My EDM310 Blog Assignments are now Complete

Dear classmates,
I enjoyed taking this class with you. I never really got to know any of you other than those of you who I sat near/next to. I hope you learned as much as I did, and I hope to have other classes with you in the future.

What I've Learned

I have learned quite a bit in EDM 310. I was semi-computer literate before taking this class, but now I know a lot more than I did coming into the class. We learned many of the different applications to Google-- everything from the many applications to iGoogle, to Picasa, to Docs and Spreadsheets, to creating web sites with Googlepages. We also had another project where we learned how to create a tri-fold brochure. I truly believe this class will help me a great deal when I become a teacher because I will be able to use just about everything we learned how to do!

Top 10 Education blogs

The title of the Top 10 blog that corresponds with my birth month is The Miss Rumphius Effect. After skimming the blog, it looks like Librarians and English/Literature teachers could benefit from the blog. Some of the posts inlcude book reviews, thematic lists, and different thoughts on teching and learning. One important idea from the blog in the Blogging for a Cure campaign. This is a campaign run by bloggers that will be auctioning off artwork from over 200 children's book illustrators in order to raise money for the fight against cancer. Here is a link to the Blogging for a Cure blog.

Duke iPods

Beginning in August 2004, Duke University started giving out 20 gig Apple iPods with Belkin Voice Recorders to incoming freshmen. They did this as a part of a university initiative to encourage creative uses of technology in education and campus life. The academic uses of the iPod were divided into five major categories:
1) Course content dissemination tool (Portable access to course content like lectures, songs, speeches, etc.)
2)Classroom recording tool (record lectures, discussions, etc.)
3)Field recording tool (record notes, interviews, etc.)
4) Study support tool
5) File storage and transfer
These academic uses proved to be very convenient for faculty and students. It also greatly reduced students' dependence on lab and library hours and locations. It also encouraged greater student involvment and interest in class discussions, labs, research, and projects.
I, personally, do not own an iPod and never have, so I do not really know all the tools or how to use them. Also, there is no telling how advanced the iPods will be by the time I become a teacher. Therefore, I have no idea how I will use the iPod in my classroom.

Picasa 3

 

This is my sister Katie and her friend Chelan at the All-County Softball banquet last year.

Picasa 2

 

This is my dog Bear. He is probably the stupidest dog in the world!

Picasa 1

 

This is Bety. She is the girl that I sponsor from Casa Aleluya orphanage in Guatemala.

 
 

Dr Strange's article

After reading Dr. Strange's article, "A Cultural Revolution: From Books to Silver Discs," my position on the issue has not changed. Technology is advancing faster than anyone even predicted, and books, articles, and other forms of the printed page are being and basically have been replaced by more technologically advanced multimedia. When the article was written (15 years ago) they were predicting that CD's would be the main source of storage for the next 20 years. Well, 15 years later, we have DVD, Blue ray, jump drives, etc. which are all much more advanced than CD's. After reading these two articles, I have no idea how I'm going to use technology in my classroom because there is no telling how advanced it will be by the time I'm a teacher.

My picture changed to sepia tone in picasa

 

My picture changed to black and white in picasa

 

Seymour Papert

Seymour Papert is a distinguished professor at the University of Maine. He used to be a professor at MIT where he cofounded the Artificial Intelligence Lab and founded the MIT Media Lab. Over the years, he has researched how technology provides new ways for children all around the world to learn. He has worked on projects on every continent including some in remote undeveloped countries.
As a professor at MIT, he had a lab where many firsts took place. The first time children ever used a computer to to write and creat graphics was in his lab. It was also in his lab where th Logo programming language was created. Finally, the first children's toys that had bulit-in computation were created in his lab. Basically, he is trying to get children caught uop with today's technology so that they will be exposed to different/better ways of learning.
Here , is a link to many of Papert's works.

Article

I agree with the article. Hardly anyone nowadays uses the printed page as much as it used to be used. The internet, videos, etc. are taking over. This is perfectly fine with me. I have always been a much better watcher and listener than reader. I guess everyone is different. Some people would much rather read information than watch or listen to it. As a teacher, I guess I will have to adapt to everyone's individual needs while trying to improve everyone's weaker skills.

Blogs in Classrooms 2

An August 2004 article , from the New York Times discusses the convenience of blogs in the classroom. "With blogs, class doesn't have to end when the bell rings," said a blogger from Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, NJ. A second grade teacher from Frederick County, MD talks about her (second grade) students use blogs instead of journals because blogs allow the students to interact with each other, and they more timid students "come alive online." The article also discusses how blogs are much easier for students and teachers to maintain than web sites. Finally, as in my previous post, the article talks about how convenient it is for parents to get involved through the use of blogs.

Blogs in Classrooms

A September 2006 article , in the Boston Globe discusses how teachers in the Boston, MA area use blogs in their classrooms. A third grade teacher from Needham was interviewed about how and why she uses blogs. She posts on her blog to keep parents informed about what is going on in her class. Parents, in turn, comment on the posts and are able to communicate with the teacher and other parents. A teacher/author estimates that tens of thousands of teachers have started blogging recently. The article goes on to discuss how teachers blog outside of the classroom as well and how it is suck a useful tool for them.

adding links and pictures

First we will review the methods for creating a link. Our link will be to The Fischbowl , a blog for technology training used at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO.

Here is a picture from Arapahoe High School.

ACCESS

ACCESS is an acronym for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide. It is a program that is spreading throughout all Alabama high schools. It is a program that allows students to take classes online and interact with other students from different schools around the state. Right now, only a few schools have the program, but they eventually want all 500+ schools to have it. Teachers can teach classes via video-conference or over the internet from nowhere near their home school. It's Kind of crazy when you think about it.

This is another example of how advanced technology is getting. I can't decide if I like this program or not. It takes away from the traditional appearance and environment of schools, but it does give students and teachers access to the most technologically advanced form of education. So it can't be that bad.

ALEX 2

ALEX will be very useful to me when I become a teacher. I want to teach some level of high school math-- anything from Algebra to Calculus. I can use ALEX to help me form lesson plans and communicate with my students and administrtors. I can also direct my students to the site to help them out. This seems like a very useful site and will probably be even more advanced and helpful by the time I become a teacher in a few years.

ALEX

ALEX is an acronym for Alabama Learning Exchange. This is a wonderful site for teachers, administrators, and students. It has a link to different courses of study with specific grade levels and subjects. This link actually gives teachers ideas on how to teach their specific class. There are also web links for teachers, administrators and students. There is also a guide to making lesson plans for every subject and grade level. There is a search engine and links to professional development opportunities, teaching and learning tools, news, practices, and educator resources to enhance professional growth and communication.Finally, there is a link to ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide) which will be discussed in a later post.

Shift Happens

The youtube video about the future had some very interesting figures in it. I noticed that China and India are way over populated, and that won't change anytime time soon due to the ridiculous birthrates over there. I noticed that the US might not be quite as advanced as we think compared to other countries. And finally, it is pretty dang scary how technology is advancing and taking over everything!

A Little BIt About Me

As you can tell by the title of my blog, my name is Richard Ellisor. I am a 21 year old junior at the University of South Alabama. I graduated from UMS-Wright Preparatory School in 2005 and then went to Huntingdon College in Montgomery to play baseball. However, I had surgery on my elbow the day before the first game of my freshman season and did not get to play. Not playing really made going to Huntingdon pretty pointless because being in Montgomery sucked! So, I transferred back home where I am now the assistant softball coach at UMS, and I also have a job with the Middle School Youth Ministry at my church. I would have to say that transferring was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made!

Practice Post

This is a practice post for my new blog. Welcome to my EDM 310 blog. EDM 310 is a Computers in Eduction course, which I am required to take for my Secondary Education major. One requirement for the course is to create a blog, so that is what I have done.