Reflection #5

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.

Reflection #4

What a great week this was. Seems like this class is finally finding it's groove. Although I think that some of the folks in class can be awfully talky, I like how many of the students in the class are inquiring about the tools being offered. What I further enjoy is that the interest in Twitter is growing and growing and growing. The interesting part of that fact is that it has taken, what, six weeks to get everyone opening their eyes to the whole thing.

It makes me think back to the one-off Twitter presentations that I have given and that I've gone to that may inspired teachers to start using Twitter, only to have to have their use of the tool die off after a while. Some of our fellow students have asked me to show them my Twitter account and how I use it, so I'm glad I can be a resource for them. That's what I want to be.

As for the rest of the week, I was interested to hear and help Todd with his project about cyberbullying, which looks like it is coming along. I absolutely love Jon Orech, I enjoy talking to him- he's so down to earth. He also has this childlike curiosity about him, which, as an educator at his age, I'm delighted to see. How often do you see adults (and older adults) excited about technology and sharing websites and their favorite tools. What I also like is that he talks about storytelling, when you'd think he'd want to talk about football or sports.

I also enjoy the talk about creating a PLN. I recently wrote a post about the term PLN, which attempts to go against the grain with that term. It's a term which I feel is very "markety" and I don't think it does innovative educators justice. I don't know that the term has hit it's tipping point, and I've love it if it was changed. Even my fellow students in this class didn't like it, and thought that the term was confusing to new teachers. So, I'm not the only one who doesn't like this. 

As for Voicethread, I'm glad everyone had a chance to play with the tool. It's still not my favorite tool, mostly because I don't like the choppyness of the playback. I wonder if that's why my students lose interest on the playback. However, it's great to show parents, which I'm sure that they'd love.

Overall, a great week. Picking up a lot of steam.