It will be a different experience for you not to be the teacher. And please remember that we are learning together. I am including some tools in this year's course that I have not learned about until recently. Some of the tools from last year have disappeared. I do not pretend to know all about every Web 2.0 tool and you may find some that you can't understand or ever want to use and others that provide an aha moment. We can learn from each other. Your personal blogs are meant to give you a place to reflect on what you are learning; everything from joys to frustrations--brains learn better when they can reflect and we often can't do this in our day to day class management. Read each other's blogs and take advantage of the views and ideas of our little learning community. Technology is only a tool but it might help your students with some concepts that are difficult for them.
Please don't be afraid to ask each other or me when things don't make sense to you or you are having difficulty with a particular task. I can always arrange a Skype session with you or we can set up an online meeting. But you will have to ask. You will only get as much from this experience as you are willing to try. And much as you would like someone to fill in the "rough" places, part of the joy of learning is in the struggle.
You have some forms to fill out when you find something good (or horrible) and I hope you will jot down some ideas that might go with topics you teach.
There is a wiki that goes along with the blog.That wiki is found at this address.
Each year the wiki changes depending on who is in the class and what
tools are new and which are gone. Web 2.0 tools come and go and start
free and become paid or other things. I will tell you when each lesson
is ready for your use. Today is Lesson One and you will be asked to do
several things to get your "blog" credit. Right now, only Task One is ready
Many people think that because the students are "digital natives" that they know how to use all this technology. They have an affinity for it that we do not but in reality they are ignorant in many ways. In class we were discussing why kids seem not to like Web 2.0 and assignments that address 21st century ways of teaching and learning and the skills they need. We mentioned that they might now feel they have the time to learn the new tools and complete the assignment, that assignments that require you to think should be more difficult than ones that you can just memorize or have been doing forever. Here is an interesting set of information about young people and technology that is from the New York Times. It makes for some interesting reading.
To complete the credit for your first day of class, please be sure you have sent me your blog's address and have made one blog entry reflecting on 21st Century brains, learning, and what you read and heard. Sharing a site with your classmates via the bpssummer diigo group is a bonus.
And here is where you can download the national standards for students and teachers in the use of technology. Since we are a laptop school, you should be aware of these.
Many people think that because the students are "digital natives" that they know how to use all this technology. They have an affinity for it that we do not but in reality they are ignorant in many ways. In class we were discussing why kids seem not to like Web 2.0 and assignments that address 21st century ways of teaching and learning and the skills they need. We mentioned that they might now feel they have the time to learn the new tools and complete the assignment, that assignments that require you to think should be more difficult than ones that you can just memorize or have been doing forever. Here is an interesting set of information about young people and technology that is from the New York Times. It makes for some interesting reading.
To complete the credit for your first day of class, please be sure you have sent me your blog's address and have made one blog entry reflecting on 21st Century brains, learning, and what you read and heard. Sharing a site with your classmates via the bpssummer diigo group is a bonus.
And here is where you can download the national standards for students and teachers in the use of technology. Since we are a laptop school, you should be aware of these.
You'll find that wiki here.
There is also a Summer set of tutorials here.
More Brain articles are here.
And have fun. Many of these tools are interesting and just plain fun.
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