Mobile Learning

I enjoyed being able to explore the mobile learning topic this week. In my mind, technology is a tool and can be used appropriately or inappropriately in any setting. For example, jackhammers are a wonderful tool when working on a construction site or road. But if you brought it into the classroom, it would not be considered a great tool because it is being used inappropriately. Same goes for some of the mobile learning features I learned about this week. The teacher still has to plan effective lessons for learning to take place. The apps alone don't do the trick. I think it should be required of all students enrolled in education classes to become a teacher to take a course on how to use technology to improve and enhance instruction. School systems also need to get on board by allowing mobile devices to be used without the threat of a code of conduct violation. Our school district is on its way but there is still a lot of improvement that needs to be made.

Photo-Sharing

I have come to the conclusion that I am indeed the dinosaur of the group...perhaps not in years on this earth, but certainly in terms of technology. I still have the archaic flip phone (which is on it's last leg), I rarely text (and get frustrated when I can't figure out the punctuation), and I certainly never used a photo-sharing application. Sure, I've toyed with it during some professional development sessions....one of which was Camera Shy No More. But I never really took the time to dive in to it and explore things in depth. Thankfully this course forced me to explore photo-sharing applications this week! What did I discover? I love it. I think it could be addicting. As I was previewing Flickr, Photobucket, and Picasa, I kept thinking of ways to incorporate the images and elements into my faculty meetings, professional development offerings, presentations, and my website. I was so absorbed with the process a couple of hours went by and I didn't even realize it. Now I suppose the challenge will be monitoring the use of my time. Picasa is now a new friend of mine.

Sigh of Relief

I have to admit, I got a knot in the pit of my stomach whenever I thought about creating the website for this course. I have not had an easy experience with it in the past and that experience was limited to say the least. Visions of HTML code and photos that would not load ran through my mind. To my pleasant susrprise, Weebly has made things easier for me. I'm still trying to figure it all out but I'm moving along at a much faster pace than I originally anticipated. Now all I have to do is discipline myself. I could spend hours just playing around with all the themes and elements. Weebly certainly helped me to breathe a sigh of relief. I am now actually looking forward to what the end product will be.