Second Life

What an amazing tour we had last night on this site. You will need to spend hours going to the different places within the Second Life community. I am anxious to log on on Thursday night to join a community of educators at their ISTE Social. When you are logged into Second Life you create a different identity. It was really pretty cool. I had trouble navigating to the different rooms and moving the arrow keys to exactly where I wanted to go. That is why I never play video games. The controlers really don't respond to me. I know with practice I would get it. If you have a few hours to spend I would suggest checking out this site.

Connectedness

As I read in in Siemens "Knowing Knowledge" this sentence just hit me.
"Connection is a pipeline to the continued flow of new knowledge." The ability to gain knowledge and collaborate through the internet is so amazing to me. I feel like I am just waking up in a world I didn't even know existed. Prior to reading this I knew the internet was a powerful tool and use it all the time. But I realize now that I had no idea how much I could use the internet and contribute to ideas and share in discussions that are of interest to me.

Podcast

This has got to be the best thing since slice cheese. Now that I know that it is out there I feel I need to get an MP3 Player to download different podcasts to listen to in the car. On the education site some of the podcasts are over an hour long. I usually don't have that much time to sit at my computer and listen to a broadcast. I think it is great that anyone can do it. I tried three times before getting my first little mini podcast out there. It is really strange to listen to yourself and know what you want to say. All night I thought about it but when I started it sounded foolish to sit here and talk to the computer. I think the more you do it the more comfortable you will get with it. I was glad to read in Richardson's book that NPR does a podcast. I always seem to miss the programs that I want to hear. I look forward to using it in my classroom. I am sure the children won't be as shy as I am. I would like them to so some interviews and even record some weather on the podcast. Too Cool!

Connectivism

How cool is this. The possibilities are endless! I am certainly not familiar with all the technology that is out there but this seems to me to be the most useful application that I can use in the classroom. To have a discussion on any topic and get multiple perspectives at the same time is amazing. Topics like Pluto is so difficult to talk about in the classroom. The text books are not current with science today. As a teacher I tell my students that it was a planet but now its not. With the way knowledge is changing so rapidly textbooks will become a thing of the past. The only way to keep up is to keep connected with the world. Yesterday when we connected on Elluminate it was so cool. I was really in the dark ages before. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at times with all the new information I am learning but excited at the same time.

SCHOOL 2.0

After reading about School 2.0 I feel it would be an important tool to begin dialog and brainstorming with not only the the staff in the school, but it brings in the community. I think that is an important element often forgotten when we are discussing ideas of where we want the school to go. "OUR VISION" Our needs to include parents and community. I will be bringing this up with not only our technology instructor but also the Principal. They may or may not be familiar with School 2.0. I certainly had never heard of it.

Will Richardson's book Blogs, Wiki's and Podcasts

July 23, 2007

Last week I read chapter 3 & 4 of his book. Chapter four was all about Wiki's. I must say that I am still a little skeptical of the information on Wiki's. If you are looking at information that you are unfamiliar with, who's version is correct. Since anyone can go in and change the information it is hard to know which is fact or which is opinion. Even though you can revert back to older revisions there is know telling which is the correct information. Although Wiki's and their popularity are new to me, I would have to say at this infant stage of my knowledge I wouldn't be inclined to use the information in a Wiki.

video-Fisch Bowl

I just have to take a minute and comment on this video. I have watched it several times and have shared it with the Tech Director at school. As an educator I think the message is so powerful. How do we educate our children to prepare them for a world where we can't even dream of what their jobs will be? I believe that the Tech Director is going to share this video with the staff on the opening days of school. In our conversation about the video she said that we need to take steps towards integrating technology in our classroom. That is something I have been striving to do but find that I am still not doing enough because of my own lack of knowledge in technology. I am excited about the class I am taking through Plymouth State that has opened my eyes to the depth of the links in the computer world. I have gone to places I never knew existed. I tend to go to the same web sites or google sites to get information.