The Last One

I will start off by saying that this was an unique experience. I started off highly skeptical about this whole experience and leave highly pleased. I was introduced to a whole new variety of tools and now feel somewhat adequate with using technology. Along the way I began my own personal blog, The Christian Linebacker. This class has helped to slightly change my view on technology.

• What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

The Animoto movie and the Sign Generators.

• How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?

I can't say that it has affected my lifelong learning goals, but I can say that it has enhanced the experience. It has given me new portals through which I can achieve these goals.

• Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

How easy it is to use technology when you take the time to learn how to use the tools.

• What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Dedicate a little more class time to show how to use all of the tools that are available to use on this blog. Many times I used the trial and error method when it came to using some of the tools that were available through blogger.

• How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher?

It will influence some of the technologies and tools that I use. This project has introduced me to tools such as Animoto, blogger, Flickr, and Google Calendar. All of these tools will help make my job easier and help my students learn better.

• How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0?

Just keeping up to date with what's trending on web or other teacher's blogs. Many of these tools were compiled on lists that were available to look at through research on the web. Also, since I am at the University setting I will be exposed to many of the new developments.

Thing #23

Here is the example I found that the 23things was adapted http://ash23things.blogspot.com/2009/06/23-things.html.

The creative commons is an awesome resource that we all can use. It allows us to take pictures from Flickr and use them based on the logo they fall under. It eliminated the headache that is usually associated with battling the copyright issue because all you have to do is remember what a few simple logo's mean and how to use them. I worked with the Commons a couple of times during this semester and found it simple and easy to use. I will use this tool in the future as a teacher when I am constructing slide show presentations. I will use it to find images to fit the examples that I need, so that I can more quickly access these images and properly give the credit. The Commons is definitely a tool that I will use in the future as a prospective teacher.

Thing #22

LiveBinders is a tool that I am extremely skeptical about using to say the least. This just seems like a glorified favorites section that your computer already has. I created the three binders like we were asked to do, and I really found no use in them at all. The titles of my binders were Education Class, P.E. Resources, and Assignments. I feel that I could have done the same thing I did on this site by simply copying and pasting the URL's into a word document and saving that document. As far as uses in the classroom, I personally would not use this tool in my class. I guess if someone really liked this tool they could have their students create a few pages and save their assignment into one of these binders. Teachers could also post all the resources the students need for an assignment into one of these binders and send it out to the students. I hope this is the first and last time I use LiveBinders.

Education Class

Thing #21

This Animoto site is pretty freaking cool. I have never made a video before and I completed this video in ten minutes. I loved the simplicity of this site. I was able to pick a song, and upload some of my profile pictures from Facebook. I never had to worry about and copyright issues or anything. The best part about this site is that it produces the video and times the turning of the slides on its own. I never had to worry one time about the duration of the pictures. However, I was unable to figure out how to get ten pictures onto the presentation. It would run over time with ten, I tried for about ten minutes to figure this out before I gave up. That was the only thing that I did not like about this site. Other than that this was the coolest part of the 23things project so far.

Thing #20

YouTube may be my favorite site there is on the web. I use this site to listen to music, learn about a variety of things, watch sermons, and discover other techniques to do things. YouTube is absolutely amazing! The video I choose for this part of the project was my High School Football film. I choose this video because it is the only video on YouTube that is about me. It also makes me go back to that time in my life, and I enjoy those short flashbacks. I feel that YouTube could be a useful on a Library site. It allows the visual learner an immediate opportunity to see what they want to learn about. Also, this site works as a tutorial guide to a variety of topics that could be useful in an education setting. Many schools refuse to use YouTube in their classes, and I think that is bogus. Schools should use YouTube as a free resource to educate their students. This is my view on YouTube.

Thing #19

Social networks are something that I am pretty familiar with. As mentioned earlier I am a member of Twitter and Facebook. However, these are not the only two networks I am involved in using. I also use tndeer.com as a social community to discuss deer and turkey hunting. This community appealed to me because I am an avid deer and turkey hunter. In the community I am able to learn, discuss, and view photos about hunting and others experiences. I have also used this community as a way to learn about the WMA's that are best suitable to hunt and why. The tndeer community has really been beneficial to me. I joined the teacher pop community as part of this assignment and really did not like it. It just seemed like another cheesier version of Facebook and that really did not appeal to me at all. In the future I will continue to use both Facebook and Twitter because it is one of the primary ways that I communicate and stay in touch with many of my friends. I will also continue to use tndeer because it encompasses my favorite past times and keeps me up to date on hunting in Tennessee.

Thing #18

Social networking is one of the few things I am familiar with when it comes to computers. I have had a facebook account since my freshman year in high school and a twitter account since October 2011. I find that both of these sites have a huge upside in social lives, but not in professional lives. I feel that it is important for teachers to know how these sites work because all of their students and students parents will be checking out their pages. Teachers must be careful about what they post and say becuase it could be brought up again if it upsets a student or a parent. My mother is a second grade teacher and constantly get friend request from students, which shows that teachers pages are constantly bombarded by students. I did not learn anything new about these sites through this thing being as I am familiar with both sites. My favorite of the two networking sites is definately Facebook. You can do so much more with facebook because you posts are not limited, can see pictures easier, and in my opinion is much easier to use. Twitter on the other hand limits you to 140 characters, which is highly annoying, and is constantly bombarded with useless tweets. However, both are useful sites that individuals can use to communicate, learn, and inform people with if they are used correctly. Although both sites are a great form of learning and communication, I see no use for these tools in the classroom. There is just simply too much risk involved with using these networking tools in the classroom in my opinion.

Thing #17

Delicious is a website that I had never heard of until today and I found this site to be highly beneficial. It works in a similar way that a search engine does without all of the garbage of a search engine. Once on site I entered educational technology into the search box, and many links came up. I was familiar with about five of the links that popped up, and knew they were top notch. After exploring two or three other links I was thoroughly impressed with the knowledge I had obtained. I see the power that this tool could have in the classroom. Both the teacher and the student can use this site to find good web pages and materials to use for the class or school related research. It also provides a space where teachers can store all of their favorite pages and access them from any computer worldwide, saving many potential headaches. Teachers can take advantage of this tool by simply searching the site under the field they teach. There is a multitude of fantastic sites and information on this page, all one has to do is search. Teachers can also post their favorite page in hopes that other teachers can find use in the same website. Overall, I enjoyed this social bookmarking experience.

Thing #16

I choose to use the iGoogle startup page because I am most familiar with Google. I was somewhat nervous when I discovered that I was creating a startup page, but I found the process to be simple and helpful. On the startup page you have access to things that interest you. For instance, I checked that I liked sports and as a result sports headlines were on my start up page. The weather, top news, and a list of some online games were also on this page. I was really thrilled. I can really see myself using this as my permanent home page.
 

I have had personal experience using the online calendars and I love them. You can easily put all of you activities and important dates on the online calendar. By putting these dates on this calendar you receive emails and text messages to your phone if you so choose to do so. This allows you to be constantly be informed on the important tasks and activities that you need to perform without having to be looking directly at your calendar.

The to do list was extremely confusing to me so I found it to be too difficult to use. However, if I could use my brain and figure out how to actually use this tool I feel that it could be a highly effective and powerful tool to have.

The calendar is the most helpful of all of the tools. I would easily recommend it to others as I already use it in my daily activities. It helps keep me organized, focused, and on task. Any tool that can do that is worthy of use in my opinion.

Thing #15

Wikis are a internet tools that to be honest scare me to death. I do not really understand what they are and how they work. But I do know that almost anyone can edit the materials on a wiki and that totally scares me. Although that scares me, it excites me at the same time. I see how a wiki can be highly useful in a 21st century classroom. You can create a page for your class and have all of the materials and assignments for the class accessible to the students at all times. All the students would have to do was post and edit their particular assignments. I enjoyed the sandbox wiki for the apsu23things. It gave me a very minor experience on how wikis work. It also opened my eyes to how simple and effective that this tool can be.

The thing that I found most interesting about wikis is the fact that you and another individual from across the globe can contribute and edit the same materials by using a wiki. By allowing multiple people to contribute to a project or on information you get variety, creativity, and a solid finished product. However, you are putting much trust in another individual whose credibility could be questionable. This is what I found interesting about wikis.

Thing #14

To begin with, I used the bubbl.us mind map website. After about five minutes of using this tool I found it to be highly useful for 21st century classroom. This tool could be used to brainstorm ideas for a paper, project, or just about anything else that you could imagine brainstorming about. I just used the trial and error method to learn how to use this tool and I have to say that it was highly simple. I brainstormed about my activities here at Austin Peay and had the whole storm done within ten minutes. This tool simple, useful, and most importantly effective. I choose this tool because I liked the name.

The second tool that I explored was Gliffy flowchart site and I feel in love with this tool. I was able to express the thoughts that I wanted to extremely quick and effectively. I showed my chart to a friend and they were able to follow the flow of my day by simply evaluating the chart. I wished that I had known that this was an available resource much sooner in my academic career because it would have proved to have been useful. I will definately make the most of this tool in the future. I choose this tool because it was the first tool that was listed on the assignment.

Thing #13

Zoho Writer amazed me. The more I explored the more I found that I liked. It is basically like a free online version of Microsoft Word. You can do all of the things that you can do on that software, and the best part of it is that it is completely free. I basically wasted all of my money buying Word. I enjoyed how anything that I composed on this site I could directly post onto a blog. I also enjoyed the fact that I could work on my projects both on and offline and the two would sync just like an iPod does with iTunes when connected. This is a truly awesome site that I foresee myself using.


https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/17OkUNuuVXKGoe6-wt0zcaT3Gmo-YCpvm8xGsyeYXCDI/edit?pli=1
Google Docs was highly confusing to me, which made it hard for me to understand. From what I learned, students can use this site to collaborate on projects together. They have access to presentations, word documents, drawing boards, and several other formats. The students can then share their creations with one another so that they can learn from each other. This is how I see that students can collaborate using this site.

I prefer Zoho more because of its simplicity. I also feel that it is easier to share my creations with Zoho as it has a way to directly put things directly onto my blog unlike Google. Zoho all the way.

Thing #12

When this class began I thought Google was nothing more than a glorified search engine. However, Google is much more than a search engine. You can create a calandar, translate words, blog, youtube, and so many more options. Google is quickly becoming an everyday part of my life. For this thing, I choose to use Google Translate and Google Calendar.

I really enjoyed using Google Translate. One of my goals in life is to learn to say "I Love You" in the language of every individual that I meet. So I explored this tool by doing just that, I translated I love you in Vietnamese, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Thai language. I was able to hear the actual translation, which helped me brush up on my skills. In the classroom, teachers could use this tool with to translate the Language of foreign countries if the became penpals with students from abroad.

The other tool I choose to use was Google Calendar, a tool that I have already explored and blogged about before. I absolutely loved this tool the first time I explored it and love it even more now. I love how you can create, personalise, and publish your calendar for others to see. In the classroom, teachers can create a calendar of the months assignments and events and post it for all of the students to see. You can also break this calendar down to a daily and hourly view, allowing the user to detail the calendar as much as the want. I really enjoy this tool due to its apparent usefullness in daily life.

Here is a link to my Calendar. Made it to where my PE classes could know what we were doing in class each and everyday.
JC PE Calendar = Click on monthly view and scroll to march to see my creation.

Thing #11

As I began this i was fairly optimistic about finding plenty of blogs about physical education. However, it was the exact opposite. I found myself getting highly frustrated, but equally excited when I found a top quality blog. The tool that I found the easiest to use was the Google Blog Search. It was straight forward and gave me content that was relevant to the materials that I was looking for. The easiest method was just hunting and gathering. I would type in various keywords and just hunt and gather information that I found helpful. The most confusing method to me was all of the other ones that were not affiliated with Google. After several attempts using both, I was highly frustrated because nothing useful or related to physical education popped up.

The most useful blog I found through my searches was Biggar High School PE Department page. It detailed their whole physical education departments goals, standards, and activities. The program was both detailed and structured which I feel will help me out in my searches. Some of the unusual items I found was a page devoted to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and many pages on Physio programs, which I had never heard of. As for other methods or techniques, I did not venture out into others because I barely knew how to use the ones that we were given.

Thing #10

I absolutely loved the RSS feeder; it has saved me a lot of time and grief. It drove me crazy having to click on a million different links to get to any blog that I wanted to read, however that has all changed. Now all I have to do is sign into my reader account and everything is there. How amazing is that? It is extremely convenient and time efficient which I like. I can use this technology in my classroom to stay informed on what other physical educators are doing. I can also use this to follow credible physical education sources and provide materials for my class to study and look over. In my personal life I can use this to follow blogs or any other form of information that I want with one easy click of the mouse. As I mentioned earlier, teachers can use this technology to stay up to date with what other teachers are doing and going through in their classrooms. RSS feeder is in my opinion the best tool we have been introduced to so far in this class. I typically do not trust technology, but I do believe that RSS feeder as recently gained my trust.

Thing #9

I really enjoyed playing around with the image generators. I spent most of my time in The Happy Face Generator, and had an absolute blast. There are many uses for these image generators in the classroom and in my personal life. In the classroom these signs could be used for encouragement or provide you with something to put your class rules on. Personally, I could see myself using these generators to put Bible verses on or simple words of encouragement.

I created this smiley sign with the Bible verse John 3:16 because this verse speaks the truth about God's love for us. He gave his one and only son for us, which is totally awesome because it is evident in my life. Praise be to God for giving us his one and only son.

I created this smiley image because "KISS" is my motto. As the sign shows it stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. I have to constantly remind myself that I need to keep things simple, so I decided to share it with you guys. I feel that it is even more fitting for this setting since I am not a wizard when it comes to using technology. Hope you guys enjoy.

Thing #8

I decided to use the jigsaw application on Flickr because it was the only one I was smart enough to figure out. After viewing the list of mashups I was frustrated due to the fact that I was not able to use most of the ones I clicked on. This whole process with Flickr has really frustrated me, and has caused me to have a negative outlook on the site as a whole. For me personally, there is no use for Flickr in my classroom or personal life. I prefer Google or Yahoo images. However, if someone knows how to use the site there are many creative tools available. I choose to use this particular picture because I plan on being a P.E. teacher. This picture shows me being physically active, which will encourage my kids to be active as well. As far as posting pictures on the web, I have no problem with posting the pictures. Just don't get upset if someone uses your picture in a negative light, or you get in trouble for posting. After all, you were the one who posted the picture.

Thing #7

Sat. Oct. 29, 2011 Homecoming APSU vs EIU_09092009_Brittney Sparn_ 001, a photo by The All State on Flickr.

Flickr was the most frustrating thing I have ever tried to use in my whole life. This whole process was a complete disaster, and I am sure I will never use this website again. I found searching for images to be highly confusing and ineffective. Attempting to upload the picture to the blog was a complete failure. After 563 attempts on top of extremely high blood pressure I was finally able to upload the image, thanks to a fellow classmate. I believe Flickr is a good site for people who want to keep their photos online, however I do not believe the site is good for individuals looking for images to use. Yahoo and Google images are much more convenient and user friendly, and provide the user with a picture they can use much quicker. With that being said, I choose a picture I found of myself to blog about. This was taken prior to kickoff of our homecoming game against Eastern Illinois. I was calm and relaxed, preparing myself for the task at hand. I was in the complete opposite mindset for this part of my blog. The photo was taken by Brittney Sparn of the AllState on October 29, 2011. Let's Go Peay!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theallstate/6332543628/

Thing #6

The tool that I chose to explore was Google Calendar. I really enjoyed this tool because it's a place where individuals can customize their own calendar online. The tool provides an hourly view of the schedule of each day, and can also be broken down into a weekly and monthly view. The most interesting thing about this calendar is that one has the capability to subscribe to other people's calendars, which is great for the classroom setting. The more I explored this site, the more I fell in love with it, and the more I began to see ways I could use this tool. I never found anything that I did not like about Google Calendar. I believe that with the current shift to technology within the classroom, this tool has a tremendous value. With the capability to subscribe to other people's calendars, teachers could create a schedule for their class entirely online. All the students will have to do is subscribe to the calendar to know exactly what they are doing each specific day. The calendar is available to see at all times, so if a student was to miss a class they would still have the ability to look at the calendar and be able to complete the assignments and stay caught up in class. I can see myself using Google Calendar in my classroom one day.

Thing #5

I first read Web 2.0: A Guide for Teachers which discussed the variety of resources that are on the web for teachers to use. The resources include blogs, podcasts, Flickr, YouTube just to name a few. This site also gave the teacher an idea on how they could use each of these to help enhance the experience in the classroom.

I also read the Horizon Report 2008, and was stunned that the research that these guys did four years ago was accurate. The technologies they said were to mainstream in the next one to five years have in fact begun to mainstream into today’s education system. Grassroot videos have come in the form of YouTube, Collaboration Webs have emerged in the form of blogs, podcasts, and Skype. I used a form of each of these technologies in high school, and am continuing this trend in college.

After reading these articles I grasped a better understanding of School 2.0 and the direction it is leading our education system. To me, School 2.0 means that before long our school system is going to be entirely based on technology. I believe that hard copies of text will be done away with, replaced with online versions. Classrooms will become paperless, replaced with computers and online classes where assignments are completed and submitted through the web. As a future educator, I find this to be scary as I never enjoyed using technologies when I was in school. I still do not fully trust computers and have an old school paper and pencil mindset when it comes to school. However, the future of education seems to be heading into a technology based classroom with the classic version of education becoming a thing of the past. As a teacher, my reality will be a paperless class where computers are the paper, pencil, and textbook of my students.  

Thing #4

Commenting on blogs creates a sense of community and interaction because it creates discussion and conversation about a variety of topics. Commenting allows individuals to express their opinions about the topic the blog is about. It also allows people to be able to express their support or encourage the author of the blog. Communication is vital for community and is a key form of interaction. This is how commenting on blogs creates a sense of community and interaction. 

Two things that I found important were thanking people for commenting on your blog and drawing attention to your blog. I thought it was important to thank people for commenting on your blog to show your appreciation for not only reading your blog, but for taking the time to comment. Simply saying thank you is the least you can do to show your support. I believe that drawing attention to your blog is another important aspect of blogging. I want people to read my blog, so it is vital that I draw attention to my blog so that others will read it. I can draw attention to my blog by posting on other blogs as well referring to my blog when I comment on others blogs. These are two of the things that I found important through reading the articles.  

The seven blogs I choose to follow:

Fairview Physical Education: I choose to follow this blog because I plan to pursue a career in physical education. This blog breaks down what this teacher does for each grade level for each class period, which will help me learn how to structure and manage my class. I commented on how I was impressed by the way his class was structured and implemented curriculum and fitness tests. Here is the link to this blog: http://fairviewpe.blogspot.com/.

Talking Christian:  I choose to follow this blog because I am an active Christian and am actively pursuing a relationship with the Lord. This blog is the opinion and experiences that a person has had regarding the Lord. It provides details about her experiences and presents Bible verses that helped shape her or allowed her to learn and grow from these experiences. I commented on my opinion about one of her daily posts and supported her opinion.  Here is a link to this particular blog: http://talkingchristian.blogspot.com/.

 Jared Sexton: I decided to comment on Jared Sexton's blog throughout the course because we are both on the football team. We also play the same position and see each other on a daily basis, so it will be easy and helpful for the both of us to keep in contact with throughout the course. We have held each other accountable to the 23 Things by viewing each others blogs.



Stefanie Tate: I decided to comment on her blog throughout the course because we have had classes together in the past. I feel that her work will benefit me because her work is always top class. I commented on how we both though that viewing problems as a challenge was both the habit we thought was the easiest.

Shelby Burkhart: I decided to comment on her blog because we had the same 2100 course and did our observations at the same school. Her blog also seemed like it was in order and provided good insight. I commented on the simplicity of her name and the creating of the avatar.

Abby Smith: I decided to comment on Abby's page because she is my neighbor in class. She has already helped me a lot in class, and I feel that following her page will help me as the course continues. I commented on how we both used similar approaches with the naming and posting names we used.

Katie Robello: I decided to comment on Katie’s blog because she is also my neighbor. She also has experience with blogging, which could come in useful as time goes on. I commented on her avatar and page setup.

Thing #3

In my future classroom, there are three ways that I can see myself using a blog. The first way I will use a blog will be to reflect on my teaching experience. I will use it as a space where I can write down the memorable moments of the day, as well as reflect on students that are making an impact on my life. I will also use my blog to store lesson plans. I will post my lesson plans online so that they can be easily accessible for me, as well as available to other teachers for review and critique. This will make it easier for me to be able to keep up with my lesson plans as well as create an opportunity for improvement due to the response of others. The final way I foresee myself using a blog in the classroom is to post photos and comment on class activities. Students and parent will be able to see the various memories that are made in the classroom. In addition, it will also be a place where the homework assignments and test schedule are posted so that everyone knows what is expected of them academically for the course. These are the ways that I will consider using a blog in my future classroom.        

Thing #2

The first step in creating my blog involved creating my posting name; I decided to use my full name just because it was simple and easy. There was not really much thought put into the posting name. When I named my blog, I wanted to be original and hopefully come up with something that stood out and was catchy. After much thought, the name Carroll’s Cavern came to mind and it stuck. I was in complete terror when I was informed that we were creating a blog (saw my life flash before my eyes). However, the process was extremely easy and enjoyable due to the step by step directions and the help of my neighbor (thanks Abby). I thought that this process was going to really rattle me, but it had the opposite effect. It gave me confidence and satisfaction knowing that I was able to create and now post on my very own blog. The avatar that I put on my page reflects the uneasiness I have about this class, due to my lack of knowledge and comfort using such tools. However, I hope that I can change the facial expressions as the class continues to an avatar that looks confident instead of uneasy. I attempted to make the avatar look as close to me as I possibly could, I will let those who know me be the judge of that. I did this because I wanted this page to reflect me as much as it possibly could. This is the experience I had creating this blog and my avatar.

Thing #1

As I watched the lifelong learning habits video I was amazed at the detail that was put into these 7 ½ habits. The way these habits were put together and explained really spoke to me, challenged me, and benefitted me. The learning habit that is the hardest for me is the habit that spoke about Using Technology to My Advantage. I am not a very technological person; in fact I actually despise technology. When at all possible I avoid using any form of technology due to lack of trust and knowledge. However, I know that I must overcome this lack of trust and knowledge if I am to become a successful and effective teacher. The habit that I found to be the easiest was the habit that discussed Viewing Problems as Challenges. I have always found joy and comfort in challenging situations, and see such situations as opportunities to grow. I have grown substantially in the past simply by viewing problems as challenges. I feel I can use this habit to overcome the habit that I found to be the hardest. I believe that if I view not trusting and knowing much about technology as a challenge, I will eventually become competent with these skills, and be able to effectively use technology to my advantage. 

By working with Web 2.0 tools, I want to learn how to use the computer, and the tools that come with it to be able to effectively use them in the classroom environment. Also, by using these tools, I hope to become comfortable using computers and gain trust by simply using them. I was terrified when I discovered that we were setting up a blog (and still am), and to be honest I had a negative attitude about creating one. However, much to my surprise the experience was extremely easy and fun. I finally have a space on the www dot that is all mine (miracles happen). I just hope that the rest of the process continues to go as smoothly as this part did.