Lesson 12 - A time for reflection

I really enjoyed taking this class. I have learned some very interesting new things and reinforced some things that I already know. As a result I would really like to get more teachers involved and excited about technology and how it really can be integrated into the classrooms. I'd like to show them how using these technology as means of using differentiated instruction. Some of their students may flourish using some of these technologies. I am also very passionate about my Wiki. It think it is a very useful tool, easy to integrate into the curriculum and beneficial to our students and future students.
At the beginning of this course, I wasn't so keen on blogging. But, my excitement has grown with 2 comments that were made to my blog by people in education that I didn't even know! Through one of the posts, I have (hopefully) set up collaboration with a classroom in New Zealand. Talk about the global community and interaction with the world! This course has at times stressed how important it is to be global, well, maybe we can start something here. I love being off for the summer, but this year, I am really excited about coming back in September and getting started!!

Lesson 11 - School 2.0

The thing that struck me most about about School 2.0 is how some of it is already happening, especially in our district. Now I know we are a very lucky school district with administrators who are very supportive of emerging technologies. But, not all districts, families, communities are as fortunate as we are. Maybe we are ahead of the game as far as being connected with our students, parents and communities, or we just have "really good people" that get the word out and convince school administrators, parents and the community on how important it is for the future of our students and economy of our communities, state, nation to have all these wonderful learning experiences.
One of the things that kind of bothered me about the map was the shifting of text book dollars to digital. I think it is important to have both. Yes, books and their information can become obsolete. Take for example a history or geography book where governments change and so do boundaries of countries. In the digital format things can be updated so fast and probably at fraction of the cost (considering the cost of text books for a class).
All in all, it will change. We will be looking at this new School 2.0 in the very near future.

Lesson 10 - Another Perspective

As I listened to the Allen November podcast with Dr. Zhao I found myself nodding to myself in affirmation, and smiling a lot. Most of these things Dr. Zhao talked about we have also talked about. How do we get teachers to integrate technology more into their classrooms? Things are getting better, but teachers are still feeling overwhelmed with the thought if they feel they aren't "techy" enough. Also I think they feel that it is just another thing they have to incorporate into the day. Yes, we want the students to be connected to the world, to learn about different cultures and pass on our learning and cultures to the world, but we need reliable sources "out there" to collaborate with. Contacts, (few and far between) seem excited at first, but in the end we just don't seem to be able to "get it together." I like the idea of having the students take on line courses, but.......not everyone is connected at home, or have permission to use the Internet. I know these are all important. I think about how we can accomplish these things all the time. In the end I know that in time, things will change. They always do.

Lesson 9 - School 2.0

Kevin Honeycutt's podcast was inspiring. Using technology with students is something that I am passionate about. After much thought and reflection on his Model T project I've thought about an activity that someone may be interested in doing. Now, not being a classroom teacher, I really have no control, but I could help with the technology aspect. Now, I know this sounds far fetched, and probably would never get off the ground, not this year anyway. There are also a lot of unknowns about this but, my idea is having students collaborate about building a community in Second Life. What should be there (schools, churches, post office, houses etc.)? Build these structures, decide what to teach, who should own what, maybe manufacture something useful for the community. Second Life is new to me. It really intrigues me. I read alot about it on blogs. It is definitely something that I need to learn more about, but in THEORY, this project has potential!