Lesson 13 - Final Reflections

This course has been a great experience! I have taken several online courses before, but this was my first experience with a “moodle” and hearing content through podcasts and posting assignments through blogging. I enjoyed the flexibility of the course and being able to complete the assignments at my own pace and on my own schedule. The podcasts and video clips were very informative and relevant, and the overall course was well-organized and easy-to-follow.

I would definitely recommend this online course to others, since the format is convenient and the content is relevant and can transfer and be implemented in the classroom immediately! I look forward to giving everything I learned a try and taking another online course soon in the future. Thanks, Lori, for your hard work and assistance!

Lesson 12 - A Time for Reflection 3

Since I began teaching I have enjoyed integrating technology into my classroom and have always been interested in learning new technologies. During this online course, I was especially excited to learn more about using blogs, wikis, and social bookmarking with students, since I wasn’t previously very familiar with any of these. I am eager to utilize all three of these technologies in my classroom to help build stronger bridges between students, parents, and our community, as well as help my students become even more global in their perspectives!

Lesson 11 - School 2.0 (Part 3)

School 2.0 was very interesting to check out and explore – I believe we in Hilton are already doing many of the things that the site described! What struck me most about this vision of tomorrow’s school was the interconnectedness and collaboration among home, school, and community. All three of these play key roles in 2.0, and each seems to have an authentic responsibility. I liked the “Process Areas” on the School 2.0 map, along with their descriptions – Communication, Collaboration, Content, Assessment/Evaluation, and Creation and would definitely want to see these kept on the map. I am not sure that I would change anything about School 2.0, but it will be interesting to see if this is the direction we will be taking in the future!

Lesson 10 - School 2.0 (Part 2): Thoughts on Dr. Zhao's Podcasts

Dr. Zhao was very convincing as he expressed his thoughts about the direction our educational system should be heading and changing! During his first podcast, I was particularly interested in his ideas about the need for students to be pushed towards more creative and diverse knowledge in order for them to be prepared to interact and compete in a globalized market. Our students will someday be competing within this globalized setting (possibly in jobs that do not even exist today!), and I agree with Dr. Zhao that we as teachers should be helping to prepare our students for interaction on a global level.

In his second podcast, I was struck by Dr. Zhao's points about the importance of each student being able to contribute to the environment. He pointed out that students should have the opportunity to be "powerful agents" and not just be receivers of information. When students are able to contribute, they are much more invested and more likely to become active and involved participants. Technology can help us achieve this goal!

Dr. Zhao's information about virtual learning environments in his third podcast was very interesting as well. He explained the learning of language through a virtual setting, where items objects could be touched/pronounced and the learner would be free to take risks in virtual immersion. I believe this kind of setting would be very powerful!

Many learners come to our classrooms as "digital thinkers" and I agree with Dr. Zhao that we as educators need to think more innovatively to be able to engage learners in meaningful and collaborative ways.

Lesson 9 - School 2.0 (Part 1)

Kevin Honeycutt's podcast was very interesting and I found him to be a very engaging speaker! QUEST highly values the active engagement of students with problem-solving, questioning and collaboration, and I was reminded of this as I listened to the podcast. I also thought about ways that I could create more choices within my classroom for my students, allowing them to give even more input for their learning. It was interesting that Kevin pointed out that potential employers of our students will be looking for self-starters who can make connections for themselves and have "gumption." It is our job as teachers to help prepare students for this!

A collaborative project that I thought about implementing could tie into QUEST's primary planner "Let's Build Community" that we are currently teaching. Students are exploring ways that communities are similar and different, as well as how communities are interdependent. As part of our planner, we are discovering current "problems" within communities (through newspaper articles, magazines, current events, etc.) and discussing potential ways we could help those communities. It would be great to use technology to communicate with classes in other rural, suburban, or urban areas to discuss similarities and differences among our communities, as well as problems we are facing within our communities. I think this could be a great opportunity for my students to collaborate with others in an authentic and meaningful way!

Lesson 8 - A Time for Reflection 2

I enjoyed checking out the resources for online videos, learning about wikis as a classroom tool, and collaborative bookmarking with delicious. I am especially looking forward to giving wikis a try on my own! The QUEST Media Center has set up various Pathfinders as wikis that correlate with the IB planners that QUEST teachers use with our students. This is a great way for teachers to collaborate with the Media Center to provide a variety of resources for our students for each planner! I would love to try using a wiki in a similar way, where teachers, parents, and students have the opportunity to collaborate online!