Is this the end or only the beginning?

Wow, the end of the semester, but the beginning of the rest of my journey as an education student.  I have seriously enjoyed this Instructional technologies class and will more than likely explore the possibility of a Masters in Instructional Technology.  To narrow down one favorite exercise would be virtually impossible.but here goes.   I enjoyed both the Youtube exercise and the Animoto video.  They are two tools I will use constantly.  As I said in my blog my family uses Youtube at least once a day if not way more.  And the Animoto site was just cool!  I think that overall this process has definitely helped me learn more about what is out there in cyberspace to make things more organized, fun, and easy in life.  I did also enjoy being able to write down my ideas and thoughts about certain things I was learning about.  It definitely reinforced some of the things I found and learned.  In the future, when I have my own classroom I will more than likely try to have my students at the very least keep a notebook of the things they learned and reflections they have on the material and how it was taught.  The use of internet will be highly dependent on where I am placed and the availability of resources.  I am glad I had this opportunity and am hoping that I will be able the continue to find the time to write.  

Thing #23

The picture above is an example of one of the many ways to use creative commons licenses.  In the beginning of this journey there was a disclaimer that looked like this:

  The author clearly states that this exercise was not her original work and tell us exactly where to find the original work and who it was by, thereby giving attribution to the person who created the program.  Not only as a teacher but also as a responsible cyber citizen, I now have more information about how to use other peoples work responsibly and how to protect my own work!  This has also been a terrific learning experience that I have shared with my children and will share with my future students.

Thing #22

Live binders seems like a great tool, if I could figure out an easy way to handle it.  Setting up the account was simple enough and adding pages was easy, however when it came to managing the binders, I got a bit confused.  Anyway, my binder names are Educational Technology, Special Education, and Safe Sites for Kids.  I can see, as a teacher, collecting appropriate sites for kids to use in different binders for each different subject or even grade level.  I could even personalize different binders for different children.  This could be especially helpful in a special education classroom where each child has different learning goals.  I have already set up a personal binder for my kids also.  I do like the site but I wish it were easier to manage and edit.  

Educational Technology

Thing #20

YouTube is an amazing vast collection of assorted videos.  There seems to be something for everyone.  My three year old enjoys watching videos about Dora, my nine year old like finding videos about her favorite musicals.  My thirteen year old enjoys finding solutions to mindcraft or strategies (I'm not sure :)).  I think everyone in our family uses YouTube on a weekly basis.  Recently I found a few videos I wanted to share here.  I remember watching these when I was a kid and now my kids are learning from them.  I think I will use these once I am a teacher.  You can't beat a video that teaches kids about important things and puts them to a song that is very memorable.

Thing #21

Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.


While Animoto was easy to use, getting it to my blog was not completely stress-less.  I finally googled help and found out that in order to embed the video you have to click the HTML page as opposed to the Compose tab at the top of the screen here is a partial screen shot.

Then you have to switch back to the compose and tada the video was there...I hope...  I enjoyed making the videos and my daughters enjoyed helping me.  In all this was another winning "thing".  Think I will be making more soon!

Thing #19

I am a member of Facebook for personal use, I signed up for a twitter for my EDUC 3040 class and I now use it to follow many educators.  I recently signed up for Pinterest but I simply cannot figure that one out.  I don't have a ton of extra time so most social networks get very little attention from me.  I can imagine in the future being a part of the networks that involve books and reading and the food networks might be helpful in finding some good recipes that don't require a bunch of time.   I guess I am just a little old fashioned in that I enjoy actual contact with people.  When you allow yourself to be consumed with Internet networks, there tends to be less time to actually interact with people.  I'm not knocking any one's fascination with different site as I am sure there are definite benefits to being a part of some of these sites.  I just would choose actual physical company than a book club online.  Anyway, I enjoyed this "thing".  It opened my eyes to how many opportunities there are to connect with people in all kinds of cultures and geographic locations who are interested in the same things I am.  Hooray for "thing #19".  

Thing #15

I have to say honestly that wiki's are not my favorite thing.  I think what makes me super nervous is that people can change what I say into something else.  I can definitely see how they can be used effectively especially in group projects and I loved the San Antonio wiki example!  I think every city should do a visitors guide and allow people to add their experiences.  It would make traveling so much better.  Of course there would be a ton of opinions and you would have to wade through to find what's good and what's not but a well policed site would do very well.  I can definitely see using a wiki for a classroom project or even a study guide for certain skills.  Kids could ask questions and get answers right there on the wiki from other students and from teachers.  This class has definitely opened my eyes to things I thought were "bad".  There are good uses for wiki's and who knows, maybe one day I will break down and start one for my class.  Stranger things have happened!