May 30

Hello Everyone,

Well I started out really excited about this course but now I am just overwhelmed and frustrated. I really think I needed more computer knowledge than I had before starting this course. I feel so far behind and often do not even understand the computer language that is going on around me! yikes! I have spent hours on this course but still cannot seem to get a handle on all of the information.

audacity

I downloaded audacity today and had a chance to watch the presentation. I hope to have a chance to record a podcast before the class today. It looks very interesting.

May 26

Hello Everyone,

Last night before the class I spent some time working on zotero (not votero like I have previosly posted!!) and was able to generate a bibliography in APA style. This is going to be a real time saver in the future! The mind meister is very interesting to me as a student but not sure how I would use this in my kindergarten class.

Podcasting scares me. I am not really sure where to beging so I will go over the class information again. I have been thinking about how I would use such a thing in kindergarten and thought that it may be fun to use it to record readings of books. THis way the children can look at the book and "listen" to me read!

Mapping

Well I worked my way through the mapping activity and I think that it went not too bad. I can see using it for myself but not too sure how to use this in the early years classrooms. I guess that you could use it as a large group activity when working on a prewriting activity and then print it out for all to use.

I did invite all from our group to view the map. I added a personal message to the map invite and then made a typo. I could not delete the typo so everyone is going to be getting a crazy message from me!!

May 25, 2010

Okay, So is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by all of the new programs and applications??? I still have not figured out last weeks programs and now have to add the one from Sunday! Yikes!!

I will try to figure out diigo and votero tonight. Right now, I cannot figure out what I should be doing with them and how they will be helpful to me. Guess that I will have to explore that.

May 16

Hello Everyone,

I am really enjoying google documents. I wish that I had known about this so much sooner. I think that it would have saved so much in the past year with editing other assignments. It did take a few tries to figure out how to get the APA style set up. Does anyone know how to set the spell check to work continually instead of at the end?

I hav enot yet tried out the other applications that we discussed on Sunday. The kids had baseball tonight. It was so cute!! I plan to spend sometime tomorrow night doing that so my next post shall include my thoughts on those applications.

That is all until tomorrow!!

Google Docs

Last night's session was very interesting! I am having so much fun learning new applications and ways to use them. Google Docs looks very user friendly and can be shared and edited by many people at the same time. This is so very exciting. I am wondering how secure this program is? Can others assess it without my knowledge? I am thinking that it would be an excellent way to collaborate with other resource teachers when working on funding applications. I am also wondering about saving the document. Is a copy of the document saved to your computer?

I am having lots of fun with this course and am more excited about this one than any of the others that I have taken to date. Everything so far has been so useful.

DimDim Excitement!

I had a hard time focusing on the rest of the class tonight after seeing the DImDim session and realizing that this course has just saved me hours and hours of time on the phone with my dad!! If I can set up a DimDim account for myself and my dad, I can show him how to fix the computer problems that he is having by "Showing" him how I am fixing it on my computer. He can follow along by watching instead of trying to understand what I am saying. So excited about this. I came right home and tried to set up an account but I do not have administration rights on the school laptop to finish the installation so Dad will have to wait until tomorrow!

You should try to set up an account through DimDim. It is very simple to establish an account. Once I get clearance tomorrow I will finish the set up and try again. I will let you know how I have done later tomorrow night! Wish me luck!

Skype

Although I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the new terms, vocabulary and programs that we have already begun discussing, I am very excited to get started!

I have used the Skype program previous to this course but can already see that I only touched the surface of how Skype can be used and the many different ways to interact through it. Previously, I used the web cam to talk with my parents so that they could "see" their grandchildren more often. I always found the audio very difficult to hear. Now I will use a headset to reduce background noise. I will try to use what I have already learned as I interact with my family through Skype. The best way to learn technology is to work with it and to work with it often!

Being able to record Skype calls, both audio and text is a great benifit to using this program as a part of our ICT course interactions. With everyone's schedules being so full, not being able to "attend" each lesson is not as critical. When time allows, we can listen and read the call that we have missed. Students that need to review directions and assignment information may do so by clicking the link and listening a second, third or forth time!

Hi everyone,

I hope that this blog is set up correctly! I will be in touch on a regular basis as I begin to explore and use new forms of technology. Wish me luck!