I'll come back and edit this blog after I've completed it. I have to wait to hear from Beth re: an invitation to concept map.
Well I'm back. Pretty interesting. I'm glad to know where I can go to build one of these maps. I've got a feeling I'll have a use for this site at some point. It would be perfect for flow chart, or to illustrate the relationships between people in an organization, or maybe the groupings and responsibilities of students in a class.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Lesson #15
This is an experiment in that I am creating this document in Google Docs and will attempt to "publish" it to my blog.
I find it very interesting that these "productivity tools" are now available on line. It will be even more interesting to see how this technology evolves in the future and what uses it will be put to. For the most part, right now, it seems to function ,in its behavior, much like the software applications now residing on my hard drive. It is hard for me to picture, at this point, exactly how I might use it in the future but I believe the experts when they say that it definitely has its place.
Well my attempts to publish this directly to my blog failed. I think it might have something to do with the blog info settings being not quite right. That can be a question I'll ask at the next Thursday help session.
I find it very interesting that these "productivity tools" are now available on line. It will be even more interesting to see how this technology evolves in the future and what uses it will be put to. For the most part, right now, it seems to function ,in its behavior, much like the software applications now residing on my hard drive. It is hard for me to picture, at this point, exactly how I might use it in the future but I believe the experts when they say that it definitely has its place.
Well my attempts to publish this directly to my blog failed. I think it might have something to do with the blog info settings being not quite right. That can be a question I'll ask at the next Thursday help session.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Lesson #14 (Teacher Tube)
I watched a lot of videos at both sites but spent most of my time on Teacher Tube. One thing I like is the categories around which they have organized the site. One thing I found frustrating was that there were very few Tech Ed type videos. But it seems that's the way its always been even back in the days of the old film videos available from the ESD.
I chose a video titled "Forging an S Hook" wherein a student makes a hook using a forge, anvil and blacksmithing techniques. I chose this because it is something I think the kids would be interested in and we do have a small forge in the shop.
I've always wanted to make my own safety videos so that I could make them specific to our program here in LaConner and so that I could emphasize the points that I thought were the most important. Maybe the students could help make them and this could be a venue for displaying them.
I chose a video titled "Forging an S Hook" wherein a student makes a hook using a forge, anvil and blacksmithing techniques. I chose this because it is something I think the kids would be interested in and we do have a small forge in the shop.
I've always wanted to make my own safety videos so that I could make them specific to our program here in LaConner and so that I could emphasize the points that I thought were the most important. Maybe the students could help make them and this could be a venue for displaying them.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
#13 Dive Into United Streaming
What I liked about the United Streaming site was the incredible number of audio and video resources available. What I disliked about the site is that there didn't seem to be much in the way of voc/tech resources, at least not compared to other subjects areas. Also some of the clips I tried to watch had sound problems.
In the end I picked a video called "Careers for the Twenty First Century: Production Occupations" and watched the segments on woodworking and welding as it relates to both tech/ed and careers, two areas I'm involved in.
Its hard to argue with the general statement that video from United Streaming can be an effective supplement and have a high probability of improving learning. The potential certainly exists though it would depend on the particular application and how it was used by the teacher.
In the end I picked a video called "Careers for the Twenty First Century: Production Occupations" and watched the segments on woodworking and welding as it relates to both tech/ed and careers, two areas I'm involved in.
Its hard to argue with the general statement that video from United Streaming can be an effective supplement and have a high probability of improving learning. The potential certainly exists though it would depend on the particular application and how it was used by the teacher.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Lesson #12 (Explore the Library)
Fantastic the way you have all that organized. I'm glad for the chance to learn what resources there are on line and some of the potential for adding websites or databases used in a particular class. Its nice to know I can search our library without ever leaving my desk. Thanks, Mike
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Moodle (week 5; lessons 9-11)
Once again I can see much potential in this week's topic (Moodles). Clearly this would be a perfect place to create an online course. I'm thinking this would be a good place for me to try posting my Senior Seminar class. Right now I have all of the assignments on a CD that I give the kids. Most of them put them on a jump drive but there are still a few problems with some students not having jump drives or losing them.
If I had it all on line they could always access the course content from wherever they happen to be. Also if they were absent they could just look at the class calendar and keep on going much like I've been doing in this class.
I also like the idea that I could update or modify assignments as necessary without having to get the new data to everyone in the class.
If I had it all on line they could always access the course content from wherever they happen to be. Also if they were absent they could just look at the class calendar and keep on going much like I've been doing in this class.
I also like the idea that I could update or modify assignments as necessary without having to get the new data to everyone in the class.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
#8 Exploring Wikis
The Wiki Foundation presents many opportunities for student research. There, of course, is the well known Wikipedia. But there is also Wikibooks, Wikiuniversity, Wiktionary, and Wikinews to name a few.
The whole Wiki concept and medium also affords great potential for student contribution and collaboration. When you have a site that multiple users can read, add to and edit it opens up all sorts of opportunities for group projects. For instance one could launch a class journal where all students from a particular class could shape, add to and mold it. It would be a great way for a team of students to write a group research paper.
In Wikipedia I visited several sites of interest to me. I ended up doing my practice edit on a site for Pat Parelli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Parelli) who is a big name in natural horsemanship. I happen to know a little about his program because my wife utilizes it quite a bit. Some of the criticism was clearly uninformed and so I added a line or two to try to balance out the misinformation. Unfortunately I forgot to sign my edit with my tildes (~~~~). I also went to the discussion page for the same site and added an entry entitled "A Happy Cult Member". I'm attempting to add a link to the Parelli page.
The whole Wiki concept and medium also affords great potential for student contribution and collaboration. When you have a site that multiple users can read, add to and edit it opens up all sorts of opportunities for group projects. For instance one could launch a class journal where all students from a particular class could shape, add to and mold it. It would be a great way for a team of students to write a group research paper.
In Wikipedia I visited several sites of interest to me. I ended up doing my practice edit on a site for Pat Parelli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Parelli) who is a big name in natural horsemanship. I happen to know a little about his program because my wife utilizes it quite a bit. Some of the criticism was clearly uninformed and so I added a line or two to try to balance out the misinformation. Unfortunately I forgot to sign my edit with my tildes (~~~~). I also went to the discussion page for the same site and added an entry entitled "A Happy Cult Member". I'm attempting to add a link to the Parelli page.
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