Week 2 - Tweeting and Blogging and Technology, Oh My!
Upon
starting this class, I really did not have any perspective on how this class
would work and what exact technology we would learn. I was very surprised
as to the amount of applications and ways technology could be used
within education. Initially we were
introduced to VoiceThread, Google Blogs, Google Sites and Twitter. I was familiar with only one of the four but
anxious to see how this would all come together.
First, we had to use VoiceThread which was daunting. While I do use a webcam at work through the Zoom application, it was still different. I am used to seeing myself via webcam but not accustomed to hearing my voice. We had to introduce ourselves and note our use of technology by using the VoiceThread application. It was easy to setup an account and listen to my classmates’ responses. What I didn’t expect was how I kept stumbling over my words despite having some notes on what I wanted to say in my introduction! I think I recorded myself five times before I was satisfied with what and how I stated my information. I had a lot of anxiety after that experience! I kept critiquing myself and noting what I could have done better or what tendencies I showed in the video.
Next we had to set up a Google Blog for this class and share that with our classmates. This I was more familiar with as I had just set one up for my LifeSpan Psychology class this semester. I have been blogging and responding to blogs for six weeks already and understand the power of a blog. I found it very easy to write and provide a logical perspective on the assigned topic. With my LifeSpan Psychology class, we would read a chapter or two and summarize it while providing insight from our lives. This came easy to me because as I read each chapter I could narrate my blog and opinion and perspective in my head. It just flowed into typing my blog. I feel like the blog is a journal of sorts where I can relate what I am learning to my life experiences.
For Google Sites, this is completely new since we are setting up our educational portfolio in that setting. We went over it during class and it seems pretty intuitive. I would like to spice it up and add more of my personality to the site while providing my relevant education and working experiences. I will be curious to see how we keep adding to our portfolio as the weeks continue with the class.
Finally, Twitter was a social media application that I was fairly familiar with in my personal life. Prior to this class, I was using Twitter to follow various world and national news, sporting news, local community news and school news. Now that I have added more educational Twitter accounts and began to tweet or retweet more this past week, I find it fascinating. I am not as reluctant to review Twitter and see what is in store for me. A new learning that I liked was the Twitter column view to follow Twitter chats. It was hard to follow a Twitter chat if there was a large user audience. The tweets moved so fast I didn’t get a chance to read them. I am looking forward to using this more.
Overall I am encouraged by the use of technology and what more it will bring us. I have been very involved with the schools in my town and gotten to know the various teachers and school staff. While I understand the importance of technology, I see where it still is not used to its full potential. The mix of veteran versus rookie teachers is apparent when I see various tweets from these rookie, younger teachers. The veteran teachers are slowly using it more and realizing the power.
First, we had to use VoiceThread which was daunting. While I do use a webcam at work through the Zoom application, it was still different. I am used to seeing myself via webcam but not accustomed to hearing my voice. We had to introduce ourselves and note our use of technology by using the VoiceThread application. It was easy to setup an account and listen to my classmates’ responses. What I didn’t expect was how I kept stumbling over my words despite having some notes on what I wanted to say in my introduction! I think I recorded myself five times before I was satisfied with what and how I stated my information. I had a lot of anxiety after that experience! I kept critiquing myself and noting what I could have done better or what tendencies I showed in the video.
Next we had to set up a Google Blog for this class and share that with our classmates. This I was more familiar with as I had just set one up for my LifeSpan Psychology class this semester. I have been blogging and responding to blogs for six weeks already and understand the power of a blog. I found it very easy to write and provide a logical perspective on the assigned topic. With my LifeSpan Psychology class, we would read a chapter or two and summarize it while providing insight from our lives. This came easy to me because as I read each chapter I could narrate my blog and opinion and perspective in my head. It just flowed into typing my blog. I feel like the blog is a journal of sorts where I can relate what I am learning to my life experiences.
For Google Sites, this is completely new since we are setting up our educational portfolio in that setting. We went over it during class and it seems pretty intuitive. I would like to spice it up and add more of my personality to the site while providing my relevant education and working experiences. I will be curious to see how we keep adding to our portfolio as the weeks continue with the class.
Finally, Twitter was a social media application that I was fairly familiar with in my personal life. Prior to this class, I was using Twitter to follow various world and national news, sporting news, local community news and school news. Now that I have added more educational Twitter accounts and began to tweet or retweet more this past week, I find it fascinating. I am not as reluctant to review Twitter and see what is in store for me. A new learning that I liked was the Twitter column view to follow Twitter chats. It was hard to follow a Twitter chat if there was a large user audience. The tweets moved so fast I didn’t get a chance to read them. I am looking forward to using this more.
Overall I am encouraged by the use of technology and what more it will bring us. I have been very involved with the schools in my town and gotten to know the various teachers and school staff. While I understand the importance of technology, I see where it still is not used to its full potential. The mix of veteran versus rookie teachers is apparent when I see various tweets from these rookie, younger teachers. The veteran teachers are slowly using it more and realizing the power.
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