Thing 23

I have a volunteer that wants to take the 23 Things course from this fall - that is our lovely colleague Mia. As she stated, she wanted to take it this year, but with the involvement in the Grade 2 classroom, she didn't manage to finish the required assignments. When she wanted to come back, it was too late for her to catch up. Otherwise, she was excited about this course, sees the benefit for her own work in the classroom and looks forward to establishing a great group of network friends.

Thing 22

Reflecting:

I thought that this would be a course where I would know most of the things, but I was wrong. In terms of educational benefit, I definitely learned a lot and gained many more tools that I will be able to use in the classroom. The most beneficial things for me were learning how to open and update a blog, what and how to use avatar, how to find and upload podcasts and how to take screenshots. I would definitely recommend that you keep the buddy system in the future. I also liked that we received more instruction in terms of how to complete the assignments towards the end.

I think that reflection/sharing sessions were absent (or maybe it was just me who felt that way). I also agree with Serene that I would have preferred to have had a list of all 23 Things up front, so that I could work on them my own pace (that is just my learning style). A better introduction of the 23 Things before the beginning of the course would also be helpful and possibly, giving people an estimate of how long it takes (an average) to complete an assignment.

In terms of overall impact, I expected that this course would be somehow more tied to Moodlic as that was the school focus for technology for this year. However, I have enjoyed the course and will definitely be more aware as I continue to explore more Web 2.0 opportunities.

Thing 17

UCAPP - Even my husband, who sat next to me while I listened to Mark Frederman, said at one point, "This is interesting. I didn't know that your computer class was this interesting." This, I thought, captured the main message that Frederman wanted to share - in the current world, where the mass media are created by the masses (Facebook, blogs, Twitter, Flickr), we, as educators are responsible for creating a learning environment where the students feel empowered as they construct meaning for themselves. Lessons that students find interesting and motivating are what we need to aim for. I liked Frederman's notion that most schools are rigid systems which require the students to be disciplined soldiers ("Sit down", "Pay attention", "Do your homework", etc.). Thus, changes in education require not only changes in schools, but also comprehensive system changes. And yes, I remember 1995 as the crucial year - I was living that year in the States, away from my family, paying huge phone bills. Only ten years later, I managed to keep my long-distance relationship (with my husband) by using technology on an everyday basis.

4 C's - PYP aims at replacing the 3 R's with the 4 C's (connections, context, complexity, and connotation). Note that content is not one of the 4 C's. I think that at the LS, we are successful at teaching the students to make connections, in complex context and in order to sustain those connections, for them to form connotations for long-term memory retrieval. Only then, we have made a difference in the students' lives.

New Apple Product

Thing 18

Delicious tagging for Dr. Lilly

Voki

Get a Voki now!