This course has opened my eyes to the technological possibilities that will enrich my students learning experiences. I began this course feeling that I knew something about technology, but I found out I only knew a few things. Through activities in this course I have taken off my technological training wheels, and I am free styling creatively using technology. In my first activity for this course, I created this blog to share with my classmates. It was fun to create a community of learners among my fellow blogging classmates. For my second activity, I created a concept map using the software Inspiration. I love this technology so much that I purchased it for 69 bucks two weeks ago because I continued to use it after the assignment. It is worth every penny. After the completion of my concept mapping assignment, I embarked on a project the helped me express a battle my son Jude is facing. It was an emotional journey in movie making using Windows Movie Maker that proved to provide a great tool for other assignments in other online courses. My next assignment was Google groups. This assignment opened the world of collaborative work that can be done using Google docs. I worked with four of my classmates that were a joy to work with. The next assignment was titled Web tools, and it turned out to be a true pot of gold for this soon to be teacher. I made a grading rubric, multiple test, and bookmarks using free online resources. I am a teacher who loves free stuff that makes my job a little easier. Following the Web Tools assignment, I embarked on the adventure of learning about the dangers plagiarism in the classroom through the Turnitin assignment. I learned there are tools out there to help me identify students who plagiarise, and my role of keeping them informed on the legal ramifications plagiarism poses to them. Then create my own website using some more Google, fabulous online resources. Mv very last assignment was called Assistive technology. It taught me to use my computer to help student who have vision and hearing impairments that make using the computer difficult without using assistive feature that come standard on all computers. It helped me open the technological world of learning to all my students. 
I had a few problems as I embarked on a couple of my assignments, but I quickly realized it was a confidence issue that quickly was overcame by never giving up. I stayed with it until I accomplished it. I believe that it made my weakest issue my strongest issue. My confidence in using technology has increased greatly. For example, I had never created a webpage, and I was extremely frightened I may mess something up. Well, I did and the world continued to turn. I did the assignment twice, and never did not dwell on my failure, but reveled in my accomplishment.
Interaction among my peers in this course was easy. I had a class full of professional minded individuals. I used email, wimba chat, my blog, and google chat. Each were easy to use, and I liked the wimba classroom experience while working on my Google Group Project. When I used blackboard email, I had a few problems. Many emails I sent to my google group partners would return or would not send. So, I chose to interact with my partners via wimba chat and google chat. I did email Dr. Wang on several occasion, and she never hesitated to answer my questions. I really value that in a professor. Google chat is still new to me. I wanted to use the live video chat but could not completely figure out how to use it. I am still working on it. The blog communication was fun when I had time to do it. I commented periodically on several blogs, but finding the time in a two month period was hard. However, I enjoyed reading everyone’s blog at sometime or another. I may not have commented on everyone’s blog, but I have read something from all of them. The communication tool I used the most was the email. I feel its familiarity to me offered advantages over the other forms of communication in this course. The disadvantages of email are that it is not a live chat and sometimes the communication is not as clear as a live chat would be. During our Google Group project, I believe that the best way we were able to communicate was through the wimba chat. We met on a Saturday and the project was completed that same day. I recommend it for other Google Groups.
In conclusion, I have never learned so much in such short time. I feel like a better equipped teacher with technology at my finger tips. There is one valuable lesson I have learned from this course. It is to never stop learning, and keep up to date on all technological advances. Our students need teachers that prepare them for the 21st century.
I created a webpage. Did you hear me? This gal from Buzzard Roost, Mississippi created a classroom webpage that will add more resources to her classroom. I feel like I have learned so much this week. My favorite portion of creating my own page was the free source available through google. I did have a few glitches this week, but I refuse to let them stand in my way. One day, while creating my page this week, I forgot to save my page. I later returned to find it gone. After stomping around for a while, an idea crossed my mind. I wondered if my previous version might still be somewhere with in the google system. In a few clicks, I found an older version and my stomping turned into dancing. That is the only bump I ran into creating a webpage using Google. I cannot wait to use my new-found skills of web design in my classroom.
As an educator we have to take concepts and map them into an organized manner that is easy for our students to follow. Concept mapping is an effective technological tool for teachers to create lessons that are precise enough to meet concepts and standard set by The Department of Education. Concept maps take multiple amounts information about a topic an organizes it so that a student can easily follow. The best feature about concept mapping is its versatility. It can also be used as a learning tool used by the student. Writing assignments and projects can be designed using concept mapping technology. Students can organize their thoughts about a concept to convey a clear message that does not drift off the topic they are presenting. Concept mapping software is available for teacher, students, and administrators, and this software is designed to make a concept map more intriguing to the viewer and the creator.
Christy Rouse's Blogfolio 