ICT Presentation

I thought this was a pretty cool presentation to wrap up the class. The 2 guys had lots of neat information for us to use in a class. I think its scary how advanced we are becomign technologically but thats a part of life. It will be cool to see what will happen to us as teachers and when we are ready to retire in terms of what students can do with technology. I am a little aprehensive about using cell phones in class. Im glad the technology is avaliable but I dont think I would use it in my class. I think with the ways things are with cell phones that it will get some flack from parents and certain administrators. I agree with the fact that we have to teach students about the future rather then the today. They are the future and becoming more advanced then we can imagine so we have to keep up to date and focus on their skills and get them ready for their own lives.

Computers in the classroom

For our Reading thinking Writing class we have been asked to find educational sites to share with the class. I have noticed a wide variety of sites that offer educational games for students. I started playing some of these games and found majority of them to be very worthwhile and challenging. This also related to our Filtering assignment for IFE. A lot of schools filter any type of game sites and that is taking away students learning. Students learn in different ways and an interactive game may be a great way of teaching them the material. I found a lot of great sites that offer games for science, math, language arts, health and more. They range from strategy, action, adventure, rpg etc. With the rise of technology games are a new and exciting way for student to learn. We need to start incorporating them as part of lessons, filler time at end of class, use for reviews and just plain fun.

Distant Learning

This is a really easy topic for me to talk about. Reason being was that I took a number of online classes through Webct while in High School and also had the opportunity to revise and change a GIS online class while student teaching. The presentation was very informative. Lots of information was provided for those who have not used distant learning. Its great that anyone can work online. I felt that with my busy hockey schedule that webct was worthwhile and allowed me to work at my own home on my own time. One thing I really liked about the presentation was that there was an example online where soon to be teachers can view how it is organized and the layout of the site. One thing I do not like about webct is that it doesnt work for all classes. By this i mean Biology. I took biology online and i did learn some stuff but it was not the same as being more hands on like disecting a frog, or looking at cells. An online class for this type of subject is difficult because of all the hard components need to be covered in a word format with essays and small assignments compared to doing more visual learning.

Second Life Presentation

In all honesty i found the presentation to be boring. Dr. Glen Gatin is a good speaker and was easy to hear from the back of the room and I think the idea was right where he explained each aspect of technology such as: social networking, RSS, virtual worlds, and so much more but to make the presentation more I think he should have opened up pages showing how to use each part. Such as showing us more programs that he uses so we can get an idea of them. That way it gives us a visual way of learning compared to just having someone talk at front of the class. He did show us some parts however. I was really interested in the virtual world thing called second life and even some of the youtube videos because that was exciting and sparked my interest. Even though the second life did not work 100% it was still neat seeing the different avatars and how that person can interact in a virtual world. For example 1 US dollar buys you 300 000 dollars in the program. Second Life is a program that I am looking up as we speak and there are lots you can do on there. A part of me makes fun of people who spend their lives through a computer program but it is fun and is an escape from reality for those who need it.

Elluminate Presentation

Today we used a program called Elluminate. It is awesome. Its a hands on program where everyone interacts together. Its really cool to have everyone say what they want and add neat things. We talked to Dr. Alec Couros. He is from the University of Regina and tells us to take risks. IT was a great presentation. IHe explained so many programs we can use and actually showed us how to do them and what each one was for. He went step by step which made the presentation that much easier to follow. Its really cool to interact with someone far away and add videos, pictures etc. He was a good speaker and had some funny stuff to show us. Elluminate is an exciting program that can be used in the classroom and at home. Great Fun!

Sites from Guest Speaker

Here is the site for ICT for learning. Thought it would help everyone if we ever need it.

http://lwictpln2010.wikispaces.com/

Student Teaching

I am going to Kuwait for my last student teaching placement. Here is a site you can check out. I am pretty pumped to go overseas for my final practicum. A bunch of us plan on going to Egypt for spring break which will be unreal. I will check out the pyramids, ride a camel, go down the Nile and possibly wrestle an alligator.

http://www.aca.edu.kw/aca/portal/pages/menu0.php

Guest Speaker

Today we had a guest speaker in our Internet for Educators class. His name was John Evans. He talked to us about many aspects of using technology in the class. Things such as blogs, wikis, social networking, and so much more. This was a great presentation because he explained all this material to us in a way we can understand, how to do it, gave us sites to use and had a good sense of humor which is always a good thing with a guest speaker. The wiki he presented gave us the opportunity to share information with other teachers throughout Manitoba.