FCIT

Florida Center for Instructional Technology is awsome! :)

Reflection of this Assignment

Blogging can be used in many ways...

First of all, I've used blogs in my classroom for posting daily agendas, as resource for info and online links, ect. As a way to communicate and run class discussions similar to how I now use discussion forums, and also as a way to browse different perspectives on a variety of topics and concepts...

In this class, it was interesting to see how fellow students used their blogs to present their thoughts on various eLearning technologies. Sometimes comments were insightful, other times, they were humorous.

I see blogging as a means to communicate with people with thoughts and resources on any topic or concept or anything that can lead to a "discussion". What I don't like about blogging is that all comments are linear posts and once comments take a tangent and head in different directions, there's no way to pursue those different perspectives other than through different postings or just to reference (sometimes much) earlier comments or postings...

Overall, this assignment gave me time to focus on the technical aspects of blogger and also I gained some new ideas on utilizing a blog in my classes to enhance thought on concepts.

New Post!

I want new toys!

OK. I need a cool synchronous technology to go with Moodle.

Moodle has some good stuff in it, but the chat is horrible, (I guess you DO get what you pay for :) and there's no virtual classroom or synchronous piece to it. I'd love to have a virtual whiteboard and also remote desktop that's easy to download, install, configure, and run on both ends.

I use Synhcroneyes in my classroom, but I'm not thrilled with it. It's super *glitchy. I can gain control of some or all of the workstations in my room, but I really want something that has the whiteboard. Also, Synchroneyes is only installed in my room, so it's not something I can use anywhere / anytime. Nor would I want to though.

So... Commenter(s) - Please, oh please, recommend me a top notch virtual whiteboard in addition to an effective and efficient remote desktop software that kicks butt at a killer price. Meaning: something for nothing. (kinda goes against what I blogged earlier about Moodle's lack of syncronous pieces @ $FREE, but oh well :)

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* glitchy isn't a word I guess. I always use it and have used it for as long as I remember. It always gets underlined w/a squiggly red line. Funny. Why is squiggly a recognized word, but glitchy isn't? Who makes this call anyway. Something else funny. Well maybe not funny, but extremely geeky. As I'm typing out this blog post, I'm wondering why I'm tying out "who makes this call anyway" because in the time that I typed it in, I could've searched and browsed several reliable sources with the help of my friend, Mr. Google to actually find out who, in fact, makes that call. How cool would it be if there was some super old philosopher guy up on the top of some totally awesome mountain range that actually is "the guy" who "makes the call". Enough quotes... Enough babble. (babble is a word!?!?) & no links on that finish - you have to use your imagiNation... :)

ADL - Thx Bob!

It was suggested that we look into Advanced Distributed Learning as our Group Wiki Term.

Of course, not knowing anything about this, I "googled it"... and quickly realized that "ADL" is, in fact, a government project stemming from an initiative through the Department of Defense to educate individuals and troops world-wide with on-demand training.

Pleasure Reading:

Standards-Based Instruction collides with ADL

The Coast Guard's Take

DOD's ADL Implementation Plan

Scholarly Article :)

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** Check out the --> Learning Technology Lab **

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Take a look at this image:

How do the concepts on the vertices of the pentagon relate with the locations listed inside?

Analyze the skull. What's going on in the brain? What's the word for rapid synaptic formation rate? :)

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Now...

at the end of the day,

how effective is ADL?

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"WikiTerm of the Semester"

Bloggers get ready... Bloggers get set... Bloggers GO!

After browsing through a few eLearning glossaries, I decided to list a few that I figured would be in the "What term do we choose?" discussions. Here's what I came up with to start the asynchronous dialog going:

Applet - I do think that applets can be (& are sometimes) more powerful than the programs they run with. It's all about functionality... :)

Broadband - May be interesting to follow the timeline in the history of broadband connectivity and project it's future?

Cookie - Yah, I'm a sweet tooth, but digital cookies are also essential - unless of course you enjoy "reinventing the wheel" each time you browse...

Courseware - This is much cooler than "class management software" or "learning programs" (how about that one?!?)

Facilitator - The role of the teacher has dramatically changed from the traditional school environment :)

GUI (pronounced: goo-wee :) - How cool does this word sound? In addition, it's (I believe) the single-most important technology that led to the Personal Computer revolution.

Multicasting - I didn't know this word existed before a short few moments ago, but I like it already...

Virtual Classroom - "Is this real?"

BUT... there's a bunch of other interesting therms in Wayne State University's College of Engineering's eLearning Glossary and (right from their site) they say in not-so-small print: "This glossary continues to grow with new terms added daily."

Lasty, I chucked when I saw "PDA" on the "TERMS DEFINED IN PREVIOUS CLASSES"...

Why?

How old am I?

Well... My kids and I love The Office and although the initial showing is viewed synchronously across the country, we use our DVR to record the show (in addition to Celtics Games) to watch asynchronously at a later date. So... last night we caught up on the last two new episodes. The last one was about Michael and Holly back together and showing off way too much PDA! Does anyone else enjoy The Office?

OK then...

Any thoughts on a group term?