ePortfolio

Well I have completed my wiki e portfolio.  It was neat to figure out all the options and things I can add to this.  I know this is a start to this portfolio and I still have lots of things I can add down the road to improve this, but just gettingthe hang of making a wiki and adding things, attaching files and downloading files, etc, was a learning experience,  i can honestly say I have been challenged in this course to expand my technological knoweldge and have enjoyed learning new things and can't wait to continue looking and finding new things to use to help me in my classes or with my peers.  I LOVED this class, alot it was soooo applicable to my everyday teaching and I can help my students better!!

Keeping the Wealth of Knowledge

I love having all of these resources at my fingertips....Just logging into my D2L and bam there are all kinds of things to check out... Now the question.... How can I keep the resources provided by Dr. Mc??? Is there a way to keep all the information and links he has put together for this class.  There is still so much in there that I haven't had time to check out, but would like to in the future??

Help

Ok so I have been working on making my wiki eportfolio and it has been a challenge.  I like to try to figure things out by just going head first and trying different things.  See what I can figure out just by doing and playing around with diferent buttons.  However sometimes this leads to frustration!!! So that is why they have the HELP menu on sites like that.  So I broke down with frustration because I can't figure out how to put a teachertube link on my wiki using the widget, so I went to the HELP menu...... But I read through the directions and still....NOT WORKING....HELP! I tried it multiple times re reading the directions buy still no luck.  So I guess I will give up for tonight too much frustration for one night.  I will start fresh tomorrow and try to tackle the issue.  Once again from the first post in our discussion I said I enjoy sing technology when it works, and this is the other side of it.....FRUSTRATION!!!!!  Good Night!!

Looking Back

So I have been taking the time to look at various programs, websites, docs, forms, etc during this class.  I can honestly say I have enjoyed this class because I have always enjoyed the thought of using technology in my classes but never really had the arsenal of weapons on my side.  Now I look back through all the things I have learned I am amazed at all the things I have learned that I can use in my classes and things that will help my classes run smoother.  I like to learn how to use technology with my classes because its the direction we are moving, but it seems like the kids are running that direction and the teachers are walking because

Mixbook

Well I am liking mixbook.  It is super easy to use and add your own photos and stickers, which makes it fun to play with and get creative. I could possibly use this in a few of my classes.  I have also been playing with Prezi and I do like it.  I never liked powerpoint because it is boring and it drives me nuts when people just read straight from it.  It has no room for creativity like Prezi adn a few others I have seen. AND its FREE!! I am ging to use Prezi or something similar to it for my group projects that I do in Health class.  I think the kids will be more into it just because it is something different other than power point!!  Alright well off to do more looking and learning about more free programs!

Technology or User Error

Well I was getting frustrated with using google forms.  The only reason I was frustrated was due to user error because I was used to using google docs which I LOVE and it automatically saves things.  At first I did not like the fact that I didn't need to save things it just kept saving automatically.  Then when using google forms i forgot it did not save automatically and I made two forms and did not save things and lost it.  So got mad at myself for forgetting.  So I think that google should either make all google docs, forms, etc save automatically or not save, just keep them all the same so people don't get confused!! So this was my user error, but now i remember to save my forms.  The forms work great. 
    Then while working on mixbook it was simple to use, but at one point my things were not saving right and then it worked so not sure what it was doing.  Well happy technology using

open source

Well I have been checking out all the free programs avalaible.  It is amazing to me how these programs are offered completely free.  I am still waitning for the CATCH?? I like to find you tube videos to show and I found teacher tube that is very similar.  However, it is produced by educators so you can feel more comfortable knowing that you are going to get better quality information and not something stupid that is not relevant to education.  I also found a few things relevant to physical education.  It is really neat becuase you can track various things with your fitness levels and make your own plans.  I will be checking into this more. 

igoogle

Alright so I have been really enjoying igoogle and having everything on one page for me to look at.  I set one up for my husband and he thinks I'm a genius, little does he know.  The igoogle is very handy when short on time.  Also i have been exploring prezi and mix book.  Definitely falling in love.  I have never been a fan of power point and have been super excited to find something that is "heaven forbid, FUN and EDUCATIONAL to use.  Because it seems as though when we teach we should not be having fun too.  But with prezi and things like this make presentations much more interesting and I can see the kids enjoysing something different then the same old same old thing for a presentation.  Well I will continue to look into the neat tools avaliable and FREE!!!

virtual field trips

ok so now that sarah and I have been working away at our virtual field trip to rainforest of the world I feel more confident in using the various tools out there.  I have actually enjoyed making this field trip and at first was a little skeptical of the whole thing, but found myself getting into it.  So I found a lot of neat information I didn;t really know about the rainforest.  I am getting good at the whole putting a link to a site thing.  I was frustrated with google maps because I didn't know what I was doing because I never messed with it before but once i got the hang of it it was much easier than I was trying to make it!! Isn't that how it always works, things are simple we just tend to make things more complicated then they need to be.

i google

Wow, I am excited and frustrated all at the same time.  I hae been exploring igoogle and google educator and have found things that I am excited to try out in my classes.  I am frustrated because I wish someone would have shown me these tools were available 5 years ago I could have been using them in my classes.  With igoogle I will be able to us it with my group projhects that I have the kids do in health.  The big issue I have had in the past is kids not having flash drives to take work home or kids work on projects at home and cant get it to school or the email didnt work or they didnt attach it right.  With using i google I can have all the kids set up accounts and use i google and solve a lot of problems!! The google educator has a lot of things that I going to keep looking into to use in my classes.  Having this class, I am taking the time to research and explore different things offered through google and I am learning a lot and want to keep finding new things that i can actually use in my classes.  Also I feel like I am more informed and less technologically challenged! 

ED 517

These blog posts are going to be used for Ed 517 to help in keeping track of exploring topics and reflecting as I go through this class.  So far I have never done anything with a blog and I now have my own blog, so far so good.  I know just enough to be dangerous with using technology and never have time to explore.  So this class will force me to make time to explore and play with technology to hopefully help me incorporate it into my classes.