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I feel like a swimmer that is going under from the weight of the material. I have gathered so much information this week. I had no idea that these tools were as easily used and incorporated into most of what I teach let alone available for free. I found the hands-on atmosphere a great way to begin my understanding of these tools. I know that it will take me time to internalize the ‘tools’ and to utilize them in all my classes but as each day passed this week, I found that I was more comfortable with the prior days activities. This class is one that I believe all teachers need that are not already up on the technologies and even those teachers who are ‘savy’ can learn more. Your information and your willingness to permit us access to it after the class ends (I know I will use it) is most welcome. I do appreciate all that I have gained.

I must say that this has been a very enlightening week. The massive amount of information that you cleverly presented to us in a hands-on learning atmosphere has my mind spinning. I look forward to the time that I can spend looking at all this material and finding various ways to incorporate it into my classes. I am going to use the wiki to provide quick cases and problems to classes that will require responses posted to the class’s blog. The reason that I have decided to post to a blog is based on 1) I want to verify what the students are writing before it is posted, 2) I want them to answer initially on their own, and finally 3) I want them to then post comments to the answers that others posted. This way, I am asking them to think first on their own and then to think it through again and possibly change their initial thoughts or point out to me and the others in their class what they believed to incorrect in other’s view. It is my ultimate goal that eventually I will be able to incorporate the tools into all my classes (I teach 5 – 6 different preps a term). This material is most interesting and after reading blogs from others such as, Will Richardson (both his book and blog), I am really ready to start.

What is not done at this point is setting up blogs for each of the classes.  These class blogs are where the students will post their answers to my wiki  (home page for the school kids is the mrsdubefall2007 link).   Once each student in each class has posted, I will then approve (or not) their answers.  Then they will begin their collaboration by discussing through posts on how other students responded.

Following is the address for the wiki.  I tried the link and tried to reset it and could not get it to work.  If you type the address in and do a search it goes to the proper site.    http://www.wikispaces.com/

If all else fails try the delicious link on the right. 

I believe that what I want to do is to prepare a blog that will provide access for students and parents to the material assigned in my AP Economics class. Along with listing their assignments, I also want to provide them with posts of problems that will lead to a better answering of the FRQ’s that they will face on the AP test.  These questions will require that they conference with one another via the blog with comments and discuss the steps needed to answer the question.

I hope to also link up a delicious link that will provide students with material for the next few class discussions.

Will Richardson has a site that covers everything including his biography to a PDF on RSS. He presents his site as clearly as he wrote his book that we are using for this class. He has chronological links on the side of one page to various speaking engagements as well as conferences that he has attended on pages of pictures and information about his family.

I found it really neat that he took his new iPhone on his hike and used it to research the snake his family saw on the trail. I thought that is was really funny that he did not tell his wife that he was taking it with them.

This is a site that is great for people like me that know little and need things explained and shown in a clear manner.

In today’s world, there are a number of ways that people are connecting.   Wesley Fryer points out that though improvements in wireless connections, PC’s, and televisions that these devises will permit users to videoconference without barriers.   Fryer mentions the Global Education Collaborative Ning and how the ability to access others in other countries using cell phones  is one method that is allowing for the expansion of  videoconferencing.  A potential threat that these new technologies brings is the potential to circumvent the blocks that are in place within schools and some businesses.  He seems to state that although these new ‘distruptive technologies’ as he terms them may fall within the blocking systems that are in place, the learning environment needs to change to meet the new technologies rather than simply block them.  This leads to the new NETS standards and the need to lead  students and teachers to be more creative and collaborative. 

This post on his blog seems to directly align with much of what we have discussed in class.   Education needs to address the changes in society to meet the changes necessary for students of today to be prepared for the future tomorrow.

Within the classroom, I would provide a student access list of links to sites that contain various readings and information that pertains to the topics being covered.

Goals

• use a blog for assignments and student responses
• learn this technology for future usage in all my classes
• ability to aid other teachers in usage of these tools

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