Bob Carl’s Personal Learning Reflection

As someone who always thought of himself as a “technology geek”, I am overwhelmed at what I learned in CEP 810 during these last two months.  I do know a lot about technology, but I never really ventured into Web 2.0 applications in the past.  What a rush to be able to learn so much about Web 2.0 in such a short period of time!  There were times that I was totally overwhelmed and wanted to give up – and that is not like me!  I realize that part of this anxiety was caused by recovering from a recent house fire and theft, building a new home, starting a new job, and the never ending growing pains of raising two small children; but I had to push forward with graduate credits to be able to renew my teaching certification next June.

I have had a web presence in my own classroom over the years, but it is exciting to share the newer technology available – and at mostly zero cost!  I am very excited to learn more and to help implement many of these technologies into my wife’s classroom first, then into my building where I recently started as the Technology Integration Assistant.

Effective teaching strategies require adapting lessons to individual student learning styles.  Technology can be a great asset in this endeavor since many of these web tools available at little or no cost can cater to these individualized needs.  Audio and video are two of the major technology tools that can help students succeed!

Web 2.0 tools are so easy to use, that integrating lesson plans with them is a “no-brainer”.  Collaboration is a huge asset from integrating the internet into the lessons.  Collaboration helps both the educators share ideas, and also helps students learn group collaboration skills while helping each other learn the lesson.  The internet and Web 2.0 tools greatly enhance this collaboration.

One of my favorite tools I learned about is Twitter!  Twitter is fast and easy to use and can help any educator keep students, parents, and other assisting educators updated to class activities, due dates, etc.  I have been recommending Twitter to all colleagues.

I believe I am doing well at achieving my goals established in my personal growth plan.  I am trying to learn a new technology a week and share at least one a week with staff.  So far, I have been successful!  I hope I can keep this pace!

One new goal I have is to set up some of these technologies for my wife’s classroom.  This will give me an opportunity to have real experiences and also have concrete examples to show my staff how they work.  We are moving into our new home the same time this class ends, so I will hopefully now have some time to dedicate to accomplishing these goals!

CEP 810: Learning Styles Lab

I believe that I am a visual learner.  I always like to look at something to help me understand.  Even if someone is reading something to me, I still like to see and read it myself, even if it is while the other person is reading it to me at the same time.  I would have to say I am also a sequential learner in that I like to take learning in steps and be able to understand the logical chunks of information so that I can put it together and see the big picture in my head.  I am also a sensing learner, where I have difficulty digesting abstract and theoretical material, but I do well with memorizing, details and hands on work.  Like most people, there are multiple styles of learning that I utilize in my learning.     
    

            Less effective learning styles for me included verbal, active and intuitive.  Verbal learning has always been difficult for me.  I always like to see something to help me absorb the material.  If someone is reading something, I would like to follow along with them.  I would much rather to email someone than talk on the phone.  I also work better on my own than in groups.  I am somewhat an active learner in that I like to learn hands-on, however, active learners also enjoy group work which I would rather work alone.  I would also say that I am not much of an intuitive learner in that I do not work quickly and I am also not always the fastest at grasping new concepts and relationships.

            Everyone has their own learning styles that work best for them.  There is no way that we can incorporate all of these learning styles in every lesson, as some of them are directly opposite of other learning styles.  However, we can try to utilize as many as we can to help get our lessons across.  Another way to look at these learning styles is to give our students a learning styles quiz at the beginning of the school year so we, as teachers, know what works best for each student.  As we gain instructional material for each lesson, we can coordinate those lessons with the students learning styles.  For example:  Visual learners could maybe get digital flash cards to work with while maybe global learners could use a map of the relationships of the terms being used in the lesson.  With all of the technological learning aids we have available to us, it would be a shame not to try to incorporate these into our curriculum to help our students learn.

CEP 810: Creative Commons Lab

Photo Attribution:

Original Image:  "A light bulb but no (good) ideas"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8047705@N02/5366637592/#/photos/8047705@N02/5366637592/lightbox/
Image by:  Lifesupercharger

Released under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0) License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

I like to use images throughout my classroom.  Inspirational messages such as the one above are great to hang on the wall as a reminder to all that anything is possible with effort.  Images are also great to use in presentations such as PowerPoint or handouts.  Visual aids assist most learners in understanding what you are trying to teach.  This is especially useful when teaching technology step by step and showing screen shots of what the user can expect to see.

An example of a picture I may use in my classroom is a picture of a lab within the district.  This could be used to show how the lab is laid out before a class is taken to the lab:   Southeastern Computer Lab

Personal Growth Plan

Bob Carl’s Technology Personal Growth Plan

My goal as an educational professional is to help others integrate technology in the classroom.  Technology can help people, not just students; develop more efficient and productive processes while gaining a better understanding of life.  I want to be able to help people with this technology; show them what it can do, how to do it, and how to become more efficient through its use.

To do this, I need to keep up with the technology trends and be able to relate the technology to the needs of the users.  Knowing what technology is available is just part of the job.  How to use the technology and how to relate the technology to the job are also essential in making this whole system work.

I plan on staying current by watching technology releases, trends, and how others are using the technology.  I will need to be vigilant and use progressive thinking to see how emerging technologies can make a difference in the classroom.  I will also need to watch others use this technology and be able to advise them on how to improve their life through this technology.  Only when I see others excel with the use of technology will I know that I am doing my job.

Through my knowledge, I can make a difference in education by teaching others and watching them succeed through educational technology.  It is difficult to say I am going to learn “x” amount per period as technology releases and trends constantly change.  My goal is to stay on top of these developments as they occur.

My skills will need to be top notch if I expect others around me to be successful using technology.  I feel I have a good understanding of technology; however, there are areas that I am not up to speed – such as Web 2.0 applications.  My goal is to be up to date with these technology trends by the end of this year so that I can recommend and assist other users in its use.

Social Networking

This is supposed to be a post about how social networks fit into my professional and personal work flow and how they fit into the lives of my students or peers.  How do I keep from laughing?  I have not used ANY of these social network tools before in my life!  Part of the reason I have not used these is a lack of time.  Another reason has to deal with some family issues I would rather not get into at this point.  As far as professional - well that has been non-existent also.  There is only one person I know who actually uses Facebook.  Most friends and co-workers avoid these tools - just like me; mostly for the lack of time and for the fear of repercussions with student relationships via electronic avenues.  What does this say about me and the people I hang out with?  Hmmm...

Now, how "should" I be using these tools?  That is the question I need to answer.  I have thought about Twitter a lot - but have not had time to act on it.  I can see this being used to update students AND parents of deadlines, tests, etc.  Facebook?  I was actually one of the first users (as far as creating an account), but I never used it since (nor can I remember my login/password).  :-)  I can see some benefit - especially being able to relate to the generations that we are teaching.  Linkedin?  I should have used that YEARS ago.  Maybe I would have a full time teaching job now if I had.  I really do need to get with the times!

810 Blogging Lab

The Differences from Traditional Web Pages and Blogs:
Traditional web pages were designed by technical users in the past, though creating a traditional web page today is much easier and almost anyone can create one.  Web pages are usually created by one person to be viewed by many users with only the one way communication.  Blogs on the other hand have been able to be created by almost anyone from the beginning.  Blogs allow for two way communication from the creator to the user and from the user to the creator.  This is the huge difference between traditional web pages and blogs.