Now how to go about reflecting what I have learned. Let me count the ways. Uhm. Way one... When we learned about the program, Dropbox, I thought that it was pretty interesting. It's kind of nice that I can do some homework in Rocky and not have to worry about how to get it here in Red Deer. This way, I don't have to waste my parents paper and I can use my own and nothing get's damaged or wrinkled from all the moving. As for other programs, I'm not entirely sure that I will be using them when I teach. For the main reason that I will be an elementary school teacher and trying to teach kids 5 year of age how to blog and make a wiki site may turn out to be a negative idea. I don't think that a lot of what we have used will come in handy. In fact, I can name so far only three things off the top of my head that I will certainly use in my teaching career. The first being the dropbox, because of its availability and convenience for me. The second being the graphic word thing on Microsoft Word. The third being the bubbl.us program because it's actually really entertaining to see how many different blobs I can make as well as a really neat tool for organizing ideas.
I've never really been a computer person so I'm not really sure how well this course is going to go for me. I've never really enjoyed using the internet other than to keep in touch with friends in different countries as well as the friends here at home. I know the internet is a really good use of technology and can lead to many really great uses, but I just can't get into the whole internet fad. Yes, I know it is far more convenient to e-mail something to a person or use Facebook, but to me that just takes all the personality out of the writings. When I was overseas, I would more so appreciate the actual written letters I got from home rather than something that came over the internet. But, I digress.
As for EDIT 302, I don’t know if I am going to enjoy it or put a lot of what we’ll learn about to great use when I am teaching. I will however try to incorporate some of what we learn so that I can use it and try to keep up with the youth of tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll enjoy this class as a whole and I’m positive I will get some really great stuff out of it. Just not a whole lot.
It sounds like you were almost as confused as me! I am also into Facebook, but I've never been one to keep in touch through e-mails. I think it is really cool that you and your family or friends wrote real letters to each other when you were overseas. It is nice to see that people still use their own creativity in their writing.
ReplyDeleteAbout Dropbox, I also think I will use it in the future. It seems super handy to not have to drag stuff around seeing as I'm not from Red Deer either.
Anyways, I hope that you get more out of EDIT than you think. I don't know much about the technology in education either! Cheers! :)
Why isn't that an interesting take on the whole new frontier that is technology.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are enjoying the Bubbl.us application as much as I am! it is a great way to explore information and have it laid out infront of you!
Not a big fan of drop box. I love my usb and alot more confident with it. As far as teaching elementary kids goes... that's rough. As you know im planning on teaching math, and well most of this stuff is useless to me. I love learning about technology but some of it just not going to help me out at all. Not much of a computer person eh? haha my dad is a computer teacher and I've been around computers most of my life. I told him about Prezi the other night... I now regret that. I thought it would actually be useful, until i sat down and started to play with it. Prezi is absolutely a pain in the ass, and so hard to work with some times.
ReplyDeleteJason thank you for your honest reflection on the first few couple weeks of class. You have mentioned several pieces that I would like you to consider further:
ReplyDeleteI agree you absolutely will not have Kindergarten children created their own blogs or wikis as they are far too young for this however would you as a classroom teacher devlop a class wiki where students can access interacte learning games and activities- where they just have to click on your links instead of typing in website addresses? A wiki can be a powerful communication tool also. I would often include classroom newsletters, what students were working on in each subject...the parents and students loved this.
You also make a very good point about digital vs getting a real letter in the mail. I wholeheartedly agree as I love receiving physical mail as it seems much more special than an email. I also value the face to face relationships and interactions with people. Is it not more an issue of balance, teaching the students balance and equipping them with the skills they need? Food for thought.
All pieces presented in this course can be used in all classrooms K-12. It is the teacher's responsibility to then pick and choose the learning tool that suits your learning style and determine how to modify for the development level that you will use. You will pick and pull the pieces that are meaningful to you. Hopefully this class provides you with a few more things in your toolbox to be able to pick and pull from.
Cheers!
Ethan I appreciate your comments as it is always good to have opposing viewpoints. However, please use approprate language as this is a professional space.
ReplyDeleteEthan you raised an interesting point in regards to Prezi- at first I thought the same thing and what works for one make not work for others. It is important to have choice and what does not work for you may work for your future student, how flexible will you be? Once you get the hang of Prezi, it actually is pretty slick especially for those who like to be creative and not as linear.
As far as Drop Box goes it is an excellent tool for sharing documents with others and bringing work to and from locations. This tool does not replace the need for a permanent back-up storage device. 5 years ago I lived with my USB key and my life was on it (backed up in a second location of course)... in the last several years I have not used a USB key at all as most of my files are stored permanently on an external hard drive and remotely I access via the web, or our citrix virtual desktop as much of my content is housed in various places on the web depending on purpose, need and who I want to have access. My entire career files I can access from anywhere that there is internet access- this is very powerful and keeps me highly organized. File management is very individual and although I too do not use drop box as my primary means of saving work, it is a powerful tool that can be used to share easily with others. Many high school teachers use this for students to be able to share their work with them or to easily share teaching documents with students. (Coleague to colleague sharing it is also used a lot).
Not everything presented will speak to you but it is important to have an open mind and to think about where there may be a possibility in use for you and your students and how you may modify use to suit the learning goal/purpose.