A.L.E.X.

ALEX stands for the Alabama Learning Exchange which is a database for teachers to utilize. The real strength of the site in my opinion is the Lessons Plans section where it offers lesson plans for teachers on different subjects. I think that this would be a very valuable resource for a new teacher. This would give a new teacher some guidance in setting up a lesson plan for the first time. There is also a Courses of Study section that lets you know what you are suppose to be integrating into your lesson plans. The podcast section on ALEX is not very developed, but there is a few podcast worth listening to. There is a search engine to help navigate the site and a professional learning section to help with a teachers life long learning. Over all this looks to be a very helpful site for teachers. I think that some of the sections could use a little work and the podcast section needs to be added onto, but it is a great step for Alabama for making their teachers technologically literate.

Dear Kaia

This whole thing started from a father just wanting to get his daughter outdoors and traveled around the globe and turned into a learning experience for many people. It is amazing how far a simple blog can go. Even though he was taking his daughter outside he also incorporated technology. I think that this is one thing we need to take from all of this. We need to make our kids technologically advanced but we also need to get them outside and active. When you can do this together it is even better. I also think that this was able to take off because of the amount of social networking that there is available for us to use today. This story stretched across many different mediums from twitter, skype, and blogger. Using all of these together is a way that teacher will be able to develop their students learning outside of the classroom. I also share the concerns he had with putting his daughter on the internet. That is another teaching point for teachers is to teach their students how to safely navigate the internet and to be aware of people they encounter on the internet.

To follow along look at some of these links:
Dear Kaia
Mr. Chamberlain's Dear Kaia Blog
Intrepid Teacher: Singing Hearts

What is the New Media Literacies Project

"Project New Media Literacies (NML), a research initiative based within MIT's Comparative Media Studies program, explores how we might best equip young people with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world." This is what the website says about New Media Literacies. This is a collaborative site where you can post videos and other media. There is also a library and a blog section on the site.

New Media Literacies

I think that the New Media Skills are a good guideline to use with many different things. I think that you could call them 21st century skills, but if you really think about it they are skills that have been used for a long time. They have just been adjusted to using computers and online media. I believe that I posses many of these skills. Judgment, negotiation, play, performance to name a few.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

Students will become their own teachers. They will search out and find information on their own. This sounds like a great idea to me for college students but I do not really see this being effective with High School or younger students. In my personal experience children are not self motivated enough or have enough interest in the subject matter to go out and research topics on their own.

For a college level I could see where this would have great value. It would help students with research and computer skills which I think is imperative for when they graduate.

"Why does the networked student need a teacher?" I think that the networked student needs a teacher for added support in their learning and to help them when they get stuck. A networked student also needs some structure to their learning so that they are not just looking at any random thing that pops to mind.

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream

This was a very thought provoking video on the way that technology has made books almost obsolete. We have talked in many of my classes but I never really gave it any thought until last Friday when I was in the library and no one was looking at books. Instead everyone was using the computers in the library as opposed to looking through the books for the information. Also some of the books that I was thumbing through had not been checked out in a couple of years. This makes me ask the question why do we have books in our library any more. Why not just have a very large computer lab devoted to research.

Back to the topic though. Writing with multimedia sounds very interesting to me. The examples that Mr. Miller used in his video were very cool. I am not sure yet how to go about doing some of what he did but I think that I could see myself using this in the future.

iPods in the Classroom

There is many things that an iPod can be used for in a classroom setting. From listening to podcast, watching videos, and storing documents. iPods are small and portable so a student can take it anywhere with them and have that study aid with them at all times.

Duke University gave iPods to all incoming freshman. The main benefit that they found was the ability to be able to record audio and to listen to it later. This gave the students a way to revisit the lectures and study outside of class. Duke published a review of their findings that was very interesting.

I Tunes U

Since we were assigned to look at iTunes University earlier in the semester I have been downloading podcast and lectures on many different subjects. I am studying to become a history teacher and I love history but I am not the biggest fan of reading. So as you can imagine iTunes university is right up my alley. I have been listening to a series dedicated to Napoleon over the past few weeks and they are amazing. The podcast are just like sitting in class (without having to go). I think that this could be very helpful for students who want to go outside of their class and learn very easily. There was also a few that I found where the teachers had recorded their class and posted them to iTunes. This would be very nice if you had missed that class and your teacher had done this. I am positive that I will continue to use iTunes U after I finish this class. I enjoy the simplicity of downloading and listening rather than reading.

Dr. Alice Christie

At first all I could say about this site was wow. There is a ton of information on this site. I do not know how she had time to teach putting all of this together. The section that I decided to write about was the educational technologies section. I found a link that related to the using wikipedia assignment about how to check the site for validity. The section that I spent the most time in was the podcasting section because I am very interested in using podcast in the classroom. There is a a lot of resources for podcasting and how to use it in the classroom. Overall this was a very informative website. I hope to explore this site in more depth when I have some free time.

Mr. McClung: What I've Learned This Year

This was a very helpful blog post from Mr. McClung. My first year is one of the things that I am anticipating the most about becoming a teacher. I think that the first year is probably one of the biggest learning experiences that you will have in becoming a teacher.

My favorite part of his blog was about being flexible. "NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT." This is very true. We have to be able to adapt and form ourselves and our lessons to the way our students learn.

Wikipedia

After reading the wired story about wikipedia it makes you look at the site in a different light. Being a site that anyone is able to change things makes it open for interest groups and businesses to put forth their own view points and delete others. With the format of the site there is really nothing you can do about it.

I have used wikipedia for some time now and find it valuable when searching for something really quick. I do not think that wikipedia should be abandoned but should be looked at with skepticism as you should with many things on the internet. As far as using wikipedia for a paper or report I think you should look somewhere else. I have been told by my teachers since high school not to use wikipedia for anything other than getting ideas. As far as trusting wikipedia for reliable information I do not think you can do that.

Karl Fisch

This was a very interesting read. I loved the comment about the parent saying that she was never good at math and it seemed like she was bragging about it. I have heard that a many of times and its just amazing to me how people concede defeat on something and never try to learn. As if that is an excuse for their child to not learn. That could apply for teachers and technology as well. You may not understand it now but there is always time to learn something new. You should not just give up, we are teachers and as teachers we should also be learners.

Karl Fisch said in his blog that "In order to teach it, we have to do it. How can we teach this to kids, how can we model it, if we aren’t literate ourselves? You need to experience this, you need to explore right along with your students. You need to experience the tools they’ll be using in the 21st century, developing your own networks in parallel with your students. You need to demonstrate continual learning, lifelong learning – for your students, or you will continue to teach your students how to be successful in an age that no longer exists." This almost mirrors Dr. Stranges approach he uses in class. This makes him one of the few teachers that I have had that I feel have evolved with the times.

To answer Karl Fisch question
"If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write."
I do not think it is to that extreme. I do think that it puts them and their students at a distinct disadvantage. You do not have to be a tech expert but at least try to be proficient.

Click Here to go to Karl Fisch's blog.

Kelly Hines: It's not about the technology

I for the most part agree with Kelly Hines and her post. It is very important for teachers to be life time learners. The teachers have to evolve along side with the students that they are teaching. Her point about learning and teaching are not the same thing is a point that I feel strongly about. You can stand in front of the class all day and beat on a point but if the students are not learning the material then you are just teaching to the walls. I feel that you have to be able to adapt to your students and figure out what it takes to make them learn in stead of burping back the information on test day. Technology is useless without good teaching was a great point in my opinion. Teachers have to use the technology to teach, not let the technology teach for them. One of the things that bothers me the most are when teachers put up a powerpoint and either have the students copy it or when they read word for word what it says. I think that you have to use points on the board and then teach off of the points. That way that you engage your students not just talk at them. This was a good blog in my opinion and I look forward to reading more from Mrs. Hines.

Click Here to go to Kelly Hines blog.

A Vision of Students Today

I thought that this was a very good video. The beginning of the video with the writing on the walls and desk was amazing. The papers that the students were holding up almost matched what we have talked about in class with Dr. Strange. I also thought that it was very cool how he obtained the information through google docs by collaborating with 200 students. The amount of feedback that he got by doing it this was was amazing. I do not think you could have gotten so much information that easily by doing it any other ways.
The way that the video was set up made the information that much better. The dramatic affect that I think that he was going for in the video was accomplished very well in my opinion. The music selection was also excellent. This was a great video in my opinion that really co-related to what we have been talking about in class.

Click Here to go to this video.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom

I am very glad that I watched this video. Since we have started talking about podcast in class and I began exploring them I thought that this would be a wonderful tool to utilize in my classroom. One of the problems with that is that I was not sure how I was going to do this. After watching this video I have many new ideas on how to use podcast in my classroom.
The video was also set up very well. It must have taken a good bit of time to accomplish. I like how he got feed back and help from other teachers as well as getting some of his students opinions. Over all this was a very good video in my opinion.

Click Here to go to this site.

EDM310 Podcast

I thought that the information and the dialogue in the podcast was great. I did think that they could have done it with a little more enthusiasm though. It was a kind of monotone presentation.
I did learn a lot though from the video though on what to expect in my own podcast. I have never done a podcast before and this kind of broke the ice for me just being able to watch what they were doing. Over all I found the video to be a great resource for preparing for my own podcast.

Click Here to go to the EDM 310 Podcast

iTunes Podcast

It took me awhile to get adapted to the iTunes setup. I've been using Microsoft Zune program for a couple of years and have never used iTunes. After I broke the learning curve it was easy to navigate. iTunes offers a lot more podcast and learning materials.

I enjoyed listening to some of the podcast. Some were really good but some of them were rather boring and hard to listen to. The smartboard lessons podcast was one that I did not really care for. The podcast did not seem to be very structured and was hard to listen to. I did not make it very far into the podcast before I went to another.

One of the podcast that I did find interesting was the kidcast podcast. He compared the pro's and con's to video and audio podcast. I thought that this was helpful since we are going to be doing this in the class this year.

Did You Know 4.0

I thought this was a interesting video. It showed a lot of facts on the rapid changes in technology that Dr. Strange has been talking about in class. I can believe that the average teen send 2,272 text a month because my little brother sends about 9,000 a month. Another thing that I found interesting is that 95% of all songs downloaded are not payed for. This makes me wonder why I am paying for mine. Over all I liked the video. I did think that the video moved a little to fast making it harder to read.

Comments4Kids

I enjoyed this assignment. Being able to read and comment on students work that are half way around the world was very cool. I am sure that they also enjoy having people comment on their blogs as well. The kids that I read seemed to be very smart and most of their blogs were very well written. I look forward to doing this again.

Video in the Classroom Intro

I thought the video was interesting. Mr. Needleman seems to be a very innovative teacher. I am sure that the children enjoy his classes and do not realize that they are learning as well.