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.