Final Farewell

To My Fellow Classmates:

I had a wonderful, learning experience in the Tuesday/Thursday 4pm EDM 310 class. Many of you were very helpful. I hope that we all succeed in the future. I wish everyone the best and I hope you all be the best educators that you can be!

Signing off,

Erica Burrell

Summary of What I Learned in EDM 310

1. Think about the many things we covered in class: blogs, wikis, presentations, Google Docs, Google spreadsheets, Picasa, podcasts, videocasts, YouTube, posts you read, PLNs, Twitter, other teachers and students outside of our region, comments4kids, iTunes, iTunesU, accessibility issues and the use of html tag modifiers to address some of those issues, who you are as a professional, Google forms, data bases, Google Earth, Delicious, ACCESS, ALEX, Foliotek, technological literacy, the future of schools, your "intellectual trail". Did I miss anything? Take each of these and consider what you learned and how or if it may or will be useful to you as a teacher. and as an individual in this "modern age." List what you learned and comment about it if appropriate. List as many things as you can think of. If you did not learn anything from this class, say so. I hope, however, that was not the case.

You left out Skype! I learned much from this class. Here are a few of the concepts that I will most likely continue to use...

I enjoyed learning how to blog. It was very interesting and a great way to stay connected with others.

Using Google Docs, Presentations, Forms, and Spreadsheets was also very helpful. Before this class I was unaware that Google offered these programs.

I used to think that YouTube was just a place for “funny videos”. I guess I was wrong. YouTube is also a place for learning things in which I didn't know about.

I really enjoyed Comments4kids. I was excited about reading post from younger children and giving them my opinion. I hope they were excited as I was when they read the comments.

iTunes University was very interesting to learn about. I did not know that it had features where you can listen to a professor's lecture. It excites me even more knowing that it will be used here at South Alabama next semester.

I enjoyed writing my professional blog. It really made me think about who I am and who I want to be as a professional.

I am glad that I learned how to use Delicious. I think this website is going to be very useful to me in the future.

ACCESS and ALEX were two websites that I feel will be helpful in the future. I am glad this was a requirement to read and write a post about each!

I really enjoyed using Skype. I was able to Skype a few of my classmates when needing help for assignments. I am also able to connect with some of my family members from around the world. My aunt (who is in the Air Force) recently went to Korea. There she cannot use a cellular phone. We contact each other via Skype!


2.Are there things you would like to have learned in this class but did not?

No, this class met my expectations.

3.Are there things you learned in this class but wish you had not (and you will try and forget them or not use them as soon as possible)?

I am glad I learned the things that I learned. Some of them will probably slip my mind in the future but not intentionally.

4.Did this class excite you in any way? I mean excite, as opposed to "was useful" or "was interesting" or "I did it"? If No, say that. If Yes, tell me what excited you, why, and how.
To tell you the truth, I was not excited about coming to this class. Sometimes, I felt lost. I really did not know what was going on at the time.

5.Did you find anything in this class to be particularly "intellectually challenging"? If so, what? Why do you think it was "intellectually challenging"?

The podcasts and videocasts were a bit challenging for me. Mainly because I did not know how to approach the assignments. Once I understood things a little more. I was okay.


6.Were you bored by this class at any time? If so, what bored you and how might that be corrected?

I was bored at times mainly because I did not know what was going on at times.

7.Would you change this course in any way (add things/delete things or anything else)? If so, give me your suggestions. Since I am always changing this course I could use your input!

In my opinion, there were too many blogpost to do. Other than that, I wouldn't change much!

8.Are you Technologically Literate at the moment? To what extent? Low Some Medium Good Great

I would say that I am somewhat Technological Literate. I believe I have a long way to go.

9.How will you maintain or improve your technological literacy between now and the time you graduate? … the time you start teaching?

I will continue to use my PLN and learn from others. When I start teaching I plan to incorporate everything that we learned from Google into my classroom!

My Personal Learning Network

My Personal Learning Network (PLN) is still a work in progress! Although I have come a long way in using one, I would love to go further. My PLN currently consist of my Twitter account, my class blog, and At the Teacher's Desk. I have learned many things, thus far, by using these networks. This is a great way to share ideas. You can also learn a variety of different techniques from others. I look forward to learning more. I hope that in the future I can encourage my family, friends, and colleagues to establish them a PLN!

Believing, Inventing, and Implementing Technological Pedagogies

It is very interesting to me how an ordinary student at South Alabama can come up with extraordinary ideas. In Anthony Capps blog post, he explained in detail of how Mr. Miller emphasizes technology. I agree with Anthony. I do feel that it is “the educator's responsibility to help their students discover what they love”. If an educator teaches a lesson in a boring way, then the students most likely will dislike the subject (for a long time). In all, Anthony did a great job! Keep up the good work!

Technology and Classrooms

After reading the lists, Doug Johnson's Seven Stupid Mistakes and 7 Brilliant Things Teachers Do With Technology and New Classroom Rules by Education Innovation, I thought they were pretty interesting. The topics were really something to think about.

I believe the two most important from the Seven Stupid Mistakes are:

1)THINKING ONLINE COMMUNICATION IS EVER PRIVATE. I think this is very important (especially if you are a teacher.) I have heard several cases on the news in which teachers have gotten fired due to some of the content on their social network pages. I believe that people should be very careful when it comes to things like that.

2)NOT SUPERVISING COMPUTER-USING STUDENTS. I believe that students/children should always be supervised while they are on the computer. Although some students may not go to a prohibited website intentionally, some students do. As stated in the list, some students know how to get around the blocked websites. This is why I believe that monitoring the students is extremely important.

The two most important from the Seven Brilliant Things Teachers Do With Technology are:

1)EMPOWER KIDS WITH TECHNOLOGY. I feel this is important because technology can help students understand material better. All classes should be equipped with some type of technology. Students should be able to learn in an environment filled with technology. I believe that technology is not going anywhere, so why not incorporate it in the classrooms?

2)ACCEPT THE WORLD OF CO-LEARNER. I believe this is important as well. Teachers should have an opportunity to learn from their students. I bet when I become a teacher some of the students will know more about technology than I will. This could be a wonderful opportunity!

The two most important from the New Classroom Rules by Education Innovation are:

1)COME TO CLASS ON TIME, OR LOG INTO YOUR ONLINE CLASS ANYTIME DAY OR NIGHT, WHENEVER IT IS MOST CONVENIENT TO YOU. Wouldn't it be great if everyone understood materials and content while taking online classes? I have taken a few on-line classes in the past and some were understandable and some were not. On-line classes would be very convenient to many. I like the idea of online classes. I wish USA offered more classes online.

2)BE QUIET IN LINES, HALLWAYS, AND RESTROOMS, UNLESS YOU ARE AT HOME AND LOGGED INTO YOUR ON-LINE CLASSROOM, IN WHICH CASE YOU CAN DANCE AND PLAY MUSIC. I like being able to do what I want to while doing classwork. For example, watching television while doing homework keeps me stimulated. I really enjoyed reading the New Classroom Rules!

Once again these lists were interesting as well as informative!