Multimedia

So far, I have really enjoyed the storyboard/powerpoint multimedia presentations. Although I already had experience with powerpoint software, I learned how to utilize many more of its features. The most important tool that I did not know about was linking. I understand the concept of linking much better now, and I know that linking is a powerful tool that makes many things possible through powerpoint, including quizzes, lessons, and other nonlinear presentations. I am also excited about seeing what other people did in their presentations on Monday.

Spreadsheets

I had positive and negative feelings about working with the spreadsheets. One of the worst things was that the Excel software was very confusing and difficult to operate. However, I am happy with the final result of my work, and I am glad we got to have a section on spreadsheets because I know I will be using them in the future. As a teacher, it is very important to be familiar with spreadsheets and the Excel software.

Inspiration

I thought that Inspiration was a great software that could make any classroom, including my own, more interesting. I liked what many people in our class did with the Inspiration project. It showed that you could make a cool visual presentation out of almost any lesson or subject. I think we have to keep in mind that students will respond the best to material that is interesting and that engages their minds the most. Inspiration is a great way to go in any classroom.

Digital Images

I just wanted to comment that the digital image activities we completed this week were very helpful to me. To be honest, I was pretty worried about working with digital images, because I feel like I have little to no experience with this. While most of this was probably a review for most students, I was doing a lot of these things for the very first time. At this point, I feel much more comfortable managing the images on my computer as well as finding images from several different sources (scanner, digital camera, online, etc.). In addition, I thought that the scavenger hunt was one of the funniest and most interesting activities we have done so far. It's been a great in Instructional Technology!

Lesson Planning

I just wanted to comment that the lesson planning this week was a great activity, and it serves as an ideal way to get creative in the classroom. If I have learned anything in my teacher preparation, I know that students respond well to doing new and unique activities rather than completing the same 'pencil to paper' assignments every day. In addition, it is great to be starting a collection of lesson plans now so that by the time I start teaching, I should have plenty of creative ideas for the classroom.

Monday's Class

I think that a great point was raised today in class.  While looking over the short essays, many people stated that the key to understanding blogs and wikis better is to spend some out-of-class time using each one.  By exploring the many uses and special features of our accounts, we become much more familiar with them.  I have already become much more comfortable with my blog and my wikispace because I tried a few things out of class that weren't assigned.  On a side-note, I am also glad that we are not using blackboard to access our blogs/wikis.  It gives us a great real-life situation to work with. 

Technology-friendly!

I am beginning to realize how easy and time-saving new technology can be once you learn to use it. I found a video link on the textbook website about a monk trying to figure out how to use a 'modern' book after years of using scrolls. It's funny, but it really gets the message across. Once you learn to use the new technology, it's so much easier and faster.