Week 8: Where do we go from here

I had so many aha moments this semester on the different uses of each technology assignment we’ve utilized. For each technology assignment I can see where I can use it in the library media center or in a classroom. I’ve tried to share as much information about the different technologies with my teachers as possible. I’m hoping someone will attempt to utilize it in their class. I’m one of the sponsors for our schools National Honor Society and we’ve agreed that we should develop a blog about the things the NHS students are doing. I’ve learned a lot about technology and its many uses through our journal presentations. From here I want to implement as many of the different technology tools that I am comfortable and proficient with in my career.

Week 7: Do you Google

For this weeks lesson my learning objective focused on utilizing Google Sites to create a senior class e-portfolio. My rationale for selecting Google site as a host was due to the ease of creating and navigating the site. Our seniors have to create a senior portfolio every year. However, I would challenge them to create an electronic format of the portfolio. If I had to implement the objectives for this lesson, my expectation for each senior is a clear understanding and implementation of the technology standards along with an awesome e-portfolio as a final product.

I view my instruction differently, in that now I am aware of the various technology tools that can be integrated in education.

Learning is definitely not just for k12, my mother just learned how to email within the last month. She’s 73;-).

Week 6: Can you hear me now

The tools available to us today make the implication for changing the way we teach imperative. We live in a global society where change is imperative. In my opinion the only thing preventing us from change is change itself. Most of us are afraid of the unknown. Technology for most is the unknown. If I could wave a magic wand I’d change the mindset of our students. Education is a necessity and integrating technology can only make it better. The use of podcast, webcasts, wikis, and jing can only improve instruction

Week 5: Wikis

When I developed my wiki I had my job in mind. Whenever possible for an assignment I like to incorporated things that I can use as a library media specialist. Although I am somewhat familiar with wikis I hadn’t created one for the media center use. I can foresee using a wiki to for book discussions, book selections, theme of the month, word of the week etc….. There are no limits to what one can do with a wiki.

There are several advantages to using wikis—wikis are easy to learn and use, anyone can edit, they’re instantaneous, the software keeps track of edits, and people in different parts of the world can work on the same document. However, there are some disadvantages too—editing available to anyone, if not manage it is open to SPAM, require internet connectivity, and the flexibility can make information disorganized.

Yes, I believe wikis can engage our students. The students that I work with come into the media center to load thing to their blogs and class wikis. We have a few technology savvy teachers on campus who prefer to utilize wikis and blogs to communicate with their classes.

I will admit I was apprehensive about creating a wiki, but once I found a template that I like it was easy to develop. Since I'm a novice I still have some tweaking to do, but overall I'm happy with my wiki.

Week 4: E-Portfolio and Assessment

I chose AFL should focus on how students learn. As a secondary educator I’ve seen various learning styles of students. There is no one size fit all learning style. I chose this tenet simply because I’ve seen how un-flexible teachers can be when it comes to assessing students. The movie “Blind Side” is a prime example. The main character didn’t say much in class if anything, but he was listening and taking in what was being taught. The teachers changed the way they assessed what he was supposed to learn. When asked orally about a topic he knew the answer. We must meet our students where they are and not where they are supposed to be. We must do away with the traditional lesson of lecture, worksheet, and quiz. Now students can complete a project base assignment that is a culmination of a series of lessons. Rubrics are changing the way assessment is completed. Students now have ownership in what their overall grade can be simply by following the rubric.

In thinking about our journal assignment which dealt with the different types of assessment; I can reflect back on a student who didn’t like the traditional lecture or reading of a book. He felt he wasn’t being challenged enough. Eventually we convinced the teacher to allow him to demonstrate that he had read the book through his drawings. This was an alternative assessment of his learning. This student along with many others has different learning styles. We must take this into consideration when assessing our students.

Creating the e-portfolio was a little overwhelming, but I have the beginning of an e-portfolio. I figured out most things, but my navigation buttons are not as I would have them. I will continue to play around with this feature. Overall the assignments for the week were thought provoking and a learning experience.

Week 3: Critical Analysis of Information

As a library media specialist I thoroughly enjoyed the MAPping experience. I wished I’d known about this site while completing my MLS. The information literacy quiz was great I’d like to use this with my students and teachers. My MLS journey taught me a lot about website evaluation, citing sources, bibliographies etc…The meta web information activities was great reading. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the pacific northwest tree octopus. I shared this with our science department so that our students could write our state representative to place it on the endangered list. I also enjoyed the “all about the explorers,” it had a webquest activity that I shared with our Social Studies department. I love the whole concept of webquests and pathfinders.

As a library media specialist I’ve been trained how to effectively search the Internet. However, I want to impart what I’ve learned to the students and in some cases teachers. Most people and the students I work with specifically don’t understand how to search for topics of interest. They are clueless on Boolean search, keyword search, etc….I have a lesson on how to evaluate websites, for some reason our students believe that if it’s on the web it has to be true, not true.

I’m confident with the information I’ve used in the past because I had great instructors who gave examples of what they expected of me. I was totally clueless on the APA format when I began my higher education journey for a master’s degree. However, through my MLS journey I’ve become acquainted with APA, MLA, and the Chicago format.

Overall, I will be the first to admit that while an undergraduate I did not always cite my sources correctly. I will say this is because I didn’t know any better. I now have a better understanding of gathering information, citing sources, creating bibliographies and evaluating websites. I won’t say I’m an expert, but I know a whole lot now then way back then. Students truly don’t understand when I tell them they can not copy and paste an entire article as their own. This is plagiarism. I can go on and on about the different things I’ve learned and what I want others to know, but that would take to much time.

The implication for the future is bleak if we fail to teach 21st century skills to our students. Our students will not only lag behind in education, but also the workforce too. The filtering system that our school utilizes blocks most sites. However, our students are so technologically savvy that they know how to access sites through some back door system or code. I do believe that given the chance that students would love the organization offered through Delicious.

Yes, I see the advantage of organizing information through Delicious. When searching for resources and you come across one that has good information and you don’t want to use right now, bookmarking would work great. There are times when I forget what word or phrase I used to search for a particular topic, organizing information through Delicious would be a great tool. I’ve been introduce to Delicious before, but never took advantage of it. I see a need to utilize it now. I can utilize these tools by organizing information for students and teachers, especially if it is something the teacher does every year.

Week 2: Educational Technology Concept Map

There are a variety of definitions for educational technology. AECT defines educational technology as the design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of the processes and resources used for learning. To me educational technology is the planning, adaptation, adjustment and assessment of the incorporation of technology in the learning process. My philosophy is a work in progress, so there will be some adjustments as I learn more about educational technology from a constructivist perspective.

I enjoyed researching the different aspects of educational technology for our concept map. My training as a library media specialist has always emphasized the 21st century learner and the skills this learner will need to succeed in not only school but the workforce too. The research I completed for our concept map just reinforced what I learned previously.

My concept map was completed using Windows Movie Maker. This was my first time using movie maker, but it was simple and easy to navigate. For this assignment I didn't add music, but I will attempt to add music on a future assignment.