EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

Now that all my blog assignments are complete, I would like to wish all my classmates good luck in the rest of their classes and future teaching careers. It has been fun learning about different ways that technology has affected the classrooms with you all. I hope that all of us can take what we have learned this semester and use to help us one day be better teachers. I hope that all of you had as much fun as I have had in this class, and that you will continue to have interesting and enjoyable classes. Thanks to all who have helped me and I hope all goes well for you in the future. The semester is now over and we made it, congratulations everyone and good luck.

ACCESS Project and What I Have Learned

ACCESS Project
For this class one of our assignments was to go and observe and access lab. A week ago I observed the one at Daphne High School. Daphne High has the web-based lab and the IVC lab. IVC is done through videoconferencing. I talked about the pros and cons with the installment of this program.
One problem that we discussed was the limited schedule of available courses. Daphne High is located in Baldwin County Alabama and the county board of education restricts the number of classes and the type of classes that the students can pick from, but the state board of education states that by next year all students must take an ACCESS class. Another problem is the state did not give the school enough computers for all their students, yet they just tell the schools to deal with it and fulfill the requirements. Another problem is with the scheduling of the classes. It is hard for two of the schools to have the same time period open for which to conduct an ACCESS lab. The instructor told me that in theory the program is a good one, but in practice there are several things that need to be improved upon and rethought. He said that once they can find more money and get all the above problems worked out that they program could quite possibly become more effective. I have talked with other instructors who feel the same, ACCESS could be very useful and a great program when all the problems and kinks are worked out.

What I Have Learned
This semester we went over many things in this class. We talked about and used Google in the classroom. We also learned about using databases and word processing. The main thing that i had not had experience with was pod casting and blogging. These two areas were the most interesting areas to me. The uses that they can possibly serve in the classroom are incredible. I especially enjoyed working with and learning about using them.
In this class I wish we could have learned a little more about Microsoft. Even though Google can and will be very useful, Microsoft is still what is worked with in most school and business settings. I wish we had discussed it in a little more detail so that we would be more knowledgeable about it in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed this class. The people were great and we had a fun time learning the information that was taught to us. I hope that I can use what I have learned to benefit me in the future as a teacher.

e-contact

For this assignment we were supposed to contact a teacher electronically. I contacted two. I contacted Rachel Boyd who is teaching in New Zealand and Judy Smith who is teaching in McKenzie, AL. I sent Rachel an e-mail regarding her use of blogging in the classroom. I asked her why she implemented it and why I should use it in my classroom. She responded to my e-mail by sending me a reply. She said that she implemented it as a way for her students to express themselves and it became useful in helping them interact with others and learn about different things that could affect their lives. She said that implementing it in my class would allow for me to understand my students better from what they post. She also said that since anyone and everyone can read the blog that it will allow for the students to strive harder to only post what is true and written in an academically right way.
I contacted my Aunt Judy Smith through e-mail also and discussed with her the use of computers and blogging in her classroom. She told me that as a special education teacher blogs are rarely used for the students in her classroom, but that they are used for the teachers to exchange thoughts and opinions on how best to teach the special education students that they have in their rooms. She said that blogging among teachers can help all the teachers learn how different things that could be useful to them in the classroom. If teachers will communicate with one another to exchange ideas and techniques for the classroom, we all can learn something that will help make our classroom a better learning environment.