Good Bye!

This class was..... an experience to say the least. Some may regard it as a bad experience, some as a good experience, or some people may be indifferent. Regardless of where you stand on the subject, I hope everyone did well in this course and I hope to see you all in a class room soon!

"Take it easy"..... and I'll see ya next time.

Final Blog Assignment

In EDM 310 I have learned how about so many new things, inlcuding:

Blogs- At first I did not even want to create a blog, but after doing so and seeing what blogging with other educators had to offer I enjoyed it. Creating and using a blog turned out to be simpler than I had imagined. Blogger is very user friendly and I have enjoyed using it and plan to use it more in the future.

Google Docs- Is amazing!! I would advise all college professors to use google docs the way Dr. Strange does. It allows me to be more organized with my assignments and I'm sure it is much easier on the instructor to send out an assignment, which he can update at anytime, to all of his or her students.

PLN's- PLN's can be very useful. I've developed tons of ideas and learned a lot from the teacher's blogs I was assigned to. I plan on keeping in touch with those educators and possibly creating my own class blog when I become a teacher.

Google Earth- Google Earth was so much fun! I think it would be very helpful for a geography or history teacher. I would like to work on incorporating it into an English class some how. Possibly use it to show where particular authors are form?

iTunesU- iTunesU is where college professors record and post podcasts of lectures for their students. This would be a very useful tool for me, if all my teachers would participate in it. There were issues with some college's where students wouldn't attend class and would just listen to the free podcast. These are tools to help you with your studies, not an excuse to skip class! I think that once students realize this and don't abuse the privilege, more college's will get on board with iTunesU.

YouTube- I knew how to use Youtube and even have an account of my own, but I just thought Youtube was used for fun and entertainment purposes. I was surprised to find out, through this class, how much educational information is on youtube.

Audacity- I had a lot of fun using Audacity. I had never used it or even heard of it before. Our first project with audacity actually took back seat to all the fun I was having mixing songs and stuff. I downloaded it specifically for that project, but once I started figuring out how to use it I found it hard to stop doing fun things with it and actually do my project. I got it done though...

We covered much more material than I listed above, but these are the things I actually did not know too much about before this class. Everything else we did I either already knew about or were familiar with it.

Honestly, I did not know what to expect from EDM 310. I had no hopes of what to learn or what not to learn because I was not aware of what the class might of had to offer. There is nothing this class has taught me that I wish to forget. Before entering this class I was neither excited or sceptical about any aspects of the class. I can say that when the class got rolling, and we were introduced to the types of materials we would be working with and the assignments we would be doing, I was very excited. I had never had a class like this one before. It was a great experience for me as a student and as a future educator.


At times I was bored with the weekly blog and comment assignments. If I were to change anything in this class it would be those assignments. I felt that after a month in the class I had proved that I knew how to blog and comment appropriately. I think I would have learned more and had more fun if we would have done those assignments only ever other week and spent more time on all the useful tools we experimenting with and using to do projects.

I would have liked to go more in depth with actually using the technology we were learning about vs. blogging about using the technology in a class room. I can't argue that talking about the use of technology in the class room is not important, but I believe that it would have been more beneficial to do more work using the tools rather than discussing them. Non the less, the class was very helpful and I enjoyed it.

I thought I was technology literate before this class. I was correct, to some extent. Yes, I knew how to use technology and could easily learn how to use new tools. What I did not know was the potential use of technology in the class room. I think that now I am even more technologically literate than before. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would have to say my technological literacy is an 8 or 9. Everyone can always learn something new at anytime or improve on what they already know.

I plan on maintaning my technolocial literacy by using what I've learned to benifit my school work in the future. I've learned so many useful tools I can use for research, presentations and things of that nature.

Substantive Presentation

Week 15

A 7th Graders PLE (or PLN)


This 7th grader seems a lot more organized than most of the students in our class. The things she is doing also seem more interesting. Grant it, this was for a science class, which (in my opinion) has a broader variety of topics than some classes. I think the tool she was using was called "symbaloo". I'm not 100% sure, I could only see half of the S in the word symbaloo because the video was cut on either side. Maybe it was just the program she used for her class that made it seem so organized and interesting.

Although I'm new to this, I believe I'm pretty well organized. I'm sure I could improve somewhere, but everyone should say the same thing. I agree that using the internet is much more organized and presentable than any paper work done in class. It's also great that students are free to explore any sources on the internet. This girl emails and even skypes scientists to get answers to her questions. That's taking research for projects to a whole new level.

Two Questions That Could Change Your Life- Daniel Pink

What is my sentence? I've never thought about my life in that way. The strange thing is, is that even tho that is a lot simpler than I ever thought it to be, it actually makes a lot of since. Maybe I've just been over analyzing things and not breaking it all down to simpler form. I've never asked myself if I was better today than yesterday either. When I figure out what I want my sentence to be I will let my readers know.

Week 14

Blog assignment 14/project 8: Teaching Someone Using Technology

I've decided to combine the two because they are both relative to each other.

When I become a teacher I would like to experiment on what I mentioned in my post about Dr. Alice Christie. VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS!!! I would like to allow my students to get the most out of their field trips. I would like to have an end of the semester (or end of school year, which ever applies) project where my students would give a presentation of a field trip, or trips, and show what they learned.

Throughout the year I would have my students learn how to use a video camera, make short tutorial videos, use audio recorders, use digital cameras, upload videos and photos, and create small sample presentations to prepare them for the final project. I would grade them on participation only, until they do their final project. They would have the option of doing either a video project or a presentation (possibly using google docs) with pictures and audio. Audacity would probably be my audio recorder of choice for this project.

A good example I thought of is to have a few students collaborate on a presentation for....a field trip to the zoo. Have them take pictures of whatever animals they desire (minimum of about 10 animals) and describe; the environment the animal lives in, the types of foods they eat, life span, whether the animals discussed are social or non-social creatures, any interesting adaptations... Things of that sort. I will have only a basic foundation for what they should talk about, but encourage creativity.

I think it would be awsome to see a group of kids do this and take turns recording the audio to go along with their presentation and maybe add in some animal sounds in the audio to match which animal they are discussing at the time. The projects that are the best, I could use the follow year as a learning tool for new students. Show them the possible types of field trips we could take and the possibilities and examples of what they could do for their virtual field trip.

Google Earth Project

Trip to get my Civic

Start: Pascagoula, Mississippi
Drive to Gulfport, Mississippi
Fly from Gulfport to Atlanta, Georgia
Fly from Atlanta to Tampa, Florida
Drive from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Florida
Meet with Mike, make sure my car runs good and all work is complete.
Drive from St. Petersburg to Mobile, Alamaba to rest
Then continue back home to Pascagoula, Mississippi
where the trip ends.

Comments for Teachers Week 13 and 14

Lisa Thumann: What My Droid Does-Part 5
Everyone should check this out! And maybe someone could make a charitable donation to the "help Matt get a new phone fund". HA!

Here is my comment to Lisa's post:

I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.

Great pitch! Im very interested in all the new cell phone technology, but since I am on what I like to call “the broke college student budget”, I try my best not to look into it too much because I would only upset myself. I am stuck with the average phone and basic utilities. I was assigned to comment on a few of your post for my class and when I saw this one I said, “oooo!”. The technology these new phones are coming out with is wonderful! Cell phones are becoming so useful and technilogically advanced that I think one day desk top computer will become obsolete, much like the vcr, and you won’t be able to find one even in Wal-Mart. Well, it was nice day dreaming about a new phone, but its back to the real world for me.


Also check out: Major updates to Google Doc's by Lisa Thumann

My comment:

I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.
This is amazing! Dr. Strange uses Google Doc's religiously for our class. Almost every assignment we have is sent to us via Google Doc's. It is very useful and I am greatful that he uses this technology and is able to update it in real time rather than waiting for my next class to meet to hear about the update on any given assignment. Thank you for sharing this video.

Week 13

The ZAX
The strange thing is....when I saw this as a child, I just thought it was a funny story. Really its telling everyone to stop being so stubborn, that the world will continue with or without you or your contributions. This can be directly applied to schools use of technology. The system will continue to grow even if a few schools stand idle and stubborn, stuck in their old ways. As I have gotten older I have realized that Dr. Seuss's stories hold a lot more depth than what I had originally thought as a child.

Why is it Important for Students to Share their Work??.

(above is a yellow ceramic piggy bank I made for my sis and nephew. It was on display at MGCCC Student Art Show spring sememster 2009) more pics of the art on display at the link, which takes you to Mr. Pool's facebook where he has pics of every piece, even one of my charcoal drawings. Feel free to explore!


I think it is very important for students to publish their work in some way. When discussing this topic with a friend she said that the internet is like a refrigerator. As a kid, when I did something I was proud of my mom would put it on the fridge for all to see, but now with access to the internet my work can be put up on the web for all to see. So with this as my fridge I posted a picture of one of my art pieces I have done. I think that just knowing people are looking at your work and even having some comment about it makes your confidence go up. Mr. C's class blog is an excellent example! The earlier children start sharing their work with the world, the more confident they will be in the future.

PLN Continued....

Wm Chamberlin: Mr. C's Class Blog

At The Teachers Desk


Lisa Thumann- Thuman Resources: via RSS feed

Vocaroo

When we were assigned to use Vocaroo I thought, "We already know how to use Audacity! Why are we learning about yet another audio recording tool?" But I found out that Vocaroo is much faster and simpler to use than Audacity. If I were to try this with Audacity I would first have to download the program, if I didnt already have it, then I would have to convert the recorded audio so that it could be played withouth the program Audacity. Vocaroo is an excellent tool!

Skype/Interview

Skype

I have used Skype in the past, and recently, to communicate with my mom when she goes to California on business trips. When she is sent out there, finishing projects for the navy, she is normally there from 4 to 6 months at a time. So it is much cheaper and easier to communicate with her using Skype. My aunt, who is an elementary school teacher, also uses Skype to communicate with my mother when she is out of town.

Interview

I did my interview with my aunt Traci Brewton and told her about what all we have come in contact with in this class (meaning all the kids blog posts and video's and pictures) and asked her if she does any of these things in her class room at Nan Grey Davis elementary. Sad to say, they do not. In fact, the thought had never crossed her mind to introduce her students to blogging for educational purposes. After discussing everything I'm doing in my class room and the things she could be doing, she was eager to find out IF and when she could do anything similar in her class room.

Survey

24responses
Summary See complete responses
Do you attend the University of South Alabama?
yes
24
100%
no
0
0%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
How do you feel about the price of tuition?
Way to much
11
46%
Reasonable
13
54%
Too cheap
0
0%
0
0%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
Do you feel the Jag-Trans are necessary?
yes
20
83%
no
4
17%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
If you answered yes, please give a brief discription of how the Trans help you.
Less gas I have to pay for. I dont have to fight the traffic of students that drive and I don't have to fight for parking spots which could make me late for classI cannot park on campus because I Live at the grove so I need it to take to and from the grove and school.It gets me to and from UCOM for my Ed classes.It helps broke people with no ride and the blind dude with the doggets people where they need to goDont have to spend my moneydo not have to walk
Do you beleive most of the educators on camups are qualified to teach in their feild?
yes
22
92%
no
2
8%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
How many of your teachers are "power point" teachers? (meaning they use power point slides 90% of the time and basically read from book)
one
11
46%
two
7
29%
three
4
17%
all
2
8%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
Do you feel that you are alloted enough time to get from one class to another?
yes
17
71%
no
7
29%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
Number of daily responses
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.