My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

I enjoyed working with all of my classmates during this Fall semester. I wish all of them well in their future studies. I also hope that their futures hold good luck, happiness, and success for them.

ACCESS Assignment

ACCESS is an online educational program that allows students to learn by taking long distance classes online. ACCESS is an acronym for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Worldwide. This program began in November 2004, and it is still advancing across the state of Alabama. ACCESS is used somewhat the same way online classes are taken by college students. The high school students usually take Advanced Placement and/or elective courses through the ACCESS program that aren't offered in their school's classroom settings.

The ACCESS program provides many technology uses that the teachers and students have to learn how to use. Interactive Video Conferencing (IVC) is one of them that is used in order for students and teachers to feel like they are in a real classroom setting. IVC allows the students to see and talk to their teacher in real time with the use of video and audio devices. The teacher can explain concepts by using visuals, show students how to perform experiments, and also take them on virtual field trips. The teachers and students also learn how to use various computer software that is essential in using the ACCESS program.

The schools provide many resources that the students make use of. The students high school provides them with laptop computers that are used for the ACCESS program. They are also provided with an ACCESS computer lab that is only used for the students to take their online classes. An ACCESS lab facilitator is also provided to help the students use the program during their class time in the lab.

During this fall semester, I visited Satsuma High School's ACCESS learning lab. The learning lab is set up almost like a regular classroom. However, it has technology uses such as the IVC devices and Internet access. The room is a little smaller than a regular classroom, but it is big enough for the students who use the ACCESS program.

Ms. Jennifer Phillips is the school's ACCESS lab facilitator. She wasn't able to be there during my visit, but the librarian, Ms. Catherine Smith, was available to help me during my tour. I asked various questions about the use of the ACCESS learning lab. I was told that the students don't use the lab as much and do most of their work in the library. The students don't use the IVC which is what I really wanted to see in action. The students are only able to make use of the computerized or web-based instruction portion of the ACCESS program. I was told that the ACCESS lab and the program may become more advanced used there next semester.

The courses that are mostly taken through the ACCESS program are German, Latin, and Creative Writing. Some of the assignments that the students have to do are broken down in weekly assignments that they can do at their own pace. There are some assignments that are fast paced as well. I was told that the creative writing teacher, Ms. D. Hartley, uses modules that show students when their assignments are due. The students have access to readings, quizzes, notes, e-mails, message boards, and much more while using this program.

Things I've Learned in EDM 310

I have learned so much this semester in my EDM 310 class. I didn't know that technology had changed so much in the classroom until I took this class. I learned so much about blogs in classrooms, how to create blog posts on my own blog page, and how they are used as teaching tools by teachers. I also enjoyed learning how to add pictures and links to blogs. Everything that I learned about iGoogle was interesting as well.

Podcasting was another technology that I learned so much about. I didn't like podcasts at first because of its negative use by others. I now know that podcasts are useful forms of media that can also be used as a teaching tool to enhance education. I also learned about many places on the Internet that have useful resources for teachers. Some of these places are The Alabama Learning Exchange(ALEX) and The Alabama Virtual Library(AVL).

I enjoyed learning about Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators,and Students Statewide(ACCESS). I was surprised to learn that high school students were involved with long distance online learning. I also learned more about word processing than I knew before taking this class. Some things such as subscript and superscript were new to me. Everything that we covered in class is pretty much what I was eager to learn.

Electronic Contact Assignment

Electronically contacting someone isn't that difficult if you have Internet access. There are several ways that people can make contacts and have conversations over the Internet. With the advancement of technology people can e-mail, blog, use Facebook, My Space and other avenues of electronic contact to talk to someone long distance. For my electronic contact assignment I chose to get involved in a discussion forum on Teacher.net.

I started a discussion by asking teachers questions about what I can expect during my first years of teaching. I received a few helpful responses to this question. One teacher said that my expectations will depend on how well college prepares me for teaching. I was also told by the same person that my personality can play a role in my experiences as well. Another teacher said that I will probably have to change schools or grade levels a few times because I will be at the bottom of the seniority list. The teacher also advised me to write lesson plans often during my student teaching.

There was another discussion that I started with teachers in the state of California. I asked for some classroom management techniques that really work. One teacher responded with helpful advice. The teacher recommended that I read Harry Wong's book titled "The First Days of School" and some of the articles on the website under his tab as well as some other things that I can do. I responded back to the teacher to offer my thanks and to tell of my experience with Harry Wong's book from my classroom management class.

The state of New York was another place where I contacted teachers. I asked about what I can expect if I plan to teach in New York. I received several responses that helped me think twice about teaching there. My reason is mainly because some of the teachers responded that there are no jobs and another said that I should expect disrespect there. I responded back to one of the teachers by answering two questions that were addressed to me about my certification and why I chose to teach in New York.

Blogs

Blogging has been an interesting experience for me. I never thought that learning about blogs and how to post them would ever do me any good in the educational field. After learning about blogs in my EDM-310 class, I have posted many of them and so have my classmates. I have recently viewed the blog posts of one of my classmates. After comparing our experiences with blogs, I have found that blogs in a classroom have advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of blogging in the classroom are those that really help everyone involved with education. Teachers use their classroom blog pages to post communications to parents and students. These communications can be picture and report postings that keep them up-to-date on what's going on in the classroom. Teachers post about upcoming events or past school events as announcements along with pictures to draw interest of parents to come along as chaperones. The class can also communicate with other classrooms in different areas of the world.

Teachers use their blog pages as educational tools as well. They post weekly homework assignments for students and parents to view. Students can also find an extra study guide that can be used to study for an exam. Teachers also post test preparation activities that students can use as practice. They also post links to extra resources that students can use for help in a specific subject area that the class is working on.

The disadvantage to blogging in the classroom is simple. It's the Internet itself. Everyone knows how hard it is to maintain appropriate web pages that they have designed. Basically, teachers have to take the time to thoroughly screen any content they plan to add to their blog page. Otherwise they can end up with information that is far from what they intended to add as educational content.

Duke University Center for Documentary Studies

Duke University's Center for documentary studies has audio podcasts that pertain to African-American history, how our world is changing, and tragedies that our world has faced. Some of the podcasters talk about how many African-Americans aren't recognized in our historical references but did great things for our country. They talk about what the South meant for people who were Black, White, or Black and White. There is talk of myths about the Black Panthers. It is also recognized that they served justice for all races, not just Blacks. There were other podcasts that brought to my attention that there are some cultures slowly fading away because of influences from other parts of the world. The "911" podcast was the podcast that touched me as well. It brings forth the reactions that people have toward the tragedy and also how many people began to appreciate who they are as Americans.

EDM 310 Podcasts

The night that the podcasts were recorded we were all nervous. This is mostly because some of us didn't know what to expect. This was the first podcast recording for some of us. I am excited to say that we came through our new experience successfully and now it is time to evaluate our accomplishments.

The podcasts that I listened to had variations. Some of the podcasts that I heard sounded as if students were reading from scripts. There were others that sounded like real conversations. The scripted variations were very informative in the area of interest that the future teachers were talking about. The conversational variations were informative and interesting as well.

I think that the conversational podcasts were great, but some of them could have been more informative. Some of the scripted podcasts were mixed with real conversations, but these can also use an adjustment. The adjustment that can be made is to read from the script to make it sound as if it is a real conversation.