Blog Post 7: Professional Learning Network

Throughout this class, we have discovered many outlets to connect to the professional world via social media and websites. We have looked at Twitter, RSS fields, and Affinity Groups. The affinity group which I have joined was the NAAE or the National Association of Agricultural Educators. Reading through the topic posts, different concerns and needs are very unique compared to most if not all subject matters. There are topics about curriculum,  FFA activities and shared power points. These are real life situations and experiences that an agricultural educator experiences such as games going wrong and questions on labs and curriculum. The RSS feeds are an excellent source for news as well as my affinity group. I can briefly view over 30 articles with a very short amount of reading. It connects the NAAE with other science news sites where i can pull information of provide relevant topics for the days lesson. In the case of twitter, I do not even  usually use it in my everyday life. I have seen both sides of the argument from the class and I do not think I would use it unless it is a fun creative lab or response from a lecture where they have to create hashtags or utilizes the restriction of one hundred characters or less to generate a response. Overall the experience that I have gained from this assignment has been to reflect and I have seen the various tools  that as an educator, I can use in order to add relevant information or even share my experience with the other educators in my field.  

Blog Post 6 : Self Reflection

My journey through this class has been a true test of patience. Coming into this class I was expecting to learn how to utilize websites and use it towards education. What I have received out of it has been so much more that I often describe it as learning a new language. Once I figured out the patterns of the HTML world, I can read and understand the code and I can build a simple website using those codes. What has been the hardest for myself is learning how to properly code and diagnose where a problem might be within that code. It is often something small like forgetting to use a symbol to end the command. One of the most rewarding assignment that I had is to look into PLN's/Affinity Group and find one that best suits out interests. One of my hardest assignments was creating tables within HTML. These first 5 weeks was a challenge like I have spoken before but coming out of this class with an understanding of how websites are created and having a tool kit for creating websites, such as those files we are saving in class, will be extremely beneficial later down the road. Through this knowledge, I have seen and pointed out where websites have an extra </a Such as I saw two of them completing my TPA1. Being a student who is not obtaining a Masters in Multimedia Education, I see so much potential utilizing information learned in this course.

The Use of Twitter.

The use of twitter in the educational setting is a battle that may not be answered within the near future. As an newer teacher, I try to embrace new technology and will try to integrate the use of some social media in positive productive ways. Utilizing twitter does put on some restrictions that go beyond the teachers control, such as limited to 140 words or less. The use of twitter also allows for free speech, which is not necessarily a bad idea in the classroom, but guidelines and rules need to be established to help censor some unwanted language. The problem that i have seen in today's classrooms are that the teachers, not always, are much older and do not understand the use of the technologies such as students do so the instructor often strays away from the unknown and focuses back on the, traditional idea of lecture and listen. The use of twitter can be beneficial in the sense that  the students may feel much more engaged than a free write and pass to their neighbor situation. In the video "Twitter in the classroom?" The teacher states that "if you don't engage the kids, you might as well be talking to the wall." The use of a hash tag to respond to a question can be critical thinking as they can only use 140 characters or less. In the future, I will embrace social media the best i can in ways that have been tried as well as new ways. 

In the past i have used twitter and I do not use it as much anymore. I may try to get back to using it to find resources to aid in the application.

Q1: What is the purpose of the DIGME Program?

A1: To bring technology, literacy, and learning into the classroom to raise engagement, and academic achievement of the students in a high school setting. This program is supported by the university of Minnesota

Q2: What are some positive benefits twitter can be used in the classroom?

A2: The use of hashtags can bring class discussion into organized feed that the teacher and the class can review. The idea that twitter can be incorporated using twitter tools such as Twitterfall or historicaltweets.com can allow for an educational base discussion. The use of twitter can also lead students on a scavenger hunt dictated by the teacher.