Final Summer Class

It seems like the end of the summer term really snuck up on me, but I don't see any problem with that. I really was thankful to hear the impressions from former MACers not just on their use of technology in the classroom but generally their impressions of teaching early on in their careers especially given their different backgrounds and current teaching locations. I'm really hoping that we're given similar experiences later on in the program since I probably got more out of their discussion than I did with several of the class periods that we've had so far in various courses.

Generation M

So after reading that last assignment I'm not sure how to feel about generation M. First of all are we (speaking of us early 20 years olds, sorry elderly SMACers) part of generation M or are they generally younger? Second I'm not sure what this means for our teaching experience. I suppose it leaves me feeling a little pessimistic, will we be in a constant battle for our students attention? I suppose that's always been a problem for teachers (you don't need technology to doodle or daydream) but I feel that we'll have an especially hard task with the advent of texting and smart phones. I suppose if nothing else this will challenge us to always try and be fresh and work hard to keep our lessons energetic and easy to pay attention to.

Podcasting!!

Yesterday in class I had an epiphany of sorts. This entire time I've been going through the course with the thought in the back of my mind that most all of the things we would be doing would be new to me and things that I would be unfamiliar with. After the unit we did on podcasting it finally hit me that I subscribe to a number of different podcasts, along with following a few different blogs. I didn't even make the connection between these things which I follow for fun and their potential usefulness in a classroom setting. If nothing else I found it comforting that perhaps I'm a little more tech savvy than I gave myself credit for.
That having been said I think that the podcasting medium might be the most useful thing that we've covered so far in this class. It's a great way to get a good amount of material across that isn't too difficult and leaves a lot of room for creativity on the part of my students. This is something where people who aren't really into podcasting would still be able to complete the assignment without much trouble but would still afford those who had out of the box ideas much more wiggle room for those with more creativity. Heck somebody could probably do something as original as a founding fathers mock radio call in show where they defend the Constitution. Either way I think that this has a great deal of potential and it's something that I'm very interested in exploring.

Games, Gamers, and Gaming

So after reading the article and watching the video clip for tomorrow I'm feeling much more positively towards using games in the process of education. Originally I was probably more inclined to see them more as a waste of time than anything else. But not that I'm giving it more thought I suppose that it is a source of constant assessment and I really like the idea of combining learning and assessing into one fun activity. Looking back at some of the games that I used to play (as recently as this week) there were actually some things that I got out of them which I didn't even notice. Even the game Civilization (which Jake is currently enthralled with) teaches people a thing or to about history; it might not be as effective as a unit topic on the Indian independence movement but perhaps it's a least a step in the right direction.

Twitter and the Such

So after today's class I can't ever say that I've never had a twitter, alas. I figured that I would probably be the last person on earth who would ever have a twitter but I suppose that Kristin and Jeff proved me wrong. I'm still not sure how I would feel about using this in a classroom setting however. I suppose that I could see how one might be able to incorporate a class twitter account into a class but I almost feel like that might be more trouble than it's worth. Although this class still has a few more sessions to perhaps change my mind, until then I imagine that I'll be keeping my tweets to a minimum.

Questions on Cheating

So I was trying to get a jump start on some of the work that we had for this week and I read over an article on cheating for this class that got me thinking. I think that most of us went to major universities and I imagine that we've all taken our fair share of standardized tests and I was wondering how many of you have either seen cheating going on or at least known that it was happening for a given exam?
For me cheating has been one of those things that I know has been going on right in front of me but I've never actually seen it. I've always wondered how people pulled off elaborate schemes in order to fake their way to a better grade, even in large classes I've had people had to remove their hats and there were always TA's checking things out. I'd certainly be interested in hearing some of the more amusing stories that people have of others who have tried and gotten caught or those who were more successful.

Wikipedia and Google

So I just read the article for Friday's class on Google and Wikipedia and while it did raise some concerns over their overwhelming I still feel that they can be an invaluable tool for us as teachers. I can't think of any two sights that I use more often to gather information (my personal favorite is when I use google to find something on wikipedia), so it would be a tad hypocritical of me to steer my students away from doing the same.
Just today I used google when a more scholarly search engine (failed to produce results). There was an article I had looked up earlier that I couldn't find after 10 minutes searching on Eric, after 10 seconds with google I was led to the article with no problem. The same goes with wikipedia, even today in class Pat used wikipedia to tell us something more about the subject.
I plan on telling students that wikipedia are great starting off points but because of their inherent weaknesses they can't be used as formal references on any assignments. But who am I to limit somebody's curiosity just because their first source for information isn't peer reviewed. I'll just be glad if they're interested enough in a subject I'm teaching to look into it and investigate outside of the classroom. And as for formal reports and assignments it can still lead them to better sources.

The end.

Impressions of my First Day of Class

This is the first time I've ever written a blog and I'm not especially “techie” so please bare with me. I'm actually very excited for this class on technology, there's so much potential for using new techniques through computers and other such means which opens up a new door and a new way to reach different students. I think this will also provide a way to switch up one's normal teaching technique so that the style that one uses doesn't get redundant and lose some of the students.

While I'm certain that I won't be able to use everything I learn in this class and fully incorporate it into my style, I'm at least hoping that I'll take a technique or two that I can confidently use and help improve my teaching style to reach more students.

I'm really excited to be beginning this class and hoping that I can get a lot out of it.