Dear Class -
How far have we come? Most of us are only at the beginning of our journey's wading through HTML code, splicing sounds through Audacity, manipulating images and posting our most innermost thoughts about education for all the world to see. But it has been an enjoyable ride, and we will carry on given all our free time we will now have to explore and create even better masterpieces. Here are a few of my favorites:
Mr Jannetti
What a professional looking job (not surprising, for a professional). Maybe you should skip the dance teacher career and go into web design! I really appreciated the way the layouts were organized and the color schemes. Easy on the eyes and the site flowed well.
Dana G.
I enjoyed how you gave a personal touch to the content - nice to see some tidbits about something other than "My name is...I am from....I went to school...." The content of your literacy page was very informative and impressive looking. It certainly caught my attention!
Rachel Deep
This website was simple, elegant, but still informative and told me what I needed to know. I didn't have to go sifting or scrolling around for information. The color choices were complementary and I appreciated the constant theme throughout.
I'm signing off for now....Happy Holidays everyone!
Renia
Monday, December 19, 2011
Role of Technology in the Classroom
Before I took this class, I hadn't given much thought to how I should/could/might/need to incorporate the use of technology into my classroom. When I think back on my years in elementary through high school, I can't really seem to pinpoint any very significant uses of technology in the classroom.
I remember: records, tapes, VCRs, overheads, scantron sheets, computers with black and green screens. CDs I think were the most advanced technology, and that wasn't even until the later years of HS.
What do you all remember?
Does it come as a surprise to you (or do you not agree) that the structure of classrooms and curriculum is very outdated? If you think about it, the educational system hasn't really been reformed or overhauled since the 1950s when it became a necessity to train students to become factory workers. Do you think that the outdated nature of curriculum's might partially be a result of (and here comes the part where you might flag me) perhaps [older] teachers who are not incorporating evolving technologies into their classrooms? I haven't had the opportunity to observe many classrooms yet, so my experiences are few, but I do wonder if this could be part of the problem. It seems to me that we should embrace technology as it can assist us as educators in being more productive and providing our students with exposure to stimuli that they would not otherwise have access to. It is also a way for us to connect with our students and to allow them to show us (through utilizing technologies that they are constantly attached to 24/7 anyway) what they know, how they know it, to give them a chance to be proud and build upon their self esteem. It provides them a chance to be an integral part of process of learning, which I believe they yearn for. They thrive on interaction, not passive reaction to facts and figures being split out at them. This is a reality that we need to admit. And once they are old enough to go out into the great big world, the technologies will only be more advanced and I suspect that in order to survive they will need to have the necessary skills to be able to advance along with it.
My point to this post being: As educators in today's day and age we really need to put some effort into keeping up with the latest technological trends in order to be the best educators we can be......don't forget it.
I remember: records, tapes, VCRs, overheads, scantron sheets, computers with black and green screens. CDs I think were the most advanced technology, and that wasn't even until the later years of HS.
What do you all remember?
Does it come as a surprise to you (or do you not agree) that the structure of classrooms and curriculum is very outdated? If you think about it, the educational system hasn't really been reformed or overhauled since the 1950s when it became a necessity to train students to become factory workers. Do you think that the outdated nature of curriculum's might partially be a result of (and here comes the part where you might flag me) perhaps [older] teachers who are not incorporating evolving technologies into their classrooms? I haven't had the opportunity to observe many classrooms yet, so my experiences are few, but I do wonder if this could be part of the problem. It seems to me that we should embrace technology as it can assist us as educators in being more productive and providing our students with exposure to stimuli that they would not otherwise have access to. It is also a way for us to connect with our students and to allow them to show us (through utilizing technologies that they are constantly attached to 24/7 anyway) what they know, how they know it, to give them a chance to be proud and build upon their self esteem. It provides them a chance to be an integral part of process of learning, which I believe they yearn for. They thrive on interaction, not passive reaction to facts and figures being split out at them. This is a reality that we need to admit. And once they are old enough to go out into the great big world, the technologies will only be more advanced and I suspect that in order to survive they will need to have the necessary skills to be able to advance along with it.
My point to this post being: As educators in today's day and age we really need to put some effort into keeping up with the latest technological trends in order to be the best educators we can be......don't forget it.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Browser Investigation
The Browser that I have the most experience with is Explorer, only by virtue of the fact that I have a Windows laptop and that was the default browser, and that is the only browser available to me at work. Recently I had some security issue with Explorer on my laptop and I upgraded to the latest version, which afterwards I discovered was a big mistake. I keep getting all of these unfortunate pop-up messages, asking me questions which I can't seem to ever make go away, even though I choose "Do not show this message again." and pages wouldn't load, and it was slow and just overall a frustrating experience. They also revamped all the menus and shortcut buttons, and it was all so utterly confusing. So, off to Firefox land I went. It was a bit of an adjustment as the Menus are set up differently but over all I can say that the interface seems simpler, I receive no random pop-up window messages and the performance is far superior as it seems very speedy. I have had a bit of experience using Safari as my sister is a devout Mac user. Nothing seems to scream out at me as special or difficult to use about this browser other than the fact that it takes some getting used to as the interface is different than the others. I have had even less experience with Google Chrome, however I did end up using it to upload my YouTube video as it was suggested by several classmates that the upload speeds were far superior than that of any other Browser. I conducted a bit of research online and found that Chrome is considered to be the most secure out of all the browsers available.
But really when it boils down to it, browser choice seems to be a personal preference based off of familiarity, features and personal experience with browser issues.
But really when it boils down to it, browser choice seems to be a personal preference based off of familiarity, features and personal experience with browser issues.
A window into my past.....present
As I began my graduate work last Fall semester, it was a bit of a culture shock for me as well as an adjustment period because so much of the communication between professors and students is dependent upon technology. I will now date myself when I say that I graduated from my undergraduate in 2000, which means I started college in the Fall of 1996. And things were so different then. The phenomenon called email had only recently been introduced and I hadn't even set up my own personal email account yet (which I later ended up signing up for Hotmail). I remember that having a computer, or even a laptop in your dorm room was this amazing and privileged status of which I was not a member. I had to go down and use the computer lab in the basement if I wanted to check my school email. Many times I had to sit around and wait or keep going back to check and see if one was free. Even though at the time our school (SUNY Potsdam) was considered the top "wired" SUNY school, utilizing the internet for everyday communications was still an anomaly.And there were many times when the severs were down and you couldn't even download your email. I remember patiently and anxiously sitting in front of the computer, watching the status bar as it downloaded my emails and wondering with excitement what was coming and who had written to me. Mostly those days it was email forwards from old High School friends, and the occasional boy.
Jump to Fall 2010 and I have begun my Graduate Studies at NYU. A few of my teachers kept mentioning this Blackboard item in class? What was that? And oh, by the way we might send you some assignments via email, but we won't mention that. Oh, thanks for letting me know! I missed more than one assignment that way. What happened to professors announcing the assignment before you left class? Humph. And it made me feel so old and outdated. Like when I went to visit m undergraduate school a year after gradating and every student had a cell phone? What happened to running back to your dorm to see if that cute guy you met the night before had left you a voicemail??
So back to Blackboard. Very interesting concept, and I think a useful tool to allow the teacher to communicate with the class, as well as providing a way for the class to communicate with the class. However, as often happens with technology, it is only as smart as it's user(s). I have had mixed experiences with using Blackboard. Some teachers really utilize some of the features very well. For example during my Inquiries Class I used it to post "blog" entries via the Discussion board which my classmates could respond to, I used it to communicate, via the Roster section, with my classmates, our teacher posted assignment and links and videos. It was very handy to have all those resources and features at your fingertips, though I have to say it is not very user friendly. I often was frustrated with the "logic" of what order I had to type, and post, and if I used my back button it would erase what I typed, or my NYU session would log out. So it is not without its drawbacks.
Jump to Fall 2010 and I have begun my Graduate Studies at NYU. A few of my teachers kept mentioning this Blackboard item in class? What was that? And oh, by the way we might send you some assignments via email, but we won't mention that. Oh, thanks for letting me know! I missed more than one assignment that way. What happened to professors announcing the assignment before you left class? Humph. And it made me feel so old and outdated. Like when I went to visit m undergraduate school a year after gradating and every student had a cell phone? What happened to running back to your dorm to see if that cute guy you met the night before had left you a voicemail??
So back to Blackboard. Very interesting concept, and I think a useful tool to allow the teacher to communicate with the class, as well as providing a way for the class to communicate with the class. However, as often happens with technology, it is only as smart as it's user(s). I have had mixed experiences with using Blackboard. Some teachers really utilize some of the features very well. For example during my Inquiries Class I used it to post "blog" entries via the Discussion board which my classmates could respond to, I used it to communicate, via the Roster section, with my classmates, our teacher posted assignment and links and videos. It was very handy to have all those resources and features at your fingertips, though I have to say it is not very user friendly. I often was frustrated with the "logic" of what order I had to type, and post, and if I used my back button it would erase what I typed, or my NYU session would log out. So it is not without its drawbacks.
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