Final Reflections of EDM 310

What can I say? EDM 310 has been an experience...a good one though. There were a lot of new things thrown at us sometimes. For me, it seemed over whelming at times. I didn't think of myself as technologically literate before this class began. But now I believe that I have learned a lot and can be called some what technologically literate (debatable still). Here is a list of some of the tools acquired:

Blogs- I have never blogged before taking this class. I wasn't a big fan of it when we first started. But it has grown on me.

Google Docs- Very useful. You can create power points, spreadsheets, surveys and more. Google stores everything for you so you don't have any organizational issues and you may access it on any computer. Also it allows for a number of collaborators that you can allow to edit these with you.

Picasa- I used this to shrink photos that were to large to fit in my blogs and presentations. But there is a lot more that can be done with this.

Podcasts- These are very useful. You can find podcasts on itunes. Just like music, you can add them to your ipod.

Youtube- Although there are a lot of funny videos on youtube. There is also a lot good information on youtube. Didn't really understand this until I entered this class.

PLN (Personal Learning Network)- This is a collection of sources where you can share ideas with other people via twitter, facebook, and blogging. Also you add frequently visited websites that help you gain better ideas for your teaching.

iTunes- This is where you can find music. But more relevant to this class you can find podcasts. You can also upload podcasts that you have made.

Comments4Kids- I have learned that posting a students work online can be very beneficial because it is putting their work in front of an audience. Also the positive feedback from comments can act as a powerful motivator.

Comments4Teachers- I have learned some much from visiting teachers' blogs. It is always good to get point of views from people with experience in the teaching field.

Google Earth- This is a useful tool. I have played around with it before but never used it for any practical purposes. You can use google earth to record tours around the globe and then use it in a presentation.

I don't think there is anything we didn't learn in EDM 310 that I wish I would have learned. At least I can not think of anything at the moment. We covered a lot in this class. There is nothing that I learned in this class that I wish I hadn't. I think everything will have a practical use sometime or another. This class excited me more about becoming a teacher because now I have more tools to instruct students and keep them interested in school. At times, I became bored watching the long videos but for the most part, they were interesting. If I could change this course I would only make it more concrete. Meaning, I wouldn't add in extra activities in the middle of the week. It would help students plan how they wanted to spend their time studying for EDM 310 and other classes. But it wasn't too bad I didn't feel overworked. If I had to quantify my technological literacy I would say, medium. But I feel I will maintain this literacy by using these tools in future classes and more importantly in my teaching career.


Personal Learning Network
My PLN has grown since the middle of the semester. I have added a blog. Paul McMahon's blog has helped a lot. It gives me a point of view from a math teacher in Asia. Also two more websites, Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) and ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide). ACCESS allows for distant learning which improves the equity of for all Alabama public high school students through interactive videoconferencing and web-based courses. ALEX is designed to share many types of educator materials.