Previous Assignments Reflection
Reflect on your experience in the course so far, particularly related to the tech-related tasks you have tackled. How challenging have you found them? What support did you not get that you would have appreciated, or what support did you get that was appreciated? Are you excited, frustrated, or both? Will you find ways to incorporate some of what we have done in your professional work. How do you feel about this as a first or early course?
I have learned a great deal within the 5 weeks that we have been in this course so far. Prior to taking this course I was able to navigate my way through basic technology related issues, but through tackling our assignments and running into a few bumps, I feel that I’ve become sharper, technically. I was unaware of the existence of many of the technologies that we have learned about and used in this class, like: the RSS reader, delicious, embedding URL codes to post items to blogs or web pages, and even the depth and scope of wiki pages. Now I see how much I’ve been missing out on!
I particularly had a difficult time learning how to link my RSS feeds to my blog. After advice and help from my fellow peers, getting frustrated, taking a break and then coming back to work on it again with a clear head, I was finally able to get it. I also had some trouble linking an outside webpage to my wiki. I had to learn another lesson in URLs before figuring that one out. Although I have gotten frustrated, it was not without good cause as I’m glad to now know what I know about technology. I appreciate the detailed directions and steps that we receive each week for our assignments. I also appreciate the specific places designate on our class’s’ web ct that allows for questions about individual assignments. One thing that I think would have been helpful is a page within our class’ web ct that has a glossary, or simple directions for background technological things that we would need to know, such as how to link a site or page to another page. Or maybe a link to other websites that have a refresher of background tech info for those who are not as tech savvy as others. Perhaps that was something that most people would be familiar with already and I just was not.
I have found the technologies we’ve used useful for my personal and now, my professional use. The social bookmarking has made my search for interesting topics and ideas much simpler. There have been a lot of things I’ve wanted to read up on and haven’t had the time to browse through the library for or even search the internet for. With our delicious accounts, I can simply and quickly find sites related to what I want to learn more about, compile it all in one place, and then when I have the time, simply log in and read through what I want. I love that idea! Also, I’ve been curious about blogging for a while, but assumed that the process for setting one up would be too challenging for one sitting. So I never pursued it. Now that I’ve set up a blog through our course, I also plan to use one for my classes, and I’ve already created another personal/informational blog about quick tips, tricks, and ideas for parents of young ones. I haven’t filled it up with content yet, but at least I knew what to do to set it up and I have created draft pages on my computer that I will soon load onto my blog. Now that I am a little more technically “savvy” I will also provide links, pages, maps, RSS feeds pertaining to the topics I discuss, etc. I also plan to use podcasting, bookmarking, mapping, YouTube, and wikis in my classroom. My blog will help students and parents to keep track of what the class is doing or has done on a weekly or daily basis. I will also give tips and allow students to ask questions and maybe even post some assignments via the blog. Overall, this course has been helpful, insightful, and rigorous at the same time. I think it is a good first or early course, as it helps students to build background, learn history about the field, and play around with different technologies that can be applied to our professional work in a safe and helpful environment.
Reiser, R. & Dempsey, J. (2007). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall.
What a great idea to have a glossory and simple directions posted on a page for us. I was really in the dark on all of these technology tools. Some of you have talked about things like moodles, that I have added to a list so that I can check them out when I have more time and no deadlines to meet. I too have used the blog to create things I can use for my work. I haven't mastered the podcasting yet, but still working on it. When I needed information for this assignment--it was so much easier as it was right there under my delicious account--I didn't even have to worry which computer I was on.
ReplyDeleteMargie
It great that you are using what you are learning to reach out to your parents. It really does allow parents to see what is going on in your classroom daily. If you can included students in reaching out to other classes then you are opening up a whole another learning experience (I think this would be constructivist).
ReplyDeleteI really want to incorporate classes down by the oil spill in the Gulf. I want my student to experience it first hand and not just on the news. I feel that this will open up their thinking about the disaster and what is happening. For what I have seen on the web, its a lot of burning off of the oil so not only is the water polluted (I saw pictures and video of a pod of dieing dolphins!) but they are polluting the air as well!
Abra, I always look forward to reading your ideas about applying the technology into the classroom. You share the most creative, wonderful ideas. You see the technology from all angles, considering all of the ways to make it work for every student. You've even thought of great ways to adapt this class to meet the needs of everyone!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments--very encouraging! I really got a lot of good ideas and information from you all as well reading over your blogs. Kelly, you had some fantastic ideas about professional development and you write in a really reader-friendly way!
ReplyDeleteOne more thing I think would be beneficial to the course is having written feedback from the professor about things and ideas that we post on our blogs. One way we can see how we're doing is our grades, but it would be nice to have some written feedback, direction, or encouragement too!