Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Course Reflection

How has your understanding of personal learning environments evolved?    
After taking this course on Personal Learning Environments, I could only wish that my professors and even middle and high school teachers would have allowed us to create and learn in similar ways.  In such a fast paced world, it is hard to organize and synthesize the world around us unless we take initiative to become active learners.  It is difficult to find a way to organize and understand all of the information that is thrown at us each and every day.  Creating and maintain a PLE helps shape the mold the information we want to know into a convenient package the we can easily access and change whenever we want. 
My understanding of PLE’s will help me not only as an individual searching through websites, blogs, and social network sites but also in the classroom.  My new understanding of PLE’s will not only help me navigate through daily life on the internet, but also as I teach my students in the classroom.  I feel very comfortable with the idea of allowing students to create their own PLE’s in order to assist them with their studies.  
I am very happy I participated in this class under the direction of Wendy Drexler & Christopher Sessums. The class was very informative and fun at the same time!           
Given your experience through this course and activities associated with it, what steps can you take as an educator to implement personal learning environments in your classroom practice? 
I am very excited to implement PLE’s into my classroom after having so many positive experiences in this class.  The opportunity to create and manage an online blog in which other students could communicate with me was a helpful component.  Currently, my school uses Moodle and I allowed my speech students to post reflections and comments on a forum after their last speech.  They could then read the reflections of other students and give advice and praise.  My students love communicating with their classmates through the online forum and they were excited to complete the assignment instead of the traditional pen and paper way.
I also had my speech class create Symbaloo accounts to organize their research and thoughts for an extemporaneous speech topic.  My students again were excited to create a Symbaloo page and use it throughout their research and writing process.  I plan to continue introducing resources such as Symbaloo and blogs into my classroom.
In what ways can we evaluate PLEs?
Evaluating a PLE might seem difficult at first since the students are creating their own individual product.  However, I believe that with clear objectives before a student embarks on creating a PLE would help any educator evaluate the criteria for the learning environment.  For example, I had my students summarize what research and websites that found helpful after each class period on our online forum.  Classmates could then find helpful tricks and hints from their classmates as they navigated through their own PLE. 

Monday, March 28, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Organizing my Online World


Organization is something I strive to achieve not only in my everyday life but also as I peruse around the World Wide Web.  It is amazing that we have so many resources and information at our finger tips as soon as we turn on our computers.  Most of us even have access to online media and social networking through our smart phones. This leads to a major problem- How do I organize all of the websites I want to find and want to use at a later time?  Symabaloo is the answer to this question!

Symbaloo allows you to create and organize tiles for all of the websites you use most frequently.  You can create different web mixes that can be arranged by topic.  I can’t imagine navigating the web without symbaloo now.  I’m also excited to watch my students use the website for our unit on the Civil War.   You can check out my American History Symbaloo at:    http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/americanhistory

Friday, March 4, 2011

Digital Tools for the Classroom

Researching and analyzing resources online can be a daunting task.  Search results can yield thousands of websites, blogs, and other useful information.  The challenge is being able to organize the information that is useful and easily find it again for later use.  Diigo is an amazing online website that helps with digital organization, but it is helpful in so many other ways.  Diigo’s help section boasts that it will “dramatically improve your online productivity.”  After only two weeks of using the resource, I can say that this is the truth!

The best way to describe all of Diigo’s capabilities and resources is to post the picture “Evolution of Diigo” that is on their website.  It have also attached the video description found on the website. 




As an educator, I signed up for the classroom Diigo pioneer program which lets me assign accounts to my students.  I am excited to allow my students to use the tool in my classroom to help organize the information, pictures, and other resources they find as we begin our Civil War unit in American History.  I can collect and organize websites for my students to use and it allows the students to connect for collaborative learning.  I can also collaborate and share lesson plans and ideas with other teachers.  Overall, I am very excited to personally use Diigo and allow my students to use the new resource in my classroom!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Networking: Embracing it in the Classroom


Image From: dryicons.com
At an early age we start to understand the importance of networking.  We find people with similar interests and ideas and join groups accordingly.  As a middle school teacher, I find that students are familiar with online networking and are very comfortable with websites such as Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter.  Instead of forcing students to stop using these networking websites it is important to try to embrace networking in the classroom. 

Students can find answers instantly by searching online and know how to “Google” anything they might want to research.  They are used to getting answers to their questions as soon as they hit the “Google Search” button.   This fast paced research and learning environment can be beneficial in the classroom and used to the student’s advantage.  Students can connect with other students, experts, and classrooms around the world to learn about the topics they want to learn about.

Students are able to express themselves in 160 characters or less because of texting and tweeting.  Ideas and thoughts can be communicated in a matter of minutes which provides a platform for keeping ideas fresh and new.  So why not embrace technology and start teaching the importance of networking in classrooms around the country?

I found this interesting article on the length of texts and tweets: Click Here

Monday, February 21, 2011

Week 2- Personal Learning Environment Topic

This week I learned about the tools that are available to help organize information for my personal learning environment.  I usually feel overwhelmed when I begin researching a topic on the internet due to the variety of ways in which information is displayed.  It can be difficult to navigate through the abundance of information while trying to sort through what could be considered scholarly or a credible resource. 

I decided to choose American History as my topic of inquiry for my own personal learning environment (PLE).  This was an easy choice since I teach 7th Grade American History! There are so many wonderful websites, blogs, and other resources on the website that I had to find the best way to organize all of the information on this topic.

Google Reader is an excellent resource to help track all of the information I need for my PLE. I can follow all of my favorite websites and blogs in one convenient location to stay updated on my topic. Google Reader captures the Really Simple Syndication (RSS), which basically means that it alerts me of any new content added to my favorite sites.  This saves time by allowing me to check one website as opposed to all of my favorite websites and blogs on my topic.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Week One: Goals and Connecting to my Classroom

Learning Goals for the Course    
      I am very excited to learn more about Personal Learning Environments (PLE) and massively open online courses (MOOCs).   I  currently strive to incorporate different technology platforms in my lessons to help students stay engaged and excited about American History.  Students currently have assignments that use web quests, Glogster, Flip Video movies, and Moodle forums.  My main goal is to broaden my understanding of Personal Learning Environments in order to better serve my students.  It is exciting that students have the opportunity to explore their own interests and take responsibility for what they choose to research and create.


Connecting to Middle School
     One challenge of teaching students that live in such a fast paced world is connecting with them through technology.  They are essentially experts on social networking, chatting, and blogging before they even enter my classroom.  I want to integrate the use of web applications and online resources to reach out to my students.  Students want to be creative and use technology to express themselves and what they learn.  I want to give them the opportunity to socialize and collaborate using technology in all aspects of my class.  At the same time, I want to promote and teach digital responsibility.

The video below is a great resource that demonstrates the use of a PLE in a 7th grade science class.