Final Thoughts About EC & I 831

I have given considerable thought to what I would like to say in terms of parting comments for EC & I 831 and have come to the conclusion that many things come to mind.  The most frequent emotion that comes to mind is satisfaction.  I am really happy that I stuck with this course and saw it through to the end.  In many ways this course was extremely challenging; but in many more ways it was very satisfying.  I find myself doing technological things I never even thought about just a few months back.  For instance, I begin everyday by using google reader to check the blogs I subscribed too.  Also, I have been playing around with windows moviemaker and trying some video editing.  I also have really got into digital photography and using music to accompany my photos.  I am sure there are many more tools out there that I can utilize and I fully intend to use my time this summer to expand upon the knowledge this course has afforded me.  I also look forward to learning more about google; it has so many more applications than I was aware of.  It certainly has proven to be a very useful tool within a school setting.  This course has allowed me to come to the realization that technology is the way of the future and that as an educator I must be prepared to embrace it; and what better way to embrace it, than to learn about it.  This course has also enabled me to overcome my fear of all things technological.  I am now willing to try new things and accept my shortcomings.  With time I am confident my skills will only improve.  I look forward to the years ahead with technology and I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Couros for his understanding and encouragement along the way.

New/Beginning Teachers

The past several months have found me not only working on EC & I 831 but also trying to pull the pieces of my final research project together.  While looking over my data these past weeks I have come to the realization that many of the tools presented to us in this course would prove to be invaluable to a new or beginning teacher.  In fact, I plan to discuss with the rest of my administrative team the possibility of setting up a blog for new staff members to our school.  This tool could be used to post questions new teachers might have and the blog would be open to responses from all members of staff.  This opportunity would certainly lend itself nicely to the posssibility of mentorships.  In any case, I am encouraged by the new possibilities I see to support what I have done over the past year in terms of supporting new and beginning teachers.

Second Life

I just saw a tech item on my favourite news station, CNN. The piece dealt with the use of the tech tool “second life” in relation to training physicians at London’s Imperial College. This item really got me thinking about where education is moving and how it is imperative for educators such as myself to keep up with the times. I have often alluded to my concerns about my technological shortcomings in an ever changing educational environment. This news item certainly underscores some of my concerns. I realize that I have a responsibility to change with the times and to do my best to incorporate technology in the classroom. I read a posting from Dr. Couros’s class from last year that indicated that they had been given a tour of second life. I would certainly welcome an opportunity to learn a little more about this virtual reality community. Hopefully we will get an opportunity before the end of the class this semester.

Digital Media Student Survey

I just returned to my school today after being away for a week. I was very happy to see that Google Docs was hard at work collecting data for me by means of the student survey I compiled for the digital project for EC & I 831.  I took some time today to look at how Google Docs was collecting this data and I was truly amazed.  I could not help but think that I need to use this tool much more in the future.  I previously mentioned how Google Docs proved to be a great tool in relation to student performance reviews and I am sure I have only touched the surface in terms of the possibilities of this technological tool.  I am slowly coming to the realization that my technological steps have been for the most part, baby steps in this class, but I now know that the steps will continue long after this class has come to an end.  I am now more willing to try new things and appreciate their educational value.  Today’s experience in a grade eight class reinforced this for me.  These students were all very eager to complete my survey and they had several questions about what I hoped to accomplish.  They helped me come to the conclusion that I need to be part of how education will be shaped in the future.  I also appreciate them for the assistance they can offer me with regard to my technical limitations.  They are very capable teachers who are not the least bit judgemental, they are just happy to be of assistance.  I look forward to continuing to collect data and eventually compiling it to see how the stats in my school compare to the stats shared in the video “a vision of today’s K-12 student.”

EC&I 831 Recognition

I was very impressed last week with another component of the administrators’ meeting in North Battleford.  One of the division’s superintendents took the opportunity to recognize all of the administrators in the room who are part of the community-based masters of education program.  She went on to display our course blog for EC & I 831 and the many tools build into it.  My friend and colleague Stephen King went on to display our blogs and some of the other tools we have been exposed to in this course.  Stephen pointed out to the group the many benefits these tools can provide to our schools.  We also had the opportunity to view the you tube video entitled a vision of a K-12 student.  It was very well recieved along with the rest of the presentation.  I am confident that many of our coleagues will be checking out our course wiki and our individual blogs.  What a great week in North Battleford!

Dr. Anthony Muhammad

I have just returned home from spending a week in North Battleford, Sk. to attend our division administrators meetings.  One of these days was spent attending a workshop facilitated by Dr. Anthony Muhammed.  It was a workshop unlike any I have attended in quite some time.  The topic of the workshop was “Leadership to Build Effective PLCs” and it was extremely informative and uplifting.  Dr. Muhammad is a very interesting and engaging speaker.  His presentation left me thinking about my role as an educational leader in my school and it also made me reflect on this role in the context of personal learning communities.  Dr. Muhammad spent considerable time talking about his personal experiences as both a teacher and administrator.  It was through these reflections that I saw many parallels in my own professional practice.  He made me realize that as administrators we must engage in collaboration with our students, parents and staffs.  He also impressed upon all of us the importance of using collaboration in the intervention process when it comes to the education of our students.  His concrete, practical examples really hammered the message he wanted to convey.  At the end of the day I spent some time thinking about how technology can be used in the intervention process.  I soon came to the conclusion that technology can be a very effective tool in relation to providing intervention strategies for students who may need additional instructional time.  Tools such as wikis and blogs can serve as very useful communication tools with regard to posting course materials and extra instruction.  I did not get the opportunity to ask Dr. Muhammad his thoughts on the use of technology in the intervention process during his inservice, but I will certainly e-mail him and look forward to his thoughts on the topic.  In any case, I left this workshop feeling very re-charged and ready to start a new week.  Dr. Muhammad is a true motivational speaker and I would strongly reccommend his workshop to all educators.

Making Connections.

I would like to begin by expressing my pleasure with last night’s guest lecturer, Will Richardson. Many of the things he made reference to made a lot of sense to me. For instance, he began by pointing out how rapidly things are changing as a result of technology. The example he used was the fact that many daily newspapers are in financial trouble. I recall hearing on CNN a few days ago about a major U.S. paper closing its doors. I still like getting my news through the old fashioned mediums of newspapers and television, but I certainly got his point; things are changing rapidly. I am left wondering if the newspaper will someday become obsolete? Another point that left me wondering related to his assertion that kids are using many technological tools within their circle of friends, but are they being utilized at the school level? This ties into where I want to go with my digital project for the course. This happens to be my technological accomplishment for the week as well. With the help of our school’s “tech guy” I have compiled a 10 question student survey on google docs which will in turn compile my data on student connectivity and its use both at home and at school. My hope is to gain some insight into some of the points Will Richardson brought up last night.

I also made a connection to a point made by Dean Shareski. Dean posed a question that I have often wondered about myself, namely are kids simply amplifying existing relationships through the use of technological tools or are they beginning to expand their communities. For myself, I can say without a doubt that despite my technological limitations, I have definitely expanded my community as a result of the things I have tried and the friends I have made through this community based masters of education program. I am beginning to see that the possibilities are numerous as long as I am willing to try new things. I have also come to the realization that there is no weakness in asking for help. For the longest time my aversion to technology was in part due to the fact that kids knew more about these tools than I do. I realize now that kids are an excellent resource to utilize in learning new technologies. Furthermore, they are often thrilled to help,and do so without judgement , as I have seen on a few occasions this semester.

As we are quickly moving toward the end of this class I am happy to be making some valuable connections and insights.  I am trying new things and have come to the realization that the world is going to change with or without me being onboard; and as an educator I believe it is essential that I engage myself in the pedagogical shift that Will Richardson believes is occuring.

Stephen Downes Lecture

I really enjoyed last night’ s lecture by Stephen Downes!  I have to admit that I was a little confused with some of the terminology, but overall I think I got some of the points he was making in relation to the future of education.  I was particularly impressed with his means of explaining his point through the “fishing rod” story.  I look forward to that type of learning.  I also liked his analogy of the lego block way of building upon previous learning.  I have always been like the video game learner who learns as he plays the game.  This in my opinion is a great approach to learning.  I very much subscribed to this when I was a physics teacher.  I liked learning in action that often built upon the previous day’s experiences.  I also have never been much for huge instruction manuals.  The one question I had that I didn’t have the courage to ask was related to how teacher supervision and evaluation will evolve as the delivery of education changes over the next generation.  I wonder if it will be similar to his comments relating to pilot efficiency, whereby a person can just look up data relating to flight simulations, etc.  In any case I did walk away from this lecture with somewhat of a sense of what education will look like in the future.

Wondering about a “digital project”

Over the course of the past week I have given some thought to what I might want to put together in terms of a “digital project” for our course.  I am leaning towards surveying the staff which I am part of in relation to their use of technology both in and out of the classroom.  I am interested in ways I could possibly communicate the data I collect that would fall within the category of a “digital project”  Any suggestions?

Thoughts about Twitter

I just recently read the article by Jeffrey R. Young entitled Forget E-Mail: New Messaging Service Has Students and Professors Atwitter.  I am one person who is not prepared to forget about E-Mail just yet.  In fact, I am still not what I would call a master of everything related to e-mail; but I am comfortable with it.  From reading the article I do get the point the author is trying to make; twitter is an excellent way of balancing information overload.  However, I am left wondering if a technological connected person is feeling overwhelmed, what hope is there for a rookie to technology like myself.  I currently use e-mail for work and school and find that it serves its purpose just fine for me.  Furthermore, the only thing I use my cell phone for is for making calls; I have never sent a text message or used it for twitter.  That being said, I wonder if a guy like me is better off sticking to what I know as opposed to trying to stick to 140 characters.  I guess I’ll never know unless I give it a try.  Any advice for me in terms of giving twitter a try?