online technology

WOW!  I have been looking for OER Commons for some time.  I signed right up. I found useful tools for instructing  study skills on Creative Commons Search.  If I get nothing else out of this class, these creative commons resources have made the time and effort worth it.

One of my great areas of concerns and fear actually was about  copyright and the internet.  I have used youtube in my classes, shown images and downloaded articles with no idea whatsoever of how copyright law was involved.  The information given in this thing #9 is very helpful.  Thank you so much.  I see myself sharing this information and resources with my students and my colleagues.

I am also quite taken by the comittement to collaboration that professionals have who share in this way.  It is a little overwhelming but an unbelievable resource.  Thank you again.

Well, I was successful in completing my wiki page.  It is not as elaborate as most I looked at but I  tried and completed every aspect of the assignment.  I am humbled by  this whole experience asI see so many of my students in my own behavior in approaching a new and unknown task.  For thing 9 I found the short videos so very helpful.  We have had these types of videos all along, yet I tried to plough ahead without watching them first.  I had to go back over everything again.  It took me twice as long as it needed to.  If only I had followed the instructions I give all the time,  read all the instructions first.

Here is my wiki, at marys

Here is my psychology wiki.  Now that I have some actual instruction, it needs work,  maybe next week.

I feel overwhelmed by this.  I have actually used a wikki in my Psychology class but in a very rudimentary way.  I realize now that I could have had my students add pages as part of their project, something I was reluctant to ask because I was afraid  I could not teach them how to do it.

I did not always understand how to navigate each wikki I visited from our class list.  I know that sounds silly really because they were just a series of pages and they did all have headings but I still found myself confused.  I liked the Thousands Project the best because I understood it. I also understood the Go West wikki.  However I was puzzled by the Censorship and Responsibility site and completely intimidated by the Code Blue wikki.   think for me this type of tool needs to be used in a very linear way, with a page per topic and or student input.  I actually like that the right hand side has basically a table of contents and it is powerful to be able to utilize video and pictures etc form other sources.  And of course I also like the idea of collaboration.  I think I need to actually work on a wikki in order to really comment on goals, uses etc.  I do want to say I am a little suspicious by all the superlatives Vicki Davis uses to describe her first use of a wikki, but maybe it is just hard for me to believe anyone can have such success right away.  I am still a bit uncertain about this.

Having made that statement actually have a great use for a wikki.  I generate documents for about 90 students in our school describing their learning weaknesses and classroom accommodations.  Each of those students also has a tutor who works closely with me.  I would like to upload each document onto a wikki and then the tutors could add their  edits rather than having to read each document on email and then have me make changes.  I intend to try this with the help of my coach of course.  The question for me is security but it look like there is a way to deal with that.  In addition I would like to change my brain project wikki to be interactive with my psychology students.

Well I made it through this task.  It was actually surprisingly easy.  The videos are very helpful.  So my google reader has 7 RSS feeds.  I scrolled though most of them but did not linger long.  I actually need to go back and find a better NPR podcast.  I would like to have Dianne Reems.  I did find an interesting, and I hope useful, RSS feed for our ELL students. I need to spend a little more time on that blog as well.

This is all taking time, as much as I feared it would, but the results are better than I expected.

I enjoyed this task very much.  The training videos were incredibly helpful and clear.  I absolutely loved reading the various blogs.  Blogging, posting, this type of communication is so informal and personal and conversational.  That is the point obviously, but it is both engaging and hard to get used to.  This is the first time I have enjoyed reading blogs. This task begins with the statement that blogging begins with reading and I decided to take that to heart, to just read, not question, not wonder, not look for anything specific, just read.  Maybe I am starting to get it.

The comments and posts by students were quite striking especially site on sickle cell anemia which is actually about heterozygote advantage.  The original post was entertaining and informative but I was astonished by the mature responses by the other students.  As for the calculus scribe, well the student should be teaching that class.  I read several more blogs but the one I most appreciated was David Truss‘ article on rote memory and math.  He had several additional links and I investigated most of them.  This is the first time I have done such a thing.  Usually I just read the article or post and move on.  Looking at the links did indeed deepen the conversation David was having.  I think this is how blogs can facilitate learning, they allow for deeper investigation through the links. Clearly they facilitate good writing.  I was quite frankly stunned by the quality of writing on these blogs.  Others I have seen are very superficial.   My own past use of blogging has been very superficial.  Reading and practice, treating blogging as its own writing skill.  OK.

It is  a little uncomfortable to read blogs for me.  I always feel like I came in on the middle of a conversation.

I do have questions about learning in this way and brain research. The book Brain Rules states that our brains do not actually multitask.  I wonder about this.

I am both afraid and intrigued by the concept of connective learning and  information management as a major component of learning.  It requires a whole new paradigm for teachers of a certain age, like myself.   I felt a little dizzy reading David Warlick’s article.  I wonder sometimes if  there is really a place for me in cutting edge education.  However, I was intrigued by the 10 trends and the seven steps for educators we read about on the blog.  I am a collaborator, at least in an older sense of collaboration.  I am drawn to the idea that we as educators can be involved in guidance, modeling, teaching production and information discrimination and then helping teach organization skills.  How exciting to teach to “create” and “sort” information rather than simply disseminate information.

The things that struck me the most from these two written pieces were the notion of the power of collaborative study groups, the idea that a student (or me) can have easy access to experts and the possible diversity that such access can bring.  As overwhelming as I found Warlick’s article, it would be such fun to know and then coordinate  lessons across academic fields.

I am not sure how I feel about the idea of dealing with the glut of information by creating more information.  I do worry about students creating before they have mastered content.  I am concerned about the quality of information and also about assessment.  Will basic skills be devalued in the search for collaboration and is collaboration, especially on social networking sites, superior?  I actually think collaboration is superior but I do have many questions about basic skill development.

In the end, for me personally this issue is still time and comfort with such a major paradigm shift.  In my current teaching I have done very little with technology.  I have used a wiki for a project each semester, but only as an assignment description with a few links.  I use youtube in my classroom but rarely.  I do want to know how podcasts and blogs and especially social networking might be used in my teaching or in the administration of my department.  I do hope to explore how my own learning is enhanced by blogs and social book marking.  Maybe I can reflect on this better after I have explored more.

I have always been committed to the concept of  life long learning.  In fact I have always been proud of  my commitment to increasing my knowledge and understanding with each passing year.  I try to stay up on the newest research in my field and to implement new educational ideas.  I discuss ideas with my colleagues and pick their brains to try new approaches they may have and share my suggestions as well.

The one exception to this has been in the use of technology.  I am quite frankly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the learning needed to take place regarding technology.  I find that of the seven plus habits for Life Long Learning, the only habit I actually possess is no. 2, accepting responsibility for my own learning.   I have no clear goal in my mind to develop a plan.  I view technology problems as a crisis rather than a challenge.  In fact in all my life it is only with math and technology that I basically give up when things become confusing.  I am afraid to play as a way to learn.  I have no confidence and do not believe myself to be competent.  Therefore, I have no tools in a toolbox and I cannot use technology to my advantage or in any efficient way to enhance my teaching.  So, I find all of these habits are a challenge for me.  In fact, even though I wanted to take this course, I found myself immobilized by the task.  I think the most important habit I can gain from this course is to begin to feel some confidence.

I believe that we as teachers need to help our students navigate this new world of web 2.0.  I am personally not very interested in the navigation of this world, but I am interested in my students and my own children for that matter.  It is my desire to be useful to them so I hope I can move a bit along this path with your help.