Reflective Blog #3

Assessment for learning develops learners’ capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self managing. I relate most to this tenant because through self assessment, the learner can gage where improvement or more learning is needed and can best decide how to proceed to developing a learning plan, ask for instructor/teacher assistance, and decide how to proceed with their plan. I think this is also a motivating tenant in that the learner takes control.

Portfolio assessment is very important because although it may appear to the student/learning that the portfolio is a good representation of progress, there may be areas that need to be improved or areas that are good but could be made better and this can be accomplished through assessment and expert suggestion.

The creation of my portfolio has enhanced my learning, and serves as sort of a trophy of what I have learned thus far in this course. Of course there is always room for improvement and learning does create change, so updating and changing my portfolio will only add to its worth and my accomplishment/trophy.

Reflective Blog #2

Reflective Blog #2

After completing the MAPping information activity, what are your reactions to your findings? What will you do differently while searching on the Internet for information now? How confident are you with the information you've used in the past (as part of your college career and/or in your profession)?

The mapping information is very useful. All this time I have assumed that when I googled or Binged a search, the first few websites turned up were the most relevant, not knowing that it was just the most popular. This is very important to know, since I have only been using the internet for about 20 years! Some of the sites were just useless like the cats/beards site and the Robot site which was linked to comic books. The All About Explorers site was of course junk as someone who was informed could tell by looking at Christopher Columbus, but what would happen if an elementary student was doing a book report and took the information seriously. This was actually very educational, and would be great for everyone to review just to see how easily you can be fooled about credible and reliable information on the internet.  

On the search engines sites, the advertisements are a way to advertise and to get more people using their search engines, and I compare these to commercials on T.V. Easywhois, is so informative, I had no idea it would be so easy to find out the owner of a website. The website I looked at had a street address and a contact number, email address, and server address. It also had the creation date and the expiration date of the website.

What are some implications for the future of our students if we fail to teach them these skills in school? After all, the schools may block access to sites, but students still have access at home.

Students have to become internet savvy. It is clear that there is a lot of good and useful information on the internet, however there is also a lot of useless and even harmful information that can do much more harm than benefit. The information in this mapping exercise would be beneficial for teachers to give their students and should be included in basic technology/computer classes.

Do you see any advantages for organizing your information via Delicious and/or Google Reader? What are some ways you think you could use these tools in the future?

I definitely see an advantage in using Delicious and Google Reader, for the convenience of having all your information in one place and easy to access, however, the only downside is the privacy part. The tools could be used for exchanging documents, social networking, collaborating, and connecting from any location.

This week, you also explored the concept of wikis and created a wiki for a specific purpose. What purpose did you have in mind when developing your wiki and have you started to implement your ideas yet?
I created a wiki site for my hobby of gardening. The purpose of the site is to find new ideas for growing what some consider to a weed, the passion flower. Although I started the Wiki to educate people on the passion flower, I intend to discuss and collaborate with others on where to find the weed/flower and what I am interested in and that is how to grow them year round, what other varieties are out there and what qualities the plant has in the way of creating a health benefits. 

What advantages do you see in utilizing wikis? What disadvantages do you see? Think back to the digital natives reading. How do wikis have the potential for engaging them?

Wikis have an advantage of engagement, what I mean is the Wiki is much better than Email and is much more convenient and user friendly. The disadvantages are that someone else can erase your work. This could be compensated though by making a copy of very important documents or limiting the users. The other disadvantage to me would be personal contact, but if you have a Webcam, this could become more personal. I think I would worry a little of the sites that were not privacy protected, especially for the younger students because of some of the information may not be what was expected or needed.

The digital natives will adapt to this much better than the traditional classroom. The engaging potential is the social one. Wikis are superior to Email, texting, and incorporate the same principles as Facebook, MySpace, etc. The other benefits are listed in the “Why is Web 2.0 relevant for teaching and learning?” such as 24 hour access, ideas from collaboration, shy students can express themselves

In exploring the eLearning Tools Wiki, what other web 2.0 technologies did you uncover that you want to explore further?

Blended learning (I still like the social aspect of personal contact), virtual world, and video conferencing.

Class Expectations

My expectations for this class are to learn the latest and best educational technologies. I am especially interested in technology that is targeted to higher education. I have learned a great deal from this first week! I look forward to learning more from the course and learning from my classmates, it is always good to hear others opinions and knowledge.

Reflective Blog #1

Educational technology philosophy: Having my philosophy written down serves two purposes. First, it is a good idea to think about what your philosophy is. So many of the educational philosophies have a few of the same characteristics, and that is why I prefer to draw from realism and pragmatism. The second purpose is that I am open to new views and ideas, and as I learn more about education technology, I can see some views that might be incorporated from existentialism, especially in the incorporation of on-line learning.
Potential uses for Downes’ article/educational blog uses: My view of Downes’ article is that blogging is a really good tool for getting younger students to write and gain writing knowledge, however, as the article suggests, when teachers and parents begin to watch and comment, the value of experiential creativity becomes lost, due to the blogs becoming more of a classroom atmosphere. What I mean to say is that blogging becomes another assignment and some loses it appeal.
Another reason for blogging not having as much impact as in its early days is that blogging is like an early Facebook or Twitter and may be thought of as more of a social site rather than an educational tool.
Creating a culture for teaching and learning/6 areas/of the 6 the most outstanding: They were all great areas to think about, but I think the one area that stood out the most was number one, if it’s on the internet it must be true. There is a good reason for using scholarly peer reviewed work, because you can be confident that experts have reviewed the work. When it comes to internet searches there is a good reason to check information you find by other sources. As November alludes to in his article anyone can put anything on internet. It is just a good idea to at least run what you find by two or three more links to see what is out there.

Concept Map

Explain/define my concept map: My concept map explains my thoughts and impressions on what I perceive to be important to education through technology. My educational philosophy is pragmatism and some elements of realism, although I am open to a discovery of more elements from other educational philosophy. I see a teacher as a facilitator, teacher, guide, mentor, and trainer. I think media, such as internet, and educational technology is very important to education. Important areas of education from my perspective are research, critical thinking, discovery of new teaching methods, and student success.

Educational Technology Philosophy

Teaching, guiding, and learning prompted my interest in education, because I am passionate about learning and want to share my passion with everyone in hopes that I can make a difference and help someone learn and want to learn. Technology is an aid to education.  It enhances the learning experience and widens the knowledge arena. I can’t see successful education without technology.

Looking at a situation from every angle increases my learning experience, and I think it will help others in the same way. A great teacher/trainer/guide/student is one that has a significant impact on another’s view and learning experience through kind, understanding, and open guidance, and communication.

My goal is to create lifelong learning desires with a good attitude toward learning. I think the more methods you use, the more people understand, because everyone learns differently. A mixture of traditional and non-traditional methods are what I think are the most beneficial and hope that they will reach everyone’s ability to learn from them.

My interest in a learning environment is to reach everyone. And to assure students know that technology is ever changing and is an aid to communication and learning.