EDU+580

=EDU 580: A journey into technology integration over time =

EDU 580 (part 1 Summer 2008)
During this semester we focused on learning how to design and implement the use of wikis in our own classrooms and educational pursuits. The creation of this wiki came from the work we did during this summer course. I plan to track my growth using this new tool. Below you will find some of the work from this first course. It shows the learning in progress- adding a file, using links etc.


 * "Write the Truth" article review:**

Link to the "Group Square" mini-research presentation wiki


 * Research Reflection:**

The articles that our group read really show the transformative nature of technology. It was a reminder of the wealth of information so easily accessible at the click of a button. But more importantly, the articles really highlight the connectedness of the technology to the user’s life. We are living in an age where people can tell their own histories and be apart of their documentation, not just a reader of someone else’s perspective. These articles provide encouraging stories about the influence of technology through an educator’s initiative. They are not just informative; they are inspiring.

EDU 580 (part 2 Fall 2008)
Zotero was the focus of this section of EDU 580. It is a really fabulous tool for tracking the research that I will need as a teacher leader. I can save articles and the publication information. It is embedded directly into my FireFox web browser so it is a fast way to save the necessary information. I would use this program at the high school, but I am not sure that it is user friendly enough for my middle school students. I think they would get confused with some of the ways that the articles need to be saved and attached. I also think they would have trouble with this nit-picky ways in which one must enter the titles and authors. I would prefer them to learn it long-hand first.

EDU 580 (part 3 Spring 2009)
So many tools were presented and explored during this semester. I created a scrapblog to reflect on these many tools. We also created a blog through google's blogspot. This was a great place to record what I learned from the TPCK book and the presentations of my peers. I also created a student exemplar using wikispaces. It was a well recieved technology by my middle school students.

EDU 580 (part 4 Fall 2009)
Wikis became a natural presentation tool of choice during this semester. I created a book talk wiki with a group of peers. I was able to create a resource wiki with my PLC group and help create one as a member of my peer's PLC. I had my students create wikis as a final product and found that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We also learned how to use Microsoft Excel to create graphs with our research data and evaluate the data with different formulas.

EDU 580 (part 5 Summer 2010) The focus of this summer's course was survey creation through Google Docs and Survey Monkey and the ultimate graphing of those results using Excel. This was a bit of a review for many of us. In fact, many people from the different cohorts tested out. I chose to stay because I feel there is always something to be learned, and I was paying for it anyway. To test our skills, Bryce had us create a survey with at least 5 different question types and test it on our friends. I decided to be funny and poll my classmates about taking summer classes as you can see below. media type="custom" key="6504663"