Our evening began with a quick review of memorable Facebook postings and a chance to get to know members of our community a little better. Memorable Facebook postings included Greg's German ancestry, Robyn's scuba diving, Nicole's running, Erin's canning ribbons and Janet's rendezvousing. We will continue to use our Facebook space for informal communication and posting of useful and interesting resources. We began our discussion of cognitive science and Bransford's four characteristics of effective learning environments, based in recent research findings and we shared examples of Logo as an active, technology based learning experience.Tom (Picasa) and Janet (Adobe Presenter) began our weekly resource reviews and each used the tool they were describing in their presentation. I look forward to an interesting online discussion of these tools this week. Each presenter chose a resource that he/she has used and finds valuable and this type of choice is a good model for our future presenters. Both presentations were well-organized, attractive and effective. I was pleased to see a good start for this part of the course! Toward the end of the evening, we began to consider our first Web 2.0 application, the blog. Students examined a few sample education blogs and began setting up their own accounts in Blogger. For next week, students will begin their first application assignment where they will create a blogging assignment for learners. Things for me to worry about this week: activity in the online resource presentation discussions (we have two!); helping students clearly make the connections between cognitive science and effective, active technology use in classrooms; expanding and deepening our community of learners and successful completion of the first technology classroom application assignment. We clearly have an active, capable and engaged group and I look forward to our work together this semester! |
I really enjoyed the resource review presentations. Both Tom and Janet introduced very interesting software that was new to me. Tom's presentation on Picasa was very detailed and I plan to download this software. Janet's software was very useful as well but it is a little above my price range. :)
ReplyDeleteI was unfortunately ill, and didn't get to attend this class, but it sounds like it was great. I'm particularly disappointed I didn't get to see the presentations, as I have a cursory knowledge of Picasa and Adobe Presenter, but would love to see more of what they're capable of.
ReplyDeleteI also love blogs, and have attempted a few in the past, but inevitably kind of wander off on them... So this will be a fun activity!
--Bryon Dudley
I am also very excited to pursue the blog assignment... Our discussion on blogs and analysis of some of the educational blogs in the field has encouraged me to begin my own sort of "Academic Blog" in which I hope to highlight the research/projects I'm working on this semester. Excited to get started!
ReplyDeleteBefore these first 2 Resource Reviews I was a little confused/lost/nervous for when it would be my turn. Now I am looking forward to every week's presentations! In the past few years I have became more and more interested in different technologies/activities I could do; these presentations are going to be great resources for me when I begin teaching! Hopefully I will be able to use all of them (or the ones available to me) successfully!
ReplyDeleteI as well look forward to the discussions on the resource reviews, I think both of those reviews were great. I am also excited about the blogging activity, as I think about what would be useful for the CI 202 students that I am currently working with. I plan on seeing how interested they would be in the activity, and see what suggestions they would have for me.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to the blogging assignment also. I think I have a great idea for an interactive way that students could get involved in a blog that would require use of their knowledge of the class subject but also require them to use problem solving skills, that would also provide them the benefit of allowing them to provide solution to the general public. In other word let them demonstrate their abilities and be the expert. If this turns out as I hope this will definitely be something I can bring into the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the resource reviews also. It had given me a chance to see some presented and has given me some ideas of things I can do for my self. Hopefully, in seeing a few more I will be able to have everything I want figured out and be able to put mine together.
ReplyDeleteI am really looking forward to the activities in this class for the rest of the semester. I'm interested to see future resource presentations because there are so many programs out there, it's hard to keep up. It's nice to have a more in-depth introduction to various programs that others find useful. I've done very basic blog and wiki experiences with the high school students I taught, so I'm interested to see what I can come up with for improved activities for these upcoming assignments.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading for next week in the "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts" book and have come to Richardson's mention of the Meriwether Lewis Elementary Blog (http://lewiselementary.org/, mentioned on p. 25). This encouraged me to view my elementary and high school websites from when I was growing up, and they are more or less static, outdated webpages... I could almost say I couldn't find anything valuable except for an updated link to the school lunches! I'm just curious if having a blogging platform for the school website is the norm (and my old school is behind the times) or if it is an up-and-coming idea. It seems only logical to have a dynamic, easily updatable school blog, but a big question is also "is it feasible?" I'm looking forward to our discussion on Monday!
ReplyDeleteI found last week class very relieving. I was very nervous for my resource presentation and did not fully understand what I was supposed to do. The two that presented did a great job enlightening me of what the presentation was supposed to be about and now I feel way more comfortable about it. I am also very interested in the blogs. Many of my friends have them for traveling but it would be a great thing for my future students to use. I am excited for next week class. See you Monday!
ReplyDeleteThe blog assignment is interesting. Looking forward to seeing more information about how blogs might be of use in teaching.
ReplyDeleteThis class time was a good introduction of what the rest of the semester will look like, and I feel as though the resource reviews are going to be a section where we learn a lot of different things. It is always good to have our peers show us different technologies and software that we can implement in out classroom. It is good to go in depth during class with out different projects, but it is also good to just have a couple new programs that we can learn about and use in our future classrooms!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blogging assignment. As a future elementary teacher, I think blogs are a great tool to incorporate into the classroom and into different lessons. They are very user friendly and a great source for communication. I am curious to see how other people have chosen to incorporate blogs into their classroom activities.
ReplyDeleteThe resource review presentations were great, I have since started using Picasa to organize my photos on my computer.
ReplyDelete