EDM 310 SUMMARY

EDM310 has a journey like no other. It has been full of blogs, presentations, podcast and many more FUN things. I walked into EDM310 with no clue about how to make a blog or to create a podcast. I have learned so many new things that I never knew about. Sometimes it amazes me how advanced our society has become. I think about just a few years back computers were not so popular. Not everyone had computers but now everyone has computers and there is even Internet access on phones.
There are so many things that I have learned in EDM310. Things that were covered in EDM310 were: blogs, wikis, presentations, Google Docs, YouTube, podcast, videocasts, Twitter, comments4kids, iTunes, iTunesU, Google forms, Google Earth, ACCESS, ALEX, Foliotek. As you can see EDM310 is a very busy class. I completely understand why all of these topics were covered. When we become teachers we will be teaching students who are familiar with all these different gadgets. Their learning style will be a lot different from ours and as teachers of the 21st century we will have to adapt to their style.
Some of the things that I will take into my class as a teacher will be things such as Blogs, Comments4Kids, Google Earth, Youtube, iTunesU presentations and Videocast.
Blogs: I didn't exactly love blogs when I began EDM310 but know I can understand how they can be helpful to me as a teacher. I could make a blog just for myself and the parents. I could leave updates about what the class is doing and things to come. I could talk to parents who have a busy lifestyle but are able to contact me while on the computer at work etc. All comments between me and the parents will be private and not on display for other parents to read.
Comments4Kids: The comments4kids page will be for the teacher, students, and parents. This page will give my class an opportunity to show off their work and projects that will be done in class and the parents could check out what fun projects their child is doing in class.
GoogleEarth: Google Earth was something very new to me. I had no idea that people could go on a tour anywhere in the world by just sitting at a computer desk. I think this would be an excellent way to teach geography. I would also love to take my students on a tour around the world to anyplace they would like. For older children I would assign them into groups and the group could pick a location and take the class on a trip. The possibilities are endless.
iTunes, Videopodcast, and YouTube iTunesU, videopodcast, and Youtube have some great educational videos to students to watch. Youtube can have some graphic material but I will monitor all activity done of computer during computer time.
Overall the possibilities are endless for students. There are so many different ways to learn and I believe that children should explore all there options including the Internet. When I become a teacher I will push for students to be able to use the Internet as a learning experience in the class.