Kaia and Father's Blogs

Kaia is a very young little girl whose father helps her blog. She shares lots of thoughts, pictures and experiences. William Chamberlain's class regularly comments on kids blogs. Kaia's father contacted Mr. Chamberlain's class and asked them to send Kaia a voice thread and they did. This was one more way to connect and provide more motivation to little Kaia to post.

As it turns out, Kaia's Dad does a lot to inspire and motivate Kaia to express herself via technology. He is working towards building Kaia's literacy at a young age. They took cameras outside, Kaia took lots of pictures and created a photo essay about her pictures to put on her blog. Many people have seen her presentation and have commented. This is a great tool to encourage a chid.

Kaia's father, who happens to be a teacher, is very interested in technology being used as a tool in education. He realizes that Kaia is still too young to really understand the connections that she is making, but in a few years these connections and this type of interaction will be appreciated by her. He hopes that her teachers are ready to help her continue on this journey.

I found this post to be very insightful as well as thought-provoking. It is a wonderful thing to expose our children to technology, the internet, and people from around the world. It will create in them a sense of understanding of the diversity that the world has to offer. That way they won't be sheltered and culture-shocked when they come to college and see them, like many of us were. I want my own students to learn and experience these connections.

With that being said, we also have to be careful. Not everybody on the net is looking out for the best interest of our children. Hopefully there will be more teachers out there who will help make the world wide web more safer for our children and protect them from harmful elements. We should also teach our kids how to be safe when browsing and how not to get easily distracted or persuaded when doing schoolwork. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BLOG FOR YOURSELF!

Comments for Kids-"Overalls and Boots"

My comment for Mr. Goerend's class went to a student by the name of Macy. Macy dreamed of having an International Dress Like a Farmer Day where everyone could eat as much food as they could. They could also dress and feel comfortable living the day as a farmer. This day would occur annually every September 30th. Macy stated that on this day it is important for everyone to be themselves and have a great time! I told Macy to always be yourself and have fun in whatever you do in life! CLICK HERE FOR MY KID'S BLOG!

New Media Literacies

This video was very honest. These skills are needed to work, live and contribute to our world and society today. I'm not really skilled in these areas but I hope to get better. I'm not on the highest level of technological literacy. I know just enough information to get by. With the direction that the world is going in we all need to advance our knowledge. Everyone should have these skills. This is something that I am going to have to work on.

Wendy Drexler's The Networked Student

Wow! This video really made me feel like crap! It showed me how far back I am. I am not really taking advantage of technology as I should. This video also inspired me to be more of a connectivist. I do believe that learning occurs as apart of a social network, also implemented by different uses of technology.

Looking at this video from the standpoint of a teacher is also sort of scary. Teaching a networked student for a teacher who is not very technologically literate, could make that teacher feel useless and incompetent. I know that's how I would feel. This also shows that teacher that they do not know it all. Sometimes teachers do forget that! They can learn a lot from their students. CLICK HERE

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

Although I had a hard time focusing on Mr. Miller's presentation, I found it to be very helpful and infomative. Teachers must keep up with technological advances. This is extremely important in this day and age. Mr. Miller is accurate by saying that we living in the greatest lifetime of communication. We are able now to communicate with people almost instantly.

A successful teacher in this millenium must keep up with technological advances. This is not easy because new things arise almost everyday. One can never "know-it-all." Be willing to learn from others as well as your own studnets.
My students will be familiar with multimedia hopefully by then the system will realize how important the different technology program accessories is for students that Mr. Miller recommended. I know that I can lead my students in the right direction.

Inspiration of iPods

iPods are not just a technological device solely used for fun anymore.
In 2004, Duke gave their new students their own iPods and and also to undergraduates who took a course where they needed one. This has had an extremely positive impact on the school. The university has "broadened the focus of the program beyond iPods to a much broader effort to promote the effective use of technology in higher education."

The classes that now require iPods have also enormously increased. In my opinion, this is a great thing for all universities to do. I wish that the University of South Alabama would also impliment this practice. Being someone who is somewhat technologically illiterate, and shockingly does not own an iPod; i think it would be a great new experience to incorporate in the traditional classroom to make it more modern. CLICK HERE FOR THE ACTUAL ARTICLE!

iTunes University

iTunes U is a great website that would be extremely beneficial for all college students, not just future teachers. It appears to be a great search engine. New things are added all the time to iTunes, so it is very up-to-date. iTunes is also free. Nobody can complain about the price of something that is free! That is another reason why iTunes can be used by anybody. Podcasting and vidcasting, as we also have learned in EDM 310, is a great way to relay information between teachers and students or their parents. This is also a very reliable tool because it allows the teacher to be prepared and able to correct any mistakes they may make because, of course, you can re-record them.

I do recommend using iTunes. It's free. It's reliable. It's resourceful. It's up-to-date. You can download music, movies, and videos. This website would be a helpful advantage for anyone who uses it. CLICK HERE

Dr. Christie's Site

Dr. Christies website was extremely helpful and informative. This would be a great research and reference tool for educator. I really learned a lot by going through her website and the different helpful tools that were there. The part that I found that was most helpful for me was the tab about web design resources for educators. I have never created or designed my own website before, so I found that part to be helpful. The internet is a very good educational tool for students and teachers. What better way to communicate with your students while your away from them than to create a website for your class?

I like how Dr. Christie stated that the website must be "purposeful and well-designed...targeted at your students, other teachers, and community members." When transferring any type of information it is extremely important to be aware of your audience. You have to be conscious of them because you don't want to confuse or misinform them. As a future educator I will be using Dr. Christies advice and create a site that is both helpful for my students as well as their parents and even other educators. CLICK HERE FOR DR. CHRISTIE'S ACTUAL WEBSITE!