Well, my week has been both rewarding and disappointing.
Let’s start with the disappointing aspect of my week. I found going through the “help” menus for the blog, the wikipage, the bio, etc. to be very time consuming. I spent a couple hours every day (yes, I’m a beginner in all of these) trying to understand the terminology and the process to post, to upload, etc. I am still trying to figure out how to put my picture in the participant directory. I also need to upload (proper term??) my video to Youtube. I’m almost at the point where I will be phoning someone to help me with the picture. Not yet, I will not be defeated!!!
The rewarding part of my week is that I did accomplish most of the introductory activities. I was able to create accounts and I now understand what a blog is and its purpose. I also know now how to use my web cam. What a great tool. I have a sister who lives in San Diego and I have not seen her in six years. I am going to set us up so that we can conference every Sunday. I am so excited. Back to the class material. I have decided not to freak out if I can’t keep up to what everyone else is doing. I have already learned so much and will continue to learn. My personal goal for this class is to take back what I have learned and use it in the classroom. Once I feel comfortable enough I will create a classroom blog for my English 31 crew.
I did have an opportunity to view the assigned videos for this week and I found them to be very interesting. The video that resonates with me is “A vision of students today”. I couldn’t help but think that we (educators) are so out of touch with the youth of today. However, is that any different than when we were in high school? We thought our teachers were out of touch with our world? I realize that we are still in the textbook age and need to move beyond that. But how? Teachers are moving at a snails pace when it comes to technology. How do we improve the training of teachers? What about the teachers that refuse to be brought into the Web age? What about undergraduate programs, what is the requirement regarding technology skills and knowledge?
Well, back to my picture and video!
Kyle Lichtenwald said,
January 15, 2008 at 10:06 am
Hi Rosanne. Way to go on embedding your photo. Check the youtube tutorials I created for uploading video. http://eci831.wikispaces.com/Tutorials I like your determination, keep working away at trying these things out. Let me know if you need more guidance.
leahdewhurst said,
January 17, 2008 at 3:25 am
Rosanne,
I share some of your frustration too, but I think if we all work together we can conquer anything.
I liked some of your questions you brought up at the end. I know when I was in an undergraduate program, taking the computer course was optional and I believe to this day it is still optional. I just don’t think its the teachers fault that we are moving at a snails pace in regards to technology. What are school boards doing about this? I am new to my school divsion, so I am not aware of any workshops or what they have done to improve technology in the schools.
Connie Cossar said,
January 17, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Hi Rosanne, The good thing is that there are a lot of us in the class that seem to be new to these technologies (even those of us that “thought” we were sort of techno savvy). We are fortunate that we have Alec, Rob, and Kyle though, who all seem very patient and willing to help us out and encourage us along this journey. Everyone in the class also seems very helpful! All of these new websites and accounts tend to be a bit overwhelming, but I think once we start using them they will become easier and very useful tools. I started a Twitter account and after initially being EXTREMELY confused, got a bit addicted to it and can see where it will be a very useful networking tool.
Happy learning!
I agree with your questions at the end. There is a lot to be done if schools want to step into the 21st century and I don’t know that we have the answers to your questions yet, but perhaps as more people take classes like this and become more aware of the issues, we will band together to start building more up to date learning communities for our students
Shaun Loeppky said,
January 18, 2008 at 12:49 am
Dont sweat the techie stuff. I took two classes in Video in education and I couldnt even upload videos to You tube. No matter how experienced you are, there is always something else to challenge one’s abilities, in any aspect of education.
About your comment about bringing teachers into the “Web Age”. I am a strong proponent that teachers will take ownership only for those technologies that a) make their job more effective in terms of student learning and b) effective use of time.
I am curious to see if these technologies will inspire those shy of “the web” to take that ownership.