Goodbye?!

Well; sixteen weeks of Literacy and Technology online class are officially over. I have completed quite a bit of work in this course; eight assignments (including ICP Project) and six high achiever assignments; that is not including the group assignments and meetings. Yes, I some how found time to do all of the high achiever assignments. I liked the challenge and learned a lot more than I expected. To be honest, I did not expect to learn much more about technology. I knew a lot before this course well; so I thought.

Although making a video and a podcast were challenging, tedious, and even at times frustrating, they were my favorite assignments. Why? Well; I never made a video or a podcast before. I did not even know what podcasting was! I assumed it had something to do with an iPod. I have owned a video iPod for almost 2 and a half years now; but I did not know how podcasting related to my slick black music/video player. Now thanks to Dr. S I not only know what a podcast is, I know how to make one. I made one for a friend right after completing one for the class assignment; because I have not seen or spoken to this person (outside of AIM and Myspace) in quite a long time. This is a great technology that one can use in the classroom with their students as well as for personal use at home.

I spent a lot of time making my video and had fun playing with all the options I could include. This is another great activity to use in the classroom as well as at home. The other activites; crossword puzzles, mind maps -Inspiration and gliffy, power points, lesson plans, webquest, wiki, personal web site, etc... were also great activites that furthered my learning of the many uses of technology that can be incorporated in the classroom. I was really surprised as I stated in an earlier blog, that one could make a crossword puzzle in Excel. It is a long and tedious process; but once you learn it, it becomes much easier. It is just another thing I have taken away from this course that I will incorporate not only for personal use; but in my future classroom.

Exercising the mind with PDAs

As I stated in my last blog entry, there were two days of presentations. I was on the second day, May 4th, 2009. My Internet Curriculum Project was on The Future of Mobile Learning and the Use of PDAs in Developing Literacy Skills. Above is a snapshot of my lesson plan which can be located under the 'Course Assignments' tab on my personal web site. I also did a PowerPoint presentation which I posted on SlideBoom. After these assignments we're completed I presented my power point topic. I integrated the class in the beginning, middle, and end of my presentation which went rather smoothly. I did have one "hiccup" though; the Elluminate Live! Session kept disconnecting me from the class and did so once during my presentation!

This was a bit nerve racking; but I was able to continue with my power point and was glad to receive student participation each time I asked a question or wanted a comment/perspective on the topic I was presenting. Although this required a lot of work, the assignments were informative and I am proud of my accomplishments. Everyone's topic was interesting, informative, and showed how much we learned in the course.

Week 12 +

I know it has been some time since my last blog; well since my last blog about class work. The previous blog was part of another student's presentation who incorporated a great hook to her lesson plan. Now onward to week 12 till now. Week 12 and 13 my group and I met for the last time on WizIQ to take parts of the TDC E-Book Chapter 5 which; was at first tedious because my part was quite lengthy in research; but we completed our parts and put it together into a power point thanks to Jennifer, one of the members. The picture on top is a snapshot of the first slide and more of this can be seen under "Course Assignments" of my personal web site. We put a lot of time and effort into the project and our presentation was successful!

It was great ending everything on a good note. From then I have been researching my Internet Curriculum Project- "The Future of Mobile Learning and the Use of PDA'S in Developing Literacy Skills" and looking at the websites/articles Dr. S has been posting. I have to say I have enjoyed all the links she has posted especially the videos, they are quite educational and at times entertaining! Especially the video on Second Life, that was very interesting. It reminds me of Sims except it has more technology integrated. The presentations on the 29th and the 4th were excellent! I learned a lot about the topics and loved how the presenters integrated the class and used the Elluminate Live! features. I also liked how a few people chose to do a wiki instead of a powerpoint. I think both meetings were very successful.