Course 520 Progress

I honestly have had a great time with the assignments of this course. I felt the evaluation of online-learning sources was a valuable experience. I do not do many research assignments in my art classroom, but I am looking to incorporate more projects that utilize an online software. I learned how to look for validity within the sites I researched.
Reading the Tom March quote forced me to really think about my stance on technology use in the classroom. My mind swayed back and forth numerous times, because I could see his point at times. The intense passion in his words is respectable. In a later assignment regarding Wikipedia and its value, my mind was back and fourth once again. I like the idea of Wikipedia, but it is important to remember than anyone can change its contents and that can be dangerous. But it has been years since I had to do an Annotated Bibliography. It made me remember the value of researching multiple sources to get all the facts before formulating an opinion.
With our group project, I find it is ALWAYS valuable to tryout some of the free software that is out there. I will continue to play with 280Slides in the future. And whenever I am interested in a specific topic, I will be sure to create a Google Alert to keep me up to date with all that is happening.

Week 1 Course 520

Well aside from the complications in class with the audio, things have gone very well this week. I enjoyed learning about the evaluation tools to find and utilize educational resources. I never really knew how to teach kids that they can't always believe what they see on the internet. I can tell them this over and over, but I know I know what to look for to show them the steps in determining what makes a site valid. I was unclear at that the start of this class what internet learning resources really were. So I had a bit of a naive opinion. After reading through the syllabus, I am became much more excited to start this course. I had originally thought that this class was going to be similar to that of our past courses, and I see that it will not be which is exciting.

Course Wrap Up

This course has taught me a lot of valuable information that I will refer to in my own teaching. Starting with the readings, there are useful tools presented in requesting software, planning for technology, benefits of technology in education, and so much more.

The most useful tool presented in this class is the software evaluation procedures. This assignment taught me to effectively evaluate software. Currently, I do not have a particular software that I would like to purchase for my classes, but I am confident in the process to assess and present to my technology committee and administration if the opportunity presents itself.

I also found the technology plan for our personal education curriculum to be a positive task. My PDP writing for the state consists of a goal to incorporate more technology in my classes. I knew this, but I really wasn't sure how and what to do. I feel more confident everyday with incorporating technology to better enhance my students' learning. Overall it forced me to create a step by step plan for incorporation. I have set smaller benchmarks for myself to conquer the the larger idea of technology.

Week 5 Connection

Creating a Technology Learning Plan this week in class, is beneficial in setting the goals I want to accomplish in a clear time line. Instead of just thinking about incorporating more technology, I know have the plans set forth with the means of doing so. I have wrote the plans to get the ball rolling with student online reflections. This forces students to get used to writing about their and describing where the strengths and weaknesses are instead of simply saying, "I like" or "I don't like". But to be able to tell me why in words, is a important concept to learn. This will flourish into peer critiques and eventually online critiques with students from other schools around the world.

The task of evaluating software for classroom use was scary to me at first. It turned out to be simpler than I thought with the help of presented sources which outlined what to look for in purchasing software. Although I feel more confident in evaluating software now, realistically I will not be looking to purchase any in the near future. The software my school currently owns is more than sufficient enough for student use. My school purchased the Adobe Creative Suite software which includes Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc. Students learn to work effectively with Photoshop in Digital Photography and Computer Graphics. Dreamweaver and Flash play a role in web page design and advertising. Besides this program, I am interested in doing more research in the free software offered by many companies. We have already learned so many beneficial tools that I will use in teaching students to collaborate with others from various regions in the world like Skype. However learning to evaluate software, enables me to review the free software also in order to distinguish which is worth downloading and which is not. I just won't be looking to purchase software anytime soon.