There is a tremendous amount of homework for tonight so I will be staying late again. I was amazed at how professional some of the other guys podcasts were. I felt pretty dumb. I hope things will come easier as well go along. It is pretty cool to see all of the things you can add to it.

Reflections on Day 2

Lots of information flowing today. I still find wikis and Blogs to be confusing. I know the wikis can be edited so as Lois said, they probably aren't going to be such a good idea in the classroom. I definitely can see using blogs as a platform to put assignments on and possibily use them in place of panel discussion or speeches. A lot of the kids would be more comfortable with anonymity of the web site instead of face to face. I'm pretty excited about learning the podcasting tomorrow. I think my biggest hurdle will be convincing the administration that we should allow this kind of access in the classroom. That and the time it is going to take for me to get familiar with all of this. Using blogs for posting assignments would also allow the kids more freedom to ask questions about the assignments as well. I'm not sure excatly how much access they actually will have to computers in their dorms. I don't think they have them there.

Reflections on Day 1 - Wikis, Podcasts and Online Learning

Today was a lot of reading and writing focusing on background material and application of technology use in the classroom. The readings were very interesting providing strong evidence of the need for teachers to keep up with technology in their classroom curriculum. We just started to look at wikis and posted one reflection to Lois's wiki. My goal for this week is to learn how I can use blogs and wikis and podcasts in my curriculum. I can see lots of possibilities for discussion boards and want to encourage my students to journal everyday to improve their writing skills and communicate. I also discovered some great web2.0 sites that I plan on using in my classroom.