Better late than never…

<a href=”http://www.box.net/shared/38ic4n0vs2″>Vivian’s Podcast</a>

TOPIC: Using Internet Tools to Share and Construct Groupwork Projects in the Classroom

Okay, the link isn’t working yet. I’m still trying to get this Podcast up and running…..

Deadlines….

Somedays I feel like a newspaper reporter having to meet deadlines…and of course, they are imposed by some higher authority….. (by the way, anyone know what the deadline is for this course? Seems I forgot to ask!)

However, though I haven’t posted or read blogs for awhile because of other deadlines, I have been mulling over what I really want to say, share and comment on in my paper. I have perused masses of incredibly interesting articles about e-learning, assessment of e-learning, on-line communities, etc. and I think I would like to do my paper on creating, supporting and assessing a web-based community of learners. I am specializing in ELA curriculum and this is the kind of thing I love to plan and organize and I have a lot of ideas about how even simple on-line technology could benefit a variety of classroom situations and learners. I think I would include how this could benefit our school’s goals of integrating ELA outcomes into all our content area courses in a more meaningful and way.

I read Glen’s comment about how no one has discussed ideas for google docs in the learning environment on the ICT course blog. This is interesting because I wrote a short podcast of how I would do something in this area. Hopefully it will be up and running for my next blog entry. (I could type it out, but I thought I would build up a little intro here)

Here’s a little taste of integration - poetry and phys ed and music. Guess what poem?

It’s getting a little deeper here…

The snow is deeper and so is the workload with time constraints and added responsibilities at school. However, that being said, I feel its time to get to the heart of the matter and work on a paper. I have found so many interesting topics that I have just been tagging sites, reading lots of papers and trying to decide what to write about. I have had many frustrations with the software and have yet to finish all of the tasks, but I think I can get them done eventually.

A great quote from Charles M. Schultz - “I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!….the answer is 12? I think I’m in the wrong building!”

It was interesting that the bone I threw out about how difficult it is to teach a teacher created a lot of discussion, with many different comments posted about this. Obviously, it is a conundrum. Teachers (in my view) are supposed to embrace new ideas, encourage students to take risks, encourage life-long learning, stimulate and motivate students. Yet it is many of these same people who resist and reject change. Are we being too harsh? Surely these are not the majority! I think there is no answer to this dilemma!

Pushing the envelope

(photo taken at Lake Athapapuskow, yesterday, Novermber 12)

I have been reading with interest the various topics and viewpoints of others, especially in the use of technology with students. I would also like to comment on the “Digital Divide” so eloquently stated by David on his blog.

As David points out, some students have little or no access to technology, lack even basic literacy skills and have home issues.  We have many students who come from this kind of background, yet blossom when given the opportunities. Even if a student has no access at home, they have opportunities at school, even if it’s a little bit in English or Science or Math. Even if there is no dial-up, they can still learn software. I have always found that teaching computer skills, even the most basic, motivates and interests students. Some of my former students have gone on to get jobs where computer skills were a must, even though they did not have a computer or internet at home. They seemed to manage. Kids are versatile…they will find a friend with a computer, ask to use them after school and in some way, they “connect” with the technology. As a teacher, I don’t want to tell a student they shouldn’t try to learn technology, let’s use it instead to give them a hand up, open up their world a little bit…

Teaching teachers technology is also a big issue; and not only teachers, but support staff as well. We try to share skills, but the learning curve is often high and time becomes a serious factor. One teacher will like one type of software, while another thinks it’s useless.  Schools also have to deal with privacy issues, destructive viruses, technology costs and a host of other negative issues so that the dilemma becomes Safety and Cost vs. Learning.  How do we find a balance?

Compromise is what we do, but sometimes its okay to push the envelope.  You never know where it will take you.

I hear that train a comin’….

Not really a Johnny Cash fan, but if the shoe fits… I am starting to feel the deadlines are coming head on at me, yet in many ways these are self-imposed. I keep trying to get on track, but am way to easily side-tracked. Now it’s really bad…I’m talking in analogies, puns and cliches.

I’m anxious to do things, but as usual the technology is not cooperating. My so-called high-speed is half-speed. It works but there is some conflict in the system. I’m hoping to resolve it soon, but who knows. I am having difficulty downloading some programs and like others, they are conflicting with the system or not downloading properly. I am anxious to do the podcast as I have heard some of the others and I am impressed. This is a great tool.

I got the remote…

Hight speed internet at home is probably great. My husband knows. He has hogged it for 2 evenings. I haven’t had a prayer of getting to use it yet. There is an upside…I got the TV remote….

One-a-day…like vitamins and exercise

I haven’t been able to get to this for awhile…and it works like vitamins and exercise. If you do it regularly, it’s easy, but if you start skipping, pretty soon you just don’t take them or you get out of shape and it’s harder to get back to it.

I found myself re-reading stuff and trying to remember how I did something. I finally got the high-speed connection at home, but there’s a whole lot of things I need to redo, relearn and figure out. I have to look at the programs I installed, and thank god I wrote down all my passwords and logins or I would have even more trouble. Someone needs to write a security program for your desktop where you can just enter logins and passwords.

I’m proud of myself today…I finally figured out tagging for my del.icio.us account. I downloaded the tagging toolbar. Don’t know how I missed this before. I checked out two software pages on del.icio.us and tagged them. I didn’t download them because I don’t want to add more stuff on this computer, but I might look into them. If anyone wants to check them out, check my widget…maybe some of you have tried them or they are just interesting, but useless.

Thanks to lylemad for all the comments…I agree about how distance learning can sometimes level the playing field for us northerners. Travel is not only expensive but time-consuming. However, I do want to note that the personal experiences for the students can be worth it. I took 4 girls and we took advantage of the trip and went out for a lobster dinner. We tried all kinds of seafood that the girls had never had the opportunity to do before. They were excited and asked lots of questions about the food, the dining (what are all the forks for?), how to order, etc. It was a real lifeskills learning. I also took them to the theatre. We saw “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder. It was a bit old-fashioned but the girls liked the experience. They really “got” the story and they said the best parts were all the people in the graveyard at the end, and how they didn’t use a lot of props in the play.

Fishing expedition.

I feel like I am “fishing” around the net looking for the “big one”…the one thing that will make it all make sense.  So far I have cast my line into the water and found lots of interesting tidbits…used some new “hooks”, sank a few times, caught some weeds, and all those other fishing analogies. 

Last night I dug out a paper I did a few years ago about distance ed..applications and implications for northern communities, etc.  At the time, there was very little published information I could use, but I thought that since technology has really advanced, and the internet has become a vastly improved tool, this might even be more applicable a topic than ever.  Any thoughts out there? Suggested websites that might be useful?

If any other students have experiences with distance ed in northern communities, I would like to hear your comments and stories too.  I think this would be a useful topic for me to explore.

I’m off to Winnipeg until Saturday, so I hope you will all add some comments!

Tried Flickr..didn’t really “flick”

Still trying, but thought you’d enjoy some pics I took at noon today…

The Tech guy and I are on a different page

Me and Technology ……

(not really but it expresses some of my sentiment today, being close to Halloween and all)

Don’t get me wrong, our tech guy is great, but he is trying to lock people out and I am trying to get in. He wants to save his systems from crashing and getting sick, while I want to explore and find things. He has added another level of security and I am trying to get around it. Does this sound familiar? Isn’t this what our students are doing too?

I didn’t realize that while I was trying to work on Saturday at school to get work on this course done, our tech man was getting ready to install some new security. Apparently he tried it out yesterday and lo and behold, it didn’t want to work. Today he has worked out the bugs, but I couldn’t check my gmail or access my blog yesterday, so I’m behind again. I am looking forward to getting high speed installed at home, but I see lots of headaches again trying to get this stuff all installed on my home system. I guess you could say practice makes perfect…..