Coming to a close!

Well what an interesting 7 weeks and another course almost done. I have thoroughly enjoyed this course. Now do not take it that I did not enjoy the other courses as each one has their own merits. But this one was kind of for me in the sense that we got to explore all sorts of technology tools to use in the classroom.

We also discussed how that should be used. Personnaly I can see that not only do we need to make sure that our students see use using the latest and greatest technology. Mostly so that they do not think we are still back in the stone age. But that they can see that we do have an understanding of what is out there.

Also this is where we can also show more ways to use this technology for other purposes that just texting friends. I have found sites that allow students to text the teacher during class. There are teachers that use twitter to engage students and that has helped the shy students become more engaged.

I think one video on ted Talks that I saw was a site that I have followed for a while now and that is Khan Academy. Salman Khan’s Ted talk, Let’s use video to reinvent education, on how he started, where he is now and where he would like to go in the future is really inspiring.

So as I finish this last week I am still thinking about what the future holds. Where can I take what I have learned and use it in my classroom, in my college or just in my own education. There are so many possiblilities. Well onward and upward and as Leonard Nimoy, Rest in Peace, would say “Live Long and Prosper”.

Week 5

Well another week completed. This course has been a truly enjoyable experience. I am one of those guys that enjoy the new technology. I love playing with new software, hardware or whatever.

But even I did not know that there is so much out there for teachers to use in their classroom to teach with. Kids love games and there are online tools out there with will help you create games for your students to have fun and learn the material in a different way. Go figure! On the Create 2 Learn website they list a number of ways of creating games, puzzles animation and etc to help your students to become engaged with the material and be fun to.

There is TED ED that will help you use resources from Youttube to create videos of your material. For that matter there are so many distinguished speakers that talk about so many topics in the TED Talks. As an intructor and knowing a little about technology, but kowing there is a lot more out there is almost scary. how does one keep up with all of this. The students are sometimes a few steps ahead of us. They expect us to know it all and for me that almost seems like an impossible task.

But I know that in my current classes they are not expecting you to know it all. They want to know what you do know and are you willing to listen when they might know it something you don’t. Can we be better than the digital natives? Especially when most of us are digital immigrants? These are what marc Prensky calls those that have grown up in this technology enhanced world and those of us that are trying to learn all that we can.

Well being a digital immigrant is not always a bad thing as long as you are willing to learn and change.

 

Week 4:

Well this has been an interesting week. This last journal that I just posted my last journal for this course. It was an interesting topic to research and write about.

It is all about education and the internet age. With all the advent of online universities and college now offering courses, degrees and certificates online how are the traditional schools going to respond.

I watched an interesting TED talk from Bill gates, it was on Malaria and education. Kind of two topics that you think would not go together but he did a great job. 

I think the future for traditional and online universities/colleges are going to be interesting. Like anything else depending on demand one or the other will have to adjust. I know for myself the ability to be able to achieve a diploma through an online college makes it better for me.

Working a full time and a part time job leaves the rest of my free time for school. There are so many possibilities for both in the future. Although I think the traditional schools are going to probably make some changes to how they deliver the material to the students.

Well 4 weeks are done in this course another 4 to go. Still lots to learn and I am really enjoying the research and all the interesting ideas that my fellow students are posting.

 

Week 3:

Well another week has passed me by and another assignment completed.

I was not as impressed with my effort as I was the first couple of weeks. I am going to attribrute that to again still not feeling well and I did not have as much energy to accomplish what I wanted.

I really enjoyed researching my topic “Technology for Application and integration”. It is interesting because even though we as intructors and teachers are using technology to  present the material we are not really using to totally engage the students. With the advent of text messaging, Twitter, blogs and forums we have so many tools available to us to keep the students engaged even when they have left the classroom.

I think that over the next couple of weeks I am goign to look into this approach further and see just how I can incoporate something more to engage the students. Ok onto week 4 and more learning.

Creative Commons & Copyright Infringement

Well week 2 is coming to an end and I was not able to post as much to this blog as I was hoping. had a wicked cold and I was in bed really early each night. Still not doing the greatest but it is getting better. I know this should not be an excuse but I am using it.

Anyway I came across some very interesting topics in my class this week. My instructor, Brian Cassell, posted some topics for us to comment on or expand on. I have found some really cool Web 2.0 tools that I am going to have to look into further that my fellow students posted. I also came across a couple of links that I am going to be looking into further:

http://2learn.ca/create/GameB.aspx

http://web20guru.wikispaces.com/Web+2.0+Resources

But the topic that got me the most was the one on copyright infringement. I know that we are all supposed to diligent in making sure that we only use that which we have paid for our asked authorisation for before we put something on our blogs and do try to do that for the most part. I am going to be making sure that any pictures on my blog are put there with proper authorization from this point forward. I am also rplacing any picture that I have on my blog today and tomorrow. It is a scary thought that someone would actually go after you for a exorbant amout of money over a piture you might have on your blog but they do as in this blogger that was sued over a picture on their blog:

http://www.roniloren.com/blog/2012/7/20/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-for-using-pics-on-your-blog.html

So I am doing my research on the Creative Commons that Brian poseted. I will also be adding this license to my blog site in the next day or 2. So Bloggers beware, make sure you are covered.

 

 

Week One:

Well the first week is done and I have posted my first journal, check out my journal page.

I found some interesting information while researching about embracing E-Communication in the classroom. As intructors we need to connect to our students and in this day and age it is not necessarily a face to face connection. Most students text, Tweet or post on Facebook more than they do anything else. How many times have you seen a circle of teenagers standing in a circle texting someone else that is probably not in their group, or maybe they are.

So as instructors we need to find ways of making that connection and showing them ways of using technology to help them learn. Even with that said I have a few students that technology scares them and they do not take to it like others. Unfortunately technology is something that we all have to accept and learn how to use. As in this short video of a college professor that invites his students to text their questions to a teaching assistant. I personally think this a great way of getting those shy students to maybe voice their oprinions and questions. Now to get a teaching assistant, ha ha.

Onto Another Exciting Course

I have once again embarked on another adventure by enrolling in another course for the Provincial Instructor Diploma program. This one is on Media Enhanced Learning. The book that is our required reading has had a few interesting looks when people see the cover, Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Will Improve Student Learning. It is the Teaching Naked title that grabs everyones attention. So far I have really enjoyed some of the authors insights.

I will again be posting some intersting topics in the course of the next 6 weeks. I am hoping that by doing this I will get into the habit of posting more often as you can see the date of my last post, in my defence Christmas was close, I was working some mega hours at SAIT and I was pretty burned out from the last class. Maybe I ran out of words as I did have to do a lot of writing.

Well stay turned.

Another Course Completed

Well this is it. I have submitted my last assignment for the Evaluation of Learning course. This has been a pretty challenging course for me. I really had to step outside my comfrot zone. I spent many a weekend working on assignments and journals. But with all said and done I feel this has been a real learning experience for me.

Learing how to assess students formally and informally, yes there is a difference, to see how much of the content they are absorbing has been interesting. Just learning that this should be a two way street. We as teachers and instructors can learn together. No one can say they know everything and being able to accept that can be humbling and rewarding as well.

I will never look at an exam that a fellow college or one that I have to do the same way any more. They is so much more to that question that is on that paper for you to answer than I ever imagined. Even those pesky true and false questions have a lot of thought put into them or should have.

Now that this is done I am going to take a little break and try to rest up a little until my next class. maybe I should now sit down and look at those formal assessments that I have created in the past. Maybe some rewites are in order. Rest and relaxation at last!

Cheating and Plagiarism

Well into my last week and I had to write another journal entry. I choose to do this one on cheating and plagiarism. It was interesting rereading the articles posted by our instructor on cheating and plagiarism. As an instructor I have caught students cheating on exams. I have even had students hand in other students work.

So where does all this come from. Why do students feel the need to cheat. In some of the articles I read. Students get pressure from parents, teachers and themselves just to do well. I think most parents do not do it consciously as they only want the best for their children. But maybe they do push thinking that they are lazy and are not performing up to their standards. I know from students that I have had in my classes that their parents were very successful and so that pressure of living up to their parents is hard.

Personally I think there needs to be more communication between students and teachers. teachers need to be aware of what is happening with the students. But students need to communicate it to the teachers.

Technology is also something that encourages cheating. It make it way to easy for students to access information these days. Not like my days when we had to look through those thick encyclopedias. Try carrying one of those in your back pocket to cheat from. But that is where we got creative and wrote notes on our arms, shirt cuffs and anything else we could think of. i think some students just for the sake of trying it to see if they will be caught.

Well I think there should be less emphasis on marks and maybe this will be a no issue someday. just my thoughts.

Assessment of Learning

I am now into week four of my Evaluation of Learning course. This past week I had to create an Knowledge assessment tool. What is that you ask, well it is basically a quiz or exam. I learned how to create true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank, essay and graphical questions (items). This was fun and very informative. I have a new found respect for these types of items. Also this week were reading up on Assessment for learning. In reading about this type of assessment I have a better understanding on how schools assess their stduents. Because I have and still am in school both teaching and studying I can see the advantages of assessing students on a regular basis instead of that doing it at the end of the course. On that dreaded final exam day that everyone had nightmares about. In assessment for learning there is more of a conversation to bring the learner (student) and the teacher closer in understanding what it takes to get that student to learn.

Now this week I am creating a video on an assessment that I might use to assess my students in the classroom. I am still trying to determine that one that I want to do my presentation on. So stay tuned. Well onto week 5.