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.