Sunday, December 11, 2011

EDM310 Final Reflection



Thank you again to Dr. Strange and all of his assistants who have helped me through this semester.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Blog Assignment 14


I really do not know where to start in telling about the many resources that Jose Picardo shares but his website probably has any resource an educator could ask for. He has resources to create interactive exercises, edit movies without downloading software, creating multimedia posters, and saving/sharing media files online, just to name a few. In addition to visiting his website, I watched a video by Mr. Picardo entitled, "Top ten tips for using technology in the classroom". In this video he lists his top ten tips as: streaming video, music, teleconferencing, interactive exercises, interactive whiteboard, podcasts, blogs and wikis, social networks, internet tools and gadgets.

I am familiar with almost all of these suggested tips except for interactive exercises (which I can see being very helpful for special learners), music (I am interested in learning how to incorporate music in teaching and gadgets). I have learned through EDM310 how social networks can be used and very useful. I am very interested in using all of the tips suggested by Mr. Picardo because they make me excited just thinking about teaching with them so I can imagine how excited my students will be to be able to use the same technology that they have so much fun using outside of the classroom to learn with inside of the classroom. The use of technology in the classroom will keep students engaged while learning useful skills they will need in life, especially in our technology-driven society.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

C4T #4


Improving Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking with Media

In Wesley Fryer's post, Improving Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking with Media he provides slides and audio from a session at the Innovative Learning Institute. Students need to create and document media projects in order to develop and improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. They improve these skills through the decisions made, script writing/editing, sequencing and creative thinking when making media projects. Since technology is everywhere and is here to stay, it is important that educators teach students how to use it for education and good and not solely as entertainment.
In my comment, I thanked Mr. Fryer for his helpful advice and information because I've always known how important reading, writing and critical thinking skills are but I had never connected the use of the media to improving them until this class and even more so, this post.


Seeking Adventure in the Wide World

In this video, Mr. Fryer shares a story, showing the importance in giving people the freedom to explore the "wide world", which I take as a metaphor for many things. He says that it is important to experience these things for yourself rather than taking someone else's word, who may not have the whole perspective.

My name is Adrienne Babb and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. Great story, metaphors are so helpful when teaching! It is extremely scary, especially when it comes to children, to give permission to explore the "wide world"/ internet/real world/etc. but I believe that it is our responsibility as educators and parents to teach children how to make responsible decisions and handle themselves in many different types of situations. After we fulfill these responsibilities, we should allow them to experience the freedom of the world and grow from these experiences. Again, I will be commenting on your posts in my blog if you would like to visit: Adrienne's Blog

Final PLN




This is a shot of my final PLN (Personal Learning Network)for Dr. Strange's EDM310 class. This, however, is not a shot of my final PLN because this will continue to be modified with additions of resources, educators, and other interests. Since my last update, I have added quite a few more tiles for blogs that I follow, including Mr. Joe McClung's Blog. I was fortunate enough to interview Mr. McClung for an EDM310 assignment and learned a lot about the first few years of teaching through our interview. I also recently added Dropbox to my PLN and it has been extremely useful in working outside of home and without my computer. I can acess almost any files of mine without my zip-drive or my computer. I also added tiles for blog post assignments and projects for EDM310 (which I updated whenever Dr. Strange changed them).

Overall, I love my PLN because it helps keep everything that I need for school and leisure organized. When it is time to study or do assignments for EDM310, I am able to open several tabs from my PLN and work on several assignments at the same time. I recommend PLN's to anyone who needs help with organization, anyone who experiences anxiety because of schoolwork and anyone who wants to save time and energy while working. It saves time that I really do not have to waste and I will always use and add to this PLN.