CEDU 534 Digital Media Week 3

What can I apply from this week's learning? Well, I definitely think that RSS Feeds are a great idea for educators and anyone who searches for information and wants to save time. Google Reader is easy to start with and works well, especially if you already have a Blogger page.

The "Education 2050" video was interesting and gave us some idea about what form education will take in the future.

I set up a Flickr account. Photo sharing sites could be useful in the classroom in various ways. Presentations, stories. The slideshow or photostream features in some of the photo sharing sites could be very useful. They offer a clear way of showing pictures. These sites are generally easy to use.

We are still Twittering and this could be a useful way to update a large group of people on what is happening at a given time. It's sort of like text messaging, but useful if trying to announce brief information to any and all interested.

CEDU 534 Digital Media Week 2

There were several things from this week's work that could be applied to what I do as a library media specialist. Listening to the podcast about the use of blogs in the classroom was very interesting and I might pursue that sometime. I was surprised to hear that the teacher was using blogs with 3rd and 4th graders, but it sounds like they really had their t's crossed and i's dotted before they started using them. Blogs are a forum in which students who would rather not voice ideas in class or ask questions in a group setting might be more comfortable communicating.

Elgg sounds like it might be a good blog site for education. One of the articles we read was about Elgg. There seem to be a gazillion blog sites out there and plenty that are meant specifically for educational settings. I think it is just a matter of finding the one that best suits the school or class.

Cedu 534 Digital Media Week 1

We read some good articles during week one. I read one article about RSS feeds that was particularly interesting and I didn't know that an aggregator could be set up. This aggregator can be used to receive the RSS feeds from many sites so that a person only has to check one website instead of twenty.

The paper (assessment 1) about the various educational blog sites was a good exercise. Assignments like this force me to look at and research several websites or resources that I might otherwise ignore. It's good to know what's out there and what might be useful in the classroom.

The readings for week one were enjoyable, as the chapters were not excessively dry or long. Some good concise information about Web 2.0 and blogs. This book is current, which is important for this type of class.