I'll be honest, after looking at the list of the top 100 tools I was absolutely shocked at how few of them I personally use. For years I have been able to skate by without having to delve very deep into the technological world. Always allowing my wife to be the tech savvy person in our family, I have been able to just enjoy the fruits of her labors without having to personally do much of the techy things around our home.
This class has been a blessing in disguise for me. It has really allowed myself to explore a lot of the tools that I previously thought too cumbersome to mess with. With every assignment I can feel my comfort level rising. I now use a handful of the listed items, but again, have only scratched the surface of the options out there. This class has been a real eye opener for me so far. This class has really opened my eyes to the ever changing technological world. As stated several times before, I have only previously scratched the surface of the wide world of technology. Thinking of technology in these terms is something I really haven't done prior to this module. I have used a variety of web 2.0 sites without even really thinking about it. The usage and effectiveness of consumers sharing material with each other is such a great way to obtain new knowledge. YouTube, for example, is a tool I have used several times but have never really thought about the significance of what I was partaking in. It truly amazes me how much is shared consumer to consumer these days.
It seems that we seek the worlds opinion about products, restaurants, movies, hotels, etc. more now than we ever have. I feel we base a lot of our decisions on what others have done before us, we almost relay on others opinions too much rather than exploring on our own sometimes. Regardless, web 2.0 is such a useful way for informational sharing. I can honestly say that I had no idea how many tools were available to the common internet user. I scanned through several of the various tools that were offered from the differing links provided and I have to say that these will be useful for my future.
These productivity tools are quite helpful for a lot of reasons, however, my general consensus is that all of these options further help us as users to cut down on the mindless surfing of the web. It's so convenient to have tools that we use regularly so readily available. With so many options per category it makes productivity on the web very precise to the specific needs we would have for them. So far, this class has exposed me to several new technological ideas, and how I might be able to intertwine them into my professional career. I have heard of a lot of these technologies, but what I didn't know, was how easy and useful they are to set up. I have learned a lot of new ideas that I hope to use in the near future with my classes.
I hope to use my website as a way to disseminate information to future students and athletes. I would introduce them to it and explain that they could check it anytime for updates or to glean more information on my rules and expectations. Just as we are currently doing in this course, I would then have sections where they could access specific information that directly pertains to the class, and sections that I could post where they could follow the things that I find interesting in regards to the class. Facebook fan pages are also a great idea for a specific group of followers, whether it be students or athletes. Regardless, I now know that there are many ideas that I can use to better reach my students that seem to be "always on". Like many of my stereotypes about technology and education, I had my reservations about the usage of a podcasts in regards to education. Nonetheless, my preconceived notions about the effectiveness of podcasts have been eliminated. I like reading things for myself most of the time, however, there are times when listening to things can be very helpful.
In the readings, it was mentioned that listening to instruction can be very beneficial to audio learners. A lot of students do a better job of grasping the ideas and concepts that an instructor wants them to learn via listening rather than just reading or from various other forms of instruction. Being able to stop and start a lecture from a podcast has many benefits to it. As a student, I could stop the flow of information at any point and discuss, or contemplate over it a little more. I could also take more detailed notes if needed. Podcasting in education is a great tool that I hope to have more experience with. This article was very easy for me to relate to. I struggle daily with the "always on" generation. I truly like the way our society has continually evolved in the technological world, nonetheless, there might be some glaring long term affects on some of these young minds. I have noticed that the students I deal with, tend to be a lot less focused than they used to. The ability to engage in deep thought is another issue I have noticed as being a possible deficiency for some students. Students seem to be less likely to delve into deep meaningful discussions without having to be prodded in such a way that the teacher almost feels hopeless.
I didn't grow up in the "always on" generation, however, I have noticed that even I have been sucked into this unstoppable force of being "always on". When I catch myself becoming a slave to my social networking devices I tend to scale back and distance myself as much as possible. I enjoy the convenience of being locked in technologically, however, not only myself but especially my students should be made aware of the possible detriments that could follow if they are too reliant on their technology. Through my experiences with technology, I have come the understanding that social networking is the way of the future regardless of whether we like it or not. Nevertheless, students show up to class with the world at their fingertips (smartphones) and can pull any article or news source up. To a certain degree, I feel as though teachers have lost the image of being the keepers of all the knowledge because of the readily available sources that students can access. The problem isn't necessarily that they have this quick access to credible knowledge, the problem I have noticed is that a lot of these students lack the ability to actually comprehend what they're reading.
With this being said, I still feel that social networking and various other forms of technology have a place in the educational world. When used appropriately by not only the students but the actual instructor it can be a vary rich and engaging environment. The article made a very good point that students positively respond to the incorporation of new technologies into the teaching and learning process (Jones and Shao, 2011). It all boils down to the teacher setting boundaries as to what is and is not acceptable usage of the various social networking options in regards to the classroom setting. After building my Professional Learning Network (PLN) I started thinking to myself which sites to initially add to my PLN link. For the preliminary set up of my PLN I decided to go with a few news sources and a mixture of athletic training sites. I might add or switch these at a later date, but for right now I'm satisfied. These particular links give me a wide range of current events, and will keep me up to date on the latest workouts and dietary ideas. The sites I chose should benefit my professional life to keep me in the loop of what is going on in the world and keep me informed on the latest conditioning
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