Journal #6 NETS-T 5

For this assignment I had to read, summarize, analyze, and reflect on an article from an online educational magazine.

 Journal #6 Change Agent- An interview of Will Richardson

Rebora, Anthony (2010, October 11). Change Agent Retrieved October 29, 2010 from Ed Week http://www.edweek.org

Will Richardson was a high school teacher turned tech expert. Now he is an advocate for technology in the classroom, and an educational technology consultant. He wrote the book “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.” He is interviewed by Anthony Rebora. Will Richardson answered questions regarding his stance on technology in the classroom. In summary, Richardson believes that teachers should not fear the culture shift that is going on and embrace it. He believes that teachers should be role models for students, teaching their students how they can use technology to expand their knowledge and use it for their advantage. In his words, “We need to understand this for our kids. We need to help them understand how to process information in digital formats and digital environments”.



I was a little uneasy while reading this article because; I agree with Richardson that teachers have to make a shift, but I’m personally one of those who are intimidated by it. Not being a tech savvy individual is tuff in this day and age. I believe that in the future classrooms will be teaching everything that Richardson has suggested in his interview. I need to get on board ASAP! I wish that I had the opportunity to learn this when I was going through the public school system.



Question 1: How will teachers benefit from having a PLN?

Teachers will be able to search for information from others who maybe have specialized in a topic of their interest. If the teacher is weak in one subject, they may seek out another teacher in their PLN whom is strong in that subject and can give them suggestions. They can search teaching strategies, they can get ideas for bulletin boards, they can share their ideas; the opportunities are endless.



Question 2: How will students benefit from being network literate?
Students who learn how to be network literate in school will be able to carry their knowledge into adulthood. This knowledge will help them get through college, and will impress employers when applying for a job.

Journal #7 My Personal Learning Network NETS-T 5

For this assignment I had to follow 5 people on twitter who were interested in education and posted valuable information that I can utilize and learn from as an aspiring teacher. I also did this with my delicious account. I was required to participate in a twitter chat; I chose #edchat where I joined many of other professional to discuss a topic on education. I also had to join a digital discussion forum; I chose The Educators PLN, where I get to connect with many other educators.

Journal #7- My Personal Learning Network
1. My personal learning network is a tool for professional growth. I am able to use it as a resource for my needs as a student and an aspiring teacher. I am able to find ideas from others who may be experts in a subject that I am unfamiliar with; such a technology in the classroom. The topic discussed in the #edchat that I participated in was: “Is education broken or just outdated”. I found it hard to follow the conversation because so many tweets were coming in so fast. Several people appeared to be having conversations with each other. I learned that many people are negative about our school system. Not many of the tweeters had good things to say about the quality of our education system. I also learned that many believe we are educating our students to be good factory workers. I didn’t tweet but if I did I would have tried to gear the conversation away from bashing the school system and onto how to adjust so we can teach our students in the best possible manner under these current conditions.
2. My personal learning network on Twitter is a group of people I chose to follow, who have the same interest in education as I do. Participating in this PLN gives me the opportunity for further learning. I am able to view data and information posted by my peers in my network, and care share in their wisdom and knowledge.
3. Delicious is a social bookmarking web service that I use for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. I explored tags of my interest to search for people to add to my delicious network. I added these people to my network because I believe that they will bookmark articles and sites that will be useful for me. I tagged a few sites PLN. The sites that I tagged were all education related. They focus on different aspects of education that I personally find to be very important. One site is dedicated to keeping kids moving. It is a great resource for teachers who are looking to incorporate health and physical education into their classroom and curriculum. I tagged a few other sites PLN that have great links to articles about incorporating technology into the classroom. I tagged a site that gave a lesson on teaching tolerance for ADHD and kids with dyslexia. My favorite PLN tag was one that gave feedback to a student teacher on her first day of teaching. I think every student looking to become a teacher should print this out and study it.
4. I joined the The Educators PLN digital discussion forum. I watched a video titled Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy; I was mainly attracted to this video because it was a Prezi, and I had never heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy before. In summary Bloom’s taxonomy was a hierarchical classification of educational objectives that are key the key to understanding the learning process. Benjamin Bloom developed this in 1956. In 2001, Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl reformed Bloom’s taxonomy because we are teachers to different kinds of students know. The students we are teaching were referred to as “digital natives,” teachers were referred to as “digital immigrants.” The main point is that technology and collaboration is essential for our 21st century students.

Journal #4 Nets-T 5

For this assignment I had to read, summarize, analyze, and reflect on an article from the digital edition of Leading and Learning with Technology.

Journal#4: Computing In The Clouds

Johnson, D. (Dec/Jan 2009-2010). Leading & Learning with Technology, Computing In The Clouds. International Society for Technology in Education, 37(4).

Doug Johnson; the author, started out the article by explaining what cloud computing is. He states: “Cloud computing relies on applications and file storage that reside on a network, a district intranet, or the internet itself.”(Johnson 2009-2010) He wrote about his transition to strictly cloud computing, and called it “living in the cloud”. He listed all the cloud programs he switched to, and explained how he made the switch. He also summed up the pros and cons of cloud computing and gave testimony for why schools should purchase netbooks and utilize cloud computing.

I found this article to be informative and well written. I agree with the author; schools should make the transition to netbooks, and should utilize cloud computing. The staff and children would clearly benefit from this. I had no idea that netbooks were so reasonably priced. I appreciate that Doug listed the programs that he switched to; this makes it easy for people reading to be able to start living in the cloud themselves.

Questions:

Will netbooks and cloud computing make one-to-one laptop programs more realistic for schools?

When I first learned about the laptop programs in journal one, I thought it was a great idea but would clearly be hard for schools to adopt this program for financial reasons. The netbooks are cheaper than a laptop. They are also smaller and weigh less, making it easier for the student to transport it to and from school. If the school makes use of cloud computing, they could cut back on the costs of purchasing programs for the computers, and put the money elsewhere. Another added bonus is for the forgetful kid who can never remember to bring his laptop; it’s not that big of a deal because all his/her work is in the cloud and can be viewed from any computer.

Will cloud computing always be available for free?

No one will be able to know for sure if cloud computing will always be free. However the author in the article states that cloud computing is made possible through advertisements. I don’t for see this changing. Many businesses only advertise online. My only concern is what happens to schools if all the sudden they have to start paying for programs that they have adapted to, that were once free?

Journal #3 Nets-T 5

For this assignment I had to read, summarize, analyze, and reflect on an article from the digital edition of Leading and Learning with Technology.

 Journal #3: Bring the World into your Classroom
McDermon, L. (Sep/Oct 2010) Learning & Leading with Technology, Bring the World Into Your Classroom. International Society for Technology in Education.

The title for this article Bring the World into Your Classroom; was appropriate and explains the jest of the whole reading. The author starts out the article by giving examples of ways that technology can enhance the learning experience in the classroom. She goes on to give examples, which supports how students would benefit, and all the possibilities of learning through technology. The author also gives valuable information to the educator on how to get set up to teach through technology and reiterates why it is important for our students to be up to date with 21st century technology.
I found the article to be straight to the point and useful. I appreciate how she gave information on how to get started. Her ideas about videoconferencing were wonderful. I have never heard about the program Read Around the Planet, or Megaconference Jr. These programs are splendid ideas and I’m grateful that they have been brought into our education system and I am hoping that more and more schools catch on soon. This stuff is amazing; I want my daughters to have access to programs and opportunities like these. As a future educator, I decided to print out the article and save for when my turn comes to have a classroom. And then; hopefully I will be able to incorporate some of Linda McDermons suggestions into my classroom.
Questions:
Bringing technology into the classroom is fairly new, and therefore I haven’t heard much about it. I am wondering, if you were to be able to show videos in the classroom for learning purposes, how would you go about getting them approved?
I would assume that you would have to get it approved by your principle, but I am also wondering if schools even allow teachers to use internet videos. I have observed in plenty of elementary classrooms and I have never seen it done. And if the principle approves it; do you have to stop there, or keep going and get the parents permission as well? These are all issues that are unclear to me.
How will the students benefit from learning how to video conference?
Like the author, I also believe that this is the 21st century world and it’s important for students to be exposed to the technology that is around them. By videoconferencing the students have to utilize other technology skills that they end up learning so many skills in one conference. Videoconferencing can expose a student to the possibilities of the web. Think about how often they will probably use this acquired skill in the future for their benefit. They could use it in future education, they could use this skill to help get a career, or they could use it for their own personal benefit.

My Prezi Nets-T 2

Below is an example of a presentation that I created using Prezi; a free web based presentation tool.

Presentation Assignment on Prezi

Presentation Assessment NET 2

Below, is an assessment I created using google docs.

Survey-All About Me Nets-T 1

I used google docs to create this survey about myself, that others are able to view and take the survey online.