Reflections from Chapters 2

I am totally on board with making meaningful connections to the world outside of the classroom. This makes learning real and helps students apply meaning. I have enjoyed using skype and other communication tools discussed in this class to enhance connections around the world. Working overseas in our international school in Rwanda, global connections are going to be key in our learning experiences. I am going to help our teachers and students with the basics of critical thinking online and then they are limited by only their own imagination. I want students to create their own inquiries into the world of information and assist teachers in developing lessons that will challenge students to make connections and gain information from around the world. As far a technology plan, I believe it will be more important to establish learning goals that are integrated into technology. More emphasis on how technology will be used as opposed to what technology will be used. We will look more at the process of putting the puzzle together than the size and shape of the individual pieces. I see loud and clear that our school system for the most part is behind, but the answer is not one swooping revolution that changes education. The answer is an integration that slowly stimulates an evolution in the system.

Some Safari Pictures

The following pictures were taken during several trips to Pendjari National Park in Benin, West Africa. This is where my wife and I would vacation while we were living in Togo for a year.

This is an antelope, that were very common in the game preserve.

This is a baboon that wanted to share our lunch. He sat in that tree for a long time waiting for us to give him some food.

This picture was taken while a heard of angry elephants were chasing our SUV. There were about 30-40 of them all together. The video is even more exciting!

We were able to witness a very rare fight between two male antelope to win the "rights" to a few nearby females. Very exciting.

Here is another picture from that elephant chase. I never knew elephants could growl.

And here is a family of warthogs. Good old Pumba!

Hope you enjoyed. I thought I would add a little color to this blog and share a little bit of our experience in a West African Game Preserve.

Our Authentic Audience IS Out There!

Just an interesting side note, I was told by another professor that he had been reading my blog for this course. I was excited about the feedback and reminded that these blogs are public, so technically the whole world could be reading them (in actuality, a very small protion of the world probably even knows they exist, but hey, the potential is there). It has been fun developing this blog and I look forward to blogging more in the future.

Resources: Desktop Publishing

In our previous meeting, we discussed various applications of Microsoft Word. I was introduced to the "track changes" feature and was really excited about the possibilities. I had received a few papers back from professors in the past with comments made using this tool and had always wondered how it was done. I was amazed to find out it was done right in Word and was very simple. I will use this tool in the future by leaving comments on work submitted by my students as well as offering training to my teachers so they will also be able to use the tool as they instruct their students.

The rest of the class was spent covering how to manipulate images in Word and then how to use Publisher, both of which I had previously learned and applied. Although the content was not new, I will say that I was able to learn a few shortcuts and additional ways of getting things done. I know that these programs will continue to be part of my "tool belt" as I progress into administration. I have already begun to work on an official letterhead for our school in Kigali, Rwanda. I will post it when I am finished. Thanks again Dr. W and everyone who is presenting. I really enjoy the community atmosphere and shared learning that is taking place.

Resources: Information Literacy, Bloglines, and Del.icio.us

I have enjoyed getting to apply these resources as I integrate them into my time on the internet. having attended the Dr. November seminar, I had learned about these resources previously. I have even shared the information literacy piece with my campus at a staff meeting. I am amazed at little is known by the general public, especially our students. I feel it is like I found the secret map to a treasure of information and I am compelled to share it. I recently helped a friend of mine who teaches some journalism classes at a university to present the information literacy study to his students.

Bloglines and Del.icio.us are still blossoming into an enormous time saver for me. I love being able to check all "my" sites at once and immediately know what's new. Del.icio.us is taking a little more intentional use. I have not really used the "favorites" or "bookmark" features in the past. So I am trying to integrate them into my common web practices.

Overall, I am very excited about the topics discussed in this class. I believe that these tools are invaluable as we continue through the "information age".