Week 7 - I'm Done!

So this is it, the final posting for my blog required for Educational Technology 533. I have to say, it has really been fun to blog, even if no one is reading this. I don't think I'm going to continue to blog as I don't think anyone wants to read about the homework I'm doing or how cool I think Portland is. I will save my blogging for my future classes - lucky them.

This is my third snow day in a row. Monday was fun, Tuesday was pushing it, and today just seems ridiculous. Over the course of today the weather went from winter wonderland (Portland style) to melty mess. I think I will certainly be back to work tomorrow, but I can't complain. Having these few days off was wonderful in helping me complete my final technology assignment and some make up work. If you are interested in looking at my final assignment, there is a link from the homepage of my website. There is a link to my website just to the right hand side of your computer screen...or is it the left?

I am happy to be done with my class but don't know what I'm going to do with myself and all of my free time until January 5th. I'm sure I'll manage.

As a last note, it was so nice to have the opportunity to turn in late work for credit. In my short time at Concordia and what I have learned about assessment, as teachers our objective should be teaching students, not training them to turn things in on time.

Week 6b - Snow Day!

Oh the wonderful gift of a snow day! How exciting it was to open the blinds this morning and find a blanket of white had covered the city! Snow, wonderful snow! Tom and I spent a great part of the day tromping around Southeast running all of our usual weekend errands by foot. In addition to the normal stuff it is also Steve's birthday today so we joined him and Colleen at Jam for brunch. They certainly know their way around a tofu scramble and Bloody Mary! So much fun and so much delicious food! This wonderful weekend, complete with Tom's band playing a show last night, was topped off by my office being closed tomorrow. So there will be a Snow Day part two! Sleeping in is especially sweet on a Monday.

Okay, so I did do some homework as well...

This week we read articles about access to technology being a social issue. I had really never thought about this before but the more I do think about it the more I wish this class is not an online course. I would love to hear what my cohort think about this issue. It's certainly something we should have been having in the back of our minds while learning all of these different tools for integrating technology in the classroom. I'm so glad we got to read about this but wish it would have come earlier in the course.

We also learned how to manipulate spreadsheets using Excel 2007 which ended up being incredible. I'm amazed how easy it is to create charts with this new version. I only learned how to create charts recently but with Excel 2003 and there really is a huge difference in how easy it is to navigate the program. I'm really glad we were able to have this as part of our curriculum.

So, happy Snow Day! Only one more post to go...

Week 6A, One More to Go!

This is the next to last week of this class coming to an end. With all of the work we have done I am afraid of what the final week will bring. A website, a weblog, a podcast, a PowerPoint with audio and video, a week off(!), and this week a wiki - what else could we possibly be doing? I am a bit afraid to look...

This week I learned how to create a wiki. It was easy and actually seemed like a tool that could be useful in the classroom for group assignments and writing projects. Out of all we have done I think using a wiki would be most useful to me as an instructor and easiest for students to work with collaboratively. One thing about this week's assignment that was different from the rest is that we got to see our classmates wikis. This was so interesting and useful to me because it was my first glimpse into the creative work of my peers. While we get to post and comment on each others' discussions it was so much more fun to see the wikis they created. I certainly think if you teach this class again, you should have the students share their web logs, websites, and other creative projects with one another. It certainly helps to see your classmates' work and feel assured that you are on the same page - especially with an online class!

It was certainly nice to have a week off (thank you) and I'm looking forward to just one more web log post!