Tuesday, April 7, 2009

April 7 Lecture

Tonight was the final lecture of this course. It was interesting to hear about my classmates' technological journeys. All of their digital projects sound interesting and I look forward to seeing them in the future. Finding time to dedicate to exploring technology seemed to be a common issue amongst us. I know that I have only started to discover the amazing things I can accomplish with technology. I enjoyed this class more than any other taken during our Masters program and my only regret is that it was not offered earlier. I have learned to use so many on-line tools that will help me be a more engaging and effective instructor and individual. It has been a slice. Good luck to everyone as they finish up their Masters.

My Digital Project

Here is the link to my digital project: http://gradefivenutrition.wikispaces.com/.

I designed a wiki for my grade five health unit about nutrition. This wiki includes course assessments, assignments, homework, a participant directory, student games and resources, and teacher resources. Since I am currently on maternity leave this is a "mock"course wiki that I plan to use when I return to teaching next year.

I have highlighted some of my successes and failures while designing this wiki in previous blog entries (specifically those titled My Adventures in Technology).

I had no previous experience designing a wiki so every item I added to it symbolized new learning. I learned how to design a variety of pages and add links to other pages on the wiki or to outside websites. I learned how to post pictures and format text.

I posted an assessment table on the wiki so that students and their parents could see how the marks were allotted. I reviewed a paper copy of a nutrition unit that I had previously taught and found ways that I could incorporate technology into my lessons. I posted two assignments that students could complete using on-line resources and then they could document their knowledge on their personal blogs. I made a demo blog to demonstrate how to complete the assignments. I posted some examples of homework that students were asked to complete. I also made a sample directory were students could write a mini-biography about themselves. I researched on-line to find student and teacher resources that I could link to my wiki. I learned about the Discovery Education website that had a wealth of information that I will use across all subject areas.
The wiki will be an excellent addition to my nutrition unit because it gives the students opportunity to use technology and it allows them and their parents to access course information on-line.

There were several road blocks I encountered while completing this wiki. My inexperience using a wiki, and with technology in general, made the process of designing it a long one. I made many mistakes along the way but I persevered and figured out how to accomplish what I had set out to do. I spent many hours designing a fairly simplistic wiki. My wiki is not sophisticated, but nevertheless, it is an accomplishment that I am proud of.

Overall designing this wiki was a positive experience. I learned a new skill that will make my instruction more effective. The on-line tool wikispaces is very user friendly and I will design more course wikis in the future.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

This class is quickly coming to a close and as I am doing the final edits on my blog and wiki it is clear how much I have learned. The acquisition of this knowledge can be attributed to both spending time exploring sites on my own and the help from the on-line community that I now belong to. In the middle of this class I felt that I was not making the connections with my classmates that I hoped. As I have recently had more time to dedicate to this class, and spent more time reading and commenting on classmates' blogs, I am feeling the sense of community that I had been searching for.

I have explored so may new web tools that I will use in my classroom. There are still so many I want to explore such as Google Docs, Flickr and Wordle. The beauty of this type of learning is that I can continue exploring technology in the future. After completing my digital project I now have an on-line unit that I can use in my health class. Wikispaces is so easy to use that I will continue to design units using it.

I believe that incorporating technology will be of utmost importance in engaging students now and in years to come. This class has been one of the best of my masters program. The knowledge I have acquired has helped me on both a professional and personal level. I no longer consider myself technologically illiterate.

***All of the entries titled "My Adventures in Technology" are where I documented how I developed personal learning environments and networks during this course. ***

April 5 - Media Part 2

I had the opportunity to watch Larry Lessig's video How Creativity is Being Stifled by the Law on TED. Here is the link to the video: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.htmlBoth Trevor and Todd had great blog postings about it so I decided that it would be worth watching. Lessig is a very entertaining and passionate lecturer. I like how he described that we have come full circle back to the read-write society of long ago because of the capabilities of modern technology. The remixed videos he showed of Jesus and George Bush were hilarious. They showed how everything old can be new again, and even better than the first time. He made an excellent point at the end of the video when he talked about how different we are than today's kids all because they have access to so much more technology than we did growing up. He talked about how we made mixed tapes while they remix music. We watched television while they make television. Modern technology is not going anywhere so by having strict copyright laws we are not going to discourage kids from using copyrighted information, they are just going to go underground with it.

April 5 - Media Part 1

I watched The Essay on YouTube. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx2Slxp0TkM . It was a Nokia advertisement that Dr. Couros included on the media page of our wikispace site. It was about a little girl from the past writing an essay about the future. She writes about the capabilities of a cell phone similar to one we would use today. Everyone, from her classmates to psychiatrists, thinks she is crazy. 100 years ago no one could have imagined the technology we currently use so it is impossible for us to imagine the technology we will have 100 years from now. We need to incorporate modern day technology into our classroom so we can prepare our students for the technology of the future.

P.S. I tried to view Did You Know 2.0 and found that the video was no longer available to watch on YouTube.

My Adventures in Technology - del.icio.us

I have mixed feelings about del.icio.us. I had no problem signing up to this site. I became confused when I tried to download my bookmarks. I eventually decided to skip this step and went on to searching other people's bookmarks. I was amazed at how much information I could find on each topic I searched. I looked for information on Flip Video cameras, nutrition, and post-modernism in education. I found a massive amount of information on each of these topics. I will use the sight in the future and will hopefully discover how to share my own sites with others. Here is a link to del.icio.us:https://secure.delicious.com/login?v=5&jump=http%3A%2F%2Fdelicious.com%2Fsave%3Ftitle%3D%26notes%3D%26tags%3D%26noui%3Dno%26share%3Dyes%26time%3D1238957630 .

P.S. This is the second time I have signed up for del.icio.us but this time I have a greater understanding of its capability so I am more likely to continue using it.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

My Adventures in Technology - Picnik


I had the opportunity to try out the photo editing program Picnik. My first attempt to make a photo collage was unsuccessful, when I saved it to my computer the pictures were completely black. I decided to edit a single image and had more success. The image I designed is included with this blog. I was very impressed with the amount of effects you could apply to a picture for free. You had the option of buying a subscription and getting additional effects. I also liked that you did not have to register to use Picnik, although you could if you wanted to store your photo on their page. I have used the photo program Picasa but I think I like Picnik better. Here is a link to Picnik: http://www.picnik.com/.

My Adventures in Technology - Skype

I had the opportunity to check out Skype last night. I downloaded it with little trouble. I tested out my sound by adding the "demo girl" to my list and having a practice phone call with her. The only trouble I had was finding contacts. There was a place that you could check if any of your email contacts were on Skype but it did not have the capability to check hotmail or gmail, which are my only two email accounts. I could not think of anyone I knew on Skype so I did not check for anyone in the directory. My only contact is "demo girl". I am glad that I signed up because in the future I may find some contacts and I think it will be an awesome way to communicate with them.

Here is a link to Skype: http://www.skype.com/.

P.S. My husband and I were talking about Skype and thinking how awesome it would have been if it was around when I interned in England and he stayed in Canada. It would have saved us a lot of money.

Friday, April 3, 2009

My Adventures in Technology - Flip Video Camera

My friend just purchased a Flip Video Camera which we decided to try out today. We made a few short videos of our kids and then downloaded them to her computer. I was very impressed with how easy it was to use. The camera had very few buttons and the USB connection was built right into it. I am considering getting one for personal use and I will be recommending that my school purchase a few for use in the classroom. I think they could be a very cool educational tool and I know many schools are currently using them.

P.S. My friend also recommended that I watch Dr. Randy Pausch's video called Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. It was very powerful and if you have time it is worth watching. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo .

Thursday, April 2, 2009

My Adventures in Technology - Animoto

I read about Animoto on Kim's blog. I love it. I downloaded 5 images (2 of my own and 3 from the site) and a song. The site was very user friendly although it took a long time to finaluze the video (probably because I have highspeed light). Even though it is a really simple video it is great. I will definitely try to make a more sophisticated one in the future. I may even make a video for my final presentation using this tool. Here is a link to my video: http://animoto.com/play/XjTTqw4JbIjIXGAf5b1H7g. Here is a link to the Animoto: http://animoto.com/

My Adventures in Technology - United Streaming

I signed up for United Streaming (Discovery Education). It looks like an amazing site. It has great videos that will be awesome to show my students on my SMARTBoard. I tried to link some videos to my wiki under my teacher resources section but I was not successful. My link kept going to the sign in page. My husband claims that he has linked videos to his wiki so who knows? I tried to find some resources today on the sight and was again unsuccessful because they were experiencing an unexpected error. I will try again later. Here is the link to United Streaming: http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

My Adventures in Technology - Moodle

I was just exploring the Moodle website and I really do not get what it is. I signed up as a guest which allowed me to explore the tool without signing up. Does a person use Moodle so they can design an online course or is it so they can access lessons and units that other people have designed or both? I searched for different courses in the search bar and really could not find anything. I only spent 15 minutes on the site because I found it too confusing. Here is the link to Moodle: http://moodle.org/ .

March 31 Lecture

Dr. Couros showed us many interesting websites last night. I will definitely have to check some of them out. The Post Secret sight interested me - I am a terrible snoop. The YouTube video where all of the individual musicians were synced together to make music was also very cool. The surveys that showed how connected to technology a group of students were was interesting. We talked about the importance of incorporating that connectivity into schools so we do not lose students. During this lecture it struck me, as it has repeatedly during the course of this class, that we as educators have to incorporate the use of technology in schools or these institutions are going to become obsolete. My "old" way of teaching needs to change to incorporate a "new" way that engages modern learners.

P.S. I checked out Post Secret. It is quite entertaining and suprisingly artistic. I signed up to follow the site on Twitter so I should never miss a secret again ;). Here is the link to Post Secret: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

These past few days I have been focusing on improving my blog and course wiki. I have been adding pictures and links. This has been much easier than I had anticipated. Today I also listened to my first podcast - The EdTech Posse 5.3 from Winston's Pub. I really enjoyed it. It was as if I was sitting right there at the table listening to the conversation. (It probably helps that I have been to Winston's a time or two so it was easy to imagine the setting). I learned a lot so I will likely listen to more podcasts in the future.

P.S. I cannot wait to have an excuse and a little time to try out Skype.

Monday, March 30, 2009

March 30 - Media

I watched the TeacherTube video Pay Attention. Here is the link:
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=40c570a322f1b0b65909 .
This video really had an impact on me. Students are growing up in a different world than I did. I am 28 years old and like to consider myself "current", but in many ways I am not. I have previously thought that the way I learned was the "right" way. It now seems apparent that some of those ways need to be discarded if I truly want to engage students. Technology is here to stay and nothing I do in my classroom is going to change that. If I do not want to be left behind I will have to embrace technology.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

March 29 - Media

I just watched the video The Machine is Us/ing Us http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g. In the first scene someone is writing and erasing with a paper and pencil. They are trying to edit their writing and re-arrange words. I could not help but think they should be using a computer. Then I started thinking of how often I have students write out assignments by hand. The inefficiency of it struck me at that moment. Unfortunately a computer is not available for every student at all times but in the future I believe it will be. The video went on to show that a computer is so much more than just a word processor. The Internet is more than just a research tool. Technology links us together as citizens of the world. By collaborating on-line we will redefine the world. This is web 2.0.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

I continue to have a love hate relationship with technology. I am learning more about Twitter. My husband set up Tweetdeck on my computer which is neat. It really helps manage my Twitter account. When I was on Twitter Alec emailed a u-stream video link and I got to watch his experience at Chuck E. Cheese which was very funny. I continued to work on my digital project using Wikispaces. It really went well yesterday, but today I ran into a few problems. I somehow started redirecting pages and ended up losing some information and had to delete some pages. Then I started accidentally combining links. After some time I solved my problem by redoing some work. I know all of these problems are operator errors but they still frustrate me.

P.S. Tweetdeck is like an intercom system in our house. My husband works on his paper downstairs while I work on mine upstairs. If we need to talk while we are working we just Twitter back and forth.

P.P.S. I helped my husband set up his wiki and was amazed that he was teaching me things about the program only minutes later. He showed me how to customize the text and link videos.

March 28 - Twitter Video

I was reading my husband's blog and watched an excellent video about Twitter he had found on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w. It is called Twouble with Twitters. It is hilarious and right on the money when it describes people's addiction to social networking sights like Twitter (or Facebook). Some people are obsessed with having people know what they are doing at all times via status updating. These sights seem to bring out people's exhibitionist side. I thought it was funny when Craig, the character in the video, stated that he did not care what other people were doing he just wanted everyone else to know what he was doing. In my case I am also curious about what other people are doing, although I really cannot explain why. Perhaps I am a lurker after all. For the most part, the people on my social networking accounts are not really close friends, rather they are just acquaintances. How trivial I have made these sites. Oh well, as the video shows, I am definitely not alone.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

I am currently working on my digital project, which is developing a course wiki for the grade 5 health unit nutrition. Wikispaces is a fairly user friendly sight. I find it easy to edit and I have successfully incorporated many links to my page. What I appreciate most about this project is that I am actually going to use it in my classroom. Many times throughout this Masters course I have found projects interesting but wondered how I would incorporate them into my teaching. I really believe that my students are going to enjoy this wiki. Using it will also help me incorporate technology into my unit in a meaningful way. I am going to get the students to develop their own blogs to complete a variety of assignments. Here is a link to my wiki http://gradefivenutrition.wikispaces.com/. Keep in mind it is a work in progress.

March 24 Lecture

We watched the EdTech Talk program Women and Web 2.0. Frankly, it made me appreciate our weekly sessions with Dr. Couros. To begin with it took me over ten minutes to get sound. Once we could hear the discussion the amount of information that was presented was overwhelming. There were so many links popping up that after one or two we decided to give up on following them and just listen to the dialogue. The main speaker Jackie Gerstein seemed quite arrogant and I found her "expertise" in every area a little irritating. I appreciate that I learned about a new way of Internet communication but I prefer our Tuesday Illuminate sessions.

Monday, March 23, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

I have began my digital project. I am just setting up my Wikispace page. Here is a link to Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com. The tutorials on the help page have been very useful. I have been experimenting with color and design - look and feel- of the page. Right now it is a hideous shade of pink and purple. I will have to change that. I also successfully uploaded a picture (the trick was having it in jpeg. format). I have invited a few individuals to be members of my wiki. What I am really struggling with is what content to put in it. Right now my page contains only one line of text. I will have to work on that.

I have been looking around to see the way technology impacts our lives. I was at a restaurant in Saskatoon this week and I noticed someone at another table showing pictures of her trip to a friend. Instead of flipping through pictures in a photo album she was clicking through images on her laptop. Times are changing.

March 17 Lecture

I really enjoyed this particular class. I liked the fact that it was closed. I felt more comfortable speaking to the group and participating in the discussion. I was also relieved that others are experiencing many of the same issues that I am pertaining to this class. The lack of time seems to be a problem for everyone. I always feel that my time management skills are inadequate. I feel guilty taking too much time on homework because it means I am away from my two young children. I feel guilty when I am spending time on everyday tasks and not able to dedicate enough time to completing my Masters homework. There never seems to be enough hours in a day to accomplish what I hope to.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

My Adventures in Technology - Twitter Part 2

I have finally had time to explore Twitter further. It amazes me that some people, like Dr. Couros, are following over 1000 people (or groups). How can a person keep up with that many entities? It is even more amazing that over 2000 people are following him. Is there a point where technology becomes unmanageable? I only have a few people following me... I guess I am not that interesting... so this won't be a problem for me anytime in the future :).

P.S. My repeated attempts to download a picture on Twitter were a failure. I am not really sure why??

P.P.S. I successfully downloaded a picture to Twitter.

March 10 Lecture

Unfortunately, I have lost the notes I made on our last lecture. (I blame my husband). There is one topic that Mr. Richardson discussed that stuck with me. Someone asked him a question about what makes a good blog. He responded that a good blogger will invite responses from others. An entry that makes people think will likely have multiple comments beneath it. Judging by the few comments my blog entries elicit I think my blogging skills could improve.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

March 3 Lecture

I enjoyed hearing from previous students of this class and also from fellow classmates about the impact of on-line education in their lives. I am enjoying this course and have learned to use many new on-line tools while participating in it. I am not sure if I feel the strong sense of on-line community that some of them have expressed. I need to make more of an effort in this area.

My Adventures in Technology- Twitter

My husband signed up for Twitter and seeing as I did not want to be left in his technological dust I decided to join too. It really reminds me of Facebook status updates, which I check multiple times a day, except that you can get tweets from celebrities. This could be addictive for a person such as myself who loves celebrity gossip. Will more of my day be wasted away on the computer?

Here is the link for Twitter: http://twitter.com/.

P.S. I also finally learned what phishing means. There was an article about it in the S'toon Star Phoenix, complete with a definition. I can feel my tech I.Q. rising.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

March 1 - Technology in Popular Culture

I was reading through an issue of US Weekly and was amazed at how celebrity worship is driven by technology. (I am embarrassed to admit that celebrity worship is one of my hobbies.) In this magazine you can text to say which star's outfit you like the most, check out more stories online, subscribe to celebrity Twitters, and see how a celebrity responded to the 25 things you may not know about me Facebook survey. In the world of celebrity technology is obviously of utmost importance, it is how they advertise themselves.

February 24 - The Amazing Barack Obama

I was very impressed that Dr. Couros let us use the last part of Tuesday night's class to watch Obama's address to the senate. The President is an amazing speaker. His message was hopeful yet sensible, America can get out of the recession by working hard. He is truly a man of all people. I appreciated when he commended the CEO of a major corporation for sharing his bonus with all of his employees and also recognized a young girl from an inner-city school for writing a letter asking for help. He represents the weakest and mightiest American citizen. This man is going to change the world. WOW!



Monday, February 16, 2009

February 10 Lecture

I found Tuesday's lecture one of the most interesting we have had thus far. The problems we face as modern educators are much different than those that were faced by teachers of previous generations. Internet has changed everything. The Internet is an invaluable resource for classroom research but there is definitely a more sinister side to it for those who seek it out.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Back From The Dead

It has been some time since I have posted. I am finally learning to function in the sleep deprived state that accompanies having a newborn in the house. Miller Gregory Gerwing was born on Tuesday Feb. 3rd at 9:00 am. He was 9 lbs and 2 oz and is a beautiful, healthy baby boy. We also have a jealous big brother, Dawson, at home. He is two and a half. I have been finding it hard to concentrate on school work, but the more sleep I get the more motivated I am becoming. One thing I have appreciated during this time is Facebook. It is amazing how many people wished us well during this time. It was also cool to be able to post pictures and have everyone see the new addition to our family. E-mail was another way people extended their well wishes. I really felt connected to my extended on-line community.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

January 27 Lecture

Last night's lecture was more my speed. I find Dr. Couros easier to understand than the speaker who lectured last week. I did find the amount of information provided was a bit overwhelming. In regard to technology I really do feel like the spoiled child at Christmas who has received a truckload of gifts. It is hard to really appreciate everything or even know where to start. I was particularly interested in the photo programs Dr. Couros mentioned because I am obsessed with taking photos of my kids. I am interested in trying out Picnik. I really do value the social networking aspects of technology. I am a Facebook addict and love how easy it is to keep up with the lives of friends and family by using this tool.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

I am quite impressed with myself for making a video using a webcam, making it into a video on Movie Maker, and then downloading it onto YouTube. It is amazing what I am now capable of doing. I had a really hard time getting a decent video on my webcam. The lighting was terrible and the image staring back at me is the scariest version of myself I have ever seen. I had a little trouble with Movie Maker but I found YouTube to be really user friendly. Seeing my video on YouTube would have been more satisfying if I did not look like I had a mental affliction. I did not know I could look that ridiculous. I hope that very few people ever view it. Here is the link to my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imSLycMmbWo .

Friday, January 23, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

I have successfully subscribed to Google Reader and am fairly impressed with it thus far. It is an efficient way to keep up with the blogs of others. I have posted comments on a few pages and hopefully they have all recorded. I am sure the ones I left on blogspot did but am not as familiar with the workings of wordpress. I am still procrastinating on the YouTube video. I am quite vain and being nine months pregnant with a nose that looks like it belongs to Rudolph (I have a cold) is not inspiring me to get behind a camera and post my video on an international site.

January 20 Lecture

I agree that technology is an amazing tool that can connect citizens of the world. To think that I am participating in an on-line course is something that I would have thought impossible ten years ago. I did enjoy the lecture but found some of it hard to follow. I do not speak techie and when people start using techno lingo I am often left in the dark. Hopefully this course helps me understand some of those basic terms that those who are more computer savvy than myself so casually throw around.

Monday, January 19, 2009

My Adventures in Technology

As I may have mentioned before I am a techno-novice so starting the introductory activity has been a challenge. Thank goodness for the tutorial video. After watching it 5 times I was able to complete most of the task. Now I have enough wiki skill that I can teach my husband, and fellow classmate, how to complete the activity. Knowing more about technology than someone else is a new feeling for me and quite empowering. I am now ready to tackle embedding my video on YouTube.

***All of my entries titled "My Adventures in Technology" are where I documented how I developed personal learning environments and networks during this course.***

January 13 Lecture

The lecture we had on January 13 was entertaining. I realized how fortunate we are to have modern technology in our classroom. We no longer have to rely on "old school" practices. I do on occasion use an overhead projector in my classroom but have not even heard of most of the other technologies discussed and demonstrated by the speakers. New technology can be overwhelming but it is so much quicker and more effective than the old. The creation of the Internet has been monumental in distributing teaching materials to classrooms all over the world. The quantity of information that is now available to educators is impressive.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Where I Am At...Where I Hope To Go

I find technology amazing yet frustrating. I am always excited to try the "latest" technology but using it does not come naturally to me. I try to incorporate technology into my lessons whenever possible. I was fortunate enough to be given a SMARTBoard in my classroom and have found that even though I have a limited understanding of it, it is my most engaging teaching tool.

In this course I hope to learn more ways to incorporate technology in my classroom. I am excited to call on my peers and instructor for expertise that will help me become more technologically literate. I believe that the use of technology is of the utmost importance in my classroom and am always open to learning strategies to help my students advance in this area.