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.

9/22/08

Sources:

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikkis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2^nded.). In H. Perigo (Eds.), RSS: the new killer app for educators (pp.85-98). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

7 Things you should know about social bookmarking. (2005, April) Retrieved Sept. 22, 2008 from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf

Purpose:

The two texts had similar purposes, but the chapter by Richardson included social bookmarking and other social web ideas. It wanted to introduce you to what the social web was, how to set one up, how to use one, and how tho implement the social web in schools by discussing bookmarking and twitters. The article from the Internet discussed what, who, how,and why of social bookmarking, and also showed you the downsides and implications for teaching and learning.

Question:

How can I explain what social bookmarking is and get them to want to use and enjoy this program?

Information:

The texts say that it teaches people to create and share their knowledge and findings with each other , and it says that this is changing the way that people teach and learn. Social Bookmarking is defined as a practice of saving links to a public web site and “tagging them with different key words and in different categories. This allows people to express different perspectives on theinformation that is shown as well as organizing it into different categories so that others can easily find the information that you have posted.  It also discusses a twitter which is a “micro blog.” This is a way to send updates and other information to several other people who are on your twitter. It then connects the various tools that you have already read about in earlier chapters and explains a little bit about how you can combine and make them work together.

Conclusions/ Inferences:

That Social Bookmarking is an easy tool to use and can be a good way of finding resources and retrieving them again. It can be good for projects and research and allows you to keep track and organize the research. It is also a good way for you to get your class included in finding research together, and in turn creating community among your students as well as letting them get the experience of interacting on the web.

Concepts:

It is a way to find more information and keep it organized. It is good for teachers because they can communicate with other teachers in the same field or school, and it allows more learning to happen with the students and the teachers learning form each other. It also teaches you how to use and create the sites and allows you to see how they can be good in the classrooms. You have to be careful because everything is categorized again by amateurs so the information may not be in the right places andyou might find other better information in other places.

Assumptions:

The authors assume that  you do not know what a Social Web, or social bookmarking is, that you and your students already have a google account and that you have already signed up and have the other tools that was discussed in the earlier chapters. It also assumes that  you want to read about social bookmarking to use it in your classroom.

Implications:

Following the advice of the texts would allow you to become more competent in the area of social bookmarking and twitters. You would also be able to teach students or other people how to use social bookmarking, and it can in turn allow your students to use this tool expanding their knowledge. This could allow them to research things faster and it would also allow them to learn how to work with others on the computer to come up with the research. If not followed they would be in a traditional classroom where work is mainly done in isolation and they would not be able to have access to the many different varieties of information that is available to them.

Pint of View:

Richardson strongly believes again  that you should follow his advice and add applications or “tools” that he has went over  in the book to the classroom setting. The article on the other was very neutral and just gave you the main facts about the application.