Course Reflection

BLOG: I loved creating the blog. I find it to be easy to create and setup and especially easy to make changes. I like that you can choose the layout, fonts, color, and arrangement. I like using the template approach sometimes, especially when it is something new, but I also like to change things up a bit to make them more interesting and fun. I think this was a helpful part of this class. I think writing a blog is useful to keep everything in one place. This is something I could easily access at work or home and allow me the freedom of not worrying if I brought my thumb drive with me or not – it is already there. When I do teach I will be using this tool. This will be something the students of any age would like to do and something they can easily share with friends and family. It is like being published. Their work can be put on display to a large audience. My area lends itself greatly to use this tool. For example, students can use the blog the same way we are using it for this course. It is perfect to submit a portfolio. This would also be a great way for students to post discussions, access their peer’s blog, and comment on their posts. I think this forces students to stop and think before something comes out of their mouths, so the answers are more thoughtful and insightful.

THREADED DISCUSSION: Even though there was not much we had to do with threaded discussion, I use it every week for another class. This is a good tool. You can select to thread or not to thread the discussion. This also allows for you to create a new comment or to continue with someone else’s comment. This keeps it neat and tidy and is more easily followed. I am not really sure if I would use this tool at a level other than college. I am not sure it would be something I would use at high school level. I think I would use other ways of posting a discussion. However, I think it is very useful and something I would use at the college level.

LISTSERV: I do like the Listserv tool, but I am not overly impressed by its usefulness. I think it can be very useful to manage very large lists. However, I am not sure it would save me a lot of time. I can use Microsoft Outlook to manage contacts and put them in groups and I can also use my personal email account to do the same. Then I can even delete them when I am done or keep them in a group.

PODCAST CLIPS: The Podcast clips were helpful. They are not my favorite thing, but they are a reliable resource. This gives the option for someone who learns better hearing the information rather than just reading the information. I think I would use this tool when I teach because it is something that is easily done by the instructor, easily accessed by the student, and matches one way of reaching students in regards to the multiple intelligences category. This can also be used as a teaching tool. Students would love to create their own podcast. An example of a way this could be accomplished would be as a group project. Students could be broken into groups of 3-4 students and given the task of becoming “professionals” of a specified part of a chapter or skill. The students could plan and produce their own podcast teaching the rest of the class the information from their part of the chapter or the skill. This would have to be closely overseen by the teacher to ensure the information presented by the students in the podcast is accurate.

VIDEO CLIPS: I found the video clips to be useful in some areas, but a bit boring in others. Some of the video clips just went on and on and were a bit slow. This may have been in areas I had already easily comprehended the information and/or had already known what I needed to about it. I cannot honestly say that the video clips made a big difference to me. I do think this could be a good tool to use as a teacher and one that the students would also enjoy using. This tool could be used in any subject area. I do think this would be particularly useful in mathematics. Personally, I have watched hundreds of video clips with most coming from YouTube. I have also created some clips with some being on YouTube. This is such a popular thing for everyone, not just young people and could be a really fun way to teach something or learn something. I had fun creating my video clips and it was neat having it on YouTube. My own children love doing the same thing and regularly watch video clips, so it would be a natural thing for this to be a teaching and learning tool. A good way to use this tool would be for the teacher to have a video done of the teacher completing a math problem requiring multiple steps with the teacher explaining how to complete the problem while writing it out where the person watching the clip could see. I had to try and figure out how to work a problem that my daughter brought home and this is how I learned how to complete it. This would also be a great resource for parents. Video clips could be very useful to link to the class website for students and parents alike to access to make sure they can work their math homework problems.

HANDS-ON PROJECTS: I love hands-on projects. There should not ever be any class that does not have plenty of hands-on projects. I would definitely use hands-on projects in any class I teach. I think the way students retain the information is by doing something with it and if they are not provided projects requiring them to actually do something with it I find it very doubtful they could remember the information next year, much less, the next month. There are so many ways the teacher could use hands-on projects in the classroom. Here is one example: The teacher instructs students on how to troubleshoot a hard drive when the computer is having issues. The student would actually have a computer and hard drive in the classroom to be able to work on and troubleshoot on. The teacher could guide them through step-by-step. If the teacher just presented this information to the student in a PowerPoint presentation the student would have a very difficult time relating that information to an act. The student must be able to have hands-on experiences in order to fully get it.

ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIOS: I really like the concept of electronic portfolios. I have had to create them in previous classes and actually had fun doing it. One portfolio I had to complete was with PowerPoint. It was a challenge making sure every link worked and all the slides were transitioning the way I needed them to, but I liked doing it. I would use this tool in my class when I am teaching. I think this should be used in all courses. This could be adapted to fit every class and could really be a great showcase of the students work and allows for easy access for whoever the student wants to share it with.

TRACKSTAR: I thought the Trackstar was a neat tool. I liked it and thought at first it was not very useful, but then I thought about the fact that this was great in that it keeps students focused on the websites you want them to look at and not allow them to have a free-for-all and look all over the Internet. I believe this would be something I used when I am teaching. I would have plenty uses for Trackstar, such as, when I was teaching Business & Computer Technology I and II, I had to teach about making travel arrangements and creating an itinerary. I used a WebQuest, but I believe the Trackstar would have been a better choice to use. I had a list of resources on the WebQuest, but had trouble keeping the students focused on just a limited amount of information. They kept wanting to delve deaper and learn more about their country, which is good, but it was hard to keep them on task. The Trackstar would have been a good thing to use.

My strong points are that I am open to new technology, since this is my area. My weak points are that sometimes I think I already know something well enough, but in reality I can always learn something new! My future learning goals are to learn all I can. I will continue on my path to my master’s degree. I will not ever stop learning. Learning is lifelong.