Creation+Activities+in+ED+635

= ED 635 Creation Activities =

Below are a listing of the creation activities and discussion posts from ED 635. I hope you will enjoy the readings as well as the creation activity links attached.

Dear All, Here is the URL for my delicious site: http://delicious.com/tags/gsurdovel. Obviously my user name is gsurdovel. Looking forward to seeing your sites as well.
 * Social Bookmarking in Education**

After reading the other posts, I have come to realize that my delicious site is in need of revision as well. I like the methodology Dave mentions in his post. As I stated in my response to Dave, because I am not presently in the classroom, I don't always apply the use-ability of these technologies to the practical application in the classroom. It is good to have class with folks who do this on a daily basis.

I can see how a delicious site can be utilized in a higher education course as well. Let me use the example of our research courses. Because we are expected to research and identify extensive research data, a delicious site could be a very useful tool in helping us to organize this data into an easily accessible resource that can be shared with our colleagues. I'm sure there are a number of ways such a resource can utilized by teachers on all academic levels as well. thanks, Grace


 * RSS Feeds in Education**

Well, since I have been working with Higher Order Thinking Skills, I decided to continue this into an RSS Feed. Here is the URL:

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This is my first attempt at creating an RSS Feed so, like Crystal, I hope it works properly. I have often been tempted to subscribe to a feed for some of my favorite news agencies etc. but have never done so. Now that we are learning about their capabilities, I am definitely going to do this. I'm looking forward to checking everyones feeds out as well as discussing how we can utilize this tool in our educational settings.

I can definitely see the capabilities of this tool in an educational setting. One example would be in a current events course. Having access to an RSS Feed in such a course would be a wonderful way to connect students to the most current of events while at the same time, utilizing the Wiki and Blog tools to help them reflect upon what they are learning. As has been the case in our other class activities with Wiki's and Blogs, I wish I had this resource available when I was in the classroom.

thanks, Grace


 * Wiki's in Education**

Greetings All, Here is the URL for my Wiki: |http://edtechadventures.wikispaces.com

This is my first experience with creating a Wiki. Although I had utilized the Wiki's of others and of course, Wikipedia, I have never created one of my own.

I chose the title of "Ed Tech Adventures" because I have had a great deal of experience working with instructors who possessed a desire to utilize the latest technology as part of their instructional practice but lacked either the training or confidence to do so.

From my own limited experience with Wiki's, I can see that they possess a great deal of potential in an educational setting. As is the case for all online publications, there needs to be the necessary safeguards put in place to protect the identity of the students as well as some strict policies regarding appropriate content. With all of the necessary protections in place, I believe Wiki's can be a wonderful educational tool that can be utilized in a number of ways. As Will Richardson states, "in using Wiki's, students are not only learning to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance and more" (Richardson, 2009): all integral pieces of an authentic knowledge creation process. As I have read through the assigned readings and have searched through several educationally-rich Wiki's, I can see that the Wiki is a powerful tool for teachers of all academic subjects and, as we read in the text, the emergence of Wiki's in the K-12 setting may in fact be an indication of the demise of the printed text. Welcome to the read/write web!

Reference

Richardson, W. )2009). //Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.// Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. 


 * Podcasting in Education**

My attempt as podcasting was initially fun but grew into frustration as I ran into software issues on my home computer. After running into what felt like several brick walls, I decided to focus on getting the audio version of the podcast up and let go of including the visual images. As I attempted to do this, I was also having difficulty. Knowing that Dean has a flare for technology, I decided to send him an email and ask him if he could help me find a simplified way to attach my podcast to my blog. As expected, Dean came through once again! Thanks so much Dean.

My blog and podcast focus on the K-12 rapid communications system called Alert Now. I have attended a virtual conference session on this system and was very impressed by it's capabilities as well as the affordability of the system. I share a bit of this information with you in my blog.

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For additional information about the Alert Now Rapid Communications System, please visit their website:

[|http://www.alertnow.com]

When I reflect upon the use of podcasts in the classroom, I can speak from my own experiences when I state that there must be ample opportunities for training and practice before the classroom teacher will be able to utilize podcasts in their lessons. I consider myself someone who is always willing to try new forms of technology however, I found myself quite frustrated by the problems I ran into in attempting to get my podcast up and running. I can only imagine what a classroom teacher who may already be hesitant in using technology would experience. I know that with practice, I will master podcasting, screencasting and live streaming. It is these opportunities for practice and the development of confidence that will make the implementation of such technological tools a wonderful educational experience for teachers and students.


 * Blogging in Education**

The URL for my blog is:

http://grace-higherorderthinking.blogspot.com/2009/10/higher-order-thinking-skills.html

My topic is higher order thinking and higher order thinking skills. I have only created one other blog and this was for Dr. David Reese's course. I read several blogs each day and can see the benefits of utilizing this educational resource in my high school or college classroom. This type of venue is often a place where the more timid student can find a voice. Blogging is also a wonderful technology that can be utilized to help students develop language and writing skills. Like the other members of the class, I share a belief in the many benefits of blogging as a educational activity. These benefits would certainly need to be balanced with strict policies and procedures to protect student safety however; I believe the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Thanks, Grace


 * Twitter in Education**

Greetings Everyone, My twitter user name is "gracesihm." I too am a "Twitter Pioneer" for the most part. I had joined a while back but never really used the account. So, when Dr. Mao assigned this as a creation activity, I decided it would be good to go further into the capabilities of twitter and tweeting. What I did was look up some historical/educational uses of Twitter. Like Crystal, I was amazed at what I found. Here are two really great examples. The first example was of Barack Obama when he was campaigning for President. I'm sure many of us saw the images of him with his blackberry. While, as it turns out, along with checking email, he was also using twitter to keep his campaign faithful up to date on what was happening on the campaign trail. I actually heard about this while working in his campaign headquarters in Scranton. He even tweeted the campaign manager while I was sitting next to her making phone calls. It was really exciting! Apparently, John McCain used this technology as well. Knowing the historical significance of this election, the fact that twitter played such a significant role is to me a very exciting thing and, it helps us to realize some of the potential of social networking in a educational arena. Here is one article that refers to Obama's use of social networks.

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A second example would be an article I read about the use of twitter by the astronauts in the International Space Station. They apparently even have followers in some elementary and intermediate schools. They talk about the research they are doing, what it is like to live in space, the arrival of the space shuttle, family news. While the tweets are brief, it is a great opportunity for followers to see a first hand view of life in space. What a wonderful educational opportunity! I can't find the original article but here is another one that talks about "tweeting astronauts."

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As we are discovering, there are numerous ways to utilize social media such as twitter in the classroom, provided our districts or schools understand the educational capabilities and allow their teachers to use it. I believe these technologies can be wonderful educational tools if used appropriately. Like the other technologies we have discussed, appropriate training and precautions must be used but with these in place, the capabilities of such technologies seem to be many. thanks, Grace