After attending the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference this past December, my interest and intrigue in learning about the different technology tools increased dramatically. Even though I would call myself somewhat “technologically literate”, I have by no means kept up with the changing times and the new emerging Web 2.0 tools. I couldn’t believe how much was out there. I got excited about what all of the new information would mean for my classroom, but I didn’t know where to begin. With so much information and different tools available, I soon found myself lost in the land of Web 2.0 insanity. I had to stop, take a step back and begin to think about what my objective was for a particular lesson and from there, decide what was the best avenue for helping students achieve that objective. Once I focused my ideas, it became a bit easier to find the right tool for the job.
I decided to start with blogging. One of my educational objectives was to increase student writing in my classroom. I thought a blog would be a good avenue for this task and easy for me to measure student progress. Having said that, do you know how many blogging tools are out there? Yikes! I found myself setting up account after account with every blogging site I could find only to find that they didn’t quite do what I wanted to. Finally, I settled on ClassChatterLive and am now in the process of looking into 21Classes. See… it never ends!
I decided to start with blogging. One of my educational objectives was to increase student writing in my classroom. I thought a blog would be a good avenue for this task and easy for me to measure student progress. Having said that, do you know how many blogging tools are out there? Yikes! I found myself setting up account after account with every blogging site I could find only to find that they didn’t quite do what I wanted to. Finally, I settled on ClassChatterLive and am now in the process of looking into 21Classes. See… it never ends!
Amy, I began my technological journey when the mainframes were about 7' high 2 feet wide. My first job was as a computer operator for the 2nd only completely automated system in the world. The other one was in Russia. This was the late '70's. When I had questions I would ask the system's analyst - if there are different sides of the brain, then I definitely had not accessed the same side this person was using. His explanations were unclear to the point where I could not gather enough information to ask a question for clarification. I was frustrated and felt "unable to complete the task successfully."
ReplyDeleteLast fall, 2009, I had an assignment to create a technological resource for students k-12 using 3 forms of technology. No problem, I thought, I'll just go to Dartmouth's creativity lab (Jones Media Center) and get the help I need. After approximately 12 hours of 3 different people "showing" me what to do, I felt exactly the same way I did when I spoke to the system's analyst.
My point is that many people who love this technology are limited to what they love and are unable to properly "pass along" the ability to use it. I think, for those of us who do not use technology as a career, we need to be selective. Explore, it sounds as if you did, and become familiar with what feels comfortable for you so you can effectively pass it along and others can feel successful.
My impression and hope is that Kim is like this too. Experienced, but not consumed by technology. I theorize another aspect is the time someone has to commit to all of the communication technology web 2.0 offers.
Long post - but I really wanted to respond - as you can tell
Amy - What I can offer you through this course are many new ideas and thoughts of how incorporating technology into your classroom can only enhance already existing or new projects you may have or want to try. It is not the technology that is the end all be all as some may think, it is just the tool to get you to where you are trying to go, but with some pizazz!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is so easy to become overwhelmed with the options and the blogs of others, and the millions and millions of links out there that are what the internet is made up of, just for us to get lost in for hours and hours! I am guilty of such! But, I have learned, as I hope you all do, is to limit yourself to a few things and get really good at those things! I love you are already linking in your posts and I really look forward to your ideas and thoughts as we move forward. I love the Christa conference. I wonder if we met, as I was working the share-a-thon area one day last year. Actually for two years now.
As for the comment that Marilyn made above, "My point is that many people who love this technology are limited to what they love and are unable to properly "pass along" the ability to use it. I think, for those of us who do not use technology as a career, we need to be selective." I love your thoughts here. It is true, some are very narrow minded when it comes to technology and focus on what they know or really like. I hope I can provide a place for you to show you all that is out there and for you to be able to choose what is right for you. That is my hope for this course!
Amy, I agree that there are so many options out there and it is hard to know where to begin. It's great that you chose blogging as a starting point. We could spend all of our time browsing through the multitude of possibilities and never actually integrate anything into our classes. I had the same issue trying to figure out which platform I wanted to use to have a class online forum. I knew that if it wasn't user friendly for me than it wouldn't work for my students. Last winter I settled on Ning and it worked pretty well. After teaching my juniors and seniors how to use it they had fun with it while being able to contribute to class readings in a new way.
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ReplyDeleteAmy I love your blog! I also agree with you and Kristen it can be very overwhelming to sort through so much information! I have been trying to focus on one core subject at a time to integrate that way I can make sure I am not just finding great resources but actually using them in the classroom. I also think it's very neat you have your students blog! My class is familiar with using a wiki and that my mode of communication with parents but I think it would be great to get them to start blogging and instead of having "me" communicate it could be "the whole class".
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