ETEC 622 has been quite the journey. As a new student, I feel much more prepared to integrate technology into my locus control after taking this course. I have learend a plethora of tools and resources and have worked on many assignments in this course that I can continue to use in my education and career.
Mahalo to such supportive peers who continue to amaze me with their diverse backgrounds and varying expertise. Group work has been a pleasure. I bid you all a fond Aloha Oe...until we meet again. Have a great winter vacation everyone.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Reading, Reading and More Reading
I have been casually looking since the beginning of the semester for a good place to store my course reading material. I wanted to find something that would allow me to highlight my PDF files and make notations while I read. I have never been able to transition away from printing hard copies of assigned materials and I was determined to make this conversion as an OTEC student.
In the final weeks of the semester, as things are really beginning to heat up, I was lucky enough to stumble upon Mendeley. At the moment I signed up for an account, the clouds parted and the heavens began to sing. This is exactly what I've been looking for!
I love how the program offers a desktop and an online version. This was great for traveling when I had infrequent access to a wireless connection. I loaded all my files to the desktop version, but once I found a connection, I could sync my changes to my online account. This is a handy feature for the user like me who accesses content from multiple devices in any given day.
The past couple weeks of being a Mendeley user has been a great experience. The features are intuitive and easy to use. The organization of material is very user friendly and I have been able to navigate the program with little time spent watching tutorials or reading "how to" guides.
This program has surpassed similar ones that I have tried and will help me tremendously with getting through this program.
What is Mendeley? from Mendeley on Vimeo.
In the final weeks of the semester, as things are really beginning to heat up, I was lucky enough to stumble upon Mendeley. At the moment I signed up for an account, the clouds parted and the heavens began to sing. This is exactly what I've been looking for!
I love how the program offers a desktop and an online version. This was great for traveling when I had infrequent access to a wireless connection. I loaded all my files to the desktop version, but once I found a connection, I could sync my changes to my online account. This is a handy feature for the user like me who accesses content from multiple devices in any given day.
The past couple weeks of being a Mendeley user has been a great experience. The features are intuitive and easy to use. The organization of material is very user friendly and I have been able to navigate the program with little time spent watching tutorials or reading "how to" guides.
This program has surpassed similar ones that I have tried and will help me tremendously with getting through this program.
What is Mendeley? from Mendeley on Vimeo.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Mind Mapping
Mind Meister is a site that allows you to organize your ideas into a virutal mind map. Perks of the program include the ability to collaborate with others synchronously, export maps as a variety of files, and customization features.
While the program benefits sound good, I've experienced some trouble while creating maps. The collaboration feature experiences delays. It is not as seamless as working in other synchronous tools such as Google Docs. I've also had trouble sharing files with group members who were asked to sign up for a paid subscription to view the file I was sharing.
Individually, I have not experienced as many problems. There was a slight learning curve, but overall it was a user friendly experience. It provides a different way of organizing your ideas than a traditional outline. This format particularly suits visual learners.
While the program benefits sound good, I've experienced some trouble while creating maps. The collaboration feature experiences delays. It is not as seamless as working in other synchronous tools such as Google Docs. I've also had trouble sharing files with group members who were asked to sign up for a paid subscription to view the file I was sharing.
Individually, I have not experienced as many problems. There was a slight learning curve, but overall it was a user friendly experience. It provides a different way of organizing your ideas than a traditional outline. This format particularly suits visual learners.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Moment of Genius
After the resource website assignment I was overwhelmed. I thought there could never be enough time in a semester to check out all the interesting tools and resources that are being shared by my peers. Then, I had a moment of genius. What if I used my blog to talk about one tool per week? That way I could kill two birds with one stone. Duh, work smarter, not harder!
This week I'd like to review Khan Academy. An Aunty of mine posted on Facebook that she was trying to help her son figure out Newton's Law. I immediately thought, there must be something in the resource websites that can help her. I stumbled across Khan Academy. It is the perfect solution. I sent her the link and she was very thankful. I also discovered that they have SAT prep videos. I do outreach work with high school students, many of them expressing interest in SAT prep material. Trying to loan out one SAT prep book to 70+ students is a challenge. By using Khan Academy, those with internet access can get more detailed instructions from the comfort of their home and don't have to stand in line for the limited number of resource books we have at the high school. I have just scratched the surface, but I am sure there are tons of other great videos on the site. I definitely give this site a thumbs up for visual learners who like material broken down in audio/visual format.
This week I'd like to review Khan Academy. An Aunty of mine posted on Facebook that she was trying to help her son figure out Newton's Law. I immediately thought, there must be something in the resource websites that can help her. I stumbled across Khan Academy. It is the perfect solution. I sent her the link and she was very thankful. I also discovered that they have SAT prep videos. I do outreach work with high school students, many of them expressing interest in SAT prep material. Trying to loan out one SAT prep book to 70+ students is a challenge. By using Khan Academy, those with internet access can get more detailed instructions from the comfort of their home and don't have to stand in line for the limited number of resource books we have at the high school. I have just scratched the surface, but I am sure there are tons of other great videos on the site. I definitely give this site a thumbs up for visual learners who like material broken down in audio/visual format.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Learning from Peers
Echoed throughout many lectures, articles and discussions is the amount of learning that happens from our peers. At the graduate level, instruction changes dramatically. I remember my undergraduate years being primarily lecture based. We rarely had group assignments and were often forced to memorize abstract concepts so we could regurgitate them in quizzes and tests. This is no longer the case and I find myself much more excited about learning.
In our last group assignment, we were asked to produce webpages. I was assigned to the Red Team and our topic was synchronous tools for online learning. The resources that we collected were plentiful and there were many that I was not exposed to prior to this project. In fact, we had to focus on specific tools because we did not want the page to seem cluttered. Quality, not quantity.
Here is a link to our site: http://sync-ed.weebly.com/
I learned a lot from my team and it seems each group project has been that way. I enjoy learning from others and celebrating the unique contributions that each person brings to the table.
In our last group assignment, we were asked to produce webpages. I was assigned to the Red Team and our topic was synchronous tools for online learning. The resources that we collected were plentiful and there were many that I was not exposed to prior to this project. In fact, we had to focus on specific tools because we did not want the page to seem cluttered. Quality, not quantity.
Here is a link to our site: http://sync-ed.weebly.com/
I learned a lot from my team and it seems each group project has been that way. I enjoy learning from others and celebrating the unique contributions that each person brings to the table.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Road Less Traveled
Life is full of choices. In my current chaotic state where I am struggling to keep up with the roles of being a mother, wife, employee, volunteer, student and more it is often tempting to take the easy way out. Figuring where and when to cut corners is a hard decision to make.
There are so many new technologies that we are being exposed to, but at the same time there are some traditional methods that can be applied to achieve similar results. Take presentations for example. I am no expert on Powerpoint, but I have created quite a few in my lifetime and like to think that I am able to produce a decent presentation. However, I was recently introduced to a new tool called Prezi. So for my next group project that included a presentation, I had a choice to make. Do I use the tool that I am familiar with and breeze through this assignment, or do I take some extra time to figure out this new tool that seems to be more fun and dynamic?
I chose the more difficult route and jumped on the Prezi bandwagon. There was a bit of a learning curve and trying to navigate the features without a mouse was difficult, but I managed to survive and was quite impressed with the results. In fact, it was so much fun, that within a couple weeks I had already started incorporating it into my work. (This I enjoy because it's hard to impress our class full of techies, but take Prezi into the work setting and you are sure to drop jaws.)
The lesson learned from this experience brings me back to the infamous poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. The final lines state, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that had made all the difference."
There are so many new technologies that we are being exposed to, but at the same time there are some traditional methods that can be applied to achieve similar results. Take presentations for example. I am no expert on Powerpoint, but I have created quite a few in my lifetime and like to think that I am able to produce a decent presentation. However, I was recently introduced to a new tool called Prezi. So for my next group project that included a presentation, I had a choice to make. Do I use the tool that I am familiar with and breeze through this assignment, or do I take some extra time to figure out this new tool that seems to be more fun and dynamic?
I chose the more difficult route and jumped on the Prezi bandwagon. There was a bit of a learning curve and trying to navigate the features without a mouse was difficult, but I managed to survive and was quite impressed with the results. In fact, it was so much fun, that within a couple weeks I had already started incorporating it into my work. (This I enjoy because it's hard to impress our class full of techies, but take Prezi into the work setting and you are sure to drop jaws.)
The lesson learned from this experience brings me back to the infamous poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. The final lines state, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that had made all the difference."
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Online vs In Person Relationships
This topic seems to be haunting me. Friday morning I was listening to the morning radio and the topic for debate was online dating. The disc jockeys were stating that according to research the majority of men and women who met through an online dating platform were embarrassed to admit it. This sparked a lively discussion about online dating and whether or not people who "got game" use the internet to find partners.
Later that night, I met up with some friends and the same discussion transpired. Makes me wonder if they too were listening to the same station that morning. According to my friends, online dating has become respectable. It is no longer something to be embarrassed about because it is so mainstream.
So much of our social interaction in this day and age happens online. Certain people feel liberated online like they are free to be themselves and engage in ways they do not feel comfortable in face-to-face situations. Online interaction frees us from the generalizations and assumptions that are often made with a first impression. On the other hand, there are those who are online social retards who struggle to maneuver through the world of status updates, tweets, hashtags and circles.
So where do I stand is the question I keep asking myself. My answer for right now is that I guess I would be a hybrid citizen who enjoys a nice balance of both worlds. When I tip too much on one side or the other, I feel unbalanced, like something is missing. I enjoy the conveniences of the online world, but I also love to unplug and enjoy what my physical surroundings have to offer. Where do you stand?
Later that night, I met up with some friends and the same discussion transpired. Makes me wonder if they too were listening to the same station that morning. According to my friends, online dating has become respectable. It is no longer something to be embarrassed about because it is so mainstream.
So much of our social interaction in this day and age happens online. Certain people feel liberated online like they are free to be themselves and engage in ways they do not feel comfortable in face-to-face situations. Online interaction frees us from the generalizations and assumptions that are often made with a first impression. On the other hand, there are those who are online social retards who struggle to maneuver through the world of status updates, tweets, hashtags and circles.
So where do I stand is the question I keep asking myself. My answer for right now is that I guess I would be a hybrid citizen who enjoys a nice balance of both worlds. When I tip too much on one side or the other, I feel unbalanced, like something is missing. I enjoy the conveniences of the online world, but I also love to unplug and enjoy what my physical surroundings have to offer. Where do you stand?
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