Thanks for a GREAT course!

What a wonderful 5 weeks! I feel that I have learned more in this 5 week span than I have in a long time. I cannot wait to share what I've learned with my colleagues.

For my final project, I created a wiki where I plan to have my department members contribute ideas and discuss the various new technologies.

Great Open Source Resources!

The members of my class posted some great open source software programs. I enjoyed reading everyone's resource guides.

Luckily for me, there are quite a few math teachers in our group! :)

Open Source, RSS, and Podcasts

This week we learned all about open source, RSS feeds, and podcasts.

I particulary like the Tony Vincent site LEARNING IN HAND (www.learninginhand.com) One of the links will take you to Tony's podcasting page where you can do anything that deals with podcasting.

A great open source site I found was www.schoolforge.net. This site provided links to many great educational open source programs.

Wikis are great!

This course has forced me to acquaint myself with wikis. I'm very thankful because I think I have a much deeper understanding of them now and I finally feel ready to implement them in my classroom.

I have always believed that technology should not be incorporated in a classroom unless there is a solid curricular tie. The technology must also enhance the lesson in a way that could not be achieved without the technology. If these things are not met, then the technology can actually cause damage.

With wikis, the possibility for enhancing curriculum seems endless. In my case, I teach 4 sections of the same course. Students in period 1 never get to hear things that students in period 8 may say. With wikis, I can have students from all of the sections contribute their ideas in the same place. I can't wait to try it!

Another week...another post

I'm still reflecting and trying to think of ways that I could use blogging with my classes. The only issue I see standing in my way right now will be gaining administrative approval. Our students don't have school email accounts and I'm not exactly sure if I will be allowed to "require" them to create an account for this purpose.

Do any of you in bloggie land use blogs with your students? If so, are the logistics pretty reasonable?

The First Post

Here it is. I've been a little slow with the assignments thus far.

I am a high school mathematics teacher. I love it. Currently, I am trying to finish my coursework for a master's degree in educational technology as well as an ITSC. This is my last class. I can see the light!

I really haven't done much blogging. I don't really get into the personal sharing, etc. I do not have a myspace or a facebook account, and I probably never will. These are just not my type of things.

I can see how blogging has changed our society though. People are more connected than ever.