EDTECH 501: EDTECH Research

Beginning this project was the hardest part.  At first it was hard to come up with a learning objective so I just thought of some general ideas.  I wanted to do some research on the importance of immediate feedback and thought about tying it in to math and math facts.  Then I had some ideas about peer teaching.  The ideas just kept coming but I needed to focus on something!  Eventually I decided to focus on a standard that I know I often don't address as well as I should and one that I feel may be more overlooked with the increasing use of technology.  For example, so much of what we have done in this class is reading, viewing videos, or communicating through written word.  I see this as a trend in my class and my school as well.  While being able to express yourself well through written word is extremely important,  I see a lack of skill in oral communication in our children.   It is usually very evident which students have parents or family that spend time conversing with them.  Unfortunately many students don't have the opportunity to talk to their parents and build oral communication skills.  Oral language skills are the building blocks to writing.  How I could use technology to address oral communication became the focus of my research.

Researching through Google Scholar and Albertsons Library was extremely easy.  I started with Google Scholar and loved that it could be connected directly to the library.  Then I went straight to the library.  I found that my results were different and that it would be very beneficial when doing research to approach it through both avenues.  I played with doing the research straight from a Google document but found this to be counter-intuitive for me.  To proceed in this fashion felt awkward because I would never start a project on a blank piece of paper.  Perhaps if I had been more focused from the beginning this method would make more sense for me.  However, it was super convenient to type in the name of the article and insert the citation.  Loved that!

EDTECH Research

EDTECH 501: RSS in Education

RSS feeds was the topic of this week's adventures in technology.  I was unaware of RSS feeds until now.  I know many people use them on a personal level, but I doubt that I will, since spending time on a computer is not how I choose to spend my free time.  On a professional level, I think it will be different.  Now that I can have articles and ideas sent to me instead of searching, the time spent with this will be reduced.  I can now spend time reading, researching, and learning instead of searching.  Using it with the students may still be questionable, I do like the picture of the day idea, and I hope to also talk to my building tech person about the school website and if it can be utilized with that.

On the other hand,  I really look forward to making more screencast videos.  There will be tutorials I can make for my students.  Some may include screen shots or videos.  One of the most important things I learned from this activity is that it is very simple and not time consuming at all. I spent the most time trying to figure out which program I was going to choose.  My decision boiled down to free download and the length of video I could make.  I ended up using screencast-o-matic even though some others had more capabilities.  I was hoping to find a program I could use on my school computer as well as my home computer.  If I end up using this process more, I may look into upgrading to something else.  I can relate this to Smartboard which has a new feature.  It is now possible to video the lesson you are teaching using the Smartboard.  The ease of this process has made me even more excited to try out the new feature and use it for lesson reviews for kids that were absent or kids that need more teaching.

EDTECH 501: Elements of Educational Technology

Elements of Educational Technology

Strangely enough reading this article brought me back to my days of being a stay-at-home mother.  The connection is made because in those days I remember trying to have conversations with adults and feeling inadequate because I couldn't remember how to talk in sentences longer than a few words and felt that my brain had turned to the consistency of the food I was feeding my kids.  That same feeling came back for a few minutes when I read just the definition of the concepts.  I don't often string together that many words when communicating with my second grade students.  At first, the definition seemed to be just that, a string of words that didn't really seem to mean much.  However, when I continued reading, the meaning became evident.  All those words are very closely related to one another in the sense of technology.  I was surprised to see how intertwined they all are, so much so, that a few of the definitions seemed almost identical.

Memories of my college and early teachings days also came flooding back to my mind while reading this article.  These memories were brought on by two small pieces of the article that no one else probably noticed.  Under the element of managing, the words "audiovisual centers" jumped right out at me.  The other piece was the fact that the element of resources was one of the smallest explanations.  I remember one of my college classes briefly taught us about the resources available in the college's audiovisual center and how we needed to familiarize ourselves with them for school and our future careers.  They contained overheads, mimeograph machines, ditto masters, and filmstrip and film projectors.  This was technology for me when I began my career 27 years ago. (Yes, I opened cans of film, loaded a projector, hoped it didn't get stuck or you could watch the film melt right before your eyes, and heard the thwap thwap noise of the film as it spun around at the end.)  Resources was technology years ago.  That's all it was. Now it is one of the smallest elements.

When I think about what I am personally embarking on with this program and how it change the way I teach my students, or rather how I will help facilitate my students become learners, I am amazed about the changes.  Technology has evolved from a few machines(yes, I do realize it has always been more than this but to most it's what it was) to a completely different method of teaching.  It is interesting too because I really can see such a change in the students as well.  Without knowing it my students are asking for the change.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gX_eJgkWefuvFoLv24nh0TlgF_YgkiAhYMuYk-lyWn4/edit?usp=sharing

Welcome

Welcome to the first of many learning log entries.  Using Blogger and the learning log will enable me to keep track of assignments, artifacts, and even just my thoughts on everything we are doing.

I have to say that I have never introduced myself to so many people, so many times.   Even though I feel as though no one could possibly want to hear any more about me, I have enjoyed finding out about all of you.  I have to say I'm a little jealous after reading.  So many people have lived, worked, and traveled to fascinating places.  It will be a fantastic opportunity to learn more through your experiences.

I've lived in Fort Collins, Colorado for the past 15 years.  I've enjoyed learning to ski, spending time in the mountains, and enjoying the many days of sunshine.  Even though I know I will never live in my home state of NJ again, and that's by choice, I do miss some things about home.  I miss the amazing fall colors of the trees, real soil (not dirt), and believe it or not sometimes I really miss the rain, wonderful soaking rain you know isn't going to stop for a long time.  Colorado is now happily my home.  It is where my boys, now 20 and 22, have grown up.  They both attend college here in Colorado.  Since I have more time on my hands I decided to expand my horizons and get my masters. 

I am excited to begin that endeavor with all of you!

Debbie 

 Sorry for all the ums!