Goodbye

Bye everyone I had a great time working with you in this class.

Project 15: Interview

I interview Gary a high school student in Mobile and he talks about how technology is used in the classroom and how he uses it in everyday life.

Project 8: Teach Something

For project 8 I taught I friend how to use google docs presentation.

Final Blog Post

1. These are the things I learned in EDM310
-blogging can be beneficial in schools because you can trick the kids into writing because they have fun when writing
-google docs-presentation and survey. The presentation is easy and free for students if they need to do a powerpoint and the survey can be used to give quizzes and such
-podcast and videocast can be uploaded to the internet so that students can get the lecture if they were absent
-google earth can be used in any classroom to show were something is and in the math class measurement can be taken and geometry is seen
-PLN is good so that a teacher can get information from other teachers and you can also help others out
-twitter can be used as part of your PLN
-HTML tags makes it easy to link something or embed something in a presentation

2. I would like to have learned the basics of a smartboard

3. There wasn't anything I wish I didn't learn

4. This class was exciting. At first I had heard how bad this class was and it was a lot of useless work. My experience has been different overall. I enjoyed the class and have learned a ton of things I will implement in my classroom. I thought google docs and making a podcast and videocast were the most interesting things to me.

5. I would consider almost every activity intellectually challenging. I was not that computer literate and had to think about how to do a lot of things, but now some of it just comes naturally.

6. At first I was bored because I was not putting any effort into it. Once I started putting some effort into this class I wasn't bored one bit.

7. The only thing I would change would be the syllabus. It was confusing at times and hard to follow in some places.

8. I would consider myself in the middle of being technologically literate. I do know many things now, but there is so much more for me to learn.

9. To improve on being technologically literate, I will continue doing blogs and just play around with podcasts, videocast and other things. I will use them in any project available to use them.

Final Post PLN

My PLN is getting bigger little by little. I think my PLN is going to take off here in a few weeks with me being involved in the EDM alumni blog. I have added more people to twitter, and every time I have a new blog assignment or comments for kids I go back and check on them to see if they have added more things. The new alumni blog will help me stay in touch and ask questions with people going through o9r already gone through a situation.

Blog Assignment: April 25

PLE

Wow! this girls PLN/PLE are way far more advanced than mine is. I'm still adding people to my personal network. I think being involved in the alumni blog will allow my PLN to expand greatly. This 7th grader is far more advanced with technology than I am. I hope to using all the things she uses in the future.

Two Questions

The first question is What is your Sentence? I would say my sentence would be do all for the glory of God. That is why we are here on earth. The Second Question is Was I better today than yesterday? I would say it depends on the day. Sometimes I am better than yesterday, but other days I am not. As regards to technology, today is better than yesterday. I am getting better at iot everyday.

Google Earth: College Tour

These are a few of the universities I have been to.

Tuscaloosa Academy: Technology in the classroom

Tuscaloosa Academy has required students to by tablet computers to use in all their classes instead of textbooks. This is what I think future schools will look like. Here is a video about the school. Video: Private Tuscaloosa School Trades Textbooks For Laptops | NBC13.com

Substantive Presentation

Check out my new blogTechnology in the Classroom Edm310

Comments For Teachers Week 13 and 14

Week 13

I commented on Sharon Elin's blog. She had posted Daan Brown's video about educational reform. She said that it was ok to feel uneasy and uncomfortable. That is a good thing. She says the educational system needs a major overhaul and we are the ones that are going to have to change it. As upcoming teachers we need to adapt the educatioal system with the rest of the world. Educational technology is so far behind, but I have seen some good things latly reguarding technology in the classroom.

Week 14

She talks about how ning is not offering free accounts anymore. Ning provides users with deicated online space and a template they can use to publish a social network of their own. This has made it very difficult for teachers. Do they pay, change sites or simply shut down. This is like making people pay for a facebook or something like that. This is rediculous. This was free to begin with so why make someone pay now. I just don't understand it.

Vocaroo

This is my first use of vocaroo. I was surprised at how easy it was.

Blog Assignment: April 11

PS 22

Wow the students in the PS 22 video are amazing. I can't believe students that young could sing like that. Just think if that video of the students work had not been posted not only would I not have been able to see, but they never would have sang at Madison Square Garden. Posting a students work may bring that student or group of students opportunities that they may not have been given otherwise.

Dr. Suess

In this video the Zax, two stubborn people do not change as the world changes around them. They simply just keep doing the same thing. I feel like I do that sometimes. As teachers, we need to be able to adapt to change. Each group of students is not going to be the same the next year, so we need to be able to adapt to them. They may learn different than a previous class so we may need to change our ways of teaching. I hope We will not be like the Zax, but be able to adapt when changes come our way.

Blog Post: April 18

I have really enjoyed using the google presentation. I have already used it outside of this class. I had to do some sort of presentation for another class, and I chose to do a powerpoint using google. It made it super easy. I didn't have to save it to a flash drive or bring my own computer. All I did was go to my google account using the computer provided. That's what makes google presentation so easy. I can pull it up to any computer that has internet access.

Skype

Being honest I have not used skype that much for this class. I have used it to view a live stream of some speakers though. When I do use it I do enjoy it. I think it is amazing that we can not only talk to someone across the world, but we can also see their faces. If I ever have a question about how to do something and I need to not only hear how to do it but see how to do it, I will use skype. Being a math education major, skype would be a great tool if a student had a question and needed to see it worked out.

Comment For Kids: Week 14

I commented on Crusader's video about the Treaty of Waitangi. Crusader is a student at Pt England School. He did a great job of explaining. Check his video out on his blog

Comments For Kids Week 13

I commented on Mao's video she described the fairy bread that they ate. To see the video check out her class blog.

Comment For Kids Week 10.

I was assigned to comment on 2km at Leopold Primary School in Australia. Their class skyped in with Mrs. Yollis' class in America. They learned that Mrs. Yollis class says the pledge of Allegiance every morning. Mrs. Yollis' class sang the national anthem of Australia.

Comments For Teachers Week 10 and 12

I was assigned to blog about David Hopkins Blog.

Week 10

In week 10 David posted a blog about an interesting topic about creating a polaroid for a presentation. It's a free application for your desktop called poladroid. The program is real easy to use and the video of how to use it can be found on his blog.

Week 12

This week David talked about using google earth in the classroom. He list a few ways it can be used but gives you the link to about fifty ideas. I think Google Earth Ocean would be a great way to explore the ocean in a science class when you come to that topic. In a history class you could view some battle sites in a major war. That would allow the students to have a visual picture rather than just reading about it.

Blog Assignment Week 12: Kaia

Kaia took some pictures herself and her dad was trying to teach her that things some people view to be ugly can be beautiful if viewed correctly. Technology these days is so amazing. Even though Kaia doesn't really know what she is doing she is making connections with people worldwide through a computer screen. I am just amazed how much we can learn from using technology. We can learn new things with just the click of a button or share things we have learned with somebody on the other side of the world. Don't get me wrong I think we should still learn in the classroom, but I do think technology should be a major resource to learning.

Comments for Kids Week 12

I posted a comment on Angellina's video. She did a mihi, a greeting, in Maori which is the native language that is dying off. Check out her video.

Survey: Are you phisically Active

I took a survey of 23 students in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama asking people if they are physically active. Fourteen considered themself physically active and nine did not. Six worked out by walking,four weightlifting, and the rest were walking. Eighteen students said they spend three or more hours a day in front of a computer or television, probably do to EDM. I consider myself a very active person and I wanted to see how active others were. I found that most are not as active as me, but some of them are. I would like to encourage you to just take an hour a day doing something physically active. You body will appreciate it.

Time Toast Timeline

This is a time line of my life. Here are some key dates things occured in my life, such as school, places visited, ect. Some may find my life boring others may find it interesting.

Week 10 Morgan Bayada

I agree with Morgan Bayada and Dan Brown's video to a certain extent. I am right there with them when they talk about sitting in a room just listening to a lecture to just memorize facts. I think that is a waste of time because if I ever needed this information I could just find it online, but there are some classes I must say that are not like this. For example a math class. I can not learn how do do something without someone showing me how to do it. In a class that requires an application it requires thinking not memorization. For the classes that have nothing to do with my major I just study to get by because I really do not care about the theme of some poem or something like that. I do think that we learn from other students more than we do a professor because we each have a question and can find the answer together. We learn more from finding it ourselves than someone telling us in a lecture. A PLN is a great way to learn as a student and as a teacher because a teacher may have a solution to a problem and can share it to other teachers who may be going through that same problem.

Comments for Kids Week 9

I commented on a video in Ben Wildeboer's science classroom. It was on some alkali metals. The students did a great job uding props and descibing the metal

Week 9 ALEX

ALEX

ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. This is basically a resource an teacher can use. There are eight different categories on the home page such as course of study, lesson plan, podcast, and so on. I personally enjoyed looking at the lesson plan section. I think this could be very useful for teachers, especially new teachers. I found this website very user friendly and very helpful.

Access

Access distance leaning will provide equal access to high quality instruction, deliver quality learning opportunities, and greater equity for all Alabama public high school students through 21st century technology. This seems like it is more for the upper level honors students from what I can see. I am a little confused about this website and is it really useful.

Comments for Teachers: Paula White

Week 7: Sparks of Learning

Paula White makes a comment that "we as teachers often sit down, roll over, and play dead when we should be questioning, expressing our opinions, trying new ways in our classrooms and sharing with our peers. WE are the experts in our jobs and we should be educating parents, students and our administrators NOT to expect the same thing we have always seen or done in schools." This is so true with todays teachers. I see teachers expecting different results without changing the approach. Change is resting on the teacher's shoulders.

Paula also makes a comment that teachers are not to be dictators. No one wants to follow much less listen to a dictator. Teachers need to be encouragers and to develop relationships with students. One of the main reasons I am going into education is to be a role model to the male students, especially those who come from a single mothered home. There are so many young men that I think if they just had a good father figure then they would turn out to become beneficial to society rather than a burden.

Week 8: Being Connected in Jammies

In this blog post Paula White said she just stayed at home all weekend and was like a hermit. She did not leave the house. Even though she stayed inside, she had a productive weekend. She skyped, worked on some blogs and school assignments, and talked to her students using wiki. She worked with other teachers in planning events and creating things.

I do not think I could spend a weekend like this. Even though it was productive, she was inside all day. I am the kind of person who likes to be outside. That is one thing I do not like about all this technology. People get so caught up they can't stop and enjoy some fresh air.

Week 9: Learning, Mistakes, and Being Smart

In this poast Paula White tells about what Carol Tomlinson said at a conference. She quotes several phrases from Carol Tomlinson. I personally like the one "Teachers often teach as though all students are the same. Like bowling we roll the ball down the middle and hope we hit the students" There are several other quotes on her blog Paula White

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Wow! This man has a great outlook on his life. He seems to have a good attitude about the circumstance he is in. He talks about achieving your childhood dreams. He tell us what his dreams were and how he accomplished them.

In his lecture Achieving Childhood Dreams he talks about his childhood goals. The first of his goals was to be an astronaut and he shares that he was able to go to this zero gravity place at NASA. His second childhood dream was to play pro football, and he talks about the lessons he learned from football. He also wanted to be an imagineer and then he began talking about what he had done in the virtual world.

I personally liked the quote about brick walls. He said they are not for keeping people out but to show people how badly they want things. He also said that any thing is impossible. This is so true. If you are determined to do something and put your mind to it, then you will most likely accomplish that task.

I think the Alice way to teach computer programing was an excellent idea. He basically "head faked them by allowing them to make their own game and while doing that they learned computer programing. I think as teachers we need to use these "head fakes" in the classroom. We need to make learning fun. I think the more fun or enjoyable we make learning the more the students will want to learn.

Comments For Kids Week 8

Lakisha wrote a poem about called Rainy Days. She did a great job.
Rainy Days

PLN

For my PLN network I have started a twitter account and am following some of the people Dr. Strange suggested. I wasn't to fond of the idea of twitter but it os starting to grow on me. Sometimes people will post a blog or a website on twitter and some of them are things to learn from. Since I am a secondary math education major I am using a few websites I have found as part of my PLN. I am nowhere at the point I want to be, but it is a working progress and in the future I hope to have many resources through my PLN.

Week 7

This is How We Dream

In part one Dr. Miller began talking about incremental changes into today's reading and writing. Writing used to be done by pen and paper now a person can use other information and copy and paste and it saves tons of time. Research is available everywhere due to the use of laptops and wireless, instead of only being able to research inside of a library. Collaboration is another incremental change.

In part two Dr. Miller talked about sharing ideas over the web through itunes u. He talks about a classroom that not only uses word processing but all digital multimedia. He uses youtube and blogs as a form of publication. I think this would be a great classroom to be in. He wants information to be shared all over the globe.

The Networked Student

This would be a great way to learn. The idea of connectivism is for a person to develop a PLN and to share ideas through the PLN. This makes the classroom very student active. This seems as if it is a very progressive classroom and the student decides what he wants to learn. I don't think i would want to teach in a classroom like this.

Toward A new Future of Whatever

Michael Wesch says media shapes our conversations. He says television is a major creation of our culture. We are a coherent culture these days. Michael Wesch showed a picture of one of his classrooms and an American Idol auditions and compared each other. He said people feel they are insignificant because they feel there are others out the exactly like me and you have to be on T.V. to be significant. I think people do not realize how important they are. I think a lot of people think the world would be the same without me, but I think that is the wrong attitude. Wesch talks about the the progression of the word whatever. I thought this was an interesting video.

Comments for Kids Week 7

Jordan a student in Mrs. Kolbert's class is getting ready for the science fair and wants his classmates to choose a topic and post them in a comment.

Here is a link to Jordan's blog. Jordan

Technology and Itunes

Dr. Alice Christie

I personally enjoyed the section on educational technology. Today all students know how to use technology and to become an effective teacher one must learn technology. Dr. Alice has many different links on her website that one can follow to learn a little about that subject.

I particularly liked the photography section. This makes learning more fun for the student because it is not just a lecture class, but a hands on class. I am a visual learner and I think mist people are. If I can put a picture with a subject and am more likely to remember it.

ITunes University

I personally enjoy itunes university. It is free to download a podcast, and if I miss a class I can download a lecture and won't fall behind. Even if I don't miss a class I can still download and refresh my mind. This is an introduction to itunes u CLICK HERE

Being in secondary education I think this will be very useful to me as a teacher. I can put my lectures up for my class to listen to maybe just to refresh their memory, and I won't have to re-teach everything to someone who missed class. They can just listen to the podcast and then come to me if they don't understand.

IPOds in Learning

This is a link I found that tells you how ipods can be used for learning. IPOD in Education The two main ways it talks about is audio books and podcasting. I had never thought about an audio book, but I used to listen to books on tape all the time when I was younger. Now they are just on an ipod.

Podcasting is probably the most used form of education on an ipod. This is probably the most effective way of teaching these days because students today are lazy and don't want to go to class so now they can just download the lecture onto their ipod. Some people download them just to gain more knowledge not just to pass a class.

Week 6 Comments For Kids

These students are very creative. I thought it was cool that other classmates could leave a compliment and give a few ideas about what they could do better in their writing. I wish my classes diid this when I was in school. I think doing this and getting feed back from other students helps all the students improve in their writing

Mrs. She, Wikipedia, and Mr. McClung

Mrs. She's Class

These kids are awesome. I can't wait to follow their work this year.

Wikipedia Scanners

I also was always told never to use wikipedia as a source because anyone can edit a page. This information is great to know that I can find who has edited the page of if they are a credible source. It is funny that these sources that edited the page use it as advertisement or try to make it sound when they refer to themselves. Maybe this new scanner will help eliminate the amount of edits and the sources will become more reliable.

What Ive Learned This Year by Mr. McClung

Mr McClung hit the nail on the head. I especially enjoyed two quotes from his post. The first is "Our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage them to try again." We as teachers need to be encouragers not the big bad teacher. The second quote is "In order to build the respect that we all seek in a student teacher relationship, it is important to take interest their the lives of our students." We need to listen to our students because we may be the only person who does.

My Family and Interests

Benefits for Podcasting in the Classroom

Now I realize how important podcasting is. After watching this video it gave me a different perspective on podcasting. I thought podcasting was boring, but Mr. Dell made it fun for the students.
By watching this video I earned many benefits I had never thought about. The first was it can be used for students that miss school due to an illness. Probably the most important benefit is that it made learning fun for the students, and when children are having fun that makes the learning experience all the better. Another important benefit I never thought about is that parents can listen do what they children are learning in the classroom. Parent involvemet is so important to a students learning success.

Computer Literate Kids and Podcasts

Media Literacy and Little Kids Big Potential

These kids are amazing. They know so much more about computers than I do. Before EDM 310 I only used a computer to write papers, do some research, and use facebook. I never blogged much less read other people's blog. These kids are in first grade and are already using these tools. They are way more advanced than I. I know technology is more accessible to students today than it was when i was in elementary, but Mrs Kassidy is using the resources she has to its full potential.

i phone used by one year old

Wow! This is unbelievable. The kid can hardly talk, but he knows how to use an iphone. This next generation is going to so far more advanced than my generation. We as teachers need to learn that this generation is going to be dependent on technology, and as their teachers we need to adapt to their ways of learning. Children learn so much faster visually than audibly. So why do so many teachers just lecture? Teachers need to be hands on for the student to reach the highest capability.

Podcasts

Personally I do not like podcast. The reason being I am a visual person and I will get distracted if I don't have anything to look at. I find myself listening then all of a sudden my mind has wandered and ten minutes later I have no idea what I just heard.

I enjoyed a few of the podcast and others I didn't. The kidcast podcast I enjoyed. It was very informative about video podcasting. I personally like the video podcast because I can see someone or something. This was interesting and therefor a could pay attention a little bit. The reasons he gave for choosing a podcast made some sense. I did not like This Week in Photography. They were not professional about the topic they were speaking of and they had to many jokes or comments that were racist. I would have to disagree that photography is not racist. The smartboard lesson was informative but I lost interest because the speaker was kind of monotone and boring.

In the podcast I make I want to be informative, but not boring. I want to keep my audiences attention, but be serious about the topic. Too many jokes can be over the top, but a monotone serious speaker will put you to sleep in a heartbeat.

Technology Today

A Vision of Students Today

I have some of the same experiences as these students had, but not all of them. My college years started at a junior college. The largest class I had was about 35 and all my teachers knew not only my name but what kind of person I am. Since I have transfered to South Alabama I have had only one class larger than 40 and that is the only teacher that didn't know my name.

I do relate to these students in the aspect of managing my time though. I did play baseball in junior college and that in itself is like a full time job, therefore I didn't have much free time after I did all my school work. Most of my free time was spent sleeping. Now that I'm at south I still have to manage my time wisely. My day starts with class at 8 a.m. and ends with work at 7 or 8 p.m. five days a week. Not to mention I still have homework to do, so I do not have much free time.

It's Not About Technology

Mrs Hines hit the nail on the head when she says teachers are to be learners. How can students be expected to learn from the teacher if the teacher can not lean from his/her students. From personal experience when I can show a teacher something, and he/she listens and understands it shows me they care about me and I'm more willing to listen to what he/she has to say. If a teacher doesn't pay me any attention I am more likely not to listen to him/her. It shows they do not care about their students and are teaching just for a paycheck.

I also agree with Mrs Hines that teachers do not have to be technological for the students to be successful in the classroom. For example if a teacher doesn't know how to use a smart board don't use it. Half the class time will be spent figuring the smart board out. Teachers can be effective without technology. The secret is to show the students that you do care for them and listen to what they have to say. If you show them respect they are more than likely to show you respect, and learning will become enjoyable for the student.

Is It ok to Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher

My first question to this blog is what is technologically illiterate. If that means a person can not open a web page or send an e-mail than I agree with Mr. Fisch post, but if it means for a teacher to know how to use something like blackboard than I will have to disagree with Mr. Fisch. I do understand the point he is trying to make that people are proud by not knowing computers. I would say that people are not proud, but that they are just scared to learn and they act proud so people can not see their fear.

I disagree with Mr. Fisch when he compares the importance of reading with the importance of computer literacy. Yes, technology is important, but not as important with reading and writing. All teachers should know how to do the basics technological things like e-mail, word processing, power point, ect, but I would say some things are not that important for them to learn.

Gary Hayes' Social Media Count

This is amazing at how many people are using technology at every second of every day. Sometimes I forget that the whole world isn't in the central time zone, and have the same sleep pattern as I do. The world is constantly going, and it never stops. People are becoming more and more technologically advanced every day. I will admit I'm not caught up in all the gadgets of today, but sometimes I think these can be a distraction for some people. I do not want to be that person who has internet or some kind of application on my phone and never puts it down. These can become addictions just like drugs and alcohol. When I go out with friends that have an iphone they are playing with it for the whole time we are together. That is ridiculous. Yes technology is good if used in the right way but it also can become an addiction.

Responses to videos

Did You Know

Wow! I always knew technology has come a long way during my twenty year old life, but when I saw this video it it blew me away. I never realized how much technology effects the world. India has more honor students than all american students. I always thought America is the most technological advanced country but to hear the United States in 19 in the world in broadband internet blows me away. China and India are way ahead of the United States. I now have somewhat of a grasp on how many people technology effects.

We have come so far in technology just in the past five years. Google searches increased by around 30 billion since 2006. This shows the amount of people using computers these days. Technology is being used for virtually everything today even to find a marriage partner. Information is available at our finger tips at all times, whether it be by computer or phones which have the web on them. Technology is moving too fast for us too even keep up with. For example this video said students are preparing for jobs and problems that do not even exist now. We have to be an adapting culture today so that we can stay on top of things in our life.

Mr Winkle Wakes

Mr. Winkle wakes after 100 years, and finds the world is not the same way it used to be. He discovers these devices,computers, that have so much information on them and someone can talk to you all the way across the world. He visits a hospital and sees all these devices used to save the lives of people. Mr. Winkle comes across a school, and he finds that the schools are exactly the same as they were 100 years ago and becomes very comfortable there.

This video is a great example that shows how education has been left behind in a world surrounded by technology. It truly doesn't make sense why technology is not used in the classroom. Schools are supposed to prepare students and give them knowledge and skills so they may in turn get the jobs most desired. These most desired jobs usually require a vast knowledge of technology. Yes students still need to learn how to read, write, and add, but the approach to teaching needs to change. Children are more interested in playing a video game than reading, so why not bring this kind of technology into the classroom to make students interested in learning.

Creativity in Schools

Ken Robenstine makes a strong point that the educational system looks down upon the arts because you can get a job being good at dance or art. Students today are simply being told what they should do with their lives instead of being encouraged to do what they want to do. I never realized until Ken Robestine that the arts in public schools either don't exist or they aren't properly funded. There has become a prejudice attitude within the school systems toward the fine arts, and this is effecting not only the creativity of students but the happiness of students. In high school I looked forward to attending my art class because it gave me a break from the world and allowed me to relax in an environment where relaxation does not exist.

I particularly enjoyed when Ken Robestine talked about all students having degrees. I went to a college prep high school and was pushed to go to college and get a degree. The military and trade schools were looked down upon. I did not understand why they were looked down upon though. Today there are too many people getting degrees and not enough jobs for those with a degree. Having a specific trade today has become a high demand, and jobs are easily found. If everyone went to college than who would come fix your air condition or if your car broke down who would fix it. No one could fix it. So people are not meant to go to school and should not be looked down upon if they don't. Education is being pushed too hard and it is ruining not only the creativity but it is ruining the way in how the world functions.

Harness Your Students' Digital Thoughts

Vicki Davis' classroom is what classrooms should look like today. She is connecting with the students more by using the technology that is available to them. I like when she said some students don't learn on paper because I am that kind of person. I am a visual learner and would much rather someone show me rather than tell me.

This digital classroom makes learning more fun and enjoyable. I particularly would enjoy being in a classroom that could communicate with someone from the other side of the world. For example if I was in a history class and was learning about another country, to be able to talk with someone from that country would give me a better understanding. This would also allow me to be able to pay attention more rather than sitting in a lecture listening to the same monotone teacher everyday.