EDUblog Comments and Thoughts

            Recently I had the opportunity to read and post a comment on two education blogs that I found to be insightful and time well spent.  Unfortunately, one of my comments has still not been posted on the blog due to review by a moderator prior to posting...so hopefully someone reviews it soon so it can go public.  The first educblogger I read was by Lee Kolbert A Geeky Momma's Blog entitled Improving Learning with Mobile Technology.  Lee Kolbert is a former teacher and current manager of educational technology for her school district.  Mrs. Kolbert's blog provides free downloads and an abundance of tips on social learning, including tools for moderated messaging, polling, and private communication networks.  The particular blog I commented on she shared an ebook that contained teaching words of wisdom, and lessons from educators on improving learning with mobile technology.  I liked one particular page in the ebook that discussed the importance of teachers giving the classroom back to their students through the controlled use of technology in the class in the form of cell phones.  Cell phones can be used in conjunction with assessments to help teachers better understand what material their students have a grasp on and what material they are still unsure of.       

            The second blog I read and commented on was by Joanne Jacobs.  Joanne is a educational journalist who often writes on educational issues such as special education, state academic standards, teacher training, cultural aspects of education, college readiness and much more. I found her blog entitled Linking and Thinking on Education to be witty, visually pleasing, and good to read as a future educator.  More specifically, I read her article Test revolts spread-but will they burn out? and was informed about the recent uprising in teacher, parent, student dissent regarding the abundant use of standardized tests in the classroom.  Joanne states that recently "More than 80 percent of the parents at a NYC primary school recently decided against participating in the testing that would have been used to evaluate their children's teachers."  She also said that because of increased protesting and resistance testing rollbacks at the state level are already underway in Texas, Washington, and Illinois.  I have never been a fan of standardized tests because I believe they are inequitable and force teachers to "teach to the test."  Far too much weight and emphasis is placed on standardized tests and I would love to see this movement continue to grow in numbers and in strength.     

Webinar Reflection

I can't believe this is my last blog of the fall semester in EDUC 504, once again it seems like the class just started.  For this blog I would like to discuss my experience creating a webinar and listening to my classmates various webinars over the last week.  In 504 we recently had a small group project where in our groups we successfully created and presented a webinar introducing a Web2.0 tool.  A Web 2.0 tool is any website that uses technology beyond the static pages of earlier websites, in essence they are more user-friendly and interactive.  My group, which composed of my two good friends and fellow cohort members Cory Cotter and Alexander Griffiths, presented Museum Box as our Web 2.0 tool.  Museum box is a pretty cool website that allows the user to build a virtual museum box composed of information that the user wishes to present in a unique and visually pleasing fashion.  To be honest I didn't find Museum box to be anything special when compared to other methods of presentation like Prezi, or even PowerPoint, but at least the option is on the table if an educator wishes to try something new. 

            As far as the experience of being introduced to webinars through 504, and having the opportunity to hear some and then create our own, I thought this was very insightful.  I learned that a webinar is simply a presentation, lecture, workshop, or seminar that is transmitted over the web.  I found the idea of a webinar to be a really cool alternative to a traditional lecture or class.  I really enjoyed listening to my fellow classmates webinars that they created and thought the whole process was beneficial to know as a future educator.  I don't know if I ever see myself using a webinar in the classroom at least in the near future, but I definitely would not rule it out.  In order to use a webinar in a traditional high school classroom this would require all your students to have internet and computer access and I know at my placement at John Glenn high school this would be challenging.  Also I'm not sure the students would be fully engaged and appreciate the use of a webinar.  I could see webinars being really useful in more of a college setting where access to technology and student engagement and participation is much higher.