Working Hard on 4th Course

With the fall nights creeping quickly up on us I ponder how far I have come with the process of this master's program. I am now in the middle of my fourth class and seem to be able to speak knowledgeable about technology among my classmates and peers.

The other day at school I had my entire class using the few computers in my classroom to work in small groups on writing. They were so engaged and excited. Their enthusiasm caused them to engage in two paragraph assignments instead of just one. They were amazing wanting so much to do more. That is the real light bulb a teacher seeks to find in her classroom.

The Night Before Vacation

I am sitting here close to 12:30am trying to finish up my homework in order to head out tomorrow and enjoy my family vacation. It has been an intense last two weeks trying hard to complete all my course work. I am happy to say that I am excited about all that I have learned in this course. It is amazing what is out there and available yet I hadn't even started to use any of these tools. I am grateful for EDU 651 since it has given me the opportunity to try new things and also become somewhat current in what technology can do.

Blackboard as a LMS

Blackboard is the Learning Management System that Ashford University uses for its online courses. This week my class assignment wanted me to compare Blackboard to other online tools and have me evaluate them to see if they could replace Blackboard. After looking at the other applications NING, PBWORKS, and FACEBOOK I have concluded that they are not up to the quality or focused on learning as Blackboard is at this point. I do think they could be used in education but not as a stand alone interface. The programs were designed for social networking and I feel that they are correctly designed for that purpose.

DELICIOUS ACCOUNT - WEEK 5

I have created a delicious account which is a social bookmarking tool. It is so cool. You can bookmark and tag sites. You can also see how many other people using delicious have bookmarked the site as well. As an educator you could have students tag their bookmarks with a title specific to you. This way you can follow their research and also have the class share different sites they have found.

Learning About Our Future Generation and How They are Wired

I was amazed today as I read an article for USA Today about how the current youths' brains maybe wired differently. This really explains how my niece and nephew act in social situations. They seem to be unable to realize that they are rude and disrespectful with the use of their technology. Texting friends while in the company of others to me seems rude yet the new generation is not fazed by it. I was in the company of my niece and her friend and they sat parralle to each other and never spoke a word but had a huge dialog going with someone on the other end of their Texting.

Why Can't I Remember My Passwords?

This evening I have spent quite a bit of time trying to remember all my passwords to websites I have created for my master's class. This time it took me about 30 minutes to get what I needed and I am still not sure I will be able to remember them after I go to bed tonight.