Class Impressions

The comfort I've gained exploring technology is remarkable.  I have been resistant in the past.  This course has given me a gift that will impact me for the rest of my life.  Tonight, I loved the idea of RSAnimate.  I would like to diagram information for folks.  The garageband/audacity software is fantastic for kids to continue on their natural path of divergent thinking.  I hope to help move my district away from standardization and more toward this creative path.

Saturday Frustration

I cannot remember how to:

• link my survey (I will practice)

I am embarrassed about how easily I became frustrated in class.  The lack of familiarity with the Mac is becoming apparent.

Survey

Take a survey

Sugata's Outdoctrination Education Theory

Some Thoughts:

• I'm reminded of the power of data as we do our daily work, and the importance of being mindful as we ask the questions motivating us to gather data.

• We are a curious people, and when we experience life in "tribes" (I use this term with ultimate respect) the outcomes awesome.

• Self-organizing systems applied to education challenges our basic foundation.

What I want from EDAD 536

This class is generating excitement for me.  I know there's a bunch of stuff I want to know that I don't even know exists.  But of what I know exists:

• create webpages
• introduced to the "webinar" process and equipment required
• movie making introduction
• use photoshop to a fuller capacity 

School District Technology

There's much right about our district's growth and planning in area of technology. I believe Riverdale got on board with cloud computing early, and many staff are comfortable sharing docs, spreadsheets and information. Linux operating system use has offered benefits to budget costs (it helps to have Linus Torvalds as member of our school community).

I did find an interesting statement in the "Instructional Use of Technology" section that stood out to me, i.e. "Classes in computer programming, network administration, web design, and computer refurbishing are suspended pending the addition of computer teaching staff."
This struck me funny because there are so many digital natives roaming the halls with the potential to fill this role. Not that RSD has the state of the art technology tools; however, it has effective equipment. It's a shame the full use awaits a teacher certified staff member.

Saturday Impressions

The weather did not cooperate for professional development; however, the experience was much more tolerable than I anticipated.  I very much appreciated Tim's style and his patience.  I feel comfortable and extremely excited to learn from many knowledgeable colleagues.  I believe that this expertise will give me the opportunity to clearly see "School 2.0".