Thursday, June 19, 2008
Reviews
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
R/D13
R/D12
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Google Pages
Screencasting
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
R/D11
- Developing instructional materials
- promoting transfer of knowledge and skills
- prepare for instruction and improve organization
- communicating (verbally) effectively
- apply basic research skills to design project
- Select and use a variety of techniques for determining instructional content
- Stimulate and sustain learner motivation
- Provide clarification and feedback
- promote retention of knowledge and skills
- Use performance analysis to program
R/D10
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Task 2 week 5
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
R/D9
- I do not always like task related experiences in classes that I have to pay for. I say this because I do not want to pay to learn something that I can learn for free by researching on the web. I would hope that a masters program would open up my eyes to new ideas or in this case technologies. Many of the tasks in this class have been experiences I have already had. I do understand that this class is early in the program. It seems like it would be great computer imagination if a class like this designed itself around the learners experiences verses a one size fits all approach.
- I have liked the tasks that have options the best. When a task has an option, there is a better chance for the learner to make it meaningful to them. I use the podcast as an example. I produced a music before, so recording a podcast was easy. I struggled finding ways to post it online, which is why I chose to go that route. It would not have been meaningful for me to subscribe to a podcast for this class because I have done that prior to this semester.
- I would like more feedback. The times that I have not received full credit on assignments, I have been in the dark and had to seek out the guidance of the instructor. As a teacher, I find that grades should be an indicator of what the student is learning. I feel that in our class the grades are very behavioristic in their approach. Do a task, get a grade. I wonder if we were in a classroom setting we would be graded on whether we spoke 3 times or 4 times or if it what we said to each other would be held in higher value.
- I do feel that the tasks that we have been asked to do are relevant. I am concerned though that the technology experiences we are having will be out of date in a few years.
- I appreciate R/D9. I do not use my RSS Feed anymore. I do like del.icio.us. My blog will be changed drastically after this class is done. Blogs could be a great tool, and free (sort of ) to implement.
- I would like to see the EDT courses use more of Dale's Cone when designing lessons. I feel that we are often times on our own to figure items and tasks out instead of being "taught" even though Sharon has been very quick to reply whenever I have had a question.
R/D8
R/D7
Thursday, May 29, 2008
R/D6
- Announcements and Updates- everyday we have very annoying updates at our school both at the beginning of the day and at the end. Some of this information is vital for parents, yet the kids do not always listen well or tell their parents. A podcast would be a great way to share vital information that could be updated quite frequently with ease.
- When kids are absent they often miss information, similarly kids miss information when they are taking notes. If a teacher is lecturing, why not turn it into a pod cast so that it could be revisited by students and accessed by them at home.
- Podcasts seem to be travel friendly with Ipods and similar devices. Students could access information on the go along with listen to lessons, ideas, or concepts at their own pace for understanding.
- Podcasts also level the playing field for entertainment opportunities. Anyone can become a radio personality, if you are good enough, they will listen.
R/D5
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
My First Podcast...
Not the most interesting content... but this could be a really neat way to communicate information. Hope this works.
EDT5410-MattSwanson.mp3
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
(R/D3):
1) What value (if any) do you think social bookmarking might hold for teachers and/or students? You may think about students sharing with each other, teachers sharing with their students, teachers sharing with other teachers, administrators sharing with teachers, sharing with parents, or any other scenario(s) you can imagine.
I think that social bookmarking holds value in that we it would give teachers an easy to access place that keeps bookmarks. I have had teachers ask for websites, videos, and internet activities and I usually send them links through emails. If teachers all had social bookmarking sights it would be easy access for trading ideas. My district currently has eboards for all of the teachers. In those eboards many of the teachers post links to websites where students can get help or find information. I see social bookmarking being easier (not by much) to bookmark webpages, verses setting up links. I would like to see the social bookmarking pages be linked with the blogs so that it is one stop shopping. I think the easier it is to access the information the more people will use it. If I have to go to a blog, a social bookmark sight, and possibly the school website to get the links for the info, I doubt I would visit it very often, whether I'm a parent, a student, or a colleague.
2) Back to the Trends & Issues reading, to what degree do the definitions in this chapter correspond with what you have thought about this area and what it is you hope to do in your line of work (or in a future career)? Does is there anything surprising or very new you read in this chapter? Does something seem to be missing?
I definitely find that the definitions discussed in this chapter correspond to the confusion I have felt and seen when discussing educational technology. I think the biggest problem is changing peoples thoughts of what technology is. In the class that I teach we use the definition of "using knowledge to turn resources into goods and services that people need and want." Within the framework of this definition we use the design cycle (problem, research, planning, building, testing and evaluation.) This definition allows the use of processes and systems to create the hardware and software that we often think of as technology. I feel that the definitions the book discusses is right on. It is smart to call it educational technology and design, because most people do not see technology as a way to develop solutions, they see it as the solution. The word design becomes very important for this reason. As far as a future career, I love the idea of designing ways to improve education through development and usage of technology. The systematic approach discussed in the book seems appropriate being that every field of design I have studied uses similar steps to ensure effective solutions are created.
(R/D4):
3) How might you incorporate photo sharing into a educational activity or unit? What might be some concerns you would have about allowing students play with these services? What might be a great benefit of such services?
Photo sharing scares me when dealing with educational activities when pictures of students are used on the internet. We currently do not allow digital cameras at our schools because of some misuse. At the same time, I have many parents interested in what we are doing in class, and since we are always building some sort of project I would love to share those pictures. Having parent interest and support is so benefical to the students. Photo sharing would be a good way to gain interest, but I would like to learn more about legality issues.
4) In reading Chapter 2, what similarities and what differences did you identify between the process the authors describe and the processes you have used to develop educational lesson plans? If you have not developed educational lesson plans, were there aspects of the process described in this chapter that you found particularly surprising, useful or unnecessary?
Being a tech ed teacher all of my lessons revolve around the design cycle, which I find very similar to the picture of figure 2.1 in the book. Analyze is similar to how we find problems and research, develop is very similar to the planning stage we use, implement is reflective of our building stage and we also have a test and evaluation phase. I do not find that in my current educational setting that I get to use all the characteristics of instructional design. I cannot say that I am always goal oriented, that outcomes are always measured in a reliable and valid way, or that the design is always a team effort. I do feel that each subject lends itself to these processes in different ways. Being a woodworking teacher, some of these characteristics do not fit in to how we teach our classes in regards to meeting state expectations and our own curriculum.