Posts Tagged ‘ eci831 ’

Odds and Ends


Since the end of EC&I 831, the blog posting has slowed quite a bit from participants.  This is only natural.  Even though we all liked the course, it was still a class.  People sense the relief that another class is done.

I too am not writing as often (as predicted), but the blog continues.  I am still checking my google reader everyday and read many blogs.  So many people have such interesting ideas!

i am continuing to push myself into technology further.  Recently, I gave a short talk to my teachers about Teacher Tube and Delicious and the value of what each possesses.  I plan to follow up more with both and hopefully my staff will have accounts set up on both sites soon.  The opportunity for collaboration is increased, especially with delicious.  We’ll see where it goes from here.

I continue to try and build a wiki for my Law 30 class.  I would like each student to contribute various elements of Criminal law to the site, since this is our unit of study at this time.  Again, we will see where it goes from here.

BTW, visit the class blog, when you have a chance and leave a comment.  My students are now responsible for a weekly post.  It would be great to have other people engage in the conversation from outside our classroom.  Let them experience the influence of the blogosphere!!!  The issues posted are various and one does not need to know anything specific about Canadian Law.

Other notables:

  • Bircher’s Banter was mentioned on the Principal’s Page as a subscribed blog.  Great publicity or what!!!
  • I bought a new computer and already took back to store.  Why?  Get all hooked up and no sound.  I think they forgot to install something!

…and yes the EC&I experience, brought my Master’s program to a conclusion.  Seems kind of weird though.  I keep thinking about what I should do next?  For now, I guess just enjoy the feeling.  Not bad, I suppose, for a guy who left university once and was doubtful on ever returning, before any degrees were earned.  Will I go for three?  Not sure, but we’ll see how things go from here.

2008
04/29
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
2 comments

The Journey Continues…


I have not written a blog post for a few days now, and I did this on purpose.  I guess I am following Mathman’s lead!  As our class winds down, many posts are reflecting on learning and some are “signing off.”  I wondered if I would continue blogging once EC&I 831 was over.  Granted, I won’t write as often, but I hope to post at least once a week.  I want to continue blogging because of the contacts and new knowledge gained in the past weeks.  I just don’t believe I could write a final post and then say, “that’s it, no more.”  I have been more worried about how I can continue to gin knowledge through media.  One of the best ways is to blog and stay in contact with the people you have already connected with.  Maybe Alec will let me audit a class in the future!

I think I stated my reflections pretty well on my digital project during last weeks class.  I was glad to get the laughs where I thought they would come.  I think my class blog has come a long way and will go further.  I think I am doing what most high school teachers don’t, that is, getting out of he traditional teaching mode – 100% of the time.

As for the collaborative wiki, I contributed two specific items.  I wanted to do a screencast but Jing was giving me problems.   With a couple of weeks left in the class, my laptop died.  However, I did some research on Asus Eee computers and contributed a gmail page.  I embedded video on each as well, posted links, etc.

I have felt uncomfortable with the collaborative wiki for a couple of reasons.  Basically, did I post enough and was the quality good enough?  In chatting with classmates, I seemed to do what others did, and they sometimes had the same concerns as me.  Hopefully, we were all in the right.

I think this class has helped me a great deal in learning Web 2.0 tools and with technology leadership.  As a principal, I believe I can effectively help teaches learn and implement new tools into their classroom teaching, which will help our student’s in their learning.  Again, I feel like I want to learn more, so I better keep blogging and remain connected with the people in my network.

It’s too good to pass up!

That’s all for now.

Blogger out!

2008
04/16
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
4 comments

More Reflections


Recently, I thought about some of the things I learned during this class,  Granted, instead of doing a mass amount of reading from a text, there were specific articles to read, but also gaining info. from a varity of other sources, like video, podcasts, TED  talks and a couple of live/online web chats.  It really goes to show how one can gain information and become knowledgable using technology.  I suppose this is part of what connectivism is all about.

I continue to think of my digital project and my contribution to the collaborative wiki.  Was it enough?  Did I do what was required?  Yes, I have learned many new tools and ideas over the course of this semester, but was it sufficient? For me, or for Alec?  I think one of purposes of this class was how things would continiue when the class ends.  Do we still implement the ideas we have learned, maybe just not as rapidly?  Is this all going to end?  I know my digital project will continue to evolve.  For instance, I started a class wiki for my Law 30 students and connect to the course blog through it.  This was NOT part of the plan when I first started.  I find I am taking the initial project idea and am wanting to make it evolve into something better all the time.  Not because I have to but because I want too.  This reflective blog should continue as well because of the contacts I have made all over the world.

There have been side projects as well.  In addition to the wiki I just started, I have one or two teachers connecting their students with students, who are children of Cirque du Soleil performers.  I have to thank Sharon Peters for this.  I have Skyped with Clarence Fisher and gained new ideas as well.  My tech. catalyst teacher and myself are starting a school blog or wiki and will hopefully be running soon.  I hope to have all staff with Delicious acounts soon as well, so more collaboration can take place. 

Basically, I am saying that in addition to my formal projects, there are many side projects being developed now as well, even though I did not put them as part of my formal course, but I think they needed to be mentioned.  Overall, I see some good things developing in the future.

2008
04/07
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
5 comments

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