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As you can see in Caroline’s rendition below our drawings are extremely similar.
Final Thoughts on ECOMP 6008
Posted on: December 19, 2010
Some of the highlights of this course were:
- The introduction to a new tool, Dipity which we used to create a collaborative timeline of key points in Internet history.
- Our instant messaging partner activity where we thoroughly discussed our thoughts on Marc Prensky “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” piece.
- I also enjoyed flexing my PowerPoint comfort zone a bit and creating a narrated presentation on Twitter for our library/research module.
- The final class project was also an engaging way to sum up our work this semester. Creating my imaginary class website actually made me wish I really was teaching A Christmas Carol to students this month.
The one class activity that I wish we had utilized further was the use of our weekly Delicious link posting and sharing with one another. I thought for sure that this would be the underpinning for whatever our final activity was and admittedly I was a bit surprised that we didn’t wrap up this work in a project of some sort.
Then, of course, the seriously disappointing news that broke this week that Delicious is going to be shuttered by Yahoo means we’ll all need to go in other directions to continue our bookmark collections. Having used the site since 2007 it’s especially annoying and a bit sad. If you’re looking for a Delicious alternative though I’d recommend going with Pinboard. I was very easily able to export all of my bookmarks to their site.
Back Links and Blog Karma
Posted on: December 5, 2010
One of the items from this week’s readings that I found particularly interesting was the use of back links to keep track of your website’s online reputation. Since I am a blogger I do actually keep a very close eye on what is said about Erin Cooks, Yummery, and XOXOErin.
Some of the methods I apply include using the traffic analytics program Mint to view where my visitors are coming from (i.e. google searches, links from other sites) and I also utilize an array of google alerts which email me whenever my full name is mentioned online, my url, blog name, or some of my more frequently used user names. This is really the ideal way to make sure all is right with your online world.
When I did take a moment to check out the back link command in google I found a couple of interesting links that I hadn’t viewed before including:
- A mention of Erin Cooks in a post someone had created related to SEO
- The use of a photo I took of a McGriddle Sandwich used in a San Francisco Chronicle article
Although, as I know I have many more outside links than what is showing up on Google, I’m not entirely convinced that this method is on par with simply using traffic tracking plugins on your website. However, it is a nice addition to the arsenal of tools that make sure my online karma is still bright and shiny.
I found this chapter on blogs, wikis, and podcasts from Alan November’s book, Web Literacy for Educators, to be extremely basic in nature. In particular, the practical classroom narratives that were used to illustrate the author’s points surrounding blogging in education were rather basic.
Granted, Darren Kuropatwa’s student calculus blog is a very nice jumping off point for teachers to begin thinking about utilizing online collaboration tools with their students, but the site has become a bit dated. After doing a quick google search I was able to find Kuropatwa’s current personal site which details what he’s up to now: http://adifference.blogspot.com/. His current posts and projects are definitely work checking out.
In my position I find that it can be very difficult to think up new and unique ways to instruct faculty in the utilization of tools such as blogs with students. For the most part everything is a slight variation on the traditional paper class journal theme that haunted us all throughout our educational careers. I’d love to hear from all of you about your ideas regarding creative lessons you might want to try integrating with blogs? Perhaps a little mutual brainstorming will shake us out of our comfort zone!
Upon reflection, as the first half of our class comes to a close, I’d have to say that our foray into the use of Delicious in the classroom has been of most interest to me. While I’ve used Delicious since 2007 on a regular basis it’s only recently that I’ve used the site as a means for organizing research and materials related to both work and graduate school. Before then I primarily bookmarked items I wanted to cook, buy, or places I hope to visit. It was a much more personal scrapbook approach to links.
However, the longer I worked in my position at Lesley the more interest I gained in specific areas of eLearning including online gaming in education, ebooks, creative uses of tools in the classroom etc… I’ve also found that delicious is a great way to categorize items of note while you’re at a conference and I did just that last weekend after attending a local “unconference” at Wentworth Institute of Technology called THATCamp. As I visited each of the panels I was interested in I was able to log websites, blogs, and product sites into Delicious. Then I applied appropriate tags and a catch-all tag of “thatcamp” so I could easily refer back to these items later. I was also able to quickly share the items with my co-workers on Monday morning just by emailing them the url of the tag.
In the next four weeks I’m looking forward to being introduced to more creative in-class tool usage as well as the unit which will allow us (it would appear) to perhaps create a Web Quest of our own? I participated in a similar activity in ECOMP 5100 so it will be fun to revisit this type of assignment and refine my methods, thinking, and skill set in this area. In addition, I’m also excited to continue reading my fellow classmates’ blog posts and hearing their thoughts on how the tools and ideas we’ve been discussing can be practically applied into their classrooms and workplaces.
This Shift Happens series of videos is such an inspiring piece of media. Unlike many members of this current class I’m not a classroom teacher. Instead I’m slowly working my ways toward hopefully becoming an Instructional Designer. In my dreams I’d love to work with publishers and software engineers to create interactive books and resources for young adults and children.
Of course it helps that I already harbor a very avid love and perhaps addiction to all things having to do with the Internet, web 2.0 tools, software and video games. Some may see that as just an obsession with fads but I don’t think that’s the case at all. As noted in the Shift Happens video, technology has permeated every area of our lives. It’s a rare occurrence when we aren’t tweeting, using Facebook, emailing, texting, or IMing at some point each day. It’s only natural that these items have begun to be incorporated seamlessly into educational settings.
This is especially true for me as I work with faculty to create vibrant online class environments. If we didn’t have blogs, wikis, Skype, Twitter, discussion boards, Articulate, Captivate etc… students in online classes would never be able to feel the sense of connection that one receives in a face-to-face class. I applaud the fact that devices like smart phones, eReaders, and iPads are being leveraged as educational tools. This hardware has the potential to bring even richer experiences to not only online students but all students.
Of course, I’ve had my doubts too. Originally I was definitely on the fence about the Apple iPad but as soon as I viewed the above video I was sold. As a child I was obsessed with pop-up books so to see a beloved childhood story come to life in this manner endeared me to the product forever. Don’t you think this digital interactivity could serve as a perfect way to hook children into developing an early love of reading?
Erin Two Point Oh 