Last One! :) ... or :(

So, this is it, my final blog. I'd love to say that I will continue to blog after I leave this class, but more than likely, I will probably stop -- at least for now. It's hard for me to blog when I feel I have nothing important to say. And for the time being, I really don't. I learned SO much from this class, and it has been great having all this new technology to work with and cuss at. It's great stuff, and even when it doesn't do what you think it will, there is always a learning experience in there somewhere. So, I guess this blog finale is "ambition blogging," because if there is one main thing I have discovered in this class, it's that I really know now what kind of instructor I want to be some day.

Since I'm going to be teaching college students, I am going to be under pressure to keep up with them. I always hated it when teachers tried to talk about things they new nothing about, and tried to work technology about which they were utterly clueless. I think that's why so many teachers are reluctant to try new things. They stick with what they know, to avoid being laughed at. I really do understand that, and it helps me remind myself not to become that way. I hate being the laughing stock (I know what you're all thinking, and stop it). As obsessed as I am with Second Life right now, I have to remember to not try to use it with my future students. They'll be well into their third lives by then, and will think I'm a dinosaur for bringing it up. It's like those gomer professors that assume because we're younger than them, we automatically like the Backstreet Boys. It isn't right.

I'll admit it - I want to be the cool teacher, the one students invite to go out drinking with them (even though I don't drink - I mean, you all saw what happened when I had the Pepsi, and the cookies, and the taffy... I am still, quite frankly, bouncing off the walls). I want to be like Vicki Davis - there's no way her students could ever find her lame! It's going to be difficult, but I have to make sure to always know more than (or at least as much as) my students, so that when they come to me needing ideas for presentations, I can offer them fresh ideas, and hopefully inspire them. I don't know how you do it, Dr. Z , but rest assured, I will be picking your brain every chance I get!

Link Blogging

I've been thinking about video games lately, and whether or not they can be educational (my boyfriend is a junkie for them, but I don't think the kind he plays will make you smarter). Here is a collection of links to some good information on gaming in education.

This link talks about how gaming can be useful because it allows you "fail to success." You can test limits and not be afraid to fail, because it is just a game. I like that idea, and it makes sense. If you blow your head off in a game, you grow a new one. No harm, no foul.

http://www.wideopendoors.net/educational_technology/gaming.html



This is Brainmeld, and organization of people from the video game and educational industries coming together to create video games that would be useful in the classroom. The site contains free teaching guides that help teachers add educational video games to their curriculum.

http://www.brainmeld.org/

This is a very cool blog post by Dannette Veale, the global virtual strategist for Cisco Live and Networkers conferences. She talks about how gaming can actually enhance kids' interest in education. According to her, video games can be a "driver for exploration and discovery."


http://blogs.cisco.com/virtualworlds/comments/gaming_and_education/

Life Blogging

I really enjoyed Lisa's blog this week. In it, she mentioned that she has a hard time getting into technology if she doesn't see it as valuable in the classroom. I totally understand, and have similar issues. My biggest issue is that there is just too much stuff out there, and I don't have time (who does?) to become an avid user of all of it. Therefore, I have to choose carefully the things that I feel will benefit me the most, and pretty much ignore the rest. It's difficult, especially since I plan on teaching college students. They're like teenagers, only worse! :) They are ravenous consumers of all kinds of technology, and I need to stay on top of it and try to incorporate it into their learning experience.

I also liked the picture Lisa included in her blog - it really took me back! I remember when I was in high school, I thought I was so cool because I had a pager. Not a cell phone, a pager. It had 2 buttons on it, and displayed whatever phone numbers my friends entered when they called the phone number. We found creative ways of using pagers to communicate more than just phone numbers, though. We developed numeric codes that meant different things, and while it didn't work as well as a cell phone, we managed to have pretty detailed conversations with numbers only. I always knew when my best friend had met a hot guy, or when there was an emergency ("911"). Sure, the technology was nothing compared to what we have now, but it allowed us to be creative and learn the devices inside and out. Now, I have a cell phone, iPod, etc., and I don't understand or use half of the features available to me. When I was younger, I never dreamed that pagers would become obsolete. Now, they're really only used by doctors (and restaurants, to let you know your table is ready). Technology can be really intimidating, and if you're not careful, it's easy to let it get away from you. I feel like I'm in constant danger of becoming a dinosaur, and I'm not even in my third decade of life yet!

A Little Lost...

This blog is just a little late this week. Between the sick dog, the new job, and the Eracism judging ordeal, things just got a bit weird. Once I got it all figured out, the judging things was pretty fun. I liked listening to the kids go back and forth and, at times, get rather vicious with each other. It made me miss being a teenager! I wonder if the project has any ties with this one - http://www.eracismfoundation.org/ . This Eracism project was created in 2006 by Louis Gossett Jr. Maybe the two are unrelated, but they seem to have similar goals. It just makes me sick that in 2009, racism is still a problem. Human beings accept all kinds of change - we are inundated with new technology and new ways of doing things, and think it's great. We are constantly changing our ways of thinking about everything - except, apparently, race. Why can't we change our minds about something so trivial as the way we look? Why do people still make decisions about others based on skin color?

Deb's blog was really interesting this week - http://djbloomie.blogspot.com/. She mentioned how she showed a video about technology in her class, and a student said the video had no claim, only facts. Do younger people, then, have a better shot at erasing racism? If they are so accepting of technology as simply "the world as they know it" (thank you, Deb), then perhaps they will also be more accepting of skin coming in a variety of colors. I think technology's biggest benefit is globalization, and the fact that it is now totally commonplace for a high school kid to complete a project with a student of a different race, culture, and religion. Hopefully, our future generations will know of racism only through history books, and will think of it as archaic as dial-up Internet.

(By the way, I think this is "evangelist blogging")

Wikis, Blogs, and Nings

Am I just super ignorant, or do other people wonder what the difference is? I'm learning more as I go through this program, so I'm starting to grasp it better... I think. It might help if all three names didn't sound like E.T.'s buddies. From what I gather, a blog is somewhat like an online journal, where you post your thoughts on stuff. At least that's what I'm doing with mine. Wikis, then, are basically online documents that a bunch of different people can add stuff to and change. Are Google docs considered wikis? SO, what are nings? Nings seem to be the same things as wikis, but that couldn't be possible. They wouldn't create two totally different names to refer to the same thing, right? Or is the universe just torturing me?

I think wikis are my favorite, because of the collaboration factor. They have proven very useful for the group projects I'm currently participating in, and are much more convenient than emailing attachments back and forth. Sure, they have bizarre quirks and gliches (I had to re-make the same flowchart 3 times last night because the stupid thing couldn't figure out how to insert it -- or could that have been me?) but they have so many uses in both the education and corporate worlds that they are definitely worth a try. Erin brought up some awesome corporate uses for wikis in her blog this week - http://techtechgoose.blogspot.com/. I love the idea of using a wiki for a company handbook. Everyone could add to it and share their ideas and advice. I wish the places I have worked would have adopted something like that.

I found a really awesome blog from McDaniel College that talked about the use of wikis in higher ed. I couldn't figure out who the author was, but it was at http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/InTech/blog/. The blog mentioned using wikis for research. I hadn't even thought about that one, but it's a great idea. I know for group projects, it would make finding and sharing sources so much easier. For me, the research phase is usually the most frustrating. It would be nice to have each group member find so many sources, and list some information about each one. This would probably be good for high school students, too (though I have very limited knowledge of what teenagers like - they scare me senseless). I know they are using wikis for the Flat Classroom Project, and I think it's a perfect use for them. On a side note, I just figured out how to make words link to a certain website (Flat Classroom Project). I'm smart! My education dollars weren't wasted! Woo hoo!!!!!

Oh yeah, this was insight blogging.

Piggybacking

This week, we're supposed to use a different format again, PLUS refer to another blogger, so I'm going to kill two birds with one stone and piggyback on Vicki Davis' blog: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/07/whats-wrong-with-dopa.html. It was really interesting this week. In all my ignorance, I hadn't even heard of DOPA. I'm glad I read her blog, because now I know how much it sucks. It could cause many blogs, wikis and social networking sites to be blocked. I know they are trying to protect kids, but this is just going too far. These sites aren't responsible for kids being targeted by sexual predators and other screwed up sickos. Like Ms. Davis said, the studies never really say where the kids are being approached. Nothing is safe any more. The Internet isn't the only place evil lurks. If parents could see what kids see (and do) at their friends' houses, or at the mall, or the park, etc., they would realize the horrible things they are worried about aren't linked to technology. When I was in high school, I knew kids who got themselves into awful situations, no computers necessary.

It is scary to think these things might be taken out of schools. Kids need to be educated on all the different tools available to them, as well as the dangers that might be out there. In their "real lives," and in their future careers, kids will use all these technologies frequently, so why not give them the opportunity while in school to learn how to make the most if them? I was so excited to read Deb's blog http://djbloomie.blogspot.com/, and learn that her community college composition students are using blogging in their assignments. Imagine how much more difficult it will be for students to come to college without any knowledge of the educational uses of these technologies! I hope this bill doesn't get passed, and that teachers and parents can keep control over educating kids about all the good (and bad) things on the Internet.

I have officially cast my pod...

Check out my super cool podcast: http://sthomas726.podbean.com/