My EDM310 Blog Assignments Are Now Completed

To all my fellow classmates, I enjoyed taking this class with everyone and having the opportunity to view your blogs and learn more about you. GOod luck to everyone next semester!!!

Technology used in EDM310

My experience with technology whilr in EDM310, was very exciting, interesting, and educational. Many things I learned, I plan to use in my futre taechings. Google docs and spreadsheet are vey helpful. I had never used either of them befor now. One of my favorite programs learning about was the igoogle page. I enjoyed exploring the contents and making a page of my own. Teitter was another program that I plan to use more often. It is not just a waste of my time like I thought it was going to be at first. There are several things that you can learn by twitting whether it's eductional or pure entertainment. Picasa was fun to know about, but I'm not a big picture taker so I personally might not used it. The one thing that surprised me was google earth. I've heard people talk about google earth, but i never used it before. It was interesting to see how you can type in a location or addreess and shown images from above where the place is. Several things that were taught to use was very helpful to us as future teachers. I enjoyed my time in this class and will use several of them in the future.

Podacst Suggestions

There were several things that I had not been introduced to or even heard about before I took the EDM 310 class, and pod casting was one of them. To be honest I was nervous, not knowing what to do or expect from this podcast. There were several topics that we could choose from. The topics ranged from "Technology used in the classrooms at USA" to an interview with the Dean. All the topics were very interesting and I personally learned alot.

In listening the podcast, I thought that every one did a good job, being that it was several of our first time. Although they were good, there was also some things that needed to be improved on. One thing that was noticeable in several podcast was the use of the word Um. Using this word alot in a sentence can make a person loose interest in what someone is talking about. Besides using that word, there were pauses in some podcast where no one said anything. In other podcast it seemed like people stated things more than once while they were talking, just in a different way; I guess they were just really trying to get a point across.I know we were all nervous and in some you could tell more than others, but overall nice job.

This semester in EDM 310 has been very enlightening. I've been fortunate enough to learn about several things that I never knew existed until know.In learning about these programs and tools,I feel that i will use them in my future teaching and it will give my students a different insight on things.I enjoyed participating in a podcast and watching others do their podcast.

Twitter

While in EDM 310, I learned about an intersting program called "Twitter". At first I thought it was just another program like Myspace that was goiun to take up more of my time. To my surprise it is much more educational than I thought. It is similar to Myspace in that you can find people to foolw and see their post and other things that are made available for you to see. I also had a chance to look at some articles in twitt.
One particlar article that I look at recently was about "Earth Day". It was a very intersting article. There are several articles about differnt subject of interst that are available to view on twitter.I have only been using twitter for a month or two now, but haven't used it as often as I should have. I often explore twitter twice a week depending on how my week is going. There is also an option that allow you to direct a message to a person in public or private in which I've only used once or twice. Twitter can be a helpful tool to a instructor or anybody who is intersted in technology.
For a teacher, it can serve as a form of communication between the teacher and the students if they were absent and need to knnow what was done that day or other important & fun information.Besides serving as a form communication it can also be a way to search topic ideas and see how others view of a topiic may be diffferent from yours. I have saw several teachers that are twitting on twitter talking about activities that they are doing in the classroom. As a future, I plan to use twitter often to communicate with students and also to see what other teachers are doing in theri classrooms.

Blogging Plusses and Minuses

When I first began taking this class, I had never heard of a blog befor. The more we talked about it tin class the more interesting it seemed. This is a great way to get students involved in discussions of the class through posting messages to their blogs. Teachers all around the world are blogging and also getting their studnet involved in bloging.
In my exoerience of viewing one of my classmates blog, I learned that many people are waiting to the last minute to post their blogs. I know that my blog has not been up to date, but i'm not too far behind. There were several good blog enteries that were posted in this particular blog. The blog that I view had several interesting things in the way they view something was different from the way I did.
In participating in blogging, I learned some interesting facts about topics that were discussed. I also liked the fact that you could leave a comment on a blog post that you had read.Reading other students blogsallows you to see how others may view a topic in a differnt way than you did.
I feel that blogging is a wonderful tool. Teachers should encourage their students to participate in bloigging because you can learn about thing that you would have never knoen about. ALthough blogging is a good tool, i feel that there is a negative side to it. That negative side is the negative comments that some peoople may leave on others blogs. We should keep in mind hat everyone has an opinion whether we agree with it or not.

"Growth vs. Fixed" minds

In the video, "Growth vs. Fixed" minds, the author conducted a research on the differences between fixed and growth mindsets in learning. The video was brief. She explained how the ideas worked and how research was conducted. In the study a class is divided into groups. One group was given study skills and a growth mindset skills, while the other was only given study skills.
During the experiment, there was a significant difference between the two groups outcome. The group with just study skills declined, while the other group benefited. I feel that if we teach students the concept of material it will stick in their minds longer and they will get a better understanding. Teachers should also make activities fun and interesting for students, so that they will be more interested in learning.
As a future teacher, this video was very helpful to me.
It allowed me to realize that by just giving students the tools to improve is not as helpful as giving them the concept behind the tools that have been presented.In my future teachings, I will twach my students the concepts along with the neccessary tools they will need to succeed in school.

iTunes University

Itunes University is an amazing site. While researching iTunes university, I found numerous interesting facts such as; it has over 100,000online learning tool that are available to anyone for free, and it can be accessed through a computer, iPhone, or an iPod. It is also available for school use. The lectures that itunes provide for subject matters can be very helpful to students.Schools are allowed the option to make their page private. If this is done, students have to have a password and a user id to be allowed access. I feel that this is a good tool because students are able to watch videos in their own time and have the opportunity to rewind the videos, if needed, to look back at a particular part that they might not have understood. Having this tool could make or break a student who is in need of additional assistance in my opinion.

Edible School and Night in a Global Village

This video was about an outdoor classroom in California, that uses a garden and a kitchen area to teach students academic subject. I enjoyed the video. It was very interesting to watch. It showed students planting, harvesting,and eating the organic foods that they had grown in the garden. The teachers approach of teaching through this method, was very creative and interesting. The children seemed to enjoy and learn from the process. In the second video, students traded living conditions to see how other families and countries lived. I feel this was a good idea because it allows us as Americans to see how priviledge we are. Some countries don't have the freedom or opportunities that we have. This allows students to take a glance at the life of others,and see things that are happening in the world daily.
I enjoyed watching both podcast. In my teaching, I will research podcast that I can use in teaching my students. I feel students are more likely to want to get involved if they see how fun and interesting it can be to other students.

Duke University's use of iPods

Duke University is a school that is know all across the world.They are interested in their students future. At Duke, there are several students that have used iPods in the classroom. A count of more than 1,200 students were expected to use the iPod to enhance classroom materials,lectures,etc.The use of iPods in the classroom has quadrupled and the course that use iPods has doubled over the years. In 2004, Duke issued all first year students free iPods.Duke saw the impact that the use of iPods had on their students, so the promoted the use of technology in higher education.
Now Duke is experimenting with digital technology. The university adopted a program called DDI, which stands for Duke Digital Initiative). I feel that every school should allow their students the opportunity to experience the use of iPods in the classroom. there are numerous technology devices in the world that some people have no idea about. I feel that Duke is one of many schools that is enhancing the students learning through the use of new and upcoming technology.

Alice Christie

Dr. Christie has a tremendous amount of info that can be helpful to classroom teachers
in some way. The information provided on areas such as classroom blogs, podcasting, digital photography,etc. I'm not the best picture taker, but I enjoy taking pictures of people & things. That's why the digital photography section was the most interesting to me. I feel that this will enhance children's learning & understanding of technology.
As a child, I enjoyed having my picture taken; as most children do. That's where digital photography comes in. Children can take pictures of anything they want to and enhance the the pictures quality and other aspects through use of the computer. In the classroom a teacher may present photos to the class of objects that they are learning about through the use of digital photographing.Technology is growing every day. Allowing children to be in touch with new and upcoming technology is only going to enhance their learning ability and prepare them for future technology.

Wikipedia

While exploring Wikipedia, I was surprised to learn about its history and what it is. I must confess that I never used wiki but have heard people talk about it. While reading the article, I found out that anyone can edit info on this site. The idea of anybody being able to do this is frightening because of the simple fact that the information may be falsified. Using wiki for research papers or things of that sort would not be a wise choice. Wiki may have information that is true, but the only way that i would use it was if there was references to the info that was provided for me. In order to be on the safe side, I would suggest people not to use wiki for research purposes.

Randy Paush Last Lecture

Randy Paush was born in 1960 and died in 2008 of liver tumors. He lived an amazing and adventurous life. As a child, he had several childhood dreams in which he accomplished several of them. In his lecture, he talked about topics such as his childhood dreams, enabling others, and lessons learned. In the begging of the lecture, he introduced a question to the audience and asked, "If you had one last lecture to give before dying, what would it be?"
Randy was a professor at MIT. He put together a team of students to compete in a competition for a chance to win a ride on NASA Comet Vomit. Mr. Paush group won the competition and got the chance of a life time experience of ridding on the Comet Vomit. This was a first class hands on experience for both him and his students. In his teaching methods, first hand experiences seemed top be very important. I feel that some students learn better through hands on experiences and that's exactly how Mr. Paush taught.
He came up with a program called Building Virtual Worlds, which allowed students to experience things of the virtual world while learning harder concepts. He called this the "head fake" approach. I thought that was a clever idea. He also show cased students projects through exhibitions to encourage them to work harder. He listened to his students and tried to turn them on to following their childhood dreams.
The lecture was very interesting and informational. There was one thing that stuck with me the entire time I watched the video, which was the quote about the brick wall. The quote stated: " Brick walls are there for us so that we can prove how badly we want something." He ended the lecture using the head fake approach, in which he told the real reason for this lecture. That reason was to show the audience how to lead their life and for his children. I enjoyed the entire lecture and learned a lot from it.

EDM 310 Podcast Response

Listening to the podcast from the other EDM 310 classes was very interesting. It gave me a better idea of how the podcast would be presented. The first podcast that I listened to was from Allison & Shaundretta. The group did a good job on presenting the information. They not only told about their experiences with face book, but they also interviewed others who were face book users also. I've never used face book before, but after listening to all the things that it has to offer I am more interested in joining. The only thing I would try to improve on is adding more people to the group if possible. My second podcast was about the use of technology in the classroom by Kathryn's group.In this podcast they gave an incite on the different types of technology that was being used in classes they had taken. They talked about Folitec, which was a big surprise to me when one of my teachers told me that me had to uses it because I had no idea what Foliotec was. They included what they were used for along with the downfalls & advantages of the sites. The group seemed to be very prepared. In some cases they told how to get to the site, but not in all of them. The only thing I would try to improve on is telling my listeners the websites for the ones that I neglected to tell them. The podcast was very organized & informational.

Fischbowl- October

In the fischbowl that I read, it was talking about a particular school that adopted wireless access & filters. The wireless access was also available to the staff, parents, and others who visited the school. To me the adoption of the program seemed to be a good idea.Of course, anything that will enhance students ability to learn is a good idea. Although the intensions were good,there were several problems that came along with the adoption of the new version.
Students were unable to view Youtube,Google and other sites that included video footage for classes. Teachers were the only ones' that were able to view video footage at school by signing in. They were also able to override sites that were blocked by the filter, even if they were approriate. Having a filter on schools' computers blocks inappropriate things that student, and in some cases staff members tend view. If i had a child i would definetly adopt a program that blocks inappropriate items that a child may come across. I would reccomend all schools to adopt a program that allows anyone to view inappropriate content through the internet.

Fischbowl Response

While reading the fischbowl blog for September, it was said that the person felt more honarble being nominated for an award than actually winning one. In a way I agree with that person. I would feel honored being nominated myself, but I would rather win. Being a technologically literate teacher for me, is highly reccomended. You have some students in school today that understand technology better than their teachers. It is great that students understand technology, but not in a way that makes the teacher look uneducated. That's why I feel that teachers should be required to take a computer class.
I strongly feel that ther is no reason for any teacher not to be technologically literate because there are several workshop that will teach them how to understand technology. While in High School, it was a requirement for me to take a basic computer class, and now that im in college it was also a reqiurement to take a computer class. The computer class that I am in is more advanced than the one I took in High School. I honestly believe that taking this class will allow me to enhance my students education through technology.

The Life of Brandi

Podcast Viewing

The pod casts that I viewed were very interesting. The Smart board podcast was very informational and comical. The pod cast was done on 2/01/09 by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. The reason for this particular podcast was to tell about teachers connecting and interacting with smart boards. It explained several different ways to use a smart board and also told why they were used in the schools. There was also links that were provided on lessons on the smart board. I would encourage any future teacher, who doesn't know how to use a smart board and will have to use one in the classroom to view the website. After viewing this podcast I viewed the podcast of " This Week in Photography.
Alex Lindsay along with others talked about the inauguration for the most part. Steve Simmons was one of the photographers that participated in the talk. Unfortunately, he was unable to get a clear pictures of the President because it was to crowded and he was to far back. Aaron was another photographer at the inauguration who was able to get a picture of the President. The photographers were only allowed to take certain size camera bags inside the courts. they also talked about a program called Photosenth which allows them to analyze how pictures relate to each other.In the third podcast,which was the EdTechtalk episode number 114,was the most interesting to me.
While listening it told about Bill Gates and his presentation stunt. He let several mosquitoes go out into a crowd of people and told them that the mosquitoes were infected with malaria but they actually weren't. I was surprised to hear about a professor that was a tenor teacher at a university who was banned from the campus. The professor refused to give his students anything less than an A+. i found this very interesting. The last podcast that I viewed was the Mac Break Weekly which was done on 02/08/09.
The topic was about all things Macintosh. Leo Laporte along with others talked about the iPod phones and the iPhone flashes. There was also talk about the iMac updated rumors and adobe and Apple partnering up on the iPhone flash. i thought that this podcast would be helpful to those who owned iPhone, Macintosh products or things of that sort. It was very comical and informative. Viewing podcast was an interesting experience and I would encourage anyone that hasn't viewed one before to do so.

ISB

Bill Gerritz is a teacher at The International School of Bangkok.Bill never thought about using a blog until someone advised him to use one. He uses his blog first of all to give an overview of ISB. Other things that his profile is used for is to communicate with other teachers and illustrate parent comments about the school.Now that he has a blog page setup, he is asking people to leave a comment on how he can improve his blogging skills and understanding of blogging.

Janice experience with blogger

Janice Friensen is an information Technologist from Austin, TX. She uses her blog to communicate with students who are home schooled. She recently took a trip to Greece and told her students to follow her trip through there blog. The student had to combine details from the trip with Reading and Writing components to meet Social Studies and English requirements. She also had her students to leave comments while viewing the blog.

Teachers using Blogs

Elona Hartjes is a teacher who was recently introduced to blogging. She uses the blog to communicate to her students to enhance their learning ability. Elona also uses tools such as voice thread and Voki on her blog page.She feels that blogging, podcast, etc are meaningful to a child's education. Elona has been blogging since 2006 and feels that because of technology, teachers are gradually headed toward becoming Networked Teachers.

Did You Know?

When i first began to watch the video, i thought that it was going to tell me things that i already knew. Some of the things that were bought to my attention i already had an idea, but didn't know how much of a difference time had changed things. The video was very eye opening to me. Some of the things seem to be as if they were unbelievable in numbers.
Watching the video allows you to see the tremendous growth of business & technology in the world over the years. On one particular slide, it compared the time it took radio, TV, and computers to reach the general public with radio taking the longest and computers the shortest. The video was interesting and informational. I actually watched the video twice. I would recommend that people watch this video just to see how much the world has changed as the years have passed.

ACCESS

ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators & Students Statewide. While viewing this website, i found it to be very enlightening. When i first heard about ACCESS, i had no idea what it was. While viewing the site, i learned that it is actually a program that allows students to take high school courses via Internet with an instructor. Students are also able to interact with students from other schools. ACCESS also allows students to participate dual enrollment. Dual enrollment is a program that allows high school students to take college courses while in high school. ACCESS offers students the choice of advanced diploma or a standard diploma courses. In order for a student to be allowed to take courses from ACCESS they must have prior approval from their high school counselor. One of the goals of ACCESS is to enhance classroom courses through technology. Although ACCESS has its' good qualities, it also has complications at times.
While the students have the advantage of taking online courses, there are times when problems occur with the technology. I believe that ACCESS is a good program. It provides a good opportunity for someone to learn from a distance if they are unable to attend school for any particular reason. If anyone is interested in distant learning or dual enrollment. I would encourage you to visit ACCESS website.

About ALEX

In todays' society, teachers play a very important role in a childs' life just as a parent does. Some people may think that a teachers job is easy while others may think it's hard. my opinion is that it can be challenging at times but at the same time it's rewarding. Teachers truly have their job cut out for them in the sense of theyhave alot of work that has to be done.Teachers have to make lesson plans, teach subjects, attend workshops and many other things. Some times a teacher may need some help on writting lesson plans, coming up with actvities for the students or just simply to enlighten them on new technology. During my search, I found that there are several websites that are available to teachers. I personally think that ALEX is a great website. It not only avaulable to the teacher but it also available to students and principals. ALEX also has a weblink that students, teachers, and administrators can browse to find subject matter standards. I think that ALEX is a good website for new teachers to visit.

About me

My name is Brandi Hands. I am from Monroeville, Al. I graduated from Monroe County High School in 2004. I am currently a senior at the University of South Alabama. My major is Elementary Education. I enjoy being around children but i dont have any. I plan on teaching in Mobile. I would like to teach second or third grade. My interest include shopping, going to the movies, watching sports and spending time with my friends and family.

New Year

I am very excited about this school year. I am getting close to being done with my major.