CMS, Discussions, and Wiki

I finally figured out the Moodle CMS assignment. I sure hope I did it correctly. I have worked on the Wiki throughout the semester. I was going to work on it some more this week but I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the people who are slamming tons of info. I feel at a loss of what to add or take away. I'm really sad that I was unable to access and participate in the second life discussion. I have been going back and forth every night with college homework and progress reports for work. I guess I was actually trying to access KSU Island on the wrong night. I don't know if that was the problem. Now I'm trying to hammer through the rest of the discussions and not having much luck. I feel like I don't know enough about the topics. I'm not sure how to go about figuring it out either. I do not care for Twitter. I did enjoy blogging and reading other classmates blogs. I have learned some interesting things in this class. I just wish we had more time to really dig in and learn things more thoroughly. The projects just go by too fast and their is so many.

Discussion Facilitation

Well everyone definitely had a strong opinion one way or the other. I was actually surprised at the people who are into technology who did not feel comfortable with video projects. I felt people had some excellent guidelines for supervising a project of that nature. It was good getting some insight on the different perspectives and the different situations in the different schools.

Wiki CMS and Discussion Facilitation

Well I need to continue working on the CMS, I have at least started, I have a plan of what I'm going to work on on the wiki. I need to review the Video as an alternative discussion and summarize so I can blog about it. Plugging along!

Course Management System

I really don't understand this assignment. I guess I will read everything again and go through a demo site again. I just wish we could see what a previous class did to get a better understanding. I read the categories we are suppose to put on here but don't know how to get started. Maybe I'll grasp it the second time around.

Website and Podcast

Well I finished my website and submitted it. I am having some difficulty submitting my podcast. I tried to send it to the server through Fetch but it is attaching it to another file so the URL wont open up on the web browser. I might have to submit as an attachment. I don't know how to move files around in fetch. The files pop back into alphabetical order when you try to move them. Now I have to tackle the Wiki again. I find it very intimidating with all you smart people in my class that are just plastering information all over it. Gee I wander if this is how our students feel. A little bit of sense of competition. For those of you who are wandering why I'm submitting assignments early. You could call it Dance or Die. I'm on spring break at work and so I'm putting the hammer down this week because balancing work and school and life in general is exhausting.

Podcasts again

Well I'm at a loss what to do with this project. Would I be allowed to do a story? The students I work with have severe disabilities. My students don't talk, have visual impairments etc... I was wandering how I could justify my podcast, but now that I think about it, an audible teaching with my students would be justifiable because we do stories on tape all the time since they can't see or read.

Discussion Facilitation

Well I think are next discussion on Second life is going to be interesting. I downloaded Second life and explored around on help Island a little. I t looks interesting. I will need to explore some more because some of the commands I could not figure out since I have a mac. Maybe I just don't have my wireless mouse set up right. The Wimba discussion went really fast some people are speed demons on their typing and I was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation.

Podcasts

Podcasts are good for feedback. They are like a personal tutorial on a project that is done and could be improved. Podcasts Podcasts can be created by both teachers and students. Teachers can use them for lectures for student absences. Teachers can supplement information that students did not comprehend. Students can use them for projects. Podcasts are convenient because they can be listened to when the learner has time to fit it into their schedule. Podcasts can be listened to again if they did not catch all the information the first time. Podcasts can be listened to again if they did not catch all the information the first time. Podcast can be listened to again if they did not catch all information the first time. Podcast can be subscribed to through RSS feeds so that makes them convenient. Podcasts are one of the newer technologies that are being accepted in schools. Screen casting that is mentioned in Richardson's' book sounds very interesting to me and I Would like to learn how to do that. It is a combination of Podcasting and showing a picture of what is on the computer screen to teach others others how to use a program on the computer. The live streaming TV could be used in my school.

The Wiki project Social Bookmarking, RSS, and Flicker

I have been grueling over what can I do to add info to the class wiki so I researched the suggested topics that Matt listed in the comment section. I was familiar with some search strategies from my undergrad classes in journalism and such. I decided to research about the search strategies, browser differences and Deep web. I had never heard of the term deep web. It peeked my interest. So I posted some information that I summarized from my finding onto the class wiki. Then today I read chapter 5, 6, and 7 in theRichardson book and learned about RSS, and social bookmarking and Flicker. I am interested in trying these tools out but probably won't have the time till the semester is over. I work 40+ hours and am taking two courses. I have all I can do to keep my head above water. Not to mention all the personal family stuff thats going on. It's never a dull moment. I'm really concerned about this class wiki project and how to contribute. I am also really concerned about this website project and how I'm going to figure out how to do what I want to do with it.

Moving Along with websites and wikis

This is all a bit overwhelming when you don't actually know what your doing. I kept reading the class wiki and trying to figure out what we were suppose to be doing. We currently have six topics under effective and efficient internet. I finally decided I would write down the topics and do an internet search to see what I could come up with to add to the wiki. I hope I'm on the write track. I noticed a classmate added some info from the Richardson book. It seems to be kind of an open ended assignment. I don't like that I need some kind of guidance. Then the website designing graphic pics of what my website might look like another daunting task because I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I guess Im allowed to use powerpoint or word but I don't know how on earth I'm going to present a website with those. If I had Smart Draw or Inspiration, it would be the same dilemma as I have with dreamweaver, I paid $199 for the student version and it doesn't come with a manual for dummies. Websites and wikis and blogs, oh my!

Website Design

Well I thought I had a game plan. I do have a game plan but my PC crashed and I was going to use FrontPage 2002 to design my website. I have an outline of my Instructional Design. I just wander how I'm going to produce it now. I purchased Dreamweaver for my Mac because both of my class syllabus suggested Dreamweaver. I found out its complicated. Jaime suggested classroom in a book. I dont know if Im going to have time to learn from a book and create in such a short time. I'm freakin out. I have not purchased the book yet. Im broke! Rochelle I don't know what graphic software Im going to use to show pictures of my design or storyboard. Any suggestions? Rochelle

Wikis

We have had a lot of discussion about wikis used as ongoing editing tools, as Wikipedia, and as a classroom collaboration tool. School districts use it to post subject matter lesson plans as resource for teachers. Everyone has submitted their ideas for what we want to learn about the Internet. Now we are just waiting on Dr. Ingram to decipher through all that to have a discussion on what our class project Wiki would be. I personally need to learn how to set up, format and edit wiki. I'm open to suggestions. I'm sure I have more to learn then I know to ask.

The blogging discussion

The big discussion. How do we use this as an educator. Honestly the only good thing I think it could be used for is allowing students to discuss a topic they are studying, a book they read, and that maintaining discipline about what is being posted would be knowing that anyone can read it their teacher, their parents, grandma, ha ha. Grandmas usually have a way of keeping you in line. Typically students would not write anything they would be embarrassed for their grandma to read. Would anyone care to disagree? Rochelle

Webquest

Well I decided to do my Web quest on active learning a program we use with our students. It is backed up by research of Dr. Lilli Nielsen. So I have started on it. I was pondering on what to do for my Instructional website for this class. I was thinking about talking about filling out the New IEP forms, Alternative Assessment and the like which would be applicable to the audience of special ed teachers. With Alternative Assessment Im not sure what I would be allowed to post on the web. The IEPs and Alternative Assessment change all the time. Any thoughts? I can't apply things I teach to my students very easily because they don't talk read or write.

Grueling through topics for a Webquest

As I sit an ponder what I'm going to do for a web quest, let alone put it together with a tool I'm not familiar with has my mind whirling. I thought about asking my principal if she had a vision of something she would like the school staff to learn. The students I work with would not benefit from a web quest as they do not speak, let alone read or write. My previous experience prior to this position was pre-school so coming up with a lesson for k-12 is a bit overwhelming. I feel more comfortable teaching my co workers something. The only thing I feel I have knowledge in is video editing, photo editing and some computer knowledge that most of them have. Any suggestions? In the mean time I will ask my principal what might benefit our school. Rochelle