Ellen L Freeman
EDT525
July 2008
Final Reflection
EDT525 was my first introduction to the field of technology AND education. Looking back it feels like a sampler type of class, which is perfect for beginners. One of my favorite finds during class was listservs. Although I get multiple ACTEM emails a week, I really look to ACTEM as a place to help stay aware of technology in schools and learn about new technologies, too. And, when I grow up and get a “real” job (LOL) I will look to it for support purposes, as well.
I really appreciated you letting me research the web accessibility issue and allowing me document my learning in a podcast. I found out while researching web accessibility that it’s a vast field. It was hard to consolidate the vast quantity of information enough to get a beginner’s handle on it. I wanted it to make sense for listeners and make their time worthwhile.
While looking back in my notes about the deep web, I have written a bunch of website address’s that I didn’t want to forget (and I remember saving more, maybe on my PortaPortal…I’ll have to visit there and transfer sites to del.icio.us). For example, multilingual-matters.net is a site where I could go to explore language and culture issues from an education perspective. After clicking here and there you’ll find a page that allows you to look at numerous abstracts.
I feel like copyright and fair use is another area that we only touched on. I learned there’s a lot of copyright information available online should I need it in the future. That’s a great feeling when you know you don’t know what you might need to know in a future career setting!
The virtual sampler was another favorite lesson! It seems like it shouldn’t take so long to complete, but there’s so many cool sites I just wanted to look at them all. This was a lesson I HAD to print out to save! If I have a minor complaint it is that BlackBoard opens everything in its own browser window, so when you want to save to PortaPortal or del.icio.us, it adds an extra step. –I want it ALL and FAST please ☺
The vocabulary and history component was excellent. It gave me ideas for teaching both and the importance. If technology is SO important to education, then including historical context and proper vocabulary is vital to fully understand the tools we are using—and the tools we expect our students to use!
For the WebQuest assignment I produced one of my best and favorite projects. I feel excited about using it in the future with home schooling families and, since Unity College has asked me to prepare a workshop, I think that I’ll do one on blogging and use the WebQuest. I may want to make changes to make it higher-ed appropriate, but I think the layout would serve the function.
