Final Posting-Goodbye

This is my last posting on my class blog. I am sad to see it end so quickly. Thank you Dr. Strange and to all of my classmates for making this class so much fun. I learned so much during this class. This is not the end for there is the internet with many possibilities of keeping in touch. Again thank you and I will miss everyone.


Goodbye,
Katherine

EDM 310 Class Summary

I suppose its all ready time for me to write a summary about what I have learned in this class. Where do I begin? I learned so much in this class that it's hard to remember everything. But, here it goes. What I learned the most are these tools which helped me become Technologically Literate:
I believe all teachers should have knowledge and understand of technological literacy. Everything you post or comment on is developing your "intellectual trail" in the world.
The most important thing that we learned that will help me as a teacher is learning how to create a PLN. A PLN is a useful tool to have even if your not going to be a teacher. It allows you to collaborate, ask questions, and share ideas with others. It gives you a chance to make new friends that you never would have.
Next would be the blogging that Dr. Strange assigned to us. The reading assignments opened my eyes to the new technology and teaching ideas out there. Blogging is a wonderful way to express what is on your mind. Comments4kids was the most rewarding experience in the class. I loved commenting to the kids from all over the world and I will probably keep it up when class is over. The Professional blog will help me to learn what kind of teacher I want to become.
Google tools was another interesting thing we learned in the class. I use igoogle everyday to see my gmail, google docs, and some websites I am following. I found that in google docs we can create forms, presentations, and documents and it will be stored in the clouds as Dr. Strange puts it. There is no use for a flash-drive in this age. All of these apps are useful when you become a teacher and they are easy to use. I was able to create a presentation and a form with no problem. To see the spreadsheet of responses from my form click here.
Delicious is a useful tool for bookmarking and having them whenever you need them on any computer. I find this very helpful since I can never remember the websites that I follow or interested in.

Here is a list of other things I learned during this class:
Foliotek
ACCESS
ALEX
Wikis
iTunes
iTunesU
Podcast/Videocast
Google Earth

You might find this hard to believe but I learned everything that I wanted to learn in this class. This was the best class I have ever had. In my other computer classes all we learned was Microsoft Office.

For me twitter isn't anything that I have to have or needed to learn. I honestly see no point in it sometimes. I don't see why so many people love it but that's just me.

What excited me in this class was being able to comment on kids posts. It was the most rewarding experience, especially when we learned about Kaia.

I found a few things difficult to master, but not "intellectually challenging." Creating a video for project 11 wasn't hard. When it came around to posting it it was another story. After awhile of trying to publish it to Youtube I had success. So now I know how to put videos on Youtube.

Honestly I did not find myself being bored in this class, which was the only class that I wasn't.

For this class I would not change anything. I liked it just the way it was. Dr. Strange did a great job teaching us the tools. He made wonderful videos and posted documents showing or telling how to do something, which were easy to understand.

Can anyone be truly Technologically Literate? If I had to choose at this moment I would say that I am to the extent of medium at the most.

I will maintain and improve my technological literacy between now and the time I graduate or start teaching by practice practice practice. I will stay up to date with the technological advances . I will keep researching and mastering new tools that will help me when I become a teacher.

One thing that Dr. Strange said in class will stay follow me, "A Mac is better than a PC."

Personal Learning Network-PLN

At the beginning of this semester I had to ask myself, What is a PLN? Well now that I know what it is, I believe that everyone should have one. I created my PLN in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 Class and I will always be working on it even after this class is over.

I began by setting up two separate blogs for two separate reasons. The first one I created was the Class Blog which was for responses to class assignments. The second one I created was the Professional Blog which is a used for a reflection on what I will bring to teaching. This one I will updating as I learn and grow.

I created a Twitter account where I follow 15 people who are:
1. kaiasays
2. laineymic
3. elearning30
4. teachers20
5. classroom 2.0
6. joedale
7. drjohnhadley
8. coolcatteacher
9. willrich45
10. NSCS
11. wmchamberlin
12. winetimejs
13. pvbagget
14. belindaflucker
15. DrJohnStrange
I am being followed by 4 people who are:
1. coolcatteacher
2. joedale
3. classroom2.0
4. laineymic
I plan on continuing to tweet and become better at it when this class is over. I found out that this is a useful tool to have.

I am using Delicious which is an online bookmarking database which allows you to open it from any computer so you will always have your bookmarks. This helps me keep all of my websites organized to make it easier to find stuff. I became a fan of Delicious in this class.
I actually had Skype before this class because I used it to talk with my boyfriend. To me Skype is more reliable than MSN.
To create your own PLN see Dr. Strange's Handout.
To see a video about why PLN is a valuable tool for educators click here.

New Classroom Rules by Education Innovation

Two rules that I think are most important are:
12. Keep your hands to yourself, but share all your ideas and knowledge with others in your Personal Learning Network.
I chose this one because its hard enough to pay attention when people aren't being touchy feely around you. This is a learning environment and a professional manner should be presented at all times. We need to share our ideas and knowledge with others to help them learn,
11. Complete all assignments neatly and on time, and submit on line or post to your blog or wiki, and share it with your followers on Twitter.
The point of assignments is to base whether you have learned from what was being taught. If you fail to turn work in on time or at all then you are marring the education system. A teacher can't base how you understand what is being taught unless they have something to go off of. 'Homework' and 'In class assignments' are the base to which teachers build off of.
I really like these two rules. This is the 21st century were technology is all around us. Sadly I don't think we know how to live without technology. So, we must adapt our lives around these new technologies everyday. To see the full list click here.

Doug Johnson's Seven Stupid Mistakes and Seven Brilliant Things Teachers do with Technology

After reading the list of the Seven Stupid Mistakes Teachers Make with Technology, these two seemed the most important to me:
1. Not backing up data
The standard OS is built up around thousands of code that at any moment could glitch. Not having grades, papers, research, or even websites backed up could set a person back years.
5. Believing that one's teaching style need not change to take full advantage of technology
This is a new world when compared to the times they started teacher. Books, libraries, and teachings are no longer the necessary when it comes to proper study. Researching a paragraph online rather than hunting down a book, then flipping through the pages takes mere minutes when compared to the latter.

After reading of the list of Seven Brilliant things Teachers do with Technology, these are the two I think are most important.
4. Put kids in touch with the world.
Lets face it, there is a real world out there that has more than a small town can offer. A child needs to realize that they are just part of a bigger picture, the scope of the world around them is mind boggling, but if prepared for the vastness that is society at a younger age the child can adapt. Probably even come to realize that the world needs fixing and it his their job to do so
3. Make conferencing real-time.
People need to be in the know, often times scheduled appointments just can't be made. If the teacher is more willing to keep in touch with students outside of class then a whole new level of respect appears. The child will slowly realize that the teacher really does care about their future and could start taking things more seriously.

Response to Anthony Capp's Post

In Mr. Miller's video he states "How has writing in our culture changed?" "We know have the capability of communicating instantly, globally." In essence he is describing the way in which students are able to create literature collaboratively through different continents at the same time due to shared document programs.

I can tell by Anthony's post Believing, Inventing, and Implementing Technological Pedagogies
he understood how important it is that we have the capability of communicating globally because we as teachers will have a better understanding of how we can teach our students visual literacy. As teachers we must know how to access technological tools so that we can encourage our students to strive for learning. I think Anthony's post will be beneficial for students around the world.

At the Teacher's Desk

At the Teacher's Desk is "Experiment and Professional Learning, Collaboration and sharing of ideas." This website answers technical questions as well as quick responses. By taking EDM 310 it has showed me what type of teacher I want to be and how I can incorporate technology into my classroom. The website shows a lot of post about technology in the classroom. This website is something that all teachers should be apart of. The people who run this site seem to be willing to help any technologically literate teacher prepare for their career.

Toward A New future of Whatever-Michael Wesch

Michael Wesch's speech made me think a lot about how students of my time see things. I believe he is right, everyone should want to be on the "I care and lets do whatever it takes by whatever means necessary" way of thinking. I am the type student that needs a differentiate yes or no but no maybe or whatever. I guess you could say I am a little OCD when it comes to doing the best I can with my school work as well as my attitude. One of my pet peeves is the word "whatever". I cannot stand it when someone says that to me. After hearing his speech I will think twice before I ever use that word.

Why Blog?

I think blogging is a good experience for all collage students to know. Blogging introduced collage students to podcasting and videocast. By blogging it is a great way for self expression. It is also educational, enlightening as well as, a great way for students to communicate with other students around the world.

The EDM 310 class was my first time to blog. It gave me the chance to talk with children all over the world. I really enjoy posting blogs to all the different children. I think that they looked forward every week for our responses to their blogs.

Over all blogging was exciting and the best way to help keep me technologically in tune with the ever changing world. I honestly never heard of blogging intill I took this class. But I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here are some examples of why blogging can be beneficial. One example is a little girl named Kaia. I thought this one was an amazing story because of the way her father took time to post his daughter's work on a blog. Even though she is only 3 years old, she shares her story as well as pictures on her blog for anyone to view. A second example would be Mrs. Hines and her blog post on technology in the classroom. Mrs. Hines had a lot of comments and gave good advice and suggestions for future teachers and possibly students. A third example is Mr. McClung, he showed how blogging can be a learning experience for students. His blog can help those who are scared to teach and for teachers who are over whelmed with their classroom. By reading his experiences can give encouragement as well as good advice for teachers.

Dr. Strange wrote some post about why we should blog. Here is a list:
Your comment for kids is having an impact by Dorthy Burt in New Zealand
If you are not convinced about blogging and commenting read this
The Benefits of using blogs in the Classroom
Kaia and Room 10

Textbooks Cost and Unused- Project 11

Belinda and I created a video about the cost of textbooks that we don't even use. We interviewed 3 people from our EDM 310 class. This was my first time creating a video. Let's just say it was driving me crazy to figure it out and of course it turned out to be so easy in the end. I really enjoyed creating this video and I hope you enjoy watching it.

To see this video click here.

7th Comment4kids

I visited Mrs. Goerend's class blog. I had the chance to post a comment for Chase's post about Homecoming Week. He was telling Mrs. Goerend's class about the fun things they did Tuesday through Thursday. He said Friday was his favorite day because he got to see the band play down the halls. The game was a close call but in the fourth quarter with ten seconds left they scored and won by 3. Sounds like it was a great game and week for Chase.