Teachers & Technology

The HistoryMakers

2006-02-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

The HistoryMakers is a site you definitely need to add to your list of great resources. It contains stories that focus on slavery, the abolitionist movement, the civil rights movement, music, sports and entertainment. Their goal is "to complete 5,000 interviews of both well-known and unsung African American HistoryMakers within the next five years, creating an archive of unparalleled importance and exposing the archival collection to the widest audience possible.”

The stories you can read here are fascinating and inspirational. Read about the ArtMakers, BusinessMakers, CivicMakers, EducationMakers, Entertainment Makers, LawMakers, MediaMakers, MedicineMakers, MilitaryMakers, MusicalMakers, PoliticalMakers, ReligionMakers, ScienceMakers, SportsMakers, and StyleMakers.

The Icing on the Cake

2005-11-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

Kathy Schrock has done it again! She has compiled a list on absolutely wonderful online resources. It has a perfect name - the Icing on the Cake. These online tools for teaching and learning are a must-have and must-use list that you will refer to frequently. If you have not tried some of them, check them out! I see lots of my favorites on this list!

Bembo's Zoo

2005-09-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

This is no ordinary alphabet book. It is a delightful book that uses type in a creative way to entertain and educate all ages. You'll see amazing transformations of animals that are created from the letters of the animal names. Click on the letter and watch with amazement! The site uses Macromedia Flash. For those interested, the book is also available for purchase. The author is Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich.

Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids

2005-09-22T10:04:00.000-04:00

Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids is an exciting Web site for students, parents, and teachers. It provides a fun and educational introduction to how the U.S. Government works

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) developed the new site.

Benjamin Franklin is the guide,for topics such as the U.S. Constitution, how laws are made, the branches of the Federal government, and what it means to be a U.S. citizen. Ben's Guide also includes games and links to other U.S. Government Web sites created for kids.

One really nice feature is that the guide is broken down into resources for specific grades and parents and teachers: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and P&T.

EduScapes

2005-08-16T14:47:00.000-04:00

EduScapes has numerous resources for teachers, parents, students and as the site states "life-long learners of all ages. It is one of the best on the web

Some of the sections include:

42eXplore - This web project provides "four to eXplore" for each topic. On each page you'll find definitions, activities, the 4 good starting points, and many more links and resources for the thematic topic. A new topic is posted each week that is directly related to a season, holiday, or timely theme. You'll find a mix of subjects including fine arts, social studies, science, math, language arts, and other content areas. Although the topics will be introduced on a particular week, they will be updated regularly.

Literature Ladders - Wonderful lessons for Newbery and Caldecott Award Winners, thematic units and other resources about books.

eScrapbooking - This website provides specific examples and strategies for creating electronic, educational, experiential, and engaging scrapbooks!

Teacher Tap - A free, professional development resource that helps educators address common technology integration questions by providing practical, online resources and activities. A sub-section is Discussion Tools & Technology Rich Learning which led to a blogging section!

There are many other sections so be sure to add this resource to your growing list of educational links.

TechLearning.com

2005-07-27T15:12:00.000-04:00

TechLearning.com includes links to Technology & Learning magazine and Educators' Outlook ezine. It includes web tours of sites for educators. Also featured are Sites of the Day, The IT Guy, Professional Development QuickTips, How-To QuickFlicks and databases for such topics as grants and other resources. It is a very comprehensive site with relevant and authoritative information on technology trends, new products, news and funding sources for technology programs.

The New York Times Learning Network

2005-07-19T14:28:00.000-04:00

The New York Times Learning Network is a free service for students in grades 6-12, their teachers and parents. Even thought it says grades 6-12, I have used this site selectively for grades 3-5. It is excellent. You can do a lesson plan search. There is a News Snapshot feature for grades 3-5. There are news summaries, daily news quizzes, a word of the day, test prep question of the day, letters to the Editor and ask a reporter features.The site is updated Monday through Friday throughout the school year. Teachers can access a daily written lesson plan. It also includes activities for parents to use. Previous lessons are available in the archive. It has many other resources and can be used across the curriculum.

eThemes

2005-07-05T16:26:00.000-04:00

eThemes can be the answer to shortening your websearch time when you are looking for curriculum content for your classroom. It is an extensive database of content-rich, age-appropriate resources organized around specific themes. These resources are created for educators to use in their classrooms.

eThemes is a service of the eMINTS National Center. eThemes resources are created and maintained by University of Missouri-Columbia College of Education staff and graduate students from the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies.

eThemes are listed alphabetically as well as by grade levels. It has a good search engine. This is a wonderful resource for educators.

Pictures just got easier!

2005-07-01T10:01:00.000-04:00

Wonderful news! Blogger has added a feature where you can include photos and images in your posts. All you have to do is click the new picture icon and upload an image right from you very own computer or the web! Try it out!

Virtual Math Manipulatives

2005-05-12T20:49:00.000-04:00

This is an excellent math resource. It is a collection of Virtual Math Manipulatives that are organized in a grid by grade level and math strand.

This site was develped by Utah State University and looks like a great site to add to your resource collection.

Free Photos and Visuals

2005-05-10T21:48:00.000-04:00

Presentations are over and you did a great job! I have almost finished all the grading so feel free to stop by my office if you want the results.

I said I would continue to post helpful sites and hope you will respond to the postings. I hope you all continue to blog about what you are learning. I will check in now and then. I really enjoyed teaching you and I wish you the best of everything. If you need any help in the future, I am just an email away and can be found in the ITC most days. Stop by and keep me updated what you are learning and what you are blogging!!

I came across a great post on Robin Good's blog on Where to Find Great Free Photographs and Visuals For Your Own Online Articles.

He says:

Finding quality images and photos for complementing an important article, essay or news report is already quite a challenge for many. Imagine when the goal is not just too find good images, but find some that you could openly and freely use without needing to pay royalties or one-time publishing rights to someone.

Take a look. It's a very comprehensive list of resources.

Good luck on your presentations!

2005-04-27T19:57:00.000-04:00

It's Wednesday night and I have seen lots of you in the lab furiously working on your learning portfolios. I have a feeling we are going to be in for a real treat tomorrow. I can't wait to see your presentations!

I have been furiously compiling your grades up to this point so you will see just where you are. Good luck to all of you!

Reflecting......

2005-04-21T12:07:00.000-04:00

Well, we are getting to the home stretch! Today we will hand in our final reflection and post it to our blog.

Then we'll take a few moments to reflect about weblogs. Here are a few links of various types of blogs that you may not have seen yet.

From the desk of Dr. Tyson

Journalism 1 at HCRHS

The Secret Life of Bees

Get Your Blog in Shape

Bud The Teacher

Alaska Teens Connect

Mrs. Greenwald's First Grade Blog

Lewis Elementary

KF Spanish

You might want to post to your elementary friends and share your learning and comment on their writing. Student links are at....

The Write Weblog

A comprehensive listing of sites and other information about weblogs can be found at.......

Weblogs: The Possibilities Are Limitless!

The Digital Divide

2005-04-14T12:15:00.000-04:00

Take a look at The Digital Divide Network.

The Digital Divide Network is the Internet's largest community for activists, policymakers and concerned citizens working to bridge the digital divide. At DDN, you can build your own online community, publish a blog, share documents and discussions with colleagues, announce news and events and submit articles. Connect with more than 6,600 DDN members from 115 countries to share ideas, form partnerships and develop new strategies for bringing technology and educational resources to underserved communities.

Read one of the articles listed in the middle of the page. Select one that is of interest to you. Then blog about it. We'll discuss in class.

There is additional information on the PBS Digital Divide site.

Learning Environment E-Portfolios

2005-04-08T07:43:00.000-04:00

Here are the promised links to the LEP samples.

Disclaimer: The student examples provided here are representative of the types of projects completed in this class at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. All earned a B or better on their LEE-P. Please note, these are not “perfect” and merely serve as examples not necessarily “model projects.”

Northern Arc by Kimberly Head

Aesop'sFables by Matt Rooks & Sarah Hillery

Australia by Debbie Smith

Women's Rights by Charlotte Arey

Great Depression by Bryan Townsend & David Pittman

Ancient Greece by Norman McKenzie

The Manhattan Project by Suzanne Greenstone & Diana Honey

Kate Chopin's The Awakening by Lori Webster

Alice Walker and the Decades of The Color Purple by Chantrise Sims

Dinosaurs by Anne Hodgskiss & Robert Lundhild

Kids Kick Off Our Copyright Discussion

2005-04-04T11:50:00.000-04:00

Let's begin this week's discussion on 'copyright' by letting the students provide some answers at this delightful site. Hover your pointer over a student for a question. Then click on the student for an answer.

There is additional information on copyright at the Cyberbee Copyright Page. Cyberbee has other good resources for educators. Add it to your list.

One other good resource is the copyright site which is dedicated to helping educators everywhere in the United States understand the issue of copyright. This site originated from a class in Instructional Technology at the University of Alabama under the guidance of Dr. Vivian Wright.

Media Literacy

2005-03-30T19:04:00.000-05:00

The Media Literacy Clearinghouse is a good place to start for learning all about media literacy. Notice the first link leads you straight to a blog! Frank's Blog provides timely currrent events articles about media issues. This site has a lot of resources for K-12 educators.

Head over to the PBS site for Media Literacy. Take the quick quiz to see how you do on media consumption, trends, and legislation.

How do we best prepare our young people to succeed in the 21st century?

Teaching media literacy is, in a sense, teaching critical thinking. PBS offers some great activities for incorporating media activities in Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, and Health. Check them out.

Keeping Blooms in Mind

2005-03-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

There are many models that classify the ways in which people learn, think, and create. I think one of the most useful ones is Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Development.

It is widely known and used.
It has only six categories so it is easily manageable for classroom activities.
The category labels are easy to define.
It emphasizes critical thinking skills and can be easily adapted to criterion-referenced objectives.
It can be easily adapted for students with learning disabilities or for those whom English is a second language.

Plus, Blooms is user-friendly! Students get it and you can really help them stretch their minds. In our classrooms we get busy and tend to stay too much at the knowledge levels.

I will share some student Bloom activities with you during our next class. I'll also review a skit used to help students become familiar with the different levels.

KNOWLEDGE

COMPREHENSION

APPLICATION

ANALYSIS

SYNTHESIS

EVALUATION

Then we'll blog about Blooms! You want to keep Bloom's in mind as you prepare your learning experience portfolio!

Visual Literacy

2005-03-16T13:28:00.000-05:00

enGauge 21st Century Skills web site defines visual literacy as follows:

Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking, decision making, communication, and learning.

Visualization tools enable students to make their thinking visible in all academic areas.

Annette Lamb's site Digital Glyphs: Imaging Ideas for a Visual World at Eduscapes contains lots of classroom connections and ideas for visual literacy. The project is divided into three web pages:

She includes the following hands-on activities:

These links will provide excellent examples and ideas for you for classroom activities. You have completed projects in Inspiration and will be handing in your PowerPoint projects tomorrow during class. We could never have enough time in class to discuss all we'd like to but I particularly wanted to point you to Annette Lamb's resources.

Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson designed the Eduscapes website to share a love of learning with others. As authors and educators, they work with teachers, parents, and children around the world to effectively integrate technology into teaching and learning environments.

There are also some good resources at an Advanced PowerPoint site.

And don't forget the IT3210 link to Adding Visual Elements, Visual Literacy.

After reading, get ready to blog:

In your own words, what is visual literacy?
How will knowing about visual literacy help you to be a better teacher?
Why is it important for teachers to incorporate visual information into their lessons?
How will knowing about visual literacy help you when working with students from different cultures?

Now, focus on the teaching activities.......

What caught your attention as you read? What made you think? What seems really relevant to teaching and technology? Get excited about something you learned that will make a difference for you and your future students. Share something and toss out a question that will make us think and want to respond.

Why technology?

2005-03-03T12:32:00.000-05:00

Are you ready for spring break? I hope you all are getting to go to nice places or just planning to spend some relaxing time with friends and family.

Now, are you feeling inspired after your Inspiration activity? We'll be moving right along into PowerPoint today.

Suggestions......

Read the rubrics carefully. Some of you are losing points by not doing that carefully.
Check and recheck your links. It's up to you to be sure it works.
Spelling errors are a definite no-no! Copying your file and running a word check on word is the thing to do! Remember others are looking at your work and you need to set the example - especially to those students out there who admire you.
Folders - do take the content but please leave the folder so I can redistribute work each week.
Rationales for technology - need to really think about this.

Georgia State's Center for Teaching and Learning writes the following about teaching with technology.

Rationale for Teaching with Technology

The recent literature regarding improving university teaching and our university's unique mission have emphasized several reoccurring themes which support the use of technology for improving teaching. The literature recommends that:

Instruction should move from being Instructor-centered to more Learner-centered. This means that a faculty member works to make each student more independent and capable being a self-regulated learner. Courses that are redesigned to incorporate technology can be more learner-centered.
Instruction for learners in the 21st century needs to be more flexible and accessible so that each learner is not limited to accessing the instructional process by being in one specified room on campus at a specified time. This has special relevance for Georgia State University. The great majority of our students are only on campus for specific instructional activities (the major one being to attend classes). Most students work while going to school and many are non-traditional students (e.g., seeking a second career or returning to school after other pursuits).
With the accelerating changes in knowledge, our academic focus should shift from less emphasis on transmitting the content to more focus of the process learning.
Instruction should move from the linear model of teaching and learning to a more multi-dimensional model which allows learners the freedom to move among elements of content based on the learner's background, interests, and needs.

Now the above is a rationale written for faculty at Georgia State University. Think about your rationale as a future teacher for your students. What's your rationale for using technology in the classroom?

Some links to think about as you continue your learning journey....

Rationale for using technology and multimedia applications in the classroom

Rationale: Why technology?

Rationale for technology in schools

That's a quick search. Let's see if you can find some more and then really think about it.

Your Voice Counts!

2005-02-24T11:27:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about how to help you see how awesome using writing and conversation on blogs can be as an avenue to learn and grow. I want you to be aware that a wonderful blogging community is out there exploring, trying things out, learning, sharing ideas and trying to make a difference in education. You need to consider being a part of that community.

Now this blog and yours are being used as an added piece to your already full agenda for IT3210. We are using it for course content. That's OK and helps you learn the mechanics but there's much more! Blogs can help you really reach your potential if you are willing to get out there and contribute to the conversations. You will be amazed at what you will learn. Your sharing of your thoughts and ideas will help others learn and what a great thing to model for our students. Here is a list of the reasons why I initially started to blog (by "blog" I mean read, write, think, link and really begin to share my voice with others.)

So I'm inviting you today to join the conversation. Most people don't "get" blogging instantly. You need to be open to possibilities. It takes time and experimentation to see how it can be useful to you. I think blogging's a great way of learning. I need to demonstrate to you. My blog, EduBlog Insights, is the one I use to share my learning in the weblog community.

A lot of people don't "get" blogging instantly. They need time and experimentation to see whether and how it can be useful for them."

My fifth graders are doing this type of blogging. They are writing to learn! Take, for instance, Shelby, one of my fifth graders, who is posting about Addie's comments to her.

Wasn't that post so nice? I think so. I really put a lot of effort into the writing that I did about what teachers-to-be should do in order to have a lively classroom. This nice woman's name is Addie. She taught me a little even though she probably didn't know it. She taught me that teachers really do listen to other children's thoughts and ideas.

Maria, another fifth grader, says "Now,I would love to do this forever. I've learned my voice counts. I've learned a lot."

Juan says it best on his "Learning! Thinking! Writing! post.

You are probably not used to using the internet to talk about your learning. You have a voice. You have good ideas. You need to be heard. A lot of educators aren't really familiar with using the internet for expressing themselves and using their voice to be a part of this wonderful learning community. You know how you have conversations with your peers, lightbulbs flash, good ideas flow but it stops there. Take it a step further!

So it's about listening, talking about our learning, sharing and growing. So I'm inviting you to join the conversation. Talk about your learning, Talk about what you are thinking and end it up with an inviting comment starter. We'll respond to each other and then step back and see if our community grows.

Weblogs: The Possibilities Are Limitless is a resource list that contains many educator weblogs. Keep it in mind for future reference. I used it as the presentation piece at NECC last year. I plan to keep adding blogs to it. I hope you'll be on that list, too!

Critical Evaluation of Web Pages

2005-02-23T14:35:00.000-05:00

Kathy Schrock is the Administrator for Technology of the Nauset Public Schools in Orleans, Massachusetts. She publishes many interesting guides. S.O.S (Sites of the School Days) is one of them. It is a site to help you integrate technology into the teaching and learning process.

A recent guide is entitled Critical Evaluation of Web Pages. I thought you might be interested in having the link as it contains a vast amount of information. Students need to be able to critically evaluate a web page for authenticity, applicability, authorship, bias and usability. Kathy has designed a series of evaluation surverys for elementary, middle, and secondary school levels.

If you are interested in being on a weekly mailing list go to the S.O.S. link for directions. Other resources are listed at Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators.

Moving Forward

2005-02-16T19:27:00.000-05:00

We accomplished quite a bit last week. Now we're getting into the components of the portfolio and we will be learning many technology programs in the coming weeks.

First, I'll give you a quick review plus a few questions sprinkled in to get you to think about what we did last week.

Blogline feeds were updated. You should have every class member plus the class blog listed in your account.
You blogged about your chapter readings and made a comment on another student's blog. Did you remember to ask a though-provoking question at the end? That is one way to invite comment from others on what you have written. Did you experiment with the comment starters?
We discussed search strategies and lesson plans.
Information literacy and the Big Six and the Big 6 for Kids were reviewed.
Bloom's Taxonomy was introduced.
Began creating our first webpage on Netscape Composer.
Visited pix4teachers
Learned about file organization in terms of webpage construction - remember the public_html folder?
Reviewed rubrics pages for the different assignments.
Assigned homework.

There were many good comments made. I'd like to highlight a couple I read on Nakia's Blog for Teachers & Technology:

Jovanna commented:
I completely agree that is is vital as teachers to review the websites our students will be using and maybe bookmark them just to make sure no inappropraite sites are visited. I think another useful way to use websites in the classroom could be to have a blog for the entire class so the children can posts their thoughts and me as the teacher can highlight important information. Also the parents could remain updated on class activities and it would also be an interactive and fun activity for the students.

and Laquimah commented:
This post is important because...
you make a good point that it is important for teachers to review sites before showing them to the students. In IT 3210 we are trying to integrate technology in our lessons. But we also need to remember that we can't just allow students to use or view sites without knowing first what these sites contain.

This week we will continue learning about web page design as we move forward to create an excellent learning experience portfolio

WebQuests Could Be Powerful

2005-02-09T11:40:00.000-05:00

Webquests are online projects in which students solve a problem or create a product based on their research. In this webquest, each student takes a perspective on war from a list: nurse, statesman, poet, statistician, conscientious objector, war hero.

The above quote is taken from Chapter 10 in M.D. Roblyer's book "Educational Technology in Action." It was one of the scenarios about integrating the Internet into curriculum lessons. I think WebQuests would really appeal to students. I like the fact that the whole class can be involved and they are working together to solve a problem. The roles provide multiple perspectives from which to view the topic. I think that having students take on roles within a classroom will help them develop their thinking and understand war and the differing views on the topic. Their classmates count on them to bring back real expertise that will inspire and motivate learning. It would really lead to teamwork and cooperative learning.

The other thing that I like about WebQuests is that students aren’t just collecting information. Students have to transform information into something else.

I agree with Ricardo when he said “This could be very powerful.” Can you discuss other ways WebQuests could be powerful?

Responding to Professional Reading

2005-02-09T11:34:00.000-05:00

Today we are going to blog about the chapter you were assigned to read for today’s class. Blogs are great places to use after you have been reading and thinking critically.

First you read.
Next you think.
Then you blog.

You can pick out exact phrases or statements or facts or points or arguments or any combination of these from the chapter about which you will be making a post. Quote these statements exactly and then discuss your thinking. Do not try to cover every point presented in the chapter. Pick out the ones that are interesting or worthy of comment. Then top it off with a thought-provoking question that would invite comments.

We will use these posts as discussion starters in our class. You will get practice making comments as you think about your classmates’ reflective posts.

I am going to share some comment starters (handouts) with you. Plus some Bloom's Taxonomy handouts to "bump up your thinking!"

Have fun and show your good thinking!

My next post will be a sample for you.

Lesson Plan Links

2005-02-04T13:24:00.000-05:00

Good places to look for lesson plans:

Marco Polo - Internet Content for the Classroom

Georgia Learning Connections

Discovery School

Think Possibilities!

2005-02-03T05:47:00.000-05:00

Now that you have had a little time to learn about weblogs and have actually created your own blog, it's time to be thinking about possible uses of weblogs in your classroom.

Check out this list of possibilities for weblogs in the classroom. Now think about how you just might use weblogs in your classroom in your learning environment plan. Here are a few samples:

McCullers Weblog

House Highlights

The Adventures of Jefferson Bear

Awesome Readers & Writers

Idioms Are Fun!

Principal's Quest

Now there are even more samples across all grade levels and in various subject areas at this link.

Just start thinking possibilities as to how you might use weblogs in your classrooms in your learning environment plan.

Now we are going to begin learning lots about technology and with each new program you learn think possibilities! It's going to be a great learning journey!

Learning Theories & Designing Instruction

2005-02-03T05:27:00.000-05:00

This session was packed full of information on how we process information, how we think, how we learn and how we teach. We spent time on lesson plans and writing objectives. To make a long discussion short we can summarize by reviewing the Addie Model for designing instruction.

Analyze
Design
Develop
Implement
Evaluate

and the very basic elements of a lesson plan include:

Objectives
Procedures
Evaluation

and then the objectives......
They are as easy as ABC!

Audience
Behavior
Condition
Degree

Finally, remember that quality lessons include thinking about:

Critical Thinking
Multiple Intelligences
Instructional Scaffolding

Now I know that's a quick summary but all of you were taking very good notes during the presentation. They will serve you well as you start forming your initial learning environment idea. We'll talk more about that at our next class.

Learning to Think & Learning to Learn

2005-01-26T17:29:00.000-05:00

Wow! There's much to learn about integrating instructional teachnology into our teaching.

Let's do a quick review of our discussion last week. Technology integration is:

The practice of using technology that is both curriculum-based and future oriented.
It focuses on meeting content objectives within the three C's - communication, collaboration and creative problem solving.
It also requires that attention be given to preparing students for the future: theirs not ours.
It involves using technology as a tool to accomplish a task, support the curriculum and enhance teaching and learning.

Then we discussed standards. Standards seek to define what students should learn and thus what teachers should teach. We talked about how standards are related to efforts to reform schools. There are content standards, performance standards, new teacher standards, technology standards. Then there are national, state and district standards. There is much to learn! Use these standards to think about your existing knowledge and skills. You need to become very familiar with the standards in technology and your particular content areas. Our Georgia standards are very close to being the same as the national standards in technology. Focus on the (Quality Core Curriculum) QCC for Georgia.

Of course we spent the majority of our time on the learning environment - in our classroom, school, community and world. You want to create an environment that is alive with learning and engaged students who will indeed become "lifelong learners."

This next session we will discuss lesson plans, learning theories and writing objectives.

Ah! There is much to review and learn before we dive into the different technology aspects of this course.

Just think- our students of today will probably experience many occupations during their lifetime. There is no way they can learn everything necessary for all these jobs or even if the jobs they prepare for today will be there tomorrow. There is a growing body of information that increases daily. Our students need to be learning to think and learning to learn. Let's keep reflecting on how students learn and how technology might contribute to this process.

I appreciate your attention and participation as we continue to gain experience in planning to integrate technology into the classroom curriculum.

Off to a good start!

2005-01-19T19:49:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things mentioned in your inital reflections that you are eager to learn:

pictures and graphics
how to get children involved
Excel
ideas for the classroom
webpage design
formatting lesson plans
digital cameras
software used in schools
guidelines for selecting software
math ideas
Photoshop
navigating the internet
ideas for elementary age children
making learning more enjoyable

We'll do all that and more! I enjoyed reading your information sheets and your initial reflections. I feel I know you all better!

For our second class meeting you will become familiar with what standards are and how standards might influence what you do in the classroom.

We'll be discussing teachers as technology users and the different stages of technology integration.

We'll seek answers to these questions:

Why should I use a technology-based method?
How will I know students have learned?
What teaching strategies and activities will work best?
Are essential conditions in place to support teaching and learning?
What worked well? What could be improved?

We want to create active learning environments that strongly engage the thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, and reasoning behaviors of students. Integrating technology into educational practice is challenging work, full of exciting opportunities and endless possibilities. Let's continue the learning journey!

Welcome to IT3210!

2005-01-12T13:55:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the class weblog for your IT3210 course. Each of you will be creating your own weblog! Weblogs have endless possibilities for professional use for teachers and students. The weblogs will be a part of your participation grade.

The goals for using weblogs in this class are:

to use weblogs as cognitive tools to read, think and write about course content
to build a community of learners getting to know each other by reading and commenting on each others blog entries
to explore the use of a discussion format that can be used to exchange ideas
to connect students to a network of peers unavailable through other sources

Weblogs are also referred to as "blogs", a shortened form for weblogs. A blog is a type of website that lets you instantly post your writing. You can post anytime, anywhere from any computer with an Internet connection. It's quick! it's easy! This can be a fun way to get us really thinking about our learning. It will give you personal ownership of your own weblog. It will be a record of your experiences realated to your learning that you can revisit later.

Again I want to welcome you to our class. Your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions are important to us all. So, let's go explore those possibilities!