Technology

I am writing this blog around 4:15 a.m.  About one hour ago, I completed the assignment for Module 10.  I created a wiki using Wikispaces.  To create the wiki was easy, but researching emergent technologies for pages one and two was a very difficult task.   Even though, my assignment is a day late, I still can’t submit it because I don’t know how to locate the URL for my wiki.  Hopefully, I will be able to submit it today.  Before this assignment, I made a graphic organizer with Kidspiration and spreadsheet/database with Google Docs Spreadsheets, collected data with Google spreadsheets, and created interactive media with MS PowerPoint.  .  Last week, however, I made a movie about the moon with MS Live Movie Maker.  I was so pleased with the end product that I showed it to my children.  After my youngest daughter saw it, she said, “It’s good!”  I thought so myself. 

Oh Well!

Thus far, EDCI 505:  Introduction to Principles of Instructional Technology has been very overwhelming for me.  Before I took this course, I only used my computer for email, word processing, and online purchases.  Oh, what fun!  For the first time in my life, I have used my computer to create a personal learning environment with Symbaloo EDU, an interactive poster with Glogster EDU, a blog and twitter account.  Oh, what misery!  As a Web 2.0 tool novice, I spent almost 18 hours to develop a “web mix” with Symbaloo and a poster with Glogster EDU.   Nevertheless, I think these technologies are a great way for teachers to visually organize and share the web with students, but it could be a rather time consuming ordeal for a beginner like myself.  As you can see, I was successful in creating my own blog account with posts.  After publishing this post, I will proceed with the Twitter assignment.  It’s a shame I don’t personally know someone who blogs and tweets so I won’t have to spend the rest of the night figuring out Twitter.  Oh well, here goes!