Well, I wish I was here on the final day of class, because this was definitely one of my favorite classes in this program. I'm a Web 2.0 fanatic, and I often was depressed at the lack of innovative tools used in this program. Or, if they were used, they were used as novelty, as if the instructor had just discovered it, and the class never fully got to dive very deep into the tool. Excel was always favored over Google Spreadsheets, if you get my drift.
The last year was much improved as the program started to finally catch up. I hope that the hiring of some new, innovative adjunct staff is a beacon for more innovative instruction.
As for the class, well Tuesday, it was really nice to hear from Meg Ormiston and Charlene Entman. They both had a handful of links and tools. I thought it was Meg who wrote a book I read a couple years ago, but alas, it was someone else. Lately, everyone is saying they are writing a book, and I looked up Meg's books, and they look helpful for young educators.
About CIPA/COPPA - it was nice to see the lightbulb go off in some of our classmate's eyes, as they learned about some myths surrounding those Acts. I didn't realize that schools that didn't receive funds didn't actually have to adhere to them, and furthermore, it's to be noted how loose the interpretation can be on those laws. I have seen some schools create their own curriculum for adhering to them (which I admire very much, as the cracker-jack curricula are terrible).
We shared many tools and videos regarding the law tonight, and I bookmarked all of them. In my absence on Thursday, I spent some time over the past few days collecting some more tools and sharing them to the group.
http://groups.diigo.com/group/tie-542-summer-2010
Overall, I was really hoping some more folks would get into Diigo, but it only seemed to be a few of us adding to the group. Maybe others were just "observing," as that is something I see a lot of newbies do. Which is fine. I hope that after six weeks, that enough time as passed for some of the students in this class to actually buy-in to some of these tools, like Twitter or the PLN so that we can continue to connect or share. I hope they keep trying to reach out in this way.
Showing posts with label TIE542. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TIE542. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Reflection for Week 2
This week we took at look at a lot of new Web 2.0 tools. We also started a Diigo group to share all of our links. I thought Thursday's class really started to hit a groove, and I'm liking all of the sharing of tools.
Edmodo: It seems that our Skype connection is getting just a little better, as it was nice to see Jeff O'Hara share his screen with us. I have to say, I have used Edmodo a little, but I was a little surprised to hear Mr. O'hara almost have trouble describing what Edmodo is. "It's like a content management, sharing, communication tool," is what Mr. O'hara described Edmodo as. I too have had trouble describing it, and that may be its greatest flaw at the moment.
Edmodo tries to do a lot of things, and like other tools like it that I've used, I'd like to see it do one thing really super well, as opposed to doing many things kind of sub-par. Right now I think sharing links and videos is its best attribute. I've used the RSS function, and it's just not robust enough for me. Plus it clogs up the stream.
Wikispaces: I'm pretty familiar with Wikispaces, so this was nothing new, although I now know why the "create users" function doesn't come up sometimes. I spent a day trying to help a fellow teacher with that one, and came up dry.
Although I've seen many of these tools before, I'm finding new ways to find tools like using http://www.go2web20.net/#tag:search That's a new one for me. Plus, I'm I'm enjoying that many of my classmates are first discovering these tools, and I like to hear their fresh take on them. Like their ideas about Twitter, or whether using technology is necessary to be an effective teacher. That's a great question that will stay with me for a long time.
DR
Edmodo: It seems that our Skype connection is getting just a little better, as it was nice to see Jeff O'Hara share his screen with us. I have to say, I have used Edmodo a little, but I was a little surprised to hear Mr. O'hara almost have trouble describing what Edmodo is. "It's like a content management, sharing, communication tool," is what Mr. O'hara described Edmodo as. I too have had trouble describing it, and that may be its greatest flaw at the moment.
Edmodo tries to do a lot of things, and like other tools like it that I've used, I'd like to see it do one thing really super well, as opposed to doing many things kind of sub-par. Right now I think sharing links and videos is its best attribute. I've used the RSS function, and it's just not robust enough for me. Plus it clogs up the stream.
Wikispaces: I'm pretty familiar with Wikispaces, so this was nothing new, although I now know why the "create users" function doesn't come up sometimes. I spent a day trying to help a fellow teacher with that one, and came up dry.
Although I've seen many of these tools before, I'm finding new ways to find tools like using http://www.go2web20.net/#tag:search That's a new one for me. Plus, I'm I'm enjoying that many of my classmates are first discovering these tools, and I like to hear their fresh take on them. Like their ideas about Twitter, or whether using technology is necessary to be an effective teacher. That's a great question that will stay with me for a long time.
DR
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