Skype - A Response

Stars: Skype Education Site! What an awesome place for us to find resources for our classroom! The collaborative element, the ability to connect with real experts... All of this speaks to authentic learning experiences for our students. Rather than consulting a text book or a website, being able to talk to an expert live really allows students to directly interact with a primary source

I like the frank discussion of the issues associated with the tool. Limitations are just as important as the potential for us to understand when and how to use skype and it really reinforced the idea that the task, not the tool comes first. Understanding the limitations of a tool helps us find the tool that fits well in our school environment for our task.

Wish: More interaction perhaps?What might have been really awesome is to skype with someone in class. Show us something authentic rather than videos of it. That really the only thing I wished for.

iPads in the classroom - A Response

My response to the presentation this morning....

Stars: Really fantastic depth for different, cutting edge uses for a tablet! The augmented reality portion in particular was interesting, allowing students to interact with their environment in a totally new way.

I also liked the little moment to go out and find interesting apps-So that we were up to something to directly relate your presentation to our particular area of interest.

Wish: You acknowledged the structure that these presentations have been taking, (everyone of these has a video!), but then followed that same structure anyways! I wish that along with that admission, was an acknowledgement that either that structure was what works best for us-Or find a different thing to do for those five minutes!

My response to today's UDL presenation

(Also found on the forum, but here I am being all thorough)

By looking at technology from a UDL perspective, it seems that you really have to ask yourself the hard questions of 'How is this technology enhancing my lesson and my student's experience?' Swapping out an overhead projector for a powerpoint presentation doesn't make the cut because it really doesn't give multiple means of expression or multiple means of representation.

I loved the inclusion of robotics in UDL, it really is the cutting edge and brings up some really interesting ideas about what it means to be a distance verses a physically present learner. I also really loved the acknowledgement of what I've heard called, partial continuous attention, the multitasking that has become a part of being a technology immersed individual. While the presentation was going on, I was replying to another email, exploring the UDL site and only occasionally staring at the screen. Rather than seeing that as an indicator of poor attention, it was an expression of further interest in the topic, or perhaps just a symptom of being a busy student/teacher.

My wish would have been a different format. If you're an expert in UDL, why were we given only visual/auditory means of representation? Although I acknowledge that it would be a tall order to do that in a 30 minute time frame.

First Post - Me, my machines and what they do

(i) I think my strength with technology is a poverty of wealth and a wealth of time. If I didn't learn to fix my computer/phone/Palm Pilot, then I wasn't going to have one. I began to further refine my troubleshooting by working with Central IT, answering the phones. It led me to some very interesting problems and taught me a lot about what to do when you don't know a lot. What I have always struggled with is a lot of cynicism, as I tend to question the practicality of solutions or IT innovations for students. My first thought is always 'will everyone be able to afford that??' because that was a hurdle to my own education.

(ii) I have always been interested in emerging technology, particularly SMART boards-but I am not overly knowledgeable in them yet! My own skills are rather limited as of yet with anything distinctly educational, but so many tools are not billeted as educational, but rather they turn out that way. Blogs for example? What better way to create something for formative assessment.

(iii) I am interested in just about anything tech related to be honest. If it's kids with cheap digital cameras making movies, or how students use their phones in schools for school work, I'm interested.