So here I am sitting at home in Winnipeg, ready to write my blog entry about our presentation yesterday, and of course I FORGOT MY NOTES!! I should have gone with my original plan yesterday of taking notes onto my blog, but the student in me wanted to take notes on paper! I am going to try and remember things from the presentation so people can comment! Here I go:
So we had a presentation on Wednesday from John Evans. One thing that John told us that really impacted the way I will look for resources in the future. He told us about RSS feeds and gave us some sites that utilized RSS. This enables me to "subscribe" to a site and all the new information comes to my computer! I already have found some really fantastic resource websites through using Google reader. I like Google reader because it is really simple to use and you can have the option to get new feeds sent to your email inbox.
Another thing we learned about was PLN's or Personal Learning Networks. Personally, I am not as much of a fan of PLNs as I am of blogs and bookmarking sites like Diigo and Delicious. I do, however, plan to use the PLNs that John showed us to obtain some great resources for teaching. I really enjoyed his LwICT PLN, it has some great resources and ideas for integrating the internet into my everyday classroom practices.
One thing I was thinking the whole time was that all this information at my fingertips was quite overwhelming. Then John saved my poor over-worked brain. He told us to make sure we didn't get addicted or subscribe to too many feeds, so that we actually have lives. That assuaged my fears and apprehension about using all this new technology in my classroom.
I hope this gives y'all enough to comment on. Again, sorry for those of you who have to read my blogs, as I tend to blab a lot.
"And now you know...and knowing is half the battle."
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Word of advice:
ReplyDeleteGoogle Reader is an excellent news aggregator, I've been using it for years. The only thing I recommend is keeping your feeds organized in folders by subject (like art, blogs, fashion, tech...that sort of thing) because they can accumulate rather quickly! And it gets overwhelming! haha
I like your summary of the presentation we took part in. Many of the notable items in your blog caught my attention as well. Google Reader is a great tool and I have become mildly addicted to it. I really enjoy the fact that the reader does all the work fo you. All you need to do is visit one site and all the information is right at your finger tips.
ReplyDeleteI don't really no how I feel about PLN's the whole concept seems a little overwelming. Technology can be a great way to get people together but as a first year teacher I would be apprehesive about the time committed to groups like this.
I can absolutely relate to the apprehension that Katie and Chad commented about. It seems like it can be a full time job simply identifying Web 2.0 tools and their purposes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for restating John's comment regarding his warning about addiction. It is something I will always keep in mind when dealing with ICT and education.