How embarrassing...I nearly had a tantrum when I couldn't download Adobe Flash and keep up with trying out picnik.com. I completely feel for my students who often face hardware and software frustrations before they can even begin to perform whatever task is required of them. I need to simplify whatvever that I do with students and make sure that their technological needs are met before I can require them to explore the webquests that I might create or to respond to a wiki or a blog.
I don't think that I have reached "information overload" yet because there are obvious breaktimes when we can stand up and walk around, use the bathroom, or go and eat lunch. I have attended conferences where I walked out feeling like an absolute failure and then applied one kernel of new learning to my teaching practice. There is simply not enough time in the day to try every single technology tool nor are most appropriate or germane to what each of us do. By concentrating on those Web 2.0 tools that we might use, Lisa has really streamlined the learning process.
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Thank you, Mary...my goal exactly is to give teachers tools they can use in their classroom. There is so much out there in the cloud, but I feel like my job is to be a clearing house, to test it myself and decide how it might be useful educationally. Is it just "another" thing to add to a too long list of things to do (like yet another communication tool or networking tool) or is it indeed something that will help teachers deliver educational content to students and/or help students engage and integrate that content?
ReplyDeleteI felt many of the same frustrations the day before you did, so I feel your pain. It does add to the empathy level when students are feeling crazed. I hope I have time later on to go back and revisit some things I didn't really catch on the first way through, such as Delicious. But I am also concerned, as Lisa mentioned above, that "it", particularly keeping the website up to date, will become one more arduous task, on top of all of the mandates we've gotten in the last couple of years. Deb
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