A10.4: EFN (Progress Memo)
10/31/08
Content Summary:
When looking back on this unit I can see that I definalty learned about different technologies and how to use them as tools in therapy. We not only got to learn in depth about an adaptive technology in detail, but we got to look at others and learn how they can help as well. Then while putting this into a presentation on the web we learned some good ways to present our data for other people to see. Software is also another thing that we can use in our therapy that can help us accomplish goals. We learned about different software that can be used in therapy, or could help us prepare for therapy. This way we learned a little about each one when we presented them in class. We also learned that after we found and searched these softwares they were not that helpful to us. There were some that could be helpful but they mainly were not the easiest programs to work with and the things that they were accomplishing could have been done by us without the programs. I also learned about literacy and that digital literacy has many subcatagories in it. If you break it down you can see that there are many different things that you can be literate in, not only the broad subject of digital literacy but also the subcatagories included in it.
Progress Summary:
As mentioned in the first progress memo I am definately online more often then I use to. I have also learned how to operate different discussion sites such as nicenet. These discusstions have also made me get on line more often to see whtat people have written about the topic that we are talking about. It is interesting to see all the different opinions and views on the topics we have been discussing such as the different types of literacy, what digital literacy is, how we can use different technologies in therapy, ect. I have also learned how to subscribe to Google alerts and receive new information that is listed under certain subjects. This is extremely helpful when you are researching on a topic. The importance of checking the accuracy of the information on the sites that I find has also been brought to my attention through us performing different evaluation on websites. The newest thing that I have learned to do is on the Diigo account. Here I have learned how to bookmark certain sites, highlight those sites, put them in certain orders, and learned how to create notes on the sites that will be there when I return to that site through Diigo. I really like this application and am glad that it was brought to my attention.
Assessment:
The information that I have during this unit is definatly helpful to me. The Adaptive technologies and presenting them allowed me to see a few of the devices that are available for people to use and now I can see that I could possible see some of these devices when working with my clients. The Software evaluation will also allowed me to see that there are certain software programs out there that can be used, but I also think that I learned that they are still developing and that they may be better in the comming years. The discussions that we have been involved in, especially the literacy one, have also helped me see that there is definatly more to literacy then just reading and writing and it has made me wonder when we truly are literate and how we measure this. We had a discussion about this but I think we all just danced around and came up with that we really didn’t know? Software evaluations are not the most fun things to do, but I have also found myself looking more indepth at the informaiton on the websites that I go to now. I find myself looking at the dates, authors, and associations that these differnet sites are associated with. I definatly more aware of the information that I read and how accurate it is.
Reflection:
When looking at this unit I can see that the work that I have done could be seen by others. One of the evaluation I did was actually seen by the author and he wrote back to me. I never thought that people would acutally see the things that I wrote on the internet and actually care but they did. They could google the device that I made my presentation on, or they could even see the evaluation I wrote on the Software. These could potentially be seen and help someone know if this could be the device for them, but not only that I have to realize the things that I write could be seen and potentially offend someone. When I wrote the evaluation about the betterdogfood.com I wrote that the telephone company could not prepare him well for the site he opened, and he actually wrote back and corrected me by saying that it did prepare him and that I was wrong. I never thought that that would happen or that anyone would read it. It was definatly a new experience for me.
A5.6: Progress Memo I
9/25/08
Content Summary:
During this section of the semester I have had a variety of things that I have learned in this class. One of the first things that we learned was how important evidence-based practice is in our field. I have also found out what a variety of tools are offered on the web for me to use. I learned that blogs are easy to use and area good way to publish your work for others to see and comment on. Wiki’s were another thing I learned about and discovered that they are very nice because they can be very helpful when searching for information, but I also learned that they are not always accurate because they are made and edited by everyday people. RSS or Real Simple Syndication is a tool on the internet theat allows information to come to me instead of me going to look for the information. Which can save you time. I have also learned about different search engines that are available to me. Another tool that I learned about was Social bookmarking. This site allows me to save and organize several different websites to one central site that I can go back to and retrieve the information again.
Process Summary:
In reading and taking part in the assignments this section I have learned how to do many things. I learned how to make, and use several new tools on the computer. Some these included a Wiki, blog, RSS, and social bookmarking. I hav ealso learned how to use the search engines that are available to me for many projects. I always used some of these that were available, but now I know that there are many others that I can look through and find information. It has also caused me to get onto the computer even more because if I didn’t I would miss an important email, or miss an important part of the discussions that we have each week or my mail box might become full. It also helps me keep up to date if I check my mail everyday. Another thing I have learned how to do is manage my time to complete all of the assignments that we have to complete in the week with all of the other tasks and homework that we have. It has even made me start to make lists of lists that I need to do.
Assessment:
By completing this work and being involved in the class discussions I have been able to hear and see people’s point of views on many subjects. This has allowed me to see that although we mainly have some of the same ideas there are many different views of subjects out there. One thing I did notice was that when we all comented on something and talked through a certain subject it allowed us to go deeper in to the topic at times to discover things that we may not have thought of at first. This is helpful to let us see every angle of a topic. This section has also made me consider using more devices on the computer to help me with my school work and therapy. Which can devfinatly help in the long run, because one of our fist topics dealt with how fast learning was changing to technology. Eventually we will have to rely on the internet and computers for many more things than we do know so it is definatly important that we learn how to use these tools now and still keep up with technology as it develops.
Reflection:
This work in this section has allowed me to see how important the internet can be. It has also allowed me to focus on many different issues and topics and learn more by taking part in these discussions. I feel that some of this information will be very benificial to me later down the road, but I also believe that some of it I will rarly use. For one I don’t keep up with much news so right now the RSS feed will not be used as much by me then some other people use it. I do think however that later on this may help me, and now I will know how to use it. As with the rest I think I may have use for using it other then just assignments.
