Thing 23

I've enjoyed this class, as it has opened my eyes to the impact of technology on education. Information comes at such a rapid speed, it is impossible to find and catalog information in hard copy. The Internet is a quick and convenient way to find information. I remember my college days, and all of the hours I spent at the library, away from home. Now, I can do research at the tip of my fingers! I have also enjoyed the entertainment that the new technologies have offered. I find myself far ahead of my same-age peers in this realm, simply because I am a life-time learner. In the future I want to be able to understand how my grandchildren are learning. I don't want to be out of the loop, so to speak. I have enjoyed using my bloglines account to keep current on many issues. I plan on continuing this. Twitter seems to be the main topic for conversation. People frequently ask me if I twitter. I now can proudly say yes. I have even twittered with one of my students who is on the robotics team. He keeps me up-to-date on all that is happening at the state and national level. I have used flickr, cooltext; and other image generators to liven up my documents and blackboard account. Even though I felt very insecure in attempting all of these "Things", as it placed me out of my comfort zone, I now feel more confident in tackling the new technologies. I have surpassed my personal goal of being intimated by technology!

Thing 22

Thing 22: Easy Thing to do. Interesting. I've created an account, and looked for audio and ebooks. I found what I was looking for this time, which were books for school. I would use this sight to help students who have difficulty reading or are vision impaired share in our assignments. I have many students who struggle with reading, and if they could hear the book, while reading along, they would get more information and understanding of the text. This would also be a way to motivate students to connect with books on a regular basis. I too plan to use it for leisure, as my eyesight continues to worsen, I needn't worry that I'll loose my ability to connect with the written text. I so do enjoy reading! I can even listen to book while on my daily walk!

Thing 20

At 9:03pm on May 3, 2009, B. Jan Scherer said…
Thing 20: I've used this video in my U.S.Hisotry class when we were discussing how American changed after WWII. My students really liked these. We then compared them to how comercials are shown today. Us the following URL to view. Have fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jFRShOZP_w

Thing 21

Here's a good podcast on podcasting. Try it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c I'd show this to my students inorder for them to create a project.

Thing 19

I liked this "Thing" to do. I've discovered sites that my students can enter into to find out about the topic I want to teach them. For this exercise, I decided to focus on learning strategies. I have found 4 good sites to access for my own reference, and sites students can go to in order for them to help themselves. These sites are newhorizons.org; dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success; studygs.net and educationatlas.com/study-skills.html
I plan to use these next year in my Learning Strategies classes. I feel the more on-line learning my students can do, the more they will be actively involved with their own learning.

Thing 18

Thing 18: I really like this on-line word processor. It is available from any site on any computer. It is another venue for students to use to create documents. I have already encouraged my students to try it!

Did check out the Sandbox 2.0, but I don't see how I would ever use this for the classroom. I'd like to use it for personal use, but couldn't add comments as I didn't have access to it. Sandbox was siilar to walking into a library and looking for references in hard copy, but was much quicker....