W1 Course Introduction
For the course overview and expectations, you can check the syllabus handout.
This course blogging site will work as an archive of web materials used in the course. Per selected week, I will post a prompt for your blogging participation, which will work for your personal reflection as well as formative evaluation (e.g., suggestion, satisfaction, correction, etc.). Your comments can be brief, directed to the instructor’s post or others’ comments, and should address your positive or negative experiences, suggestions for improvement, and insights for improving any aspects of teaching and learning. The only criterion is, your comment must add 'substance' or 'meaning' to your learning or to the course.
The first prompt for you to comment is to share your personal attitudes and beliefs about web tools and services (e.g., whether they will truly change education or learning, whether it is another hype or passing trend, whether they must be used more for teaching and learning, etc). If there is a tool you already use for learning or sharing and you find it very beneficial, you can use your experience as evidence. Before class next week, check how others think of web tools for teaching and learning. There is no right or wrong answer - you can be honest!
Web is becoming more popular and more advance in recent years. Some may only see it as social but web tools and services are advancing in to learning. With this happening there are positives and negatives to be noted. The positives I see are the interaction students have between each other and with the professor. This interaction allows students to be updated quickly and learn more about there peers and from there peers. By taking this modern approach to learning students may be more engaged because they are on the web daily. There are negatives however, and I believe there are can be too many short cuts when it comes to web. With information displayed on the web and not much guidance students must demand more from themselves and actually read information not simply browse or find the necessary answer when taking a quiz or test. Web and services can be beneficial if the student and teacher use it in the appropriate way so everyone will be engaged and learning properly.
ReplyDeleteMy personal beliefs towards web tools and services is that I actually feel that they should be used more in classroom environments. I feel like it will be a better change for some people if they are better at learning using technology. For me, I feel that web tools are easier for me to use for learning because I understand it more and it comes off more useful for me. I think using web tools and services can help others understand more and be able to get to things faster. Technology today is changing the way people think and the way they learn. It is being used a lot now and i think it would be great to add more learning environments to it.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that web tools and services does help with education and learning. In today's society everything is about technology. Technology is changing everyday. A lot more people are interested in technology so why not use the technology to help people learn and teach better. There is more excitement when learning material with things that you are already familiar with. The web tools and services also help the teachers learn more about new technology that they can pass on to their students or even help some of their students if they are confuse with certain material.
ReplyDeleteWeb tools and services are great for teaching and learning. The pros outweigh the cons. This type of education will be used for generations to come and we need to make better use of it with better compatibly with other computers and reliable downloads. Education has changed vastly because of these emerging web tools/services. Sending important assignments or documents online is fast and very easy to do. It is a great way to share information between others within seconds and can be sent back for corrections in a matter of minutes. Also, a student can earn a college degree never leaving the comfort of their home and this is a great convenience for the non-traditional student who has a family and/or job. The tool I used for learning is DropBox. The website installs a folder onto your laptop where anyone who else is connected to the same folder can view whatever is inside the specified location. Managing group projects was so easy when I used DropBox for a Graphic Communication class a few semesters back!
ReplyDeleteI think that technology in schools have changed a lot in the past years and keeps getting better. I think some of them will change education and learning and others not so much. There are both positives and negatives for anything online. I think though in this world there are many new ways where you can cheat and I know there are a of shortcuts that I see people do. I think that is the only negative part. It is a good thing for people to know how to work the web and such. The interaction with students would probably better. It would be easier to talk to your peers. I think it might be harder to talk to your teacher if you had a question about something though.
ReplyDeleteI believe that given the right tools, a student can perform well and excel. We are always progressing and striving to find more effective ways to learn. Since the current generations are technically advanced I believe that our learning skills should adapt as well in a similar fashion. Not only would e-learning be an more effective way to teach, it would also let the students and teachers work at their convenience. If a student learns at their convenience, they will more likely be able to absorb the material better. The only problem with e-learning could be that a student might have a question that would be hard to get the answer through email. A simple solution to this could be that the teacher could create a web-chat conference on a certain day and time that most of the students had free so that any questions could be answered. Overall, I think e-learning will help us progress more effectively.
ReplyDeleteI think that web tools/services are already changing the way we learn/share/collaborate! Most of the web tools/services that are created are not adopted by a large portions of the culture. However, some of these products are adopted and used to a great extent.
ReplyDeleteOne example of a web product that was used and had a powerful impact in society is twitter. Twitter was an integral way for the protesters to share information/feelings/opinions during the the protests against the Egyptian government during the Arab Spring. It is my belief that without Twitter these protests would potentially not have occurred or would not have occurred to the extent that they did without a way for people to quickly and easily share information.
I also think about the first time I had to do my first research paper in 1996. At that time the internet was not seen (at least by my teacher) as a reliable source of research materials. Instead we went to the library to find our research materials. Most of the books that I needed were only available through the inter-library loan program. That meant that it could take a week or so to get the materials that were needed. Now I can find and accesses this material almost instantly doing a simple google search.
I think in today's world, the web and its tools and services are becoming more popular than ever. I don't believe that its a passing trend because its so beneficial to many. The way the web is used now, it is considered a help to both teachers and students. I personally can access more knowledge online vs in a classroom, so I think that other people may feel the same way. Some benefits of web learning and teaching is organization. Most of the material is already organized for both teachers and students. Another benefit of web tools and services is working at your own pace.
ReplyDeleteFor me personally,I am a big fan of web tools and online services for learning. The reason for this is because it puts students at younger ages on a more even playing field for learning. Living in the inner city and then moving to the suburbs really showed me first hand how things can be a little unfair with dealing with things like textbooks. In the city our textbooks would be old and sometimes run down, but I didn't think anything of it because I thought that's how everyone's books were. But i soon got a strong dose of reality when I moved to the suburbs and everything seemed so new and state of the art. I know computers aren't cheap and everyone isn't going to get the best ones, that's just the way of the world, but the actual internet isn't very expensive and everyone will be able to access the same sites and have somewhat of a fair chance to learn. Simple online sources like google searching can be effective and you can learn a lot of valuable information on whatever topic you search. Youtube is also a great source because they have lectures on there and tutorials for people who are more hands on learners.
ReplyDelete