Sunday, May 2, 2010

Goodbye, Farewell, Adios....

In this post I would like to say that I have really enjoyed the learning experiences offered in EDM 310. I would like to thank Dr. Strange for all of the cool tools he has found for us to use and take advantage of and I would like to thank Dr. Tashbin for being such a wonderful and helpful instructor. I really feel like I have learned a lot especially when compared to what I knew coming into this class. I would also like to say to my fellow classmates, it has been a fun and interesting adventure and I hope that you all have benefitted as much as I have. Good luck to you all and I hope to be seeing you around! Peace out!

May 2nd Blog Assignment

This weeks blog assignment is suppose to basically be a reflection on this semester. What I have learned, and what I think I will carry with me to my future in becoming a teacher. Honestly, I feel like I learned a lot from this class. I will use some of the tools that I learned in this class for years to come once I have my own classroom. Some of the tools that were my favorite include: Timetoast, Vocaroo,Blogger, Google Presentations, Google Earth, and many more. Im so happy to have learned about these products not only because I believe they will honestly help me and my students in the future, but because all of these programs are free. Everyone knows no one who is becoming a teacher does it for the money, so it really is a tremendous help knowing about all the cool things we have and can take advantage of with out having to worry about money. Especially considering that we will be wanting students to use these tools as well. I really can't think of anything else that I could have learned but didn't. That could also stem from the fact that I knew nothing coming into it and am leaving with what I consider a pretty good knowledge of what is out there and available to me. I feel like in taking this class I only benefited from leaning these tools. I also feel like i am significantly more technology literate walking out of this class than I was walking in. I plan to continue growing my technology information base by keeping my mind fresh and continuing to use all these tools and more that I may find on the way. I wouldn't say this course was too hard or too challenging for anyone, after all these are all programs that we should expect children to be able to work I really think that most of the difficulty came from the way the course was set up. If I were going to change the course I would have it set so that every week the students would be responsible for one project. For example, Week one could be how to blog, week two could be how to use google earth, week three how to create a google presentation, and so on. I honestly believe this set up would help future students of EDM 310. Rather than doing a little of everything all at once maybe just hitting one project at a time. I know that would help me more anyway. Over all, however I would have to say that EDM was a positive experience and I truly feel like it is very necessary as a class and also very helpful and knowledge filled.