Celia Deschambeault's Blog
Eci831 BlogFinal Reflection
Wow time sure flies and nips you in the butt when you least expect it…. My journey in this class up to this point has been a shaky one. Trying to handle the pressures of my professional, personal and education has been definately a rollercoaster ride. The start of the class was sure way over and beyond my head. I enjoy doing things on the internet that I know how to do but when things started coming at me that I did not know how to do well that was my first downward spiral. I kept thinking in my head “What did I get myself into?”.
I reviewed most of the recordings in class and have come to the realization that I may not be able to learn every media tool that is out there but the ones that I enjoy and find useful are the ones that I will take with me and continue to use. I think I had mentioned this in some previous posts that I have difficulty trying new programs and installing things on my computer. I always seem to do something wrong. During the course of this term I was more at the back corner watching what was going on and trying to soak in everything that was going on. If I said I got everything I would be lying lol, there is so much out there that is still over me head but I am taking some things with me.
Some of these classes were way over my head while others left me feeling like I wanted to learn more and try more. I reviewed some of the classes and would have liked to hear more of Alan Levine’s digital storytelling and Sylvia Martinez ‘s educational gaming. Those were the ones that I could really relate to. Although I found the presentation Remixing Education with Brian Lamb and Scott Leslie over my head, the challenge to use new media tools is what really started to inspire me. I created my own search engine and found it to be quite interesting and exciting as I actually did not mess this one up. It was easy and straighforward to use. I also used clipmarks and set up an account there. Again this site was very user friendly and had an easy time using. I very much enjoyed the presentation by Stephen Downes Speaking in Lolcats. His presentation using a webcam was in my opinion more appealing as I was able to see the face to the presenter. I liked when he said “Learning the language of Lolcats is learning how to think”. This statement really made me THINK! I appreciate things that do that.
I can actually say that I am getting the hang of using things. I can say that things that I have never used before are some of the things that I can take away and use in the future. I never really thought of using Youtube half as much as I do now. I also found Teachers Tube to be a really useful tool. I actually opened a Twitter account and find that to be something that I will use in the future. I have used wordclouds and have shown this to some of the educators in their school which they are beginning to use now. This finally brings me to my final project. I developed a wiki social media for educators to give teachers and educators a wiki where they would be able to find different media tools in one place. Some of these tools we used in class and others were recommended from colleagues. I hope that you find use for it. If you feel that you would like to add something to this wiki. Feel free to do so. I feel that I have taken more knowledge in technology and will try to pass what I have learned onto others.
Final Project
I decided to start a new wiki space that would allow me to compile a list of sites that educators could use to help them get a better understanding of media tools that are available for their use. Many of the sites I have tried and others were recommended from colleagues. Some of them I found to be really easy to use and others a bit more complex. Nontheless the links for these sites are available on the page and its really up to the educator to look at the tool and see its usefulness and relevance to whatever they are doing. I really enjoyed learning to use the new tools and I definately will try to show other staff members how to use them.
Understanding Social Media by Alec Couros
For this class we were to respond to the following question; ”What are the new media literacies, and how should teachers and/or schools address these?”
The New Media Literacies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEHcGAsnBZE) according the video is a set of skills you need to deal with our culture to function in the media environment. The skills mentioned are; judgement, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation, simulation, collective intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, individualization and multi-tasking.
I think that key factor in how teachers and schools need to address these skills is to learn about them. We need to learn the language in order to be able to effectively describe or teach to students the skill that is being used. These skills allow us to creatively express who we are. Facebook is an example of this expression. They view who we are as people. It allows us to interact together in a larger environment other than individually.
Overall, we need to learn about the new tools and sites that are out there to effectively teach our students the skills they need in order to actually use a program.
Remixing Education w/ Brian Lamb & Scott Leslie
The presentation on remixing education with Brian Lamb and Scott Leslie was something that I had to review. A lot of information was shared and many applications were mentioned. We were to use one of the resources and blog about it.
I decided to use the application Google Custom Search Engine. I found the set up to be very user friendly as I found it to be quite easy. Something that does not come natural to me. I decided to name this search engine Teachers Tools Search Engine. This search engine will have sites that teachers or other educators can access. It is something that will fit into my final project so thus the reason for choosing it.
To access this search engine the url is as follows; http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=011422925378467953857:orwmvg7zftc
If you would like to add sites to this search engine email me or add it to the comments.
Speaking in Lolcats by Stephen Downes
Lolcats is a new term for me. I have reviewed the presentation that was presented by Stephen Downes on the following webpage..http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/speaking-in-lolcats-take-2. According to Downes (correct me if Im mistaken), “Using the language of Lolcats is to learn how to think.” This statement really spoke to me as it is a powerful statement. Getting children to learn how to think is an area that I think many of us try to accomplish. Many children that I have observed have come to rely more heavily on teachers and teacher associates to help them do their work and due to this dependence students are not allowed to think. Putting this into the context of media would be a huge concern for me. If students continue to rely heavily on the dependence of others they would not be able describe their thoughts and ideas.
I am not certain who made the point, “ Lolcats is a new language to describe new ideas.” I had mentioned that it would be difficult for teachers to teach the students the language if we dont even know how to speak the language. There are many new media tools that are available and once we start getting used to one of those tools something bigger and better comes out. Through the experiences of learning how to use those tools we learn a new language. It’s through this new language that we are able to describe our new ideas.
Overall this presentation was interesting and a bit heavy at times. I think that I will take a lot out of this one. Thanks Stephen!!!!
Bud Hunt’s Would You Please Block?
What are your views on filtering content in the classroom?
I was very interested in seeing this article or comment appear as one of the readings for eci831. Filtering has been a constant issue within our school setting. Since I started working here many sites have been banned from student use. A common complaint amongst the student population is the issue of not being able to fully research certain topics due to words that prompt a ban on the particular site that they are trying to access.
My views on filtering are the same as the comments made by Bud Hunt. Hunt states “Blocking one distraction doesn’t solve the problem of students off task – it just encourages them to find another site to distract them. Students off task is not a technology problem – it’s a behavior problem.” I remember teaching a highschool class and one of the assignments was to do reserach on a particular topic. The students were not able to access certain sites but found other ways to get there. Further to that the chat sites were blocked but a new one would be found within days. I think that its up to the teachers or instructors to manage their classrooms and to show appropriate ways of researching on the internet.
How should teachers, schools, and districts/divisions deal with issues of content filtering?
According to Hunt, “It requires that staff and students manage their technology use rather than relying on a third party solution that can never do the job of replacing teachers monitoring students.” I believe that schools and districts need to look at and rely on the teachers to fully monitor what is going on in their labs. Filtering does allow some of the monitoring to go on but sometimes to an excess. I look at the program that we have installed in our computers and get frustrated when I can even access youtube. Within our school system a policy regarding computer use needs to be set up to ensure that all staff are aware of the do’s and don’ts of computer use and the internet.
http://budtheteacher.com/blog/2009/10/03/would-you-please-block/
Jon Mott-Open Education
I have been thinking about the concept of open education. I have taken several of online courses and have found that each class is different and unique in its own. There are so many valuable tools out there that we can use within the classroom or school setting. I enjoy playing around with programs and figuring out how they run. “If you can Google it, don’t teach it or test it,” said by Dave Wiley, is a comment the completely intrigued me. I commented on a blog page with this same comment. I tend to “google” things that I need quick information on. It takes a lot longer than I like due to checking for relevance and validity. I use it to find further information on the topic of interest. I have found many valuable information from “googling” however I guess I need to review them further…..
Project
Wow…setting up a wiki is more work than I thought. Well for me anyway. I started looking through different formats as to how I want to see this going. I think that within the next few days I will be able to begin to show the class what I have come up with so far. I have a lot of work ahead of me and its time to get a move on. Projects are due within three weeks,,,,yikes!!!
H1N1 Injections
I was reviewing Jeff Greenslades blog (hopefully I have the correct spelling) regarding the H1N1 injections. I live in a community that is several minutes away from a reserve. Both the community and reserve have decided to team up and set up mass immunizations on November 4th and 5th. November 4th is designated for Reserve and November 5th the Community.
I have difficulties deciding whether or not I will receive the vaccine. Reason being is that my three youngest children all have an allergy to eggs and will be excluded from the immunization. Further to that they have not been able to have flu shots since they were infants. My second youngest in particular has severe respiratory problems which really frightens me.
I had this idea in my head that maybe I would not take the vaccine because they cannot have it. The nurse called me and said that if my children were to get sick they would need me to be strong. To be honest I am still undecided!
Mobile Learning and Gaming-Sylvia Martinez
I was thinking of question that was posed in the October 2oth discussion ” Why has the use of games in the classroom become a “hot” topic in education lately?”.
I have seven children whose ages range from 1-17. The oldest six are all boys and my youngest my only daughter. All my boys are into games. Not just computer games but all kinds of games. With my own children in mind I will attempt to answer this question.
I bought software previously that boasted for educational use. When I would review the software they werent exactly what I was looking for. I tried them with the kids and they would comment at how they were boring and asking me why I was making them do them.
My kids enjoy all sorts of games but very rarely are they played in the classroom. I think the reason being is the relevance of the games are questioned towards the objectives or outcomes in education. How does the games actually fit into the curriculum? Administration plays a role as to whether or not games can be played in the classroom. If games are allowed there is a lot of research that is done before they are used in the classroom.
Regarding my children, I have no problem allowing them to play games in the school setting as long as there is relevance to what they are learning in that classroom.
