Clarifications On EDU 595 Assignments

I needed some clarification on some of our assignments for class. I think others might be in the same boat so I emailed Dr. Merrill. I thought I would share with everyone who reads this the questions I had and the answers (in red) he gave me.

1. Is there anything specific you are looking for in the Wiki? Our team's Wiki is on the Use of Wiki' s in Education. We were thinking of having it reflect a Wikipedia page, with information on the history, current uses and future of using Wiki's in Education with credible resources listed.
You should also include how teachers and students can use wikis to enhance teaching and learning. Wikis are not just for getting information, they are also for creating and sharing information.

2. Should our Webpage contain everything that was done for the class? Does the website need to be posted and then also put on the CD?
Your homepage will have links to all the assignments. The page(s) are not posted, rather they are burnt on to a CD-R only.

3. Are we presenting anything in class? I know our lesson plan needs to be on the CD, but are we also presenting the lesson plan to the rest of the class?
No to both.

4. I know for our blog we need to post at least three times a week but for the other two posting are they just a one time or as many as we want deal? Fred Sharpsteen created his own googlegroup and I have joined that one and posted to it but I wasn't sure how many times I needed to post to the Web Chat Board and Usernet groups to receive full credit.
I don't set a number of times on the chat board or Usenet groups but you should think about reading and contributing on a regular basis.

Anyone Ahead of the Game?

Spurring off of Sheila's latest post, I was wondering where everyone was at with all their assignments. I have posted to the Usernet and GoogleGroups, but it that only mandatory ones, or do we need to keeping posting and commenting on those as we are our blogs? I have started gathering info and corresponding with my team members but still have work to do on the Wiki. No rubric or strict expectations of the outcome have been given right - can we just go about with our own vision on the Wiki? Are we presenting the lesson plan in class or just posting it on own web page so others can view it? Anyone have any idea on the journal we are keeping with our posts. I have saved my posts in a word file, but I am sure there is more to it all than just pasting the posts onto the website. I guess I have a lot of questions, some might sound silly but it is all a learning process.

2008 Elections - What to think?

I have been sticking to eduction only posts but I thought I would venture into a more thoughtful personal post today. I honestly have no clue what to think about the upcoming elections. I wish I could design the perfect candidate but then it would only be perfect for me. It is hard to tell anymore what to believe and what not to believe. Daily I hear promises of changing our economy, bringing the troops home, alternate sources of energy, healthcare issues etc, etc, promises, promises. If we could believe everything that the candidates promised the decision would be a whole lot easier but it is not so simple. I need to do my own research on each candidate and try to choose one that somewhat resembles a figure that I would like to see lead our nation. I found a great site on Wikipedia that talks about the 2008 elections and has links to each candidate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008

WIKIS

So I ventured into the PBWiki site that Dr. Merrill set up for us. I didn't get to far, added a title and the names of the people in our group. Speaking with one of my class partners I think we were both a little unsure of exactly what is being asked of us. I was thinking that ultimately it will look like a Wikipedia page. Our topic for example is WIKIS in Education so am I right to gather information from credible sources and merge them onto our new WIKI page and credit the original sources in the WIKI. Kind of like a one stop shop for information on WIKIS in Education? Any suggestions?

Social Bookmarking

I was excited to try the whole social bookmarking thing. It was really easy to set up and every time I go to a great page, either one that I visit often or a new interesting page I just hit the tag button and customize it however I see best. I have a lot more sites to add but that will come in time. I still need to play around and venture into other networks to see what is out there. I am still so amazed at all this technology that is at our fingertips that I thought was either expensive or took a lot of time and energy to understand. I feel like a kid at Disneyworld, I am so excited and eager to see and understand all that is out there in technology.

Thoughts on Technology In Education

Just when I think I am getting the hang of technology and it's new uses in education, my new knowledge quickly becomes outdated. Being in an Educational Technology graduate program I knew I would learn a lot and have a lot to learn but I at least thought I would be up to date on current uses of technology in education. After our first class meeting tonight, I felt excited but a little nervous and behind the game. Dr. Merrill covered some very fascinating information and introduced great technology that is available at all of our fingertips for free! I felt however as though I have been living under a rock. Going through the world of technology is exciting but I have a lot to learn and a new vocabulary to learn with it. On campus this is typically a 16 week course, Off campus it is often 8 weeks, for us, we have 4 weeks to try to grasp the concepts. There will be much learning and experimenting on my part in the next 4 weeks. I am especially excited though to try out the Social Bookmarking. I daily use my favorites to easily go to my most visited sites but as mentioned in class, bookmarks are only connected to one computer.