IDT516- 4 weeks of Reflection

As I take time to reflect on the last four weeks of class the information I consumed was invaluable. Although each tool was a brief overview it really opened my eyes to the amount of tools that are available to make our lives as educators a little more simple and the role of learning hopefully easier for our learners.  After all as educators our goal is to effectively teach the largest amount of students the best information possible in usually the shortest amount of time, correct?  During this course we most recently learned about the best tools for bookmarking, RSS, surveying, microblogging and podcasting. All of these tools hold a new source of value to potential learners. Previous to this class I had almost zero contact, (other than a bad misconception of Twitter) with the tools that we discussed. 
 The most important aspect I took away from the final chapter in our text books- Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson included was the importance of Shifting. Shifting means understanding that in most cases we will be pioneers in our pursuit of incorporating new technologies into our learning environments and our decisions may not always be popular. Understanding that our main objective is knowledge retention it is important to always remember the end goal. Another important shift I noted was the need for students/learners to learn collaboratively (which includes posting work for global review) and with conversation between educators and learners and peers. Rarely a long lecture and an individual report is the best way to learn and retain new materials. With these shifts also comes a responsibility to help learners decipher credible resources on the Internet. We want our students to have knowledge but more importantly it must be reliable and factual information.

The most important skill and ideas I learned within the last four weeks brings me back to the large amount of tools and information that was presented and reviewed following the group projects. I learned a vast amount of information and even changed my opinion of the tool Twitter. I even unlocked my old account from several years ago.  I have immense appreciation for the other students in this class and I appreciate that each and every one of us has a different background, unique careers and are located in another place from one another. Those variables add another level of dimension and layer of conversation to each topic covered.

I have really enjoyed learning the new tools and the group project(s) in this class. This was my first experience with Google Docs and the almost limitless capabilities it unlocks for educators and learners alike. I would highly recommend any educator/learner to at least try it so they can experience the benefits themselves.  The skills learned from the group project is knowledge that I intend to use in my professional and personal life for a long time to come. It also gave me the confidence to explore tools that I have previously disregarded and I intend to keep that confidence in the future. I am going research tools as we did in this class, by critiquing them on their usefulness to store or research knowledge or information before rushing to judgement on if I find them useful in my personal or professional life. 

New Tools With Endless Benefits

RSS feeds – Updated to keep you in the know on the latest news in financial aid.

I am new to the concept of RSS feeds. They are very interesting and informative tools that allow you to have quick access to the newest information about topics, in my case it’s Federal Financial Aid. I like my information to come straight from the source so when I was looking for the best options in RSS feeds I started with the Federal government website. The rules and regulations that they dispersed are they are the guidelines we must uphold here at WIU. Changes to their rules and regulations can mean big changes for our students and my office.  RSS feeds that I chose are from a website I use on a daily basis within my line of work. Federal student aids RSS feed can be found at http://financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov/tk/resources.jsp . The second one was from a website that I frequent to keep up on changes that affect higher education called the institute for Education Statics and the link to this RSS feed can be found at https://nces.ed.gov/help/rss.asp .

In the classroom – What have you learned new today?

During our third Module of this quick paced class I am currently enrolled in we touched base on many aspects and tools that are available to us in this every changing dynamic of instruction. A few of my favorites include how and why you could Twitter in the classroom and depth it can add to even the hardest to reach learners. Twitter can be a great tool to help stay in touch outside of the classroom about various new articles and research and postings about what is going to be due in the near future.

As a previous graphic designer the tool of Flickr how boundless resources of ideas and photos people allow for use (permission permitted), an excellent tool for a quick edit and print of personal photos and how to upload them to your blog or other personal social sites. Flickr is a tool that almost anyone can gain from at least having knowledge of its existence.

This is only a few of the many tools that I really enjoyed getting a little bit more out of others included RSS feeds (as I mentioned above), Delicious, Stumbleupon and podcasting.  I would like to encourage other people reading this to take an hour or two and pick a tool, you might be surprised how much you can learn and how it could really make your life as an instructor a little bit easier.  

Where can I find the Financial Aid Office at WIU? - Sherman Hall

IDT 516

Hi - Welcome to my Blog!

This is my first posting in what I hope to be a series. My ambition is to use this as a new way to share knowledge, new skills and my online portfolio as a permanent reference for objectives I obtain during my pursuit of my Master's Degree in Instructional Design & Technology and beyond.

I would like to encourage everyone to learn along with me during this journey. At any time feel free to add any comments, ideas, or thoughts you would like to my discussions and posts. Please join me in this online learning collaboration known as connective writing.

Connective writing is the idea of using multiple kinds of media publishing with the intentions of helping or sharing with others in a constructive manner. 

Where can you find Financial Aid at WIU? -Sherman Hall