EDUC 7105 – Module 4
With the networks created in my life whether it is for educational purposes or everyday life I have almost immediate access to information. This information I am learning can be educational or it can be about someone individually. I am constantly checking my Gmail for blog postings for my students and other information from friends. Facebook has been a way for me to reconnect with friends from high school and college that either provides a social and/or knowledge connection. I also check Facebook feeds daily to keep up with the players on my soccer team. I can be aware of tests, personal situations or just make comments on their page to say hello. This digital contact with my soccer players has helped them make better personal decisions that will reflect not only themselves as a person, but the team and myself as the coach.
The tool that I feel helps me learn the most would be the Walden classroom discussions and the teacher blogs that I access on a daily or weekly basis depending on time constraints. I learn and am aware of so many different aspects of not only technology, but how technology can be utilized in the classroom via asynchronous learning. With the Walden classes the topics are specific to the classes we are taking, but the ideas presented by my classmates help me to think outside of my tangible world. These new ideas can help to reshape my thinking and thus a new collaboration process of my thoughts takes place in these classes. The teacher blogs also present a different way of looking at similar situations in the classroom. These teachers have the same or similar challenges as I do and can help to provide answers to situations that arise in my classroom. Many of these teachers utilize more technology in their classroom so it provides a guide for me to continually stretch my understanding of how the students learn bests.
Teaching associations that are bases in educational technology will provide research articles that again will stretch my way of thinking and alter my personal teaching in the classroom to help guide the learners in this digital age. There are also conferences associated with these learning communities where tangible connections can be made for further collaboration with that person and also possibly their students with my students. These situations will be a win-win for all parties involved once the connections have been made.
If I have a question I can acquire new knowledge by texting someone who I think would know the answer, emailing colleagues or friends, or posting a question on my blog or wiki. If I need the information at that moment and none of my friends I texted knew the answer, I would search the web for the answer or a search teacher blogs and compile information. The tags created when someone posts a topic to the web have helped to search for information so quickly. This information might not be exactly what I am looking for, but there will also be additional websites to visit that could answer my question.
These are websites that I have posted in my mindmap and are extremely helpful for using technology in the classroom –
http://adifference.blogspot.com/
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://divergentlearner.com/blog/
http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/
http://blog.benwildeboer.com/
http://franksblog.edublogs.org/ - off of this site are also many other blogs of teachers who use technology in their classroom and can provide additional ideas.
With the networks created in my life whether it is for educational purposes or everyday life I have almost immediate access to information. This information I am learning can be educational or it can be about someone individually. I am constantly checking my Gmail for blog postings for my students and other information from friends. Facebook has been a way for me to reconnect with friends from high school and college that either provides a social and/or knowledge connection. I also check Facebook feeds daily to keep up with the players on my soccer team. I can be aware of tests, personal situations or just make comments on their page to say hello. This digital contact with my soccer players has helped them make better personal decisions that will reflect not only themselves as a person, but the team and myself as the coach.
The tool that I feel helps me learn the most would be the Walden classroom discussions and the teacher blogs that I access on a daily or weekly basis depending on time constraints. I learn and am aware of so many different aspects of not only technology, but how technology can be utilized in the classroom via asynchronous learning. With the Walden classes the topics are specific to the classes we are taking, but the ideas presented by my classmates help me to think outside of my tangible world. These new ideas can help to reshape my thinking and thus a new collaboration process of my thoughts takes place in these classes. The teacher blogs also present a different way of looking at similar situations in the classroom. These teachers have the same or similar challenges as I do and can help to provide answers to situations that arise in my classroom. Many of these teachers utilize more technology in their classroom so it provides a guide for me to continually stretch my understanding of how the students learn bests.
Teaching associations that are bases in educational technology will provide research articles that again will stretch my way of thinking and alter my personal teaching in the classroom to help guide the learners in this digital age. There are also conferences associated with these learning communities where tangible connections can be made for further collaboration with that person and also possibly their students with my students. These situations will be a win-win for all parties involved once the connections have been made.
If I have a question I can acquire new knowledge by texting someone who I think would know the answer, emailing colleagues or friends, or posting a question on my blog or wiki. If I need the information at that moment and none of my friends I texted knew the answer, I would search the web for the answer or a search teacher blogs and compile information. The tags created when someone posts a topic to the web have helped to search for information so quickly. This information might not be exactly what I am looking for, but there will also be additional websites to visit that could answer my question.
These are websites that I have posted in my mindmap and are extremely helpful for using technology in the classroom –
http://adifference.blogspot.com/
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://divergentlearner.com/blog/
http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/
http://blog.benwildeboer.com/
http://franksblog.edublogs.org/ - off of this site are also many other blogs of teachers who use technology in their classroom and can provide additional ideas.
I made your network connections! Yea, me! I really enjoyed looking at your mindmap. It is so well-organized, incredibly neat, and you even included specific details to include names and websites. The color-coding is helpful to interpret like-connections. Given all of our contacts that we regularly juggle, it is amazing that we are able to keep all the balls in the air at the same time. I feel as if I'm constantly dropping balls, picking up new ones, and trading them with other contacts. Is this one of the reasons people often feel harried and overwhelmed?
ReplyDeleteI must admit that the "coolcatteacher" website drew me in just because of its name. I like the brief, to-the-point postings, recommendations, and comments. But, again, I began to get over-whelmed with the shear volume of information. Even though the site was full of exciting, engaging, and useful items, my eyes began to glaze over and I realized that it was more than I could internalize. Do you experience the same disconnect? If so, how do you filter through all the networking connections? I feel like I am missing out on so much because I just can't soak any more up! My sponge is full and dripping on all sides.
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeleteYes, I feel like I am dropping the ball with staying connected with everyone all the time and absorbing ideas, but then again I remind myself that we will have more time next Thanksgiving to absorb so many more ideas! :) The cool cat blog is Vicki Davis' blog and she is the lady we have watch a few times on the DVD for the other class we are taking. She has that Flat Project which is intriguing. She was looking for volunteers to grade these projects a few weeks ago and I did not have time, but I passed the information along to a fellow colleague who was very excited about possibly being a part of the project.
I think we can only absorb so much, but if something really catches our attention we will earmark it for later inquiry.
Yes, I received notice about volunteering with the Flat Project, too. One day we shall each find the time to do such adventurous undertakings!
ReplyDelete