Final Reflections

As i leave from EDM 310, I take with me some very useful tools. I have learned a lot of technology shortcuts that I never would've found on my own and I even made a few friends along the way. The class was truly a learning experience on both educational and personal levels. I learned that technology will be helpful to me in my career at some point. I think that the class will be better next semester and if I had the time I would definitely take it over again. Dr. Strange and Professor Tashbin did a great job on getting the information to us in a timely fashion, and the only thing that would make it better would be more time. Overall, I enjoyed the learning experience and encourage those who have yet to take this class to do so. So kudos on making this a great semester for me.

Ipods in instruction

During my search for sites talking about experiences with ipod as an instructional tool, I came across one that was very interesting. In an article from the Penn State's The Daily Collegian Online( www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2007/04/04-03-07tdc), it talked about how a professor and an alumnus got together and found a way to put different types of heart rhythms onto an ipod for students to listen to. The students recognition of the different rhythms went from 40 to 80 percent.
Duke University's (www.dukenews.duke.edu) experience has actually increased in it's second year. More students were found using ipods for lectures, assignments, study tools, etc. They have turned the entire program into several courses that are available year round. i hope to follow this to see where it goes in the years to come with technology and ipods changing yearly.

iTunes University

Navigating iTunes wasn't as hard as i thought it would be. I liked the fact that once in the university I had the option of picking what university I wanted to visit or the choice of K-12. The K-12 link goes to some really good topics and would be very useful in most subjects.
The iTunes university site proved to be better than I was expecting it to be and had plenty of good things that will be handy in all levels of education.

Alice Christie

After visiting Ms. Christie's site, I found several things to be very interesting and helpful. The links take you to some very good sites that have very useful information. I found the art link to be very good. The fact that it takes you directly to a site that has really good pictures. In an art classroom asking your students to go to this site to view these paintings would be more convenient than getting a book and printing out the same picture.
I also liked the information on multimedia. This would be helpful in any classroom setting. It gives good detailed instructions on how to take different types of photos in different ways. Most certainly liked the info on podcast, that will be very helpful to me as a student in this class. The podcast link takes you to a page that has links to very good sites that have very easy to follow tasks to aid in creating a good podcast. Overall the site will be helpful to any teacher in any classroom teaching any subject.

What I've Learned this Year

Mr. McClung has really grasped the art of taking it all in and that's what he did. he took the negatives that he saw and learned to make them positive. As I get closer to embarking on my career as a teacher any advice is helpful, and Mr. McClung has really shined a bright light on my hopes and expectations for my first year as a teacher.

Last Lecture

To start off I found it very heartbreaking to know that Prof Randy Pausch was dying from the tumors in his lungs. But as I watched the lecture I begin to understand that this man has really lived a fulfilling life and is really leaving a huge impact on his students.

I think that MIT has really made a breakthrough in teacher -student relations by allowing their professors to have more control over their lectures and classroom settings. I loved how he started his lecture by saying what he wasn't going to be talking about in his lecture and he didn't talk about those things. And I also loved how he only talked about what he said he would. I have had my share of professors who say they are only going to talk about certain things and end up spending twenty minutes on something completely off the text.

Professor Pausch's lecture was not only an interesting lecture but it also included specific events from his life that got him to where he was. From that I gathered how my own life experiences can be used in the classroom setting to help push my point even further and it also made the lecture a bit humorous. I really found the use of props can aid in waking up the lecture even more and keeps the students interested and eager to see what direction the lecture is headed.

It was very unfortunate that he passed away, but I think he left us with very vital information that will help many of us in our future careers. I now have a better understanding of being an innovative teacher, by using what I already know I can help others make it to where they are trying to get to.

Thank you Professor Pausch.

Kelly Hines

Kelly Hines has taken a very broad subject and summed it up in a very easy to follow post. I totally agree with her in the fact that teachers need to be able to teach and learn at the same time. How can they expect students to follow something they've taught the same way for a period of years. We should take her comments to heart and use them in our futures.
Kids are the future and many of them spend countless numbers of hours on the computer and have obtained knowledge on how to do things that we may find difficult. Yes technology is the future but the way it is taught depends on how willing we are to learn new ways of presenting it to the students.

Michael Wesch

I think that movie captured the average college students experience very well. I related to the majority of the students in the movie. Right now in my classes this semester alone there are empty desks that belong to a student who's at home, and I know that my student loans will top more than 20k.
on thing that I have had a difference experience with is that most if not all of my teachers knew me by name because I made myself very familiar to them. On average most college teachers see over 500 students a year and can't remember every student by face or name that's why it's very important that the student introduces them self known to the teacher.
Seeing that this movie was made in 2007 there are several different technological approaches that one could take. pretty much every student owns a laptop now, so instead of having them write down their responses on notebook paper I would just use laptops, and a smart board. There were several times when the camera person had to zoom in to see what was on the paper and then sometimes the response was cut off.
Overall it was a pretty accurate account of the average college student's daily life cycle.

Podcasts

After visiting several different podcasts, I found similarities as well as differences. First and foremost you should have a good introduction to grab or capture your audiences attention like in the Smartboard Lessons Podcast. As soon as it started it had my attention because it was lively in its intro.
Secondly, you want to make sure your speech or topic is lively like the one in the Kidcast podcast. It was very lively, and in an informal setting. It was entertaining for the majority of the podcast. There were a few times where it seemed that there were just alot of people talking all at once.
And that leads to the third thing, you want to make sure that you are prepared voice wise. Make sure that you are speaking clearly, and that the mic you are using is static free. In the Edtechtalk podcast, it was very dull and the guy was speaking in a very low voice, or his mic was on low setting. I was immediately bored and find it hard to follow from that standpoint.
Lastly, you want to combine these things throughout the segment from the intro to the outro. Use the energy flow to conduct the podcast. Be lively and creative, captivate from start to finish like they did in the KidCast podcast. Make full use of all the technology we have and make it great.

Creating Podcasts

After visiting www.langwitches.org, I got a better understanding of how I should go about planning and creating my own podcast. You want to make sure that you have all the necessary documents of events, summary of any research that was done,and you should work on speaking clearly and work on the pronunciation of words that are difficult to you.
I think that I will be able to produce a good podcast based on the knowledge that I gained from this site. It helps to have sites such as this one that breaks things down in a very simple manner.

Google Changing the Way We Think

In the article, Google Changing the Way We Think, I found many interesting points. One thing stands out the most is how Mr. Carr has taken from what Professor Greenfield had to say and elaborated on it to the point that you think how many times you've found yourself doing similar things. Mr. Carr makes great arguments on the fact of how now we can do things much faster and better than in previous years. He used texting and twitter as examples of sending messages and following current events and people, and he used drugs to show how rapidly things change. I liked that he showed technology isn't the only thing in life that has the ability to change from day to day. I feel as though most people in general are far behind technology and in life and that this article is putting it out there so to speak.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis has taken a tool that the average student uses on a daily basis and turned it into a great educational media outlet. Most kids spend up to 3 hours on a computer after school, so why not equip them with the knowledge on how to use and creative their own programs. With the digital age changing at rapid speeds it gives them quite an advantage over others are aren't being taught how to use what's available to them.
She has taken things like avatars and virtual gaming to a whole new level for kids that would otherwise never take the time to learn this on their own. I would like to see others get on board and take her approach to teaching things other than basic keyboarding and computer skills.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

Let's just say that Mr. Robinson hits dead on target with this lecture. There are so many children throughout this world that have been formed into things that they never inspired to be. By embracing their creative interests as well as their academics gives them even more options as they get older than just solely focusing on books.
I especially liked the story about Jillian that he told. I asked myself how many more people are there out there that were diagnosed and placed on medication for behavior issues instead of having those issues directly addressed. How many Mozarts, or Steven Spielbergs have gone unnoticed because we as parents and teachers have mistaken their abilities for diagnosable diseases.

Did You Know 3.0/Mr. Winkle Wakes

Did You Know 3.0
I found the video on Did You Know 3.0 to be very interesting. Some of the facts were kind of alarming to me. Knowing how fast technology will and is constantly changing made me wonder if half of the things I'm learning now will be so out-dated in 3 years that I will have to learn a new way of doing it all over again.
Knowing how much more advanced other countries are than the U.S was also pretty interesting. It makes you wonder what type of experiments are being done here to advance our nation like others are doing. I especially liked how it broke down the length of time it took to reach people before we had broadband, we have come a long ways in technology, but we apparently haven't gone far enough.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
In Mr. Winkle Wakes I think the idea that Mr. Needelman is trying to get across is that there are still alot of people that are afraid of technology and are just fine with a pencil and piece of paper. The fact that he is using a old guy is hilarious.
Technology has taken away from boring letter writing, why write and mail a letter when you can just type it and press send. Not only is technology changing but so is the everyday way of life.

About Me

My name is Daqueshea McCarty. I am a 3rd year student at the University of south Alabama majoring in Physical Education. I am the proud mother of a four year old son who is attending a Mobile County Public School. I have never seen myself as a classroom teacher but I have always had very keen interest in sports and health education. I think that most people have had a negative view of physical education at some point in their lives and I believe that current times have produced better ways of focusing on health education.
Outside of my major studies, I enjoy participating in outdoor activities like running, swimming, volleyball, and the beach. Other than that, I'm pretty basic, and believe that you get out of life exactly what you give life.