I have found the technology related tasks to be easy to figure out for the most part. I like that we are able to ask and answer each other's questions through the discussions. This was helpful even when I wasn't always asking because I might have the same problem later when I tried something.
I also like that a lot of what we are doing I have never done before. It's new to me so I feel it's a good use of my time. A lot of the tasks can so easily be adapted to the classroom, which is a huge benefit. I cannot stand doing work for something I'll never use. I think the blog, wiki, photo sharing, google map all can be used at almost any grade level. A lot of what we've gone over seems so flexible to me. What I mean is, I can use this now as a classroom teacher and in the future with almost any role I may have.
This semester is my first to the program and I really like the set-up of this class. I don't feel overwhelmed because everything is laid out completely each week. This has helped me a lot. The weeks are written in a way that you just have to follow the steps and then play with the tasks however works best for you. I like that we get lots of choice on what we do (what our map is of, what RSS feeds we look at, etc). I think that it is also helpful to have discussion areas already set-up for the week's tasks. This makes it a lot easier to feel like you can ask questions.
Well, I wished I found them easy, but I have not and really appreciate all the help I have received from our classmates. I really like the comment from one of our classmates that a list of terms and directions would be very beneficial. I can see how most of these technologies can benefit in a classroom and assist me in my job also, so am glad to experience them, but have been very frustrated with some of them.
ReplyDeleteMargie
I'm glad that you find that the technologies that we've covered are useful. Do you plan on letting your students, as young as they are, work directly with blogs and wikis or do you have another use in mind?
ReplyDeleteSome of the tasks were easy for me and some were not (computers settings that magically change themselves to not allow certain content, it happens when you have to share a computer) but I agree that the tasks are definetly somethings that I will use now and in the future.
ReplyDelete