Chapter 10: Putting All Together

What does this all mean about education? Well in my opinion it is really leading us to the right direction of where and how I believe teaching and learning are all about. I think the collaboration of thinkers dialoguing subject matter is far more meaningful and sustainable than being lectured too, Putting information and supposed facts into students' heads so they can repeat it back to the teacher for grades is not my idea of good learning. I know I have always learned best by collaborating, and dialoguing ideas with others. Creating ongoing discussion with all kinds of resources, including new teachers, to learn from an never ending dynamic process. Many of these concepts were ingrained into us at Lesley University. I really never realized the extent of how well technology falls into these concepts of pedagogy.

The other overall change I see is social networking, and linking, or creating a portfolio of relevant information for yourself while sharing and connecting with others. I have always been amazed by what we have access to in Facebook alone. There is so so much more to learn and access. While teaching Interpersonal Dynamics it is imperative that we incorporate social networking into our curriculum. This is truly the new community meeting ground for so many people. It is social and to resist this phenomenon is to not see the benefits of an amazing technological movement that at this point feels unstoppable. We need to start joining our children and create this new culture together.

Chapter 9: Social Networks

Facebook is one of the tools that I feel I have mastered for the most part. I believe that this has really helped me to understand some of the concepts and applications we are learning. Facebook is what I would call both a community and a culture. Teaching digital citizenship through facebook is essential in the Interpersonal Dynamics class. We absolutely have to integrate this culture into our teaching dialogue and learn how help the younger generation learn to be civil online and offline. I think one of the issues regarding Facebook is that the youth of today are far more adept in using this social networking community. Without adult lessons in online social skills our kids are living in the wild wild west in a way. Our youth have entered this community without having knowledge of any social guidelines. Online communication also seems to allow people to feel shielded behind the computer screen limiting their ability to control impulses. I know that for me I may not have issues of manners on Facebook. But it does allow me to feel less inhibited about sharing wit and creativity.

One of the things I have been talking about for years is that adults NEED to access and learn Facebook because we need to understand this community of people. It is a PLACE, a community, and a culture that is new to adults but absolutely normal for kids. I am fascinated by it and love how I can connect with people all over the world, know what is going on with all my friends new and old. My daughter was able to know and converse with all of her incoming freshman class when going off to college. How much easier is that then how I was thrown into something so new scary when going away to college? She knew details about her roommates and got to know them before she even got there. I was amazed that she and one friend had become buddies on Facebook and were texting each other while we were waiting in the drop off car line for the dorms. They were both nervous and they connected before they even met. To this day her Facebook friend is one of her most intimate friends in the world. They stayed friends all through college and continue their relationship beyond that. How lucky she was to have that.

Chapter 8: Podcasting, Video, Streamcasting and Live Streams

I was interested in learning how to use podcast on my class blog but when I learned the streamcasting technique I had so much fun. It took me a long time to make it work; five takes. However it had nothing to do with me, it was the computer that was unable to record the sound. I can see using this as a way to teach the writing and dialoguing skills that we use in the Interpersonal Dynamics class at Foxborough High school.

I was really intrigued by all the screencast examples that our classmate created. I found this to be an incredibly fun way to teach, whether the teacher is teaching or the student is presenting/teaching something to the class. The uses of this are endless. I saw an example from our class which described how to use all the senses in writing. I thought this was interesting as it would be possible to create a rubric in this format. It may be more interesting for students to learn, see it and hear it through technology. Technology has a comfort level for kids that we need to access in order to get our students’ attention. This is all good stuff and I love learning it. I just need more time to really master and remember all of the things we have learned so far.

chapter 7: Fun with Fickr

I think I missed the class on using Flickr. Unfortunately or fortunately I am a hands on learner so really I just need to play around and explore what Flickr has to offer. I love photography; I was a photographer in my first career. I am also a visual learner and since the digital age of photography I have loves to play and manipulate images.  Images have always been a part of my creative life. I love to play and see this kind of presentation for students as a possibility for my visual learners to express themselves emotionally through these tools.

I think that with the ease of taking pictures with our phones students have much quicker access to images that could be used to express themselves. I am constantly being asked if I want to see images of pets, hobbies, and friends. To be able to put these images on feeds and be able to tag and make comments on them is great. I know that I love to share fun crazy picture that I have played with in an artistic form on to facebook. Using blogs to create new projects and feeds is a great way to share photos.  I know that I have developed a new fascination with digital photography with my iphone. I also found a book called iphonagraphy. I haven’t bought it yet, but will do so soon. I believe it references websites and apps that allow more creative photographs through the iphone. I often find a theme that is somehow personally relevant to my life metaphorically and play with images that to express my ideas on a personal topic. This opens up a new door to the possibilities in class expression and creativity on a subject.

Chapter 6: The Social Web: Learning together

I thought that this chapter would mainly be about Facebook, which is probably the most popular social networking networking site at the moment. I found however the focus on Twitter was much more interesting than I presumed. I have had a twitter account for a while but found it boring. My daughter has used it a lot with her friends and they generally follow celebrities for fun. It was fun at first but then I become bored with it. I had no idea that there was so much more you could do with Twitter. I have re-signed up and would like to see if I can use it in a different way.

What interested me most about twitter that I never even thought of was the ability to search for topics of interest. This would allow me to join discussions about books or other interesting things in order to converse or just read opinions on my topic of choice.  Also using a feed which I have yet to figure out, is another way to stay present with the conversation in case I want to include my own input and join a discussion. Each chapter I read in this book takes me deeper and deeper into the infinite resources of the web. It’s amazing yet overwhelming. I’m sure as I get used to some of these applications I will be able to contain my access to personal  and professional interests which will allow me to dig deep but not overwhelm me with the unbelievable amount of choices. I wonder if this is the way people felt when libraries were originally set up. I know that when I have visited NYC library it has been amazing that the size and access is so endless.  When I was a teenager I often used the library to access articles about things that interested me. I would dig deep by using periodicals with allowed me to access past material and articles of interest. I think this is really the same only the ability to stay current interactive with discussions is a way to be much more collaborative and less time consuming once you understand the features of the tools that are used.

Chapter Five: The Killer App for Educators

Ellen on Technology go to 5.00

I wanted to put this little clip of Ellen Degeneres to show how overwhelmed by all the multitasking that has overwhelmed the adult population. When I read this chapter I realized that the RSS feed is really meant to reduce the need to feel overloaded by information, It's funny how much changes so quickly when you are connected so many people at once. I am familiar with the feed because I use Facebook frequently to stay in touch with my friends from all over the world. The RSS feed helps me to stay on top of new posts but NOT become overwhelmed by keeping in touch with everyone all at once.

I see it as a kid in a candy store. When we are bombarded with so much candy all at once we are amazed and maybe a little paralyzed by all the candy we can see. The RSS feed can reduce this overload by just exposing you to the most recent updates of new and improved candy... don't need to see it all at once because it is completely overwhelming.

I have enjoyed using it on Google Reader because I am connected to a lot of thing of interest to me. It's so cool that I don't have to visit each website or blog to connect to my interests.

Chapter 4: Wikis

I always wondered where the word wiki or wikipedia came from. It was quite interesting that it was the Hawiian word for quick, from wiki-wiki. I learn quite a lot about Wikipedia that I did not know. I did know that anyone could change something on any page, I just didn't understand, then, how they wouldn't be so sloppy with terrible inaccuracy. I found the idea that for the few people who intentionally or unintentionally put inaccurate information of Wikipedia sites that many, many more people are on top of that and correct it to a much accurate information. This is really amazing to me. It is self regulated and it works amazingly well. I can not help but to see the people who mess with the facts on Wikipedia as human virus or bacteria, and the onslot of correctors as the immune system. This metaphor just blew me away at how similar the science of global technology could be to our biological system. It is just so amazing to think of the web as a working organism..

I have not done enough on my wiki yet. I have enjoyed the blog because I feel that I can be more creative on it. However the information sharing on the wiki is good for following up on classes and accessing outside sorces like RSS feeds. The blog feels more interactive and personal than the wiki, but I did put a chat feature that I like on my wiki. I think the collaborative effort is quite fascinating and the wiki has things that I still need to learn about. I think the rest of this chapter was focused on actually being on the computer and learning in a hands on way. I need to work on the wiki a lot more to be able to understand the usefulness of it in relation to the work I am doing with my students.