First Post

Welcome!



This blog is meant to reflect on “Educational Technology” sites for the EDU 595 class. Before I get too far into my post, I’d like to tell you a little about me. This is my second year into the Masters of Education with Technology Certification program. I am attempting to use what I learn in my school, but can’t always integrate everything. I am in my first year teaching middle school at a local private school in Pittsburgh. I am really looking forward to keeping this blog over the course.

This week at looked at The Savvy Technologist at http://technosavvy.org/. The site is run by Tim Wilson. From what I have read he works through conferences to train people on using technology. His recent entries include such topics as “Podcasting Nuts and Bolts” with equipment tips for podcasting in your classroom. For the “Podcasting Nuts and Bolts” section, he gives particular equipment he recently bought to start his own podcast. He focuses on price and its use in the classroom. He also gives advice on how best to use this equipment. As we get into learning about podcasting and their use in our schools, we will have to think about the need for equipment. We will need to think about it’s availability to our students and what will need to be purchased. Will our districts support it or will it be put off for more pressing purchases?

Tim also links to a “Podcast Toolbox” from Mashable. As he writes “it’s really a comprehensive collection of all the web-based tools and services out there.” As I look into making or just listening to different podcasts, this site will help.

The post that I got the most from was “Assignment Calculator 2.0. Here he writes about an “Assignment Calculator” used in universities and a “Report Project Calculator” that can be used grades K-12. The calculator will send emails to the students reminding them when their project is due and “The calculator prints out a five-step research guide and deadlines for each step to discourage procrastination.” I know I could use this now to keep students from waiting until the last night. It would also keep kids accountable for their work. I found the calculator at http://www.elm4you.org/research/ . I feel it is worth investigating for my classroom.



I hope you all enjoy the work that we will do for this course.


-Emily