Podcasts from last semester

After listening to some podcasts from last year's class, I learned how to get ready for my podcast. I learned to be a loud speaker, and not to say a lot of ums. I also learned not be nervous or to try to hide it, because you can tell when people are nervous while conducting their podcasts.

I also learned that I need to interact with my group members when I do my podcast in order for the podcast too sound like a conversation and not so much an interview. I learned that I need to rehearse with more group a few times about how the conversation about our topic, especially with the narrator. I learned that she, the narrator, really conducted the flow of how the podcast went and how it came out. I also learned that I needed to know a lot about the material on my topic, so I would not be surprised when it was time to do my podcast.

About EDM 310

I learned many things, while being in EDM 310. I learned things such as how to do a podcast, Google docs, presentation on Google, how to set up a Google account and its uses, i tunes, alt tags, about those who need alt tags and how it helps them, about Delicious.com, Twitter, and word processing. I learned more than that, I can not possibly list everything I learned, or remember all of it. There was a lot of information crammed into this semester. I did enjoy learning about how computers and the internet can affect my teaching. I now know how to navigate around through Firefox and the internet in general. I enjoyed doing the presentations about ourselves in class. I learned that I have a good speaking voice, and I also learned a lot about my classmates. In class, we did a lot of blogging, and I mean a lot of blogging. Sometimes I felt like too much, about websites I may never use, but I was interesting to keep up with the other students in the class. There were also a lot of projects due in this class. I do feel there was ample amount of time to finish them though, if I had not waited till that last minute or had a full time job along with school. I have learned, that for me, working full time and going to school is hard for me. But I do feel I put forth my best effort to get what I could out of my classes and this class included.

About Twitter

I enjoyed learning about Twitter. I had been hearing about it on the radio each morning on my way to work, but had not looked at it until the other night in class. I had know idea what twitting was until class as well. In class, Dr. Sullivan made us get on Twitter, but not subscribe. We were still able to view twitting topics and see how popular Twitter has gotten. We then had to divide up into groups of 2 and discuss 10 ways we could use Twitter in the Education world. My classmate and I came up with ways to use Twitter such as, reporting lost and found items, keeping students up to date with assignments, school events, weather warnings and threats, school closings, news events like 9-11, for teachers and students or even parents to chat in an informal way, tutoring available, homework assignments and help, school holidays, and to show weekly lesson plans. We also, as a class, then discussed the ideas we came up with in our groups. Many groups came up with some of the same ideas we did. Also, Dr. Sullivan had us explore Twitter, to view what others had twitted about and how they had responded. Now I will admit, that since that night in class, I have not checked Twitter much, or subscribed. Not that I feel Twitter is not useful, I just do not find myself having time to twit very often. I did not see many negatives with Twitter other than remembering to check it, if your school was to use it. It is just one more thing students have to look at and keep up with, but if teachers use it right, it could save a student from failing or missing an assignment. For me- Im not so sure how much I would use Twitter with being a PE Coach. My lesson plans revolve around the weather, which is ever changing. I could use it to put a general game plan up, with students and parents understanding that plans are subject to change. But I do feel that teachers teaching a certain subject could really benefit from using Twitter.

Podcast Review

I enjoyed doing the podcast. At first I was nervous, but I once i got up to the mike and was sitting with my group members and talking about my subject, I was fine. I do feel like learned a lot listening in class, and then going home and reviewing them afterward. The podcast was not near as demanding as I thought it was. It was easy to figure out what to talk about once the narrator asked her questions.

I did notice how some people said a lot of ums, or look nervous. But overall I think the class did well on delivering the information asked of their narrators. I also felt like everyone took the time to get well prepared for their topic, and each did their part as a group member.

About the topics, I felt they had to do with what most of us are studying, such as elementary education. Even though I am studying to be a PE teacher, I found the websites useful that I had to look up and that others talked about. I knew there was alot on the web, but I usually have trouble finding it. This helped to learn about the use of podcast and how to prepare for projects using podcasts and websites in general.

4/12/09 plusses and minuses of blogging

I have been looking at Tiffany's class blog throughout the semester. I have noticed that she has been keeping up very well with the assignments. I feel one plus, is the blogging helps students to keep up with assignments, and when things are due. It also helps to let students interact outside of class, and talk about other things beside class in order to make friends.

Some minuses may be that it is time consuming, and a lot to do for a class. IT can be hard to get the assignments in on time if you are working and going to school. Another minus may be that the posts may not pertain to what you are studying in school, or what your future job may be, or what you are wanting to do/study.

One plus may be that you can also keep up with teacher's blog, and the class blog to find out about updates, get handouts, turn in assignments, email your teacher and other classmates, and find out about dates.

And one more minus may be that some classmates(not Tiffany) but others may not be as diligent with the blogs as you should be, so you cannot just go be their page as an example. You must keep looking at the class blog to read requirements about different assignments.