1.) I think this class has done a wonderful job of preparing me to be a teacher in "the modern age." I am now familiar and confident with several internet based resources like twitter, delicious, blogger, Google documents, Skype, Youtube, Xtranormal, and Vocaroo to name a few. I feel like blogging is probably the thing that had the biggest impact on me as a future teacher. I really like the opportunity I feel that blogging represents for those of us in the English teaching community. I hope to be lucky enough to be able to use blogging and some of these other technologies in my future classroom. ALEX and ACCESS were both also sources of great interest for me because they offer connections with other teachers and actual material that is being used in the state of Alabama to teach. I am happy that I now have an "intellectual trail" that shows all of the things I have been considering as an educator. It was great to be taught how to build I personal learning network, and begin the process of finding other academics out there in my field. I think the greatest gift of the class is the gift of collaboration. Academics have been searching for ways to connect with as many of their peers as possible, and now the internet has revolutionized this process. Being able to share and learn with anyone, anywhere in the world is a special concept.
2.) I wish everyone in the class could have had some more hands on time with the "Smartboard" technology. These boards are beginning to pop up in schools around our area, so some of us might get a chance to use them fairly early in our careers. We did not get a back introduction to IWB's but I do wish we all could have actually used one a bit more.
3.) I don't think it is wise to try to forget anything from classes, especially not classes like this. The thing is it is impossible to tell exactly which resources we may need one day in our classes. Something that we may feel is not that important could actually turn out to be invaluable at some later date in our career. I plan to try and retain as much information from this class as I possibly can.
4.) I was excited when I put two and two together that kids these days love technology, and therefore will be much more apt to do assignments that involve some type of technology. I am also excited about being a cutting edge teacher who is constantly looking for new methods that may be more beneficial.
5.) I think the most intellectually challenging thing about this class was getting used to how to operate some of these programs. The html tags can be a little bit tricky and Google earth was a little bit complicated. All in all though, this class just asked for us to use our brains, there was nothing that was so intellectually complicated you had to be a Mensa candidate to grasp it.
6.) The only thing that was slightly boring about this class was some of the tedium that can be associated with feeling your way through new software. I sometimes found myself dreading that some of these assignments would be boring, but once I got into them they turned out to be pretty fun.
7.) I would probably just recommend adding the
xtranormal website somewhere into the EDM 310 bag of tricks. I really enjoyed using the software and creating something that I felt was beneficial potentially to others. Interacting with this software was easy, fun, and educational. I also feel that this website could be used in schools that students of EDM 310 will eventually be teaching.
8.) I am technologically literate at the moment. I would say I am somewhere in between good and great as far as my competence right now. I feel that I can grasp just about any kind of software as long as I have a little time to try it out and experiment with the interface. I feel like I really understand how to use Blogger, Google Docs, Twitter, Skype, Delicious, Vocaroo, and others. I feel like I could step into a class tomorrow and be able to integrate technology into the curriculum immediately.
9.) I plan to maintain and improve my personal learning network by staying connected to all of the resources I have been given in this class. I want to continue expanding my professional blog and my pln through graduation and into my teaching career. I also plan to keep my eye out for new technologies as they develop and become available to the general public. Somebody, somewhere is working on software that could change the face of education.
