Can you hear me now?

What an interesting week... journal article reviews and podcasting! I learned a lot this week, as I have the other weeks in this class and I find myself staying up late to "play" with the new technology applications that I'm coming across, is anyone else having that issue? :)
  For my podcast, I chose to focus on blooms taxonomy related to educational technology. I used this wonderful website.. here is the link; http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html take a look. It has wonderful information and I go through several different links that relate to educational technology as well. I used the software Jing to create my podcast and screencast to save it and upload it to my page. Did I find the process difficult, no not once I got the hang of it. I think the thing I found the hardest was finding a quite space without my kids or two year old grand daughter trying to beat the door down!! I think the benefits of a podcast are endless for both teachers and students. I could definitely see using a podcast in my classroom. I think it could enhance learning students learning by helping them be the creator of the information and take charge of their own learning... as we do in a student centered class. I will attempt to post my podcast here. Wish me luck. See you all next week. I look forward to our new learning tools we will be exposed to, as I'm sure you all do too!

http://www.screencast.com/t/o5vQVrJdq
The video will not work! And I'm unsure how to remove it, sorry!

Mapping activity

 I enjoyed the assignments this week and learned a ton from the assignments we did. I took a educational technology class in my undergrad degree and the push back then was to search Boolean words and pretty much that was it. In the last 5 years there has been more of a push to evaluate websites based on the creator of the site, the number of users, and the last time it has been updated. Knowing exactly what to type into the search engine is just one of the 1st steps in finding the accurate information. 

  I took the time to explore the stumble upon website and I was amazed at what it did. How neat that a it tailors your information to your interest. I haven't seen or heard of anything like this until this week, I'm so glad I did... I will use it again without a doubt. 

I also spend time in delicious as well.... here is my link  http://www.diigo.com/user/amartinez8853 

It is really neat that other people can collaborate together and bookmark things of interest to them that relate to their field of interest or what they think will be helpful in their careers. 

Here is a link to a very interesting youtube video that I think you all will enjoy, take a look. It is from another ed. technology class I'm taking. Looking forward to the rest of the semester and what is in store for us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ndQWJbbzos&feature=related
 
 

Digital Storytelling

   I think the tenant that I relate to the most is the one about digital story telling. I have never thought of it much until this semester but I have seen how it is implemented into my life in more ways than I thought before. First, I think of facebook, I'm on it daily and post often what my family and I are doing... isn't this a form of digital story telling? I think it is but it wasn't until I read the article this week that it clicked so we say! I also had to create something that was called a "mixbook" for another educational technology class I'm taking, there again.. it told digital story telling about my life.
   I see a lot of potential using e-portfolios, the first being that it helps the students and teachers be reflective learners and look at what they have done and use it as a learning tool for future assessment and knowledge. I think it will continue to be a useful tool in education as well as in the professional area and that we as teachers have a duty to our students to prepare them for new and upcoming technology that may be used in the future.
 

Wiki Week

    I enjoyed making the wiki this week. It did take some getting use to and some things about it were not very "user friendly" but for the most part I enjoyed the learning process it involved. As for what advantages I see using wikis the first one would be being able to incorporate many different peoples opinion at one time to collaborate on whatever project the wiki involves. There can be instant results that people can see instantly not wait as they would using such things as email. They can be edited by members of the group, not just one person... that is nice too. It is also pretty easy to catch on to and students can get materials off a teachers wiki if need be easily. Now for the disadvantages; sometimes having so many people doing the editing may make the content seem disorganized and hard to get one certain stance on things. Another one is that if the teacher, student, or users of the wiki aren't using it to its fullest potential and to be a useful communication tool, it wont be worth the effort put into it.
     I think that our "digital native" students can learn from the wiki because it has the potential to engage the visual learners and encourage them to write on the computer rather than just with pen and paper,as they are use to growing up in this "digital native" generation.
    There are many web 2.0 technologies that are being used in the educational area such as; blogging, social media sites, and pod casting. With all the distance education classes in force and the need to meet the standards related to these classes... many of these tools are helpful. I would like to learn more about pod casting since I have a feeling that as an online teacher it will be a tool that I use often as well as blogging. I think that when students, even college level students feel they can put their words and thoughts into "paper" with no pressure the outcome is far greater than the pressure of putting it in "writing" for an assignment. Does that make sense?