Blogging...

As many of my peers, I was aware blogging existed and what it was before this class. However, it never really appealed to me. I do enjoy reading some other blogs- for example the popular perezhilton.com, but mostly because I enjoy celebrity news and gossip and it's quicker to get on Perez's blog than it is to wait for the new issue of People to come out every week (not to mention cheaper.) Apart from that, right now, I don't see a use for blogging, personally. There is a good chance I will use it in my classroom in some form, although I'm not sure exactly how yet (especially since I'll hopefully be with younger elementary-age kids). It is a tool worth keeping in the back of my mind though, much like many of the tools I've learned about in EDT400. What I HAVE learned though, is how to use the blogging tool on google to quickly search for other education blogs. I've done that a few times and have found a lot of really cool blogs maintained by teachers around the country which is a different way to see what's going on in other schools and how the teachers personally feel about it. I learned how extensive blogs can be and the uses they serve which has made me more informed and will help me be able to more easily find out about education-related subjects, whether they be from a personal account or a professional one.

21st Century Learners

Marc Prensky wrote a great article, The 21st-Century Digital Learner, focusing on how schools would be more successful in educating their students if they'd try to listen to what the students want, how they feel about how they're being taught, and maybe how they'd rather be taught. Prensky compared how we treat children in schools to women's suffrage, which I have to agree with. America used to deny women the right to vote and be equal to men in the workforce. We're doing the same with our kids now, paying little to no attention to how they feel or what they think and going along with our day-to-day teaching routines, many of which kids feel bored with. The key here is to engage students so they WANT to learn, are excited to learn, and feel more apt to participate and involve themselves. Instead of assuming that kids- because they're kids- don't know what they need, we should try asking. It doesn't mean we have to go with everything they say, but I feel that educators would be surprised as to some of the insight that their students have when it comes to how they want to learn the material they're being given. I'm sure going to.

http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-digital-learner-technology-2008

Top 100 Tools for Learning

The Top 100 Tools for Learning (http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html), a list compiled by educators worldwide, I found to be pretty interesting while scrolling through. Along with the standings for 2009, they also list the tools' standing in 2007 and 2008 which was the first thing I noticed and neat to see how some tools have advanced or receded through the list. Another thing I found interesting about the list was how many highly rated tools- even in the top 20- I'd never heard of before taking this class (Moodle, Delicious, Google Reader/Docs, Audacity, Voicethread..) and some not at all (Slideshare, Ning, Jing..). The list was compiled by close to 300 learning professionals, showing that these advanced media tools ARE being implemented and that teachers ARE taking strides to bring technology into their lessons and better prepare their students, which is encouraging.

The Issue of 'Netiquette'

as our world is becoming more technologically involved,it's important to consider how we behave socially on the world wide web. the term 'netiquette' has been coined to denote good behavior on the internet. personally, i feel as though this term, and its meaning, are very important!! i've sent plenty of e-mails, IMs, and text messages in haste, and anger, without properly reviewing how they would come off and almost always regretting it. now, if i were smart, at the time, i would have known to step back and take a breather before sending these emotionally-charged memos. not only for social communication, netiquette is really important for both the business and educational world. kids growing up now have plenty of fluidity when it comes to accessing and using the internet but can still and should benefit from tips on how to stay precise, neutral and friendly on the net. http://www.edutopia.org/netiquette-guidelines is a great list of netiquette examples that should be followed and will be beneficial to anyone no matter what the age or familiarity with the internet!