Podcast

The one assignment I enjoyed the most, out of all, was making the podcast.  Learning how to edit the recorded material and add music to the background was interesting.  My oldest son wants to go into the music business.   He has recorded himself before and I have watched him edit music on his own computer but I have never actually done it myself until this assignment....now I can say I have.  I plan on implementing podcast(s) into my classroom to hopefully help students have a better understanding of investment vehicles and the risk levels of each of those.  

Podcast

I found the assignment on podcasting to be very beneficial for my classroom. I can use podcast various ways in my classroom. As a physical education teacher I could use podcasts both in the health classroom and in the physical education setting. In the health room I could use podcast for group activities on various health topics such as the body systems. The class could be split up into groups and each group could have their own body system and create a podcast discussing their assigned body system. I could also use podcast in the gym with students who are injured or are not able to participate. With these students, I could have them create podcasts describing the basic skills or rules that are used for the activity that we are currently working on in class.

EDUC 573A

I, like many others, have always considered myself somewhat tech savvy although computers were not 'big' until late in my high school years.  This class has proven me wrong on my thinking.....I have learned so much more than I ever thought I would want to, but I have enjoyed learning all that I have. My only concern at this point is how I can impress my students with my new knowledge and hopefully implement some of this knowledge into my classroom, while staying ahead of the game (so to speak) and my students.  

EDUC573

Before taking this class I thought I was up to date with technology and pretty tech savvy. However, after participating in this class I found that I was wrong. There are so many tech tools that I can take from this class and incorporate in my classroom. I believe the book is right when it states that a lot of students are more up to date with the new technology than teachers are. I hope to take the tools I have learned from this class and try new things in my classroom.

Comfort Zone

For most of my life I have interacted with technology but I must say when doing the screencast and the podcast I was a little outside my comfort zone. I became frustrated easily while doing both because they didnt come as easily to me as I thought they should. I can however say that these two forms of technology have shown themselves to be extremely useful to the education field and I can see myself using them both in the future.

EDUC 573

Due to my lack of technological skills, I found that making the web quest was very frustrating.  It was very tedious and took me hours to complete.  On the bright side, I am amazed I was able to complete all of my class work.

Not as Tech Savvy as I Thought!

I have always thought I was good with technology until this class!  Wow!  I am not as tech savvy as I thought I was!  The things I don't know........  I am learning new and advanced ways to bring technology into my classroom.  Podcasting was new to me and exciting to learn.  Podcasting may be the best thing that has ever happened to my class.  I am a little overwhelmed with creating my blog........I have a lot of questions.  My students would enjoy a class blog so I hope to create one of interest.  

EDUC 573

As an elementary physical education teacher, I feel that most of the technological skills have learned in this class are geared for middle/high school.  Most middle/high school teachers have two classrooms one to teach health and one to teach physical activity.  If I taught upper level classes I could incorporate many of the skills,that i learned, into my lesson plans.  Unfortunately, my school does not have the space or funding to provide my classes with technology.

Podcasts

This class has opened my eyes to new technologies that are available for me to use and how to implement them.  I am really excited about Podcasts. I spend over an hour a day in a commute and these educational podcast would be easy for me to download and listen to on my to work.  Also my students would really enjoy making a podcast to show what they've learned at the end of a science or social studies unit.  Their parents would be able to download and listen to what their child has learned and would even be able to share with others.  This also alleviates the problem of privacy by not showing a student's picture or video. I am not limited as much by school technology media rules. 

Screencast Assignment

This assignment was really a challenge for me.  I am attending this program specifically for the Leadership component, as I am not a teacher in a classroom but rather a University administrator.  I use PowerPoint on a regular basis, both as an occasional presenter at our training conferences and as an attendee, but trying to teach someone else to use it while also recording and moderating my actions was a totally new experience.  It has been a hectic week with Christmas, but I very much enjoyed having a behind the scenes view of how the presentations I view online are actually made.

Podcasting

Podcasting was something I had never done before. When I saw the assignment, I thought it was something that could be used in a high school/college setting. After I spent some time on Mr. Coley's site, I was able to see all kinds of possibilities. Podcasting is a tool I will definatily use in my classroom.

EDUC573

I have to be honest, I was not very excited about having a class over Christmas Break. Looking over the assignments (podcasting, screen casting, blogging, etc.) thinking I will never use this with my 3rd graders and became more discouraged. By the time I finished most of my assignments, I found myself saying, "man my students would love this." I am so glad I took this class and excited to implement these tech tools I have learned into my 3rd grade classroom.

Podcasts

i have always thought of myself as fairly tech savvy, but I have been proven WRONG!  I really have learned a lot about some of the tools available to educators on the Internet.  I have been thinking about ways to use this "new" technology and I believe podcasts might be the best tool for me and my classes.  I teach choral music and it's difficult to find ways for students to practice on their own without making individual CDs and then I never truly know if they are utilizing them.  Podcasts might be my new best friend when it comes to rehearsal techniques.  Time will tell if it works but I do think it can be a fantastic asset to the students...and teacher.

EDUC573

I have been overwhelmed by the amount of material I have been learning in this course.  I have heard of blogging but I have never read any blogs or attempted it on my own.  I really believe I can use this for my classes I teach.  I was skeptical at first, but I think it may prove a valuable tool.

Continuing to Learn

I know I just posted yesterday, but I have learned a lot more since the last post. First I would  like to apologize for the embedded ads in the last post. Apparently, when I was trying to download some programs for one of the other projects, there were some "piggy-back" programs that were with them. Hopefully, I have killed those programs.

Secondly, I just spent 5 hours developing my Web Blog. Boy was that challenging. If you read my last post, then you know that I have NO experience with web-based anything. I learned quite a bit from doing this. I have a former student that is an I.T. guy at Eastman Chemical and currently does our band website. I am starting to see how he is able to structure and add features. It is pretty cool. Now maybe I can have an intelligent conversation with him about our website.

The RSS feed was the most challenging thing for me. It took some research and some finagling to get it to look descent. I had to redo the entire layout to get it to work and still look presentable. I'm getting used to looking for help online. I had to look up 4 or 5 things just to do the Web Blog project.

Being in the arts side of education, I can really appreciate and have fun with the visual design of websites.

After looking a little at the final project, I am pretty apprehensive. It look like a daunting task. I wish everyone luck with the rest of the class.

Everything Is New to Me.

I can definitely say that I knew nothing about any of the projects that we have done so far in this class. The internet wasn't even online when I went through my first Master's program. I can honestly say that I know just what I need to know to function in the world of technology. Working with 5 performing ensembles each year takes the vast majority of my weekdays and weekends. I just haven't taken the time to keep up with these types of things. I don't even have a Facebook account.

I think the most interesting thing that I have read so far is Chapter 9. I am interested in how to utilize Ning in a music classroom. I could envision posting videos of classroom rehearsals or performances and having other band directors, and maybe even the composers of the pieces, listen and make comments to the class. I could also see the students completing assessments and posting constructive comments. It would be good to post links to other performances of the pieces we are rehearsing to give the students a reference, good or bad, to our progress.

I totally agree with the author when he said that we need to teach the students how to use the information the web in a constructive way. I like the way he said that we need to be our own editors. That makes a lot of sense. I often have conversations with my students about using good ethics while posting online as well. There are too many negatives that go with social media sites. It doesn't have to be that way.

The class is definitely opening my eyes to things that I haven't seen before.

Out of My Comfort Zone

Hi, my name is Karen Smith and I teach kindergarten in Sullivan County.  I must say that when I first read about this class I felt very frustrated.  Technology is an area that is somewhat out of my comfort zone.  While several aspects of technology interest me, I just feel that I lack knowledge  needed to incorporate technology into my classroom beyond simple use of computers, iPads, and the Smart Board.  The timing of this class has frustrated me tremendously.  I did not expect to be creating Screencasts, Podcasts, Blogs, or Webquests during my Christmas break!  However, in reading the book and talking to some of my more technology-minded friends, I do now feel encouraged to try some of these new tools.  Is it still out of my comfort zone?  Absolutely!  But sometimes a "push" to try something new is just what we need.

Podcast

I think I have enjoyed the podcast the most. I believe I would use it more than any other technology that we are implementing for this class. I think I would use the podcast primarily as a tool for reading. i envision having my students record themselves reading and play it back to listen to themselves. Also, it would be useful as a retelling activity to use as an assessment for the students' ability to retell.  Many possibilities!

New information

I have never used this technology that we are using in my classroom. This is all very new to me and at times, overwhelming. It seems, though, that as I get into each assignment, I am able to complete each one with ease. I am surprised at my self being able to use this technology!

Implementing what I've learned

I can't wait to use what I've learned in my classroom!  I can think of amazing ways to implement each assignment that I have completed for this class.  I've used webquests a few times and even created my own, but they were not up to the standards required by Dr. Rubin.  I realize now how much better they could have been and plan to do a bit of tweaking.  I have been aware of the other tools for awhile now, but have not had time to research/learn more about them in order to use them.  This class has made me make time.  I have enjoyed learning the new things and am very excited to share them with my teaching team!

I have always believed that there is room in education for technology, but until beginning this course I had no clue how many ways it could be used. I am not currently teaching anywhere but as a student I feel like technology is now consistently being used in classes in every subject area. I think technology in the classrooms opens doorways for many different methods of both learning and teaching.

EDU 573

I teach second grade.  As I was completing my class work (podcast, screencast, blog, etc) I was continually thinking how can I implement all of this into my classroom.  How could my students use this without my constant help?  It hit me they are probably more tech savvy than I am (sad I know).  I realize, because of the class, I need to keep myself updated on all these new ways to keep my students interested.  As teachers we are always competing with video games, cartoons, movies, etc.   I need  to make sure I am as or try to be as entertaining and find ways to keep students focused on learning.  Whether they believe it or not learning can be fun!!!

This is NEW!!

WOW!!  I just thought I knew some things about the internet!!!  Boy was I surprised!  This class has opened my eyes on how much I really don't know.  Kind of sad to know that one of my students could do a better job than me!!!  HAHA!!  I really enjoyed making the Podcast and Screencast!!  Really learning a lot!!

Wow! What a whirlwind!

The past few days have been extremely hectic with last minute shopping for Christmas, dealing with illness (both my children and myself!), and working on these assignments!  I have to say, I have learned quite a bit from the screencast and the podcast assignments.  I can easily see the value of implementing these two tools into the classroom.  They both take some time on the front end, but will save lots of time in the long run. I can think of many ways to use the screencast.  The first way I plan to use it is in teaching my students how to use Microsoft Word!  They have the basics of the program, but need to learn how to use the small detail tools that make life easier.  Another use-we use Edmodo in my classroom and the first few weeks of school are very challenging try to teach students how to access the many tools this website offers.  The screencast would save me tons of time and greatly decrease my "grouchiness" level!

Holy cow! I need to blog!

I am heading into chapter three of Will Richardson's book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom".  Just this rudimentary introduction to blogging has really piqued my interest.  Not only for my Special Ed classroom or Sped consulting work, but also the 501c3s for which I help fundraise.  What a marvelous tool!  My initial reaction to blogging was honestly indifference-Not meant as rude but I really don't care what you eat for breakfast or that your dog threw up.  I don't espect anyone to concern themselves with my menu or my canine's intestines.  BUT, I believe my eyes are being opened to something that's pretty neat and as I'm always interested in learning something new, I'm holding out great hope in things to come!  And for a first hashtag (really don't know what they are but) #youcanteachanolddog #itjusttakestime

EDUC 573

I'm really excited to learn to things to use in my classroom! I try to use technology everyday, but I am always up for adding new tools to my repertoire. I actually have a class blog that I use to let parents and students know what's up in our classes periodically and to share exemplary student work and community activities. The students contribute to this blog as well, and they love having their writing and work published. This totally increases student buy-in! Again, I'm excited to learn new things!

EDUC 573- Fish Out of Water

Wow, "the times they are a changin'".  I have been a contributor to a higher education blog for Financial Aid administrators for some time now, but it never occurred to me the many different possibilities for using a blog in an educational setting.  I look forward to not only learning these new educational tools, but applying them in my professional career.  I currently supervise a staff of around 22 people and I can see using the blog and the screencast as ways to distribute training materials and gather feedback, while allowing my staff to utilize the tools on their own schedule.

EDU 573

I am absolutely thrilled to say that I successfully created a screencast.  I think this will  be a wonderful tool to explain and show students how to create power points, create word processing documents etc. on the computer.  It would work wonderfully because I could begin the screencast then walk around and assist students that need help.  I am excited to try this new technology in a classroom.

I have never created a screencast, blog or podcast.  I am new to all of these technologies.  I am finding this course very difficult and frustrating.  I hope by reading the book and creating some of the required materials that I will become more technologically savvy.  Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Screencast

I enjoyed making the screencast after I figured out how to create it.  I think that screencast would be great to put on my class website when we are beginning a new subject.  They would help the parents to see what we are learning and how to do the skill.  I am very excited about trying it with my class.

EDUC 573 (Web Blog & Screen-Cast

In the past I have created a teacher webpage for my students and parents to visit to stay up to date on assignments and happenenings in my class.  After keeping it updated and in use for a few years, I found that the majority of students and parents did not keep up with it or use it as a resource, so I stopped keeping up with it myself.  The students liked getting on it at school to get their updates, but I had a low population of students who actually had computer and internet access at home.  The students and parents who did provided good feedback on the webpage, but unfortunately there were many who could not access it.  The socioeconomic status of many of my students is not the best, and many of us can attest to that here in rural eastern Kentucky.  Many times, I am teaching basic word processing and PowerPoint skills in my 7th grade classroom, so a lot of the students are way behind when it comes to technology use because they have never been exposed to it on a regular basis.  That is scary because we all know how technology dependent the world has become.  I do have an on-line portal that students and parents can visit to keep up with grades and assignments, and the kids are always asking to log on to that here at school to check things.  I allow them time each week to do that, or each day if they finish their assignments early.  I have also used the Screen-Cast program a little bit in the classroom for PowerPoint presentations.  Students are starting to become a little bit familiar with that as I work it in.  I hope to let them use the program first-handed with their own presentations over the 2nd semester.

EDUC 573 (New to Blogging)

Well I can honestly say that this is my first time blogging.  I have used the screen-cast program before a couple of times, and I have created my own teacher webpage, so I am a little familiar with some of the different types of technology that Will Richardson talks about in his book.  I am not, however, into the whole blogging, wikis, twitter, facebook, post this, post that type of stuff.  I use many different technoloical resources in my classroom, from PowerPoint presentations, to on-line programs, to interactive things for the students.  I am interested in learning some of these technology-based programs and trying to incorporate where I can.  With less than half of my student population having computer access at home, it does make it difficult.  I do have a parent and student portal set up to where they can view their grades on-line and we can communicate back and forth better, and the kids like keeping up with that.  I am cautious though about communicating with students on-line outside of a classroom setting because I know how some kids and parents can be.  The ideas presented in this book are great for those settings where every student is eager to learn and responsible, but the reality is that not all are the same.  These programs do present some challenges to keep up with and enforce, but I can see the positives as well if ran correctly and in the right setting.

Blogging for the first time

When I first realized that we would have to participate and create in a blog, I was very apprehensive.  I have heard of blogs but have never actually participated in one.  So as I was reading in our book “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson”, I found that I agreed with the reading that the students are more familiar with the new technologies than are the students.  I know that my 5 year old can more easily operate her websites than I could at the age of 20.  I do see how technology is being incorporated more into our curriculum now than in the past.  I am amazed that our elementary students now have to type their responses to a writing assessment as early as third grade.  I didn’t even take typing until I was in high school.  As I was reading, I was also didn’t realize that the school websites could be considered a blog.  That leads me to ask, is my school website considered a blog, because our class information such as schedule, assignments, and projects are located there and the parents can send us an email through the site.  So would it be considered a blog?  In our text it states that “blogging takes as much skill as sending an email” (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson), I hope that by the end of this class, it will be that easy.

EDUC 573 Experience

   The experience thus far in EDUC 573 has been enlightening for me. As a physical education teacher, I started my career at the middle school level in a school that was enriched with technology. All teachers had I Pads and in the gym we had things such as our own HD camera, TVs, computers, and Dartfish software. I felt there we were up to date on all the latest technology. I then moved to the high school level 3 years ago and the school has a good amount of technology integrated into it but the PE department does not. Currently, we have an out of date laptop to share between 5 teachers and a stereo. We do have a Smartboard in our wellness room but not a computer to run it. All other technology used in the PE department is the personal property of the teachers. With that said, over the last 3 years I have became "out of touch" as a teacher with some of the current practices involving technology in PE. This class has already shown me how far behind we are and spurred ideas our department can present to the school level administration to gain funding for these ideas. Technology is essential the vast amount of data collection and sharing available in the PE setting as well as the enhancement and enrichment possibilities for students.

Education 573

I am new to blogging. I have heard other teachers talk about following blogs and blogging themselves. I can see how this could be very useful in the classroom. Student can become published authors by blogging. I believe that it could help them to become better writers once they realize that other people now can read what they are writing.  I am also excited to try to make my own podcast. After listening to Mr. C's podcast, it gave me some ideas of things that I can now do in my classroom. I have computers and Ipads in my classroom.  I now can use them for other things besides learning games and websites.

New Blogger

I am new to blogging and am excited to learn!  As I am researching the art of blogging, I find that there are many benefits to blogs in the educational setting.  Students learn confidence and social skills through blogging as well as enhancing literacy skills and internet safety.  Students can post their writing, reflections, and thoughts.  Since their writing will be public, they will feel more pressure to be a better writer.  Blogging can be a useful tool for communication.  Communication is vital in the classroom with students and their parents as well.  I think I have a lot to learn about the use of blogging in my classroom, but I am ready to start.

EDUC 573 (Post 2)

I have enjoyed this winter term class so far. I did not know about Jing and the ability to record step by step instructions to show through avenues like Youtube and facebook. I look forward to expanding my understanding and knowledge about other technology that I may be able to utilize in the future. So many students are connected to each other via text and social networking, but teachers are out of the loop. This class has opened a door that we as educators may be able to make that connection (through professionalism of course) to help our students learn.

EDUCATION 573 - Technology and Education in PE/Wellness

I have been teaching high school physical education and wellness for 7 years. Technology in physical education is a vital learning tool that has remained untapped for years. While classrooms thrive on technology, students in the gym are still using bats and balls (along with various other equipment). I think the biggest problem is that physical educators and wellness teachers lack the resources to use technology. In our school, every physical education teacher and wellness teacher is operating on their own personal technology. We have been promised iPads for a couple of years now and we have completed grants to get iPads and Apple TV's.

I feel that we as educators would utilize apps and other resources in our classes more, if we were uniformed and most importantly provided with the tools we need to get the job done. Let's face it, you don't send a surgeon in to perform heart surgery with nothing in hand. We don't hire a painter to paint our house, only to find out that he/she doesn't provide the tools necessary to complete the job. As teachers, we are walking into a classroom/gym full of students that thrive on technology, only we have tools that don't allow students to learn to their maximal potential.

'The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.'

- C.S. Lewis

Podcasts

Several years ago, I attended an AP Forum and learned about how the potential uses of podcasts in the classroom to teach tone and voice.  This was something that I wanted to use in my classroom, but we did not have the technology available for students to create their own podcasts.  Just recently, we purchased new laptops for the English department that have the microphone capabilities.  The chapter and activity about podcasting reminded me about the lesson on tone and voice.  I plan to have my students create a podcast using various types of topics and voices.

Technology in the Classroom

I have enjoyed learning about different types of technology that can be used in the classroom.  It is easy to get in a rut of using the same types of technology over and over, and not utilizing new technology as it becomes available.  I started a blog for my AP class, and I would like to continue to add to that so that students have another way to access additional information.

The content in which I learned from this class is things that I can use in my own classroom that I feel will help my students track homework and school assignments. These activities can also help them to grow in communication and help the silent students in class be more vocal through technology.

I have really enjoyed the content of this class. I have learned a lot about the different uses of technology and how it can play an important role in my classroom. Creating the blog was certainly not what I expected. I expected it to be a long drawn out process but it wasn't bad at all. I have enjoyed it and I appreciate all that you have shown me over the course of this class.

Technology in my own class

As I' am currently seeking my Masters Degree in Education I currently have been substitute teaching with the Knox Co Schools in hopes of one day teaching high school history. This  class has opened up great ways for me to teach the curriculum to students. Using technology in the teaching of History is a great opportunity to teach students as it seems to grab their attention in a positive aspect.  

Educ 573 Blogger

This is my first time using blogger as I' am new to this it will be interesting for me. Blogging is a great way for teachers to communicate with their students as a whole group outside of the classroom. Some schools are even considering having normal class days through blogging when their districts call off for inclement weather for example. Instead of the class getting behind teachers will be able to communicate through sites like blogger and still have class discussion from the comfort and safety of each persons home.

EDU 573

Technology is all around us not only in everyday living but as a tool in educating students.  For me technology has always intimated me therefore I have stuck with just the basic necessities to get by.  When I signed up for this class I was nervous and  I had no idea what to expect.  Taking this class made me leave my comfort zone and I have learned so much these past weeks.  At this time I am not teaching but when the time comes I am going to be prepared to teach my students through technology with confidence.